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Student Assembly Passes Resolution to Create a 5-Day Study Period Before Final Exams
The Student Assembly sent Resolution 43, which calls for an extended study period before finals, to President Michael Kotlikoff’s desk last Thursday, where it now awaits approval from him. A three-day study period is currently in place for this year and is not subject to change. Implementing a five-day study period will require the administration and faculty to change the academic calendar per New York State’s requirement that colleges and universities have a minimum of 15 weeks per semester for a two-semester system. The study period does not count towards the 15-week minimum requirement — increasing the study period would likely lengthen the academic year. The resolution highlighted the need…
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Christian Flournoy ’27 Plans to Maximize Student Voices as Executive Vice President of the Student Assembly
Heading into his second year of being on the Student Assembly executive board, Christian Flournoy ’27 said that there are two ideals he envisions for his term as executive vice president: “[maximizing] the student voice” and “ensuring community representation.” Flournoy was announced as the next executive vice president for the Assembly on Wednesday, April 25, beating out three competitors in a narrow race. He currently serves as the vice president for diversity and inclusion for the Assembly, sitting on its executive board. Flournoy is pursuing the pre-medical path and noted a passion for promoting student health and well-being. Amid a string of campus tragedies in the Fall 2024 semester, Flournoy…
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A Declassified Student Assembly Guide
By Vanessa Long The transition into college incites a mix of feelings and fresh experiences that make the first semester feel like a blur. Attempting to cram fun into a rigorous academic environment leaves little room for much else. Hangouts become study dates, and dinner transforms into a hangout. Then suddenly, in the midst of this period of acclimation, Instagram stories are infiltrated with students asking for your vote to become a Representative in the Student Assembly. What follows is a slew of emails reminding students of the upcoming elections and the deadline to vote. Suddenly, as you stare down at one of many emails informing you of candidates and…
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Zora deRham ’27 Secures Second Term as Student Assembly President, Christian Flournoy ’27 Elected Executive Vice President
Zora deRham ’27 will continue to serve as Student Assembly president and Christian Flournoy ’27 will fill the role of executive vice president, according to the Assembly election results for the 2025-2026 school year, announced at 3 p.m. on Wednesday. deRham won the majority vote in a presidential race against three other candidates. Ameera Aftab ’26 was the runner up for president against Eddy Pang ’28 and Flournoy — who ran for president and executive vice president and is currently on the student-elected trustee ballot. Flournoy also had three competitors for executive vice president, including runner-up Ezra Galperin ’27, Saad Razzak ’26 and David Suarez ’27. The presidential and EVP…
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The University Still Has ‘Not Gotten Formal Notification’ of the Funding Freeze, Kotlikoff Tells Student Assembly
As Cornell sees an over $1 billion funding cut from the Trump administration and at least four student visa revocations, President Michael Kotlikoff and Dean of Students Marla Love addressed the Student Assembly at its Thursday meeting. Funding Cuts Kotlikoff said that the University still has “not gotten formal notification” of the funding freeze at the Assembly meeting, over a week after The New York Times broke the news of the cuts on April 8, based on information from U.S. officials. The University received over 75 stop-work orders from the Department of Defense on Monday related to Cornell research “that is profoundly significant to American national defense, cybersecurity, and health,”…
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Kotlikoff Acknowledges Assembly Resolution for Immigrant Student Protections, Rejects Several Suggestions
President Michael Kotlikoff acknowledged Student Assembly Resolution 37: “Protecting Immigrant Students” on Monday, while rejecting several of the Assembly’s suggestions and pointing to existing resources for international students. Resolution 37, which sought to increase protections for immigrant students, passed in the Assembly on March 6 in a room crowded with more than 100 community members gathered to show support for the resolution. In his acknowledgement of the resolution, President Kotlikoff rejected several demands, including implementing mandatory “Know Your Rights” training for all students, faculty and staff, designating certain campus buildings, namely religious spaces, as “exempt” from ICE activity and providing legal assistance to international students facing visa revocations. The resolution…
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EDITORIAL | The Sun Endorses Saad Razzak ’26 for Student Assembly EVP
Editor’s Note: After interviewing all presidential candidates who were available, The Sun’s editorial team has decided to abstain from endorsing any candidate for president. The Sun’s editorial team believes no presidential candidate demonstrated both the policy commitments and consistent actions necessary to fully reflect the institutional values of this paper. Cornell stands at a precipice. With a $1 billion funding freeze from the Trump administration and the Student Assembly entering a byline funding year, the stakes are much too high for the normalized ambivalence the student body holds towards Assembly elections. Student representatives must meet this moment with both courage and competence — and that begins with leadership that understands…
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Employee Assembly Announces Spring 2025 Election Results
Ten employee representatives were announced as winners of the Spring 2025 Employee Assembly election selected to represent the voices of the University’s colleges and schools, divisions, units and identity-based campus communities on Wednesday. The Employee Assembly is a 35-member group representing staff from Cornell’s Ithaca, Geneva and Cornell Tech campuses. Advocating for staff interests, the assembly promotes collaboration with University leadership and works to enhance the staff experience. This spring election used a ranked-choice voting system, which allows voters to rank candidates by preference. Nickey Williams, a recent addition to the Cornell staff, is the assistant director for the Pre-Collegiate Summer Scholars Program. She was elected as the less than…
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Meet the 2025-2026 Student Assembly Executive Vice President Candidates
Cornell students have the opportunity to choose who will represent the voice of the student body for the 2025-2026 academic year as the Spring 2025 Student Assembly election cycle begins. Voting opened Monday and students can cast their online ballot up until April 21 at noon. One position up for re-election is Executive Vice President, the second-highest ranking official in the assembly. Read about the candidates for the Student Assembly President here. This year, four candidates are running to be the next Executive Vice President to replace incumbent Adam Vinson ’25. Saad Razzak To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5…
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Meet The 2025-2026 Student Assembly Presidential Candidates
Zora deRham ’27 Seeks Another Term as Student Assembly President By Anant Srinivasan To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video With a year under her belt as Student Assembly President, Zora deRham ’27 aims to apply her institutional knowledge and experience to another term. “I’ve been honored to serve as Student Assembly President this past year,” deRham said in an interview with The Sun. “There are plenty of projects that have been started and I want to make sure I can see them to fruition.” Last spring, deRham ran for the seat as a freshman, with a campaign centered…