After a tight budget forced the Student Assembly  to deny several student organizations’ requests for increased funding, the S.A. cut its own budget by 10.2 percent. The decision will allow the S.A. to alleviate some of the funding shortfall other organizations face for the next year.

In what many viewed as the most visible outbreak of discontent after months of negotiations over wages and insurance benefits, one third of TCAT bus drivers called in sick Thursday morning, disrupting service on at least eleven rural routes.

After the Student Assembly granted the appeals of 27 student groups previously denied funding by the Student Assembly Finance Commission, the S.A. unanimously approved a $10,803.50 loan to the SAFC Thursday to pay the organizations.

The New York State legislature approved a $132 billion budget Thursday with reductions to Cornell's contract colleges. Funding for many Cornell agricultural programs, however, was restored in the final budget.

Although The Hangovers missed the SAFC reimbursement deadline, Resolution 56 granted the a cappella group $5,500 for unpaid debt.

To the Editor:

Re: “Assembly members defend decisions,” Letters, Nov. 3

Some Background:

The Student Assembly invited Cornell Cinema to apply for activity fee funding in the late 1980s. At that time, and since its inception in 1970, the Cinema has been a hybrid organization, run by a professional staff, with students serving in an advisory capacity and as employees actively engaged in the organization. There are legions of Cornell alums who were involved with the Cinema as students and consider that involvement to be a significant part of their Cornell experience.

I attended exactly three films put on by Cornell Cinema last year. In descending order of theater packedness: The Dark Knight; Waltz With Bashir; L’Enfant Sauvage. The first of these films was, well, awesome — as in the biblical sense of the word (not the contemporary, frater-natural lexicon). Waltz With Bashir was gripping — as in this graphic-novel looking thing gripped my throat and coerced me into caring about a massacre I had never heard of. L’Enfant Sauvage was boring — as in I was bored. The 18th Century frog doctor and his feral friend left me squirming in my seat before the Twizzlers and popcorn were all eaten.

To the Editor:

Re: “In Defense of Our Cinema,” Opinion, Nov. 2

Thanks to The Sun, I’ve heard the different sides of the Student Assembly vs. the Cornell Cinema funding controversy. I like to believe that I am unbiased in the subject. Have I attended movies and programs at the Cornell Cinema? Yes. Have I waited on line to attend an event at the Cornell Cinema only to be told I was on the wrong line and the event is now full? Yes. Have I applied for and obtained funding for a student organization from the Student Assembly? Yes. Have I been told because I didn’t correctly state an estimate in my budget that I was not getting funding? Yes. It’s safe to say that I’ve had a good and bad relationship with the Cornell Cinema and Student Assembly.

Last week I wrote about how Senator Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) wanted funding for political science research to be removed from the National Science Foundation. His defining its funding with as a waterboarding (fiscally speaking) of future generations was certainly the more striking aspect of his work, but apparently politician science is being given a rather thorough evaluation in terms of viability as a field of study. According to the New York Times , however, even supporters of political science acknowledge that its viability--while undeniable--can be somewhat vague.

On Tuesday, the Senate debated an amendment put forth by Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK). Coburn's Amendement proposed a cut-off of funding for the National Science Foundation's political-science program.