A proposal to resolve sexual assault accusations against students by using a process similar to the one for faculty or staff members failed in a vote by the Codes and Judicial Committee on Wednesday.

Students who are accused of sexual assault at Cornell may soon face a very different system for deciding their cases than the one they now encounter.

President David Skorton defended his handling of the University administration at a meeting of the University Assembly on Tuesday, saying that he has always strived for transparency when making administrative decisions.

A new University Assembly charter will increase the U.A.’s influence over University decisions, according to the chair of the U.A. executive committee.

Parents of children at Cornell Child Care Center express increased satisfaction with their children's care despite the Faculty Senate's recommendation to cut ties with the center last year.

The Executive Committee of the University Assembly says that President Skorton's decision to continue the University's contract with Bright Horizons Family Solutions was no incongruent with the U.A. Childcare Services Subcommittee's recommendation.

For the first time in years, the University Assembly has a chance to reach the required 20 percent of voter turnout it takes to allow the assembly to reform its charter.

During yesterday's weekly meeting, the Student Assembly took steps to prevent discrimination in independent student organizations by passing a resolution which would extend full membership rights to all student members.

To the Editor:

Re: “To Eliminte Discrimination,” Opinion, Feb. 11

Yesterday’s article, “U.A. Passes Non-Discrimination Clause, Changing the Campus Code of Conduct,” addressed many of the issues arising from the University Assembly’s recent revision of language in the Campus Code of Conduct concerning harassment on campus. Although some items were not addressed — or not adequately addressed — by this news piece, we were far more troubled by the editorial, “To Eliminate Discrimination,” which egregiously mischaracterized the resolution. It is imperative that the university community be presented with an accurate narrative of the facts when discussing important matters such as free speech, harassment and discrimination. Likewise, President Skorton must consider the full and true facts when he is presented with the U.A.’s recent resolution.

In the first University Assembly meeting of the academic year yesterday, its members agreed to hold an additional discussion to analyze their organization’s role on campus.

This impromptu decision was the result of a major assembly initiative to rewrite the current U.A. Charter. Rewriting the U.A. Charter has been on the assembly’s agenda since last year and is a top priority for the recently re-elected chair of the assembly, Rodney Orme, who works in the Office of the Registrar. But when the initiative was mentioned at yesterday’s meeting, faculty representative Prof. Marty Hatch, music, encouraged his colleagues to first establish how the U.A.’s role on campus had changed since it was first created.