Student Assembly

Dear Rammy:

Thank you for your communication of May 12th in which you forwarded a number of Student Assembly resolutions for my review and response. I have responded to each of the resolutions individually below:

R. 65 - Revision of University Inclement Weather Policy 8.2� Recommends a revision to the University Inclement Weather Policy to specify protocols for Student Disabilities Services in the event of inclement weather. No approval necessary.

Thank you for sharing your ideas regarding our Inclement Weather Policy and the impact, if any, of changes in operating status on our faculty, staff and students with disabilities. I will ask Vice Presidents Whang and Murphy to consider your ideas as they review the policy.

R. 73 - Appendix B Revisions Thank you for all the work on the student activity fee (in the fall) and the guidelines for funded organizations 2010–2012. I accept these changes.

R. 75 - Appendix B Change�Follows up on your response to the Non-Discrimination Clause by making an amendment to Appendix B to ban discrimination on any organization which directly or indirectly receives by-line funding with the exceptions of club sports and choruses, and allows organizations to enforce uniform standards of belief as a perquisite for membership rights.

I note that R.75 puts in practice the non-discrimination clause that the Assembly has been debating so vigorously this year. Thank you for considering my earlier request for review; I accept R75.

R. 76 - Appendix A Changes I accept R.76 and appreciate your efforts to incorporate what you learned in the past fee-setting cycle for the benefit of the next Student Assembly to go through the process.

R. 77 - Requesting Information from Cornell Dining�Requests (1) The average number of unused Big Red Bucks from the 2008—2009 academic school year, per student and (2) The average monthly Big Red Buck expenditure per student, from the 2009—2010 academic school year. If, for any reason, the information is not available per student, we request a cumulative total of unused Big Red Bucks from the 2008—2009 academic school year. No approval necessary but if you can assist us in attaining the requested information it would help us spread awareness of the initiative to encourage students to spend their leftover Big Red Bucks on food for local soup kitchens and charities.

No approval necessary.

R. 82 - Upholding Cornell’s Code of Conduct�Recommends the University to sever its contracts with Nike unless the company realigns its business practices with the University’s Codes of Conduct.

Thank you for your thoughts regarding the situation involving NIKE and the apparel factories in Honduras. I will be making a decision in this matter in the coming weeks as I consider the information provided by NIKE in response to our communication with them, along with your resolution and that of the Licensing Oversight Committee.

R. 84 - Housing Lottery Time Slots�Calls for the redesignation of housing lottery time slots on the basis of number of semesters spent at Cornell rather than class year so as to give mid-year transfer students an equitable chance to participate in the Housing Lottery. No approval necessary but we look forward to working with Campus Life to implement this change.

I appreciate your concern for our mid-year transfers, but I understand that our systems may be unable to support your request and that such a change would impact the housing process significantly. Therefore, I ask you to reconsider this resolution by working with Campus Life in the fall.

Best regards,

David J. Skorton