This past Wednesday, I had the pleasure of sitting down with Vice President Ryan Lombardi and speaking with him and several other students and faculty about the lack of power that the university has. Cornell University holds little power to seriously rebuke students when “bad things happen.” The Office of Judicial Administration is an independent and autonomous department, and the administration (President Pollack, VP Lombardi, etc.) are not able to singularly hand down punishment. The discussion opened up on Wednesday was VP Lombardi asking us what we thought about the power dynamic, as it is ultimately up to us as a student body to govern ourselves and collectively ostracize and rebuke poor student behavior on campus.

He asked us what we personally prefer – as he feels that many people are asking the administration to “do something” about behavior on campus when in reality he doesn’t, technically speaking, have the direct capability to do so. He asked us if we prefer the administration to encompass the power or if we as students should keep it.

I personally think that it is unfair to expect students to step up and collectively advocate for a solution when students among us our at fault for certain things. Why should it hang on my shoulders to keep other students accountable? Although I want to see justice served, fraternities suspended, and in some cases, students expelled… it shouldn’t be on me and my peers to make these things happen by causing uproars and pressuring the Office of Judicial Administration to take action – In a perfect world for me, the administration would have the power do these things, and they would actually do them.

I, personally, however, do not wholly trust Cornell University to do the right thing when it comes down to it. With a university like this, I would believe that it is in the administration’s best interest to not cause a stir in the media, to keep some situations as under the table as possible, to not be as transparent as possible, and if it means keeping things quiet… to not take action against certain students. When I shared this with VP Lombardi, he understood my concerns and then asked me how to find the balance between the two. Between us, as students, having power, and the administration having the power. It is a difficult question to discuss and find a solution to – but definitely, something to think deeply about and contemplate over, as it has the ability to lower tension among the administration and students and find more agreeable solutions.