Student Assembly

R. 59: Conflict Resolution During Meetings - This internal policy resolution is a change to the Standing Rules to add a rule for addressing disagreements between members regarding meeting procedures.

R. 64: We the Cornellians Petitions Platform - This act of legislation calls for the creation of an online petitions platform. The proposed platform would allow members of the Cornell community to create petitions and amass signatures in support of an initiative. The platform has two thresholds: 250 signatures and 1,000 signatures. At the 250-signature threshold, a notification will be sent to the relevant Assembly. This would be done in an effort to ensure that the Assembly system was not circumvented. This was a lengthy point of discussion for the SA members. At the 1,000-signature threshold, the petition would be sent to the President directly. At that point, the President would have 30 days (the same as the Assembly system) to issue a response to the petition. The response is largely dependent on the issue presented in the petition. The President could simply issue a statement, send the matter to the relevant office, or send the matter directly to an Assembly for discussion. Again, the response is dependent on the petition and up to the discretion of the President.

The attached resolution does not reflect the amendment that was passed that reduces the signature threshold from 2,500 to 1,000. I will send along the modified version once the clerks have had the chance to alter everything within the system.

R. 66: Declaration of Into the Streets Day - This Sense-of-the-Body resolution calls on the President of the University to acknowledge Into the Streets Day as a day of service at the time that the Mayor of Ithaca acknowledges the day. The SA and community members in attendance felt that this would be an important step in further developing a positive relationship between Cornell students and the Ithaca community.

R. 70: In Support of AMST 2001 - This Sense-of-the-Body resolution calls on the College of Arts & Sciences and the American Studies Department to continue to offer the AMST 2001 course. The resolution passed unanimously and included the two collective votes from the community members in attendance, per the Community Clause in our Charter. I’m communicating this resolution as a formality. I am happy to say that the American Studies Department decided to keep the course going that same day. You can see the article in The Cornell Daily Sun.

Each resolution and supporting documentation is attached for your reference.

Regards,

Ulysses