Student Assembly Meeting

Thursday, September 17, 2026

• Term:
  2026-2027
• Assembly/Committee: Student Assembly
• Date & Time:
  Thu, Sep 17, 2026 - 4:45pm
  to
  6:30pm
• Location:
  Willard Straight Hall Memorial Room (WSH407)/Zoom
• Agenda:

  1. Call to Order
  2. Call of the Roll
  3. Reading of the Land Acknowledgment 
  4. Approval of the September 10, 2026 Meeting Minutes
  5. Communications to the Student Assembly
  6. Consent Calendar
  7. Reports of Officers, Committees, and Liaisons
  8. Announcements
  9. Appointments and Fillings of Vacancies
  10. Public Comment
  11. Public Hearings
  12. Second Reading Calendar

  1. Resolution 9: Expanding the Office of Ethics and the Office of Elections, Requiring Continuity of Membership, and Establishing an ROTC Liasion
  2. Resolution 10: Upholding Cornell’s Health Excuse Policy and Ending Faculty Requests for Medical Notes 

  13. Presentations

  1. Cornell AI Initiative

  
  14. Third Reading Calendar

  1. Resolution 6: Solidifying Students with Disabilities’ Representation in Assembly Programming
  2. Resolution 7: Reforming Annual Anti-Bias and Transparency Training Procedures
  3. Resolution 8: Amending the Faculty Handbook to Require Syllabus Publication on the Class Roster and Encourage Common Syllabi for Multi-Section Courses

  15. Adjournment

• Meeting Packet:
  StudentAssemblyMeetingAgendaSeptember172026 (1).pdf (74.33 KB)
• Audio Recording:
• Minutes:

  I. Call to Order
       a. E. Chaudhuri called the meeting to order at 4:45 PM.
  
  II. Call of the Roll
       a. Members Present: S. Agarwal, J. Anand, S. Augustin, T. Aye, A. Ayoola, L. Blum, M. Causey, E. Chaudhuri, S. Dunn (proxied), T. Japal, J. Kimball (proxied), K. Krishtopa, D. Lee, A. Lyons, Y. Masoud, J. Orief, E. Porter, A. Sendelbach (proxied), C. Tarala, A. Vink, A. Walters, H. Watkins
       b. Members Absent: D. Addoquaye, J. Chung, A. Fard, C. Flournoy, J. Swavy, K. Young
       c. Also Present: C. Carpenter, Z. deRham, M. Friedman
  
  III. Reading of the Land Acknowledgment
       a. E. Chaudhuri stated the land acknowledgement.
  
  IV. Approval of the September 10, 2026 Meeting Minutes
       a. The motion to approve the minutes passed through unanimous consent.
  
  V. Communications to the Student Assembly
       a. E. Chaudhuri shared some communications to the Student Assembly:
            i. Jenny and Carly, administrators in charge of the club registration process shared they’re setting up a committee to look at club applications and would like 2-3 representatives to join the committee.
            ii. Dean Schaefer, the head of the Faculty Senate, communicated to the University Assembly a proposal to shorten the drop deadline, which the Student Assembly will send to the academic policy committee.
            iii. E. Chaudhuri shared that everyone must table for an hour every month and the spreadsheet will soon be sent to the student body through Cornell Sun.
  
  VI. Consent Calendar
       a. None.
  
  VII. Reports of Officers, Committees, and Liaisons
       a. C. Carpenter shared that the Office of Ethics will start implementing a code of ethics and the old ethics clause was taken out of the standing rules.
       b. C. Tarala shared that the finance committee had its first meeting and that there’s been a lot of community engagement. A byline town hall will be on Sunday, October 4th, at 2-4PM.
            i. E. Chaudhuri shared an issue of getting updated E-Board contacts for all byline organizations.
       c. A. Walters shared that Communications had its first meeting last Saturday at Goldwin Smith, with double the amount of committee members since then, and that the second meeting will be on Saturday at Goldwin Smith. He added that the first Assembly Member Spotlight Series post went up yesterday.
       d. A. Walters shared that academic policy has a plan for membership and that meetings will be on Sunday at 5:15 PM in 2nd floor Goldwin Smith.
       e. L. Blum shared that she’s been attending committee meetings and had coffee chats with members. She added that if there’s a problem with applications, chairs should bring it up to address it.
       f. A. Lyons shared that the past Wednesday, SAIFC had its first meeting in Goldwin Smith G20, which will continue to be the meeting location at 6:30PM on Wednesdays. There is a tentative meeting on November 30th with Dean Love regarding stakeholder meetings and is open to adding more people.
  
  VIII. Announcements
       a. E. Chaudhuri announced that committee assignments were completed with Hayden, let them know if it doesn’t work, and that everyone should attend at least 2 committees.
  
