Student Assembly

Rationale of the Committee

The Committee felt that Welcome Weekend provides a great service to the Cornell Community. In addition, the high attendance and quality of events were appealing to many committee members. However, there was a lengthy discussion about the efficiency of some of the events. Some committee members pointed out unnecessary expenditures in the budget such as the high cost of food for the Picnic on the Plaza and the incidence of giveaways as an example of high administrative costs. Other committee members argued that the current level of funding allows Welcome Weekend to be successful, affirming that freshmen and other community members greatly enjoy Welcome Weekend events and that the program should not receive cuts. Some were also skeptical of the reduction of the ~$22,000 surplus in one year and felt that the actual surplus would be higher at the end of the year than anticipated. They felt that the $7,000 spring event was overfunded and that the cost of Street Fair would not ultimately hit the financial statements as much as expected. Others disagreed and felt that Welcome Weekend had worked towards reducing the surplus to an acceptable level for this year with the incidence of a new, fully-justified spring event.

Vote Totals

The Committee votes down, from the highest number proposed to the lowest, to give the group the advantage. The vote totals from the Committee were as follows:

Respectfully submitted,

Adam Nicoletti ‘12
Vice President for Finance, Student Assembly