Office of the Assemblies

Dear President Pollack,

It is my pleasure to convey to you UA R21, "Updating the Judicial Administrator Reappointment Process." This resolution is sponsored by Matthew Battaglia and can be found here: 

https://assembly.cornell.edu/resolutions/ua-r21-updating-judicial-administrator-reappointment-process

This code amendment is the result of months of community input, collaboration, discussion, and deliberation between members of the administration and the University Assembly, impacted individuals, and the University Assembly. We recognize this code amendment as one of many recommendations that the Assembly intends to propose this session. 

The thrust of the UA R21 amendment is that the Judicial Administrator will no longer be subject to a specified term limit of two years but instead will serve indefinitely until resignation or removal by either the dual consent of the President and the University Assembly, or in the (hopefully) unlikely and exceptionally rare cases where those two entities disagree, by the Board of Trustees.* 

We are proposing a more effective review system that involves regular assessment by the President's Office and the University Assembly so as to provide feedback on the Judicial Administrator's performance. We hope that these performance evaluations serve as the be basis off of which decisions regarding the Judicial Administrator are made.

I believe that this agreement strikes the appropriate balance between both the independence necessary for the Judicial Administrator to efficiently perform the duties associated with the role, and the accountability necessary for the campus community to meaningfully engage the campus judicial system.

I would like to personally thank you, Joel Malina, Mary Opperman, and Kelly Cunningham for your leadership and (especially important when working with the Assemblies) your continued patience. You undertook the task of meeting and deliberating with the leaders of the University Assembly to work towards an agreement of which we can all be proud. The Assembly is optimistic that this code amendment lays the framework for more to come. 

Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns. Thank you again for your time.

Best,

Gabe

-- 

Gabriel D. Kaufman

Chair, University Assembly

 Cornell University