The undergraduates will be voting on two important questions regarding the conduct referendum on December 11. The Cornell Review urges all students to vote “yes” on both questions on the ballot. The two ballot questions are:
1. Prior to 2021, conduct was overseen by the Judicial Administrator, an office independent of Cornell University’s central administration. It is now overseen by the Office of Student Conduct and Community Standards (OSCCS). Should Cornell’s judicial system be independent of the University’s administration?
From Cornell’s start, conduct was the responsibility of the faculty, and later, under shared governance units like the University Assembly (UA), rather than the central administration. In December 2020, the Trustees abandoned that separation, to the detriment of students and their due process rights. Cornell had a well-accepted, independent conduct system and mistakenly abandoned it.
If the office implementing the conduct process reports publicly through a shared governance body, such as the UA, then guidance is transparent. When the OSCCS privately reports to Day Hall, interim suspensions get issued too frequently, and case processing is delayed unfairly for months, putting unfair pressure on the accused to confess and plea bargain, even if they have not violated any rules.
2. As a result of the 1969 Willard Straight Hall Takeover, the conduct of students, faculty, and staff was collectively governed under the Campus Code of Conduct. In 2021, the Student Code of Conduct replaced the Campus Code. Should Cornell University return to a community-wide Campus Code of Conduct?
Cornell is currently regulating the conduct of students, faculty, and staff, but without a published conduct code applying to all three. Effective August 2021, Cornell dropped the Campus Code of Conduct for a Student Code of Conduct that did not apply to faculty or staff. But, most campus demonstrations draw faculty and staff participants alongside students. It is unfair to have students, faculty, and staff demonstrating side-by-side but adjudicated under different standards. Furthermore, a campus code of conduct is required by the Henderson Law, which applies to all higher education institutions in New York State. Cornell has never explained how its student-only code complies with this requirement.
The past four years under a student-only code have been problematic. A conduct code that applies to all three groups will be fairer and less ambiguous than one that is imposed by Day Hall upon just students. Currently, Day Hall does not show students the same care and respect that it shows to faculty and staff.
We urge all undergraduates to vote “yes” on both questions. You can read more perspectives at: https://assembly.cornell.edu/fall-2025-referendum-statements.
