A recent number of incidents by the Student Assembly have highlighted its incompetence, ineptitude, and movement away from its original purpose. One could point to anemic voter turnout in SA elections and President Pollack’s forceful rejection of Resolution 31.
These are seen as signs that the SA is the body of a bygone era, and has no more use. I stand here as a critic of the SA to say that I firmly believe that the SA is a fundamental part of the undergraduate experience at Cornell. While it is by no means perfect, a much better alternative to ending the SA would be to enact reforms to the body.
Benefits of the Student Assembly
At its core, the purpose of the Student Assembly is to give legitimate representation to students and direct access to the administration and faculty. It’s very hard for individual students to voice complaints to the deans, President Pollack, or others in the administration.
This is similar to the workplace. A group of workers, who might find it harder to push for change on an individual level. Together, with a union and a common voice, they are able to speak directly to the company and collectively bargain. Similarly, students on an individual level cannot bring major change to campus on their own. However, with proper elected representation, they empower fellow students to come together and make proposals on their behalf.
One criticism of the SA is that there is currently low turnout and engagement with the SA. Limited engagement with the SA right now does not justify its abolition.
In the United States, we have gone through historic periods of low election participation and turnout. In 1996, voter turnout was very low in comparison to contemporary history, coming in at 58%. Midterm turnout in 2014 was even lower at roughly 34%. Point being – during these periods of low turnout we did not get rid of Congress entirely and let the president run everything.
In fact, the SA has been at work, listening to the concerns of the students and working with the administration to come up with solutions. One example is Resolution 20: Dependable and Inclusive Supply of Pharmaceutical and Essential Nonprescription Supplies. This resolution “supports the creation of a pilot program through Cornell Health’s Pharmacy for multi-unit vending machines carrying essential nonprescription medicine emergency contraception to increase health accessibility and health equity on campus.”
Students were concerned that there was not enough on-campus access to nonprescription medicine and emergency contraception. Very likely on their own, they would not have been able to convince the university of the significance or need for these vending machines. However, through the SA, students were able to voice their concerns directly to the administration. These vending machines are coming to Cornell in the fall.
Regardless of what you think of this particular proposal, the idea that representatives elected by students can come together and work with the administration is a powerful feature that can improve the lives of students.
We want to empower students, not take away representation and power from them. What good would it do to completely take away students’ representation? To those who advocate for this, I ask: What are you trying to accomplish?
Negative Consequences of Abolishing the SA
Abolishing the Student Assembly would ultimately lead to a more oligarchical form of governance.The students who do have the ear of the dean. And those in the administration would become that much more influential and powerful, and the school would be shaped much more to their liking.
Some argue that the SA is politically bent to one side, or biased. However, at the end of the day,these were our elected student body officials. We have the ability to elect new ones if we so desire. There would be no way of holding those in power accountable for their actions.
Reforms
Rather than abolishing the SA, I offer an alternative; reform the SA and create new systems to moderate the SA, force more cooperation, engagement and accountability, as well as increase interest in the SA.
Currently, Cornell has the SA and the Faculty Senate as two separate bodies. One reform I would encourage is to fuse these two bodies into one representative group. This would have several benefits, including calming some of the more extreme tempers and ideas that the students may have. By having the “adults” in the room, students are forced to engage and debate their ideas, moderating some of the more extreme aspects of the SA that some critics complain about. For example, if there was one elective body, does one think that there would have been unanimous approval of requiring faculty to use “content warnings”?
Finally, I would call for the creation of town halls with students. While all students are welcome at SA meetings, they are generally very structured and time for questions is short. Having town halls gives students adequate access to SA members and increased exposure to them, as well as increasing the chance for students to voice their opinions or concerns to SA members. This may increase interest and eventually turnout in SA elections.
Overall, while SA is contentious to some and benign to others, it is worth asking; what would be accomplished in abolishing the Student Assembly? It is my belief that we should continue to find ways to expand student representation and power. Without it, we are much more beholden to the whims of an unelected bureaucratic state which seemingly has less and less care for the daily lives of students. Now who is in favor of that?
