Student Assembly

Whereas, the Student Assembly is the undergraduate student government at Cornell University and is charged with tasks affecting students such as distributing the annual Student Activity Fee and establishing policies over the Office of the Dean of Students and Department of Campus Life;

Whereas, ethical conduct is expected of the Student Assembly and its Executive Board at all times in their role as student representatives;

Whereas, the Student Assembly should take steps to limit conflicts of interest and biases in its decision-making process;

Whereas, the Student Assembly Executive Board has both an executive and a judicial role in shaping and implementing SA policy relating to the SA Charter and other documents and actions;

Whereas, the dual-role of the Student Assembly Executive Board presents an undeniable and unacceptable conflict of interest and should be abated;

Whereas, no separate and independent body currently exists to perform a judicial role for the Student Assembly;

Whereas, the existence of such a judicial body would create a more just and fair process for reviewing certain Student Assembly policies by ensuring greater independence in the review process, thereby reducing the potential for conflicts of interest;

Be it therefore resolved, an ad-hoc committee be established to review and research current models of student government judicial bodies with the intent of gathering enough relevant information to guide the Student Assembly in its quest to create a judicial body;

Be it therefore resolved, the ad-hoc committee present its findings at a regularly scheduled Student Assembly meeting before the end of the semester;

Be it finally resolved, the ad-hoc committee be chaired by the Executive Vice President of the Student Assembly, who will also be a voting member. Additional voting members will consist of a member of the University Hearing and Review Boards or another campus judicial board, and three additional Student Assembly members.

Respectfully submitted,

Ray Mensah ‘11
At-Large Representative
Student Assembly Executive Vice President