  IX. Appointments and Fillings of Vacancies
       a. E. Chaudhuri shared that A. Fard, the Dyson representative, had a standing conflict with the Student Assembly and decided to step out. The Dyson representative seat, Arts seat, Veteran seat, and first-year representative and transfer representative seats will run as an open election in the fall. There are currently 23 first years and transfer students who are potentially interested in running.
       b. Co-Director of the Office of Student Advocate
            i. Erick Palanker shared a brief introduction before the assembly entered a brief Q&A session.
            ii. E. Chaudhuri motioned to approve the nomination by unanimous consent, no dissent.
            iii. Erick Palanker has been appointed as the Co-Director of the Office of Student Advocate.
  
  X. Public Comment
       a. None.
       b. E. Chaudhuri ceded the chair to H. Watkins.
  
  XI. Second Reading Calendar
       a. Resolution 9: Expanding the Office of Ethics and the Office of Elections, Requiring Continuity of Membership, and Establishing an ROTC Liaison
            i. E. Chaudhuri shared that there’s a cap on the amount of people on ethics and elections and wanted to add something in the bylaws to allow the committee to recruit new members. The resolution would increase the cap for elections from 9 to 13 and ethics from 7 to 9. Have a balance system to ensure no one’s packing the court. Elections 9 to 13, ethics 7 to 9. The resolution also adds a non-voting seat for the ROTC community.
            ii. The assembly entered debate to discuss resolution structure and differences between ROTC and Veteran Liaison.
            iii. J. Anand motioned to close debate, no dissent.
            iv. The resolution has been moved to the Third Reading Calendar.
            v. H. Watkins ceded the chair to E. Chaudhuri.
       b. Resolution 10: Upholding Cornell’s Health Excuse Policy and Ending Faculty Requests for Medical Notes
            i. S. Agarwal shared that many professors request a medical note for missing a class/lab/prelim, but Cornell Health’s policy is that they do not write medical notes. Cornell Health was unaware that professors requested medical notes, and by the faculty handbook, they’re not allowed to do so. The resolution is to uphold Cornell Health’s excuse policy, end faculty requests for medical notes, request faculty to abide by the rule, encourage faculty to add some leniency into the course design, and make it clear who the associate dean is for each college.
            ii. The assembly entered debate to discuss student and faculty awareness about the health system.
            iii. H. Watkins motioned to close debate, no dissent.
            iv. The resolution has been moved to the Third Reading Calendar.
            v. H. Watkins motioned to suspend the standing rules to amend the agenda and move presentations to after the Third Reading Calendar, no dissent.
  
  XII. Third Reading Calendar
       a. Resolution 6: Solidifying Students with Disabilities’ Representation in Assembly Programming
            i. H. Watkins reiterated that the resolution would mandate the Students with Disabilities representatives to serve on the Campus Pulse Committee.
            ii. A. Lyons motioned to close debate, no dissent.
            iii. The resolution passed by a vote of 24-0-0.
       b. Resolution 7: Reforming Annual Anti-Bias and Transparency Training Procedures
            i. Y. Masoud reiterated that the resolution would amend the governing docs to say the DEI committee will create the DEI training and all committee chairs will administer it, which will be checked by execs.
            ii. H. Watkins motioned to close debate, no dissent.
            iii. The resolution passed by a vote of 24-0-0.
            iv. E. Chaudhuri ceded the chair to H. Watkins.
       c. Resolution 8: Amending the Faculty Handbook to Require Syllabus Publication on the Class Roster and Encourage Common Syllabi for Multi-Section Courses
            i. E. Chaudhuri motioned to amend line 76 and add to line 77, no dissent.
            ii. E. Chaudhuri shared that syllabi aren’t on course enroll and the resolution would ask faculty to amend the faculty handbook to say that by the first day of classes, professors must have a syllabus up on course roster. The resolution would also recommend for the Faculty Senate to create a more standardized process and look at the different syllabi to ensure expectations for students are the same across classes with the same course code.
            iii. The assembly entered debate to discuss how to deal with criticism against the resolution and the possibility of the systemized syllabi resulting in a more difficult course.
            iv. A. Ayoola motioned to close debate, no dissent.
            v. The resolution passed by a vote of 21-0-2.
       d. H. Watkins ceded the chair to E. Chaudhuri.
       e. L. Blum motioned to enter Community of the Whole for 16 minutes, no dissent.
       f. The assembly entered the Community of the Whole.
       g. H. Watkins motioned to end Community of the Whole, no dissent.
  
  XIII. Presentations
       a. Cornell AI Initiative
            i. Presentation by Thorsten Joachims and Steve Jackson.
            ii. The assembly entered a question and feedback session to discuss Cornell providing AI subscription, ethics, sustainability, faculty concerns, rollout and timeline for undergraduates, equal access, AI policies, and misinformation training.
            iii. The Chair smiled favorably upon a motion to extend the meeting to 6:40 PM

  StudentAssemblyMeetingMinutesSeptember172026.pdf (154.06 KB)