Opinion

TRUSTEE VIEWPOINT | Finding Home Away from Home

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I still vividly remember my first semester at Cornell as a newcomer wearing a shiny ID on the red “Tatkon Center” lanyard. Early freshman year was many things, but it mostly boiled down to two activities: sporting my fashionable “Hello, my name is ____” sticker and strutting down College Ave. in my massive O-Week group with only Google Maps to guide us to a party we had found on Facebook. Now a junior, I’ve been here long enough to feel at home that I rarely walk through Collegetown in groups larger than three. But watching — from the eHub window seats — the new generation of Cornellians engage in these freshmen processions makes me reflect on my own arrival on the Hill.

Opinion

EDITORIAL: Sim Seems Right

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The following editorial reflects the opinions of The Cornell Daily Sun. Editorials are penned collaboratively between the Editor-in-Chief, Associate Editor and Opinion Editor, in consultation with additional Sun editors and staffers. The Sun’s editorials are independent of its news coverage and op-eds. Over the past week, The Sun has collected information about each of the trustee candidates and analyzed their platforms. Following the Trustee Candidate Debate on March 20, we sat down and interviewed our top choices. There are many good candidates for the role of student-elected trustee, but there is only one right candidate: Jaewon Sim ’21.

Opinion

DEMASSA & DELGADO | Student-Elected Trustee Candidates: Be Wary of Empty Policy Promises

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Unlike its fellow Ivy League peers, Cornell stands alone as the only university to have a student in its Board of Trustees, which is composed of 64 voting members. We elect two trustees, a graduate and an undergraduate student, for two-year terms.
Once elected, each member signs a non-disclosure agreement. What this means is that board discussions, reasoning for decisions and the way in which each member votes is confidential. Take what you will from the justification for NDAs by current student-elected trustees Dustin Liu ’19 and Manisha Munasinghe grad, who in their Sun column said, “[The NDA] allows Board members to honestly discuss problems, bounce new and innovative ideas off of each other and safeguard the University’s long term strategies and plans in order to remain competitive with our peer institutions.”
Unlike the Student Assembly or other governing bodies on campus, the student-elected trustee holds a unique apportionment of power: The student-elected trustee wields more power and less accountability. This year’s election season has kicked into full swing.