The Student Assembly approved $50,000 in funding for the ALANA Intercultural Board at their Feb. 5 meeting and moved forward with six other funding requests from student organizations across campus.
This action follows controversy during the fall semester, when the Assembly’s finance committee recommended reducing funding for ALANA, Cornell’s Multicultural Greek & Fraternal Council and the International Student Association. After members of these organizations and other student advocacy groups packed the three-hour-long October meeting and voiced their concerns, the Assembly ultimately rejected the committee’s proposal.
Among the applications were requests from student organizations seeking reimbursement for off-campus travel related to educational and professional activities, including the Ethiopian Eritrean Student Association, the Young Democratic Socialists, the Med-In Black Association, the Cornell Capital Club, Air and Sea Hospitality and the Speech and Debate Society.
These funding requests will be filled through the Student Assembly’s Special Projects Fund, a resource designated to provide financial support for on-campus activities and student organizations.
The Assembly also passed a resolution to transfer an additional $10,000 to the Special Projects Fund from reserves in light of the many funding requests.
Throughout the meeting, several Assembly representatives voiced concerns over the liberal allocation of funds towards certain student organization activities, including off-campus trips, emphasizing the need to save money in the Special Projects Fund for on-campus student events.
“I do worry we’re running it dry,” commented Eeshaan Chaudhuri ’27, undergraduate representative to the University Assembly. “I do think we should be stingy with money because [student organizations are] clearly just splurging on a lot of stuff.”
Most recently, the fund was used to support a trip for Black Students United to attend the 2025 Congressional Black Caucus Retreat in Washington, D.C. and financed a similar trip for the Diverse Leaders of Tomorrow to engage in a networking conference in New York City.
The Student Assembly members also briefly mentioned the long-awaited response from President Michael Kotlikoff to Resolution 10, which condemned the administration’s “undemocratic review of the student code of conduct.”
The resolution was conveyed to administration on October 22 and received an acknowledgement on February 2 nearly three and a half months later. Kotlikoff and his administration are responsible for responding to Assembly proposals within 30 days, according to the Student Assembly charter.
The Assembly also moved to unseat two members for their poor attendance records, a move Zora de Rham ’27, student assembly president, emphasized was without precedent, stating, that the Assembly had never done this before.”
According to the Student Assembly Bylaws, if a member accrues four or more unexcused absences, an Assembly officer is required to call for a vote on that member’s removal at the next regular meeting. Although the unseated members will remain formally listed on the Assembly, the action strips them of their voting privileges, significantly limiting their ability to participate in Assembly decision-making.
While the Assembly voted against unseating Cion Kim ’27, College of Engineering representative, who claimed absences accrued from excused events, Aiden Vallecillo ’25, student workers representative, was officially unseated. Unseated members must be voted back into the Assembly before they are able to vote on future motions.
Vivienne Cierski is a freshman in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. She is a Sun Contributor and can be reached at vsc38@cornell.edu
