Whereas, the Student Assembly is committed to transparency and public participation in student governance, as reflected in the Assembly Charter,
Whereas, public comment is an essential component of open governance that allows the Cornell student body to inform the Assembly’s decision-making and voice concerns directly to their elected representatives,
Whereas, the Student Assembly has experienced instances where extended public comment periods have resulted in meetings exceeding available time allocations, caused quorum loss, and prevented engagement in subsequent agenda items,
Whereas, establishing clear, published time limits for public comment ensures that critical business can be completed within reasonable meeting times, helps prevents quorum loss, allows the Assembly to schedule adequate debate and voting on legislative matters, and provides more predictability for both speakers and the public regarding meeting structure,
Whereas, a full-hour allocation for public comment is a reasonable standard that accommodates substantial community input while protecting the Assembly’s ability to function effectively (at 3 minutes per speaker, this allows up to 20 speakers to be heard at each meeting),
Be it therefore resolved, a maximum of one hour shall be allocated for public comment during each regularly scheduled Student Assembly meeting. Public comment shall include all statements from non-voting attendees addressing the Assembly on any topic, whether or not the topic appears on the meeting agenda,
Be it further resolved, if the Chair feels that there is an opinion whose side has not had yet the opportunity to be voiced, the Chair reserves the right to solicit the audience for an opposing opinion and grant the audience member an accelerated speaking order,
Be it finally resolved, this policy will not prevent individuals from submitting written comments for the record, requesting future speaking opportunities, or raising matters at subsequent meetings.
