A year or so ago, I was researching a story on the genocide in Darfur and Cornell’s decision to divest from Sudan. The Student Assembly had recently passed a resolution praising the university’s actions, and I delved further into the S.A.’s role in the decision to divest, naively assuming that the student government would have played a pivotal role in such an important action. The S.A.’s “role”? To write a document praising the university for its actions, after the fact.

Oh.

The S.A. has not been short of coverage in The Sun recently, and everyone seems to be wondering the same thing: why? What does the S.A. do? Is there something that we collectively are missing, or is it all just much ado about nothing?

Eclipse looks into the S.A. this week, finding out its real sphere of influence and how it compares to other student governments. Check out Peter Deyo’s report to read (and judge) for yourself how important the S.A. is, and how it compares to peer organizations at other schools.

Don’t worry, though, we’re not all business this week: check out what’s going on this weekend on page 11, or Lauren Kramer’s account of the suntanned and sloppy orientation week social scene.

Enjoy your weekends, enjoy Eclipse and, as always, let me know what you think at eclipse@cornellsun.com.

Cheers,

Leigha Kemmett