Student Assembly

Dear President Skorton,

First off, allow me to thank you for opening up both your home and office to me last week. I trust that you and your family had a wonderful Passover holiday. I also think you would be pleased to hear that you were quoted at some length during our Friday prayer sermon regarding your remarks about mental health and well-being, and I think many more people will be quoting your column in the Sun that appeared yesterday. I apologize that I could not watch your valiant quest for world domination in Flora Rose on Saturday night, but please remember that not having tried is a worse failure than defeat, so in that regard you were successful as I’ve heard many students talk about the event afterward.

Now on to business matters, I thank you for your response to the Non-Discrimination Clause. If you are available, I think it may be a good idea for you to come to an SA meeting before your scheduled visit with VP Murphy on April 29th to allow any students or general community members to discuss the implications of the resolution and your response to it as many students are very interested. Our Executive Vice President, Nikhil Kumar, will send you the invite along with possible times and dates by the end of the day.

Below are a few resolutions for your approval and/or review:

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

R. 34 (Amended) - Clarification of at-Large Seats—An additional clause was included per your request to clarify that these seats are being designated as minority, international and LGBTQ representatives as a result of our intention to serve these underrepresented communities.

R. 43 - Defining the General Roles of College Representatives—Mandates college representatives to gather information about their respective colleges through mass-mailed surveys.

R. 50 - Requesting Deans to Speak at SA Meetings—After seeing the success of Dean Lepage’s visit to discuss potential cuts to the TFD Department, we thought it a good idea to invite all College Deans to speak before the SA at least once per year. No need for approval, but we plan to send some version of the letter included in the bottom of the resolution to all College Deans, and would appreciate your support and encouragement as some Deans have been more reluctant to attend than others. I think you would agree that it should be part of the job description (if it isn’t already) for College Deans to communicate with students, and if you as President can find the time to come to an SA meeting at least once per semester, I don’t think it would be too much to ask College Deans to come once a year.

R. 52 - Resolution in Support of the Student Statement on the Right to Research—Calls for support of open access to academic research; no approval necessary. A similar resolution has been passed by the GPSA, and the Student Statement on the Right to Research is also attached.

R. 54 - Removing the Charter Test for SA Members—Pretty self-explanatory. Technically a Charter change so you would need to approve.

R. 55 - Charter Amendments—Reflects current standard operating procedure. Clarifies that charter amendments can only be adopted by the Assembly after at least two meetings. This prevents impulsive same-day Charter amendments from being made.

R. 57 - Resolution in Support of a Korean Studies Program and the Korean Language Program—Received a tremendous backing from the Korean community; no approval necessary. Calls for the development of a Korean Studies program along with at least one tenure-track faculty member and the creation of a Korean Language House and a summer intensive Korean Language Program.

R. 61 - Marcellus Shale Drilling Committee—Follows up on R. 35 that was transmitted to you last semester to which you replied that Provost Fuchs would be creating an advisory committee composed of faculty, students and staff to investigate the issues surrounding horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing. To our knowledge, no undergraduate students have been appointed to this Ad Hoc Advisory Committee on Leasing of Land for Exploration and Drilling for Natural Gas in the Marcellus Shale whose composition can be found here. A copy will also be sent to Chairman Meinig.

R. 68 - Allowing Decorations on Chain-Link Fences on Campus Bridges—Requests for the University to allow certain decorations on chain-link fences constructed on the bridges. VP Murphy has already expressed that this policy has been or will soon be adopted; no approval necessary.

Yours in the struggle, I am
Rammy