The Cornell Daily Sun (https://cornellsun.com/tag/s-a/)
Student Assembly members voted to indefinitely shelve a resolution calling on the Board of Trustees to cut financial ties with nine weapons manufacturers and called into question the Spring 2024 divestment referendum results.
The Student Assembly decreased its operating budget from 68,605 dollars to 37,850, partly due to its goal to curb excessive spending and focus on allocating funds toward student initiatives.
Changes to the Student Assembly bylaws have been voted as unethical by the Office of Ethics.
Students opposed to the divestment referendum argued that the questions were not phrased neutrally in Thursday’s Student Assembly meeting.
The Sun profiled presidential candidates Zora deRham ’27 and Getulio Gonzalez-Mulattieri ’25 and executive vice president candidates Adam Vinson ‘25 and Karys Everett ’25.
To ignore the pleas and testimonies of countless Cornellians is a blatant disregard for your duty as elected representatives.
Heated debates on the Student Assembly floor are usually indicators of functioning campus democracy. But last week, our student government veered off course during a Zoom meeting on Cornell Police disarmament when representatives used little restraint in hurling personal insults at each other and talking over those with opposing viewpoints. Throughout the semi-finals week that followed — dubbed a “Week of Hate and Harassment” by The Sun, representatives suffered from bullying and name-calling. What has happened to our system of shared governance? Right now, our student leadership could use a reminder that the most effective way to advance Cornellian interests is to rely on the time-honored instruments of campus democracy, such as mutual respect and a discussion of values, rather than resort to ad hominem, scorched earth attacks on fellow students.
For many Cornellians, these debates on racial justice and police violence aren’t theoretical; they are of lived experiences.
Let’s all pledge to answer that quick survey next spring; it matters.
After two controversial rounds of student elections, a fresh panel of Cornell community leaders unmuted their Zoom mics this afternoon to be sworn into the Student Assembly.
Vote and pressure the S.A. and Office of Assemblies to not allow another election like this one.