In a majority vote, The Student Assembly voted to rework proposed Resolution 10, which attempts to give the undergraduate body a voice in revisions of the Student Code of Conduct, during its Thursday meeting.
Resolution 10, titled "Addressing the Administration’s Undemocratic Review of the Student Code of Conduct and Affirming Cornell’s System of Shared Governance,” was introduced by Aiden Vallecillo ’26, the Assembly’s student workers representative, amid the University’s review of the Student Code of Conduct launched in August.
The resolution “condemns the exclusion of the elected Assemblies in [the University’s] revision of the Student Code of Conduct.”
Currently, authority over the Code is held by Vice President for Student & Campus Life Ryan Lombardi and delegated to the Office of Student Conduct and Community Standards. According to OSCCS, the revision of the Code will receive “advisory input” from a closed Code and Procedures Review Committee, though the extent of that input was not specified.
The Review Committee currently has eleven members, including six administrators, one faculty member, and four students. Nicholas Brennan, Ph.D. student and Graduate and Professional Student Assembly President and deRham are both members of the committee.
Student Assembly members Ezra Galperin ’27, representative at-large, and Assembly President Zora deRham ’27 were among those who voiced their concerns over the resolution at the Thursday meeting.
“What happens if students [who are members of Greek life] advocate for their own interests?” Galperin said.
deRham raised concerns over word choice, stating the resolution "reads like one big complaint."
The Student Assembly subsequently voted to pause debate and rework the resolution rather than move it to the next reading calendar. This gives the Student Assembly an additional week to draft the resolution without reentering debate.
The resolution calls for the Code to be reviewed by a committee composed of three freely elected members from the University Assembly, the Student Assembly, the Faculty Senate and the Graduate and Professional Student Assembly, and that “the revision be approved by each of these bodies.”
The resolution also requests “all information regarding the process by which Lombardi identified, evaluated and appointed the voting members of the Code and Procedures Review Committee” from the University administration.
The Student Assembly additionally passed Resolution 7, which will establish a Student Employment Policy Committee within the Assembly to address the needs of Student Workers. Resolution 9: Ending Career Services Collaboration with ICE aims to disallow the University from promoting and advertising jobs by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency, was voted to move to the Third Reading Calendar next week, and is scheduled to go to a final vote on Sept. 25.
Correction, Sept. 23, 2:50 a.m.: This article has been corrected to say that the Assembly voted to push Res. 10 in a majority vote, not a unanimous vote. Additionally, Nicholas Brennan, grad, and Zora deRham '27 are members of the Review Committee, but not required members, as was previously stated.
Correction, Sept. 28, 2:45 p.m.: This article has been updated to clarify a quote from Student Assembly President Zora deRham ’27.
