Whereas, the requirements for the Cornell Special Projects Fund read as: “The Student Assembly may choose to fund any project, program or service through the Assembly Special Projects that it deems to improve the quality of undergraduate student life.” (Cornell Student Assembly Standing Rules, Section 111.B),
Whereas, Any Cornell registered student organization may apply for this funding, even the ones that have competitive recruitment processes and limit the number of undergraduate students from joining them,
Whereas, any organization is willing to request up to $5,000 from the Student Assembly for any project, program, or service, with little to no guidelines on verification, or rationale as to why they deserve the money, and no repercussions for mismanagement,
Be it therefore resolved, that the language of subsection 112.B (2) be amended to reflect “Special Projects funding may be requested by Assembly committee chairs that seek funding for expenditures that exceed their committee’s budgeted allocation or any registered Cornell undergraduate student organization that meets any of the following criteria:
(a) membership recruitment processes that are not application or interview based, or
(b) seeking to host an open, public event on Cornell's Ithaca campus and have been approved for the maximum amount of SAFC special events funding”,
Be it further resolved, the Cornell Student Assembly Standing Rules Section 111.B have a section 7 that reads, “If any organization has been found to have violated the terms of their proposal by artificially inflating costs, overestimating the amount of students utilizing this funding, or genuinely misrepresenting the purpose of the activity for the sake of gaining extra money, they shall receive a fine, determined by the Vice President of Finance”,
Be it finally resolved, that on the Special Projects Fund Application page, the Vice President of Finance shall be required to provide general guidelines for calculating the cost of “fixed travel expenses” which include but are not limited to: plane tickets, rental cars, meals per day, gas, hotel rooms, etc. These guidelines can also be relative to geographic location. These guidelines are not binding, but are rather recommendations to communicate to applicants to not unnecessarily splurge, as Special Projects Funding is not limitless.
Respectfully Submitted,
Eeshaan Chaudhuri ‘27
Vice Chair of Operations, University Assembly
