Six students are campaigning for the undergraduate student-elected trustee position on the Cornell Board of Trustees. This year’s candidates, who seek to replace incumbent J.P. Swenson ’25, are Marco Martini ’27, Lani Lin-Kissick ’28, David Diao ’27, Reid Schwartz ’27, Keten Abebe ’27 and Christian Flournoy ’27.
Elections began on Wednesday and will run until Monday, April 28. The biannually elected position runs for two years, and the chosen representative will become the undergraduate population's voice on the Board of Trustees, one of Cornell’s top decision-making bodies.
On Monday, The Sun held the 2025 Student-Elected Trustee Candidate Forum moderated by Julia Senzon ’26, the editor-in-chief of The Sun, to understand their policy stances and qualifications.
Communication Between Students and Trustees
One point all candidates expressed concerns about was the communication, or lack thereof, between the student body and the Board of Trustees.
Abebe, a sophomore in the Brooks School of Public Policy, added that beyond communication, visibility and making the student trustee role more visible and approachable to the Cornell student body are likewise necessary.
“I know a lot of students don’t even know that a student trustee position exists, and they don’t know who to contact when they have something that’s impacting them, or they want to voice their opinion, or they want to express their vision,” Abebe said. “So showing students that you do exist and that you care, and [are] not only reaching out to them, but being accessible to them, I think, is really, really important.”
Similarly, Schwartz, a sophomore in the College of Human Ecology, also stressed the importance of ongoing communication between students and trustees to ensure that there is a “constant flow of communication and sentiment from the students to the trustees.”
Flournoy, a sophomore in the College of Human Ecology, also advocated the importance of creating more direct connections between the Board of Trustees and the student body, encouraging trustees to attend student events to better understand the issues students face.
“It is so invaluable for trustees themselves to actually come to campus, be among the students that they were once themselves and really hear what's actually going on,” Flournoy said. “Because often there's even a chance that they might even hear an issue that they can personally relate to, [something] that was an issue when they were here as well.”
Martini, a sophomore in the School of Industrial and Labor Relations, believes that the “most effective way to deal with how students are thinking, how they're feeling, is just face-to-face interactions.”
Lin-Kissick, a freshman in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, proposed ways to improve transparency and communication by “[making] more of the [Board of Trustees] meeting available to the student body,” so students can listen in and be informed about ongoing discussions and changes. Currently, a majority of the Board of Trustees’ meetings are closed to the public, with brief open session periods.
Diao, a sophomore in the Brooks School of Public Policy, stressed the importance of unifying student voices around shared concerns.
“There [are] often so many things that we actually find we agree upon,” said Diao. “For example, in the recent case of federal administration deportations and the revoking of visas, many students from many different backgrounds agree that there is not a place for the federal government to intervene on Cornell's campus, and those kinds of connections can only be found through a truly active effort to incorporate student feedback.”
On-Campus Housing and Dining
Diao also criticized current dining and housing policies for restricting students' choices and failing to meet the diverse needs of the student body.
“Students should be respected enough to make their own decisions,” Diao said, referring to the limited kosher and halal dining options within Cornell dining halls and the sophomore housing mandate that temporarily left students on a waitlist without being offered the opportunity to choose where they would like to live on campus next year.
Martini also addressed issues with the housing selection process, calling it “very, very hectic.”
“As a student, you're just very confused about how the [housing] process works in general,” Martini said.
He noted that dorm quality varied across campus, arguing that there's a “big discrepancy” in freshman dorms. Those who received “not such a good dorm” should maybe get preference in the following years’ cycles, Martini suggested.
Schwartz intends to advocate for better dining options and believes there is a severe lack of options. Many students face challenges finding time to eat a meal during the day due to long lines and limited dining options near academic buildings. Schwartz suggested that “we open more meal swipe opportunities on campus — maybe we increase BRBs in the meal plan so there’s more flexibility.”
Fostering a Sense of Community
In light of recent administrative changes, candidates highlighted their commitment to fostering a sense of community across a diverse student body.
“When you become a student at Cornell, you're forever a Cornellian,” said Lin-Kissick. She emphasized that she wanted to ensure all Cornellians know that they “have access to the extended resources that we have here.”
Flournoy also emphasized the importance of fostering a sense of community and belonging for all students.
“[When] you think about the variety of different people that are here and our ability to come together, ” Flournoy said. “Whether it's just making friends, whether it's in organizations on campus and really championing that and making sure that we're still able to feel welcome, feel at home,” Flournoy said. “That’s really the biggest strength.”
In reference to combating different uncertainties on campus, Flournoy urged Cornellians to “stay unified and … continue to embody ‘any person, any study.’”
Health and Wellness
The topic of healthcare is another focal point of some candidates’ campaigns.
Abebe’s key initiatives include lowering the cost of healthcare, a concern particularly relevant to her as a first-generation immigrant student paying out of pocket for healthcare, as well as expanding access to mental health services.
“Cornell is hard, and life is hard in general,” Abebe said. “To have the space to navigate that while we’re understanding ourselves and our community is really, really important.”
Similarly, Schwartz acknowledged the difficulties and issues with Cornell’s healthcare system, specifically with the amount of time it takes to book an appointment.
“When you go on the Cornell [Health] website, it's really hard to book an appointment unless you actually call and say, I need to be seen right now,” Schwartz said. “If not, they'll make you wait two weeks sometimes — these are stories of just how difficult some things are on campus.”
Furthermore, Martini hopes to secure free or more affordable fitness plans for students who cannot afford a membership, believing that finding a healthy outlet to academic work is important. Though there are numerous gyms on campus, Martini pointed out that they are constantly packed, which makes it difficult to work out and find equipment to use.
“Fitness centers are not the most accommodating … and usually they are really packed,” Martini said. “And I think that [going] alone is also very scary for people who are trying to work out for the first time. I think equipment and just the spaces in general should be expanded.”
Likewise, Schwartz also intends to enact change in campus fitness centers. He believes the primary issue with these centers is accessibility and stressed the need for making fitness centers more open and available for all students at all times.
“Every time I try to work out, there's a line of seven people for a machine. It doesn't feel good,” Schwartz said. “Getting the students what they are promised to get, getting them into the gym, getting laundry, getting access to food on a plan that you paid for, getting access to buildings physically with construction all over the art squad and all over campus — it's all about access.”
Voting for the elections will end 11:59 p.m. on Monday, April 28.
