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Cornell Faculty Donations Flood Left, Filings Show

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Correction appended
Of the nearly $600,000 Cornell’s faculty donated to political candidates or parties in the past four years, over 96 percent has gone to fund Democratic campaigns, while only 15 of the 323 donors gave to conservative causes. The Sun’s analysis of Federal Election Committee data reveals that from 2011 to 2014, Cornell’s faculty donated $573,659 to Democrats, $16,360 to Republicans and $2,950 to Independents. Each of Cornell’s 13 schools — both graduate and undergraduate — slanted heavily to the left. In the College of Arts and Sciences, 99 percent of the $183,644 donated went to liberal campaigns. The law school demonstrated the strongest conservative showing, with nearly 26 percent of its approximately $20,000 worth of donations going to Republicans.   

Almost one-third of donations made over the past four years went to 2012 presidential campaigns.

News

Biochemistry Prof. Emeritus George Hess Dies at 92

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Prof. Emeritus George Hess, biochemistry, died Sept. 9 at 92 at his Ithaca home. Originally from Austria, Hess moved to the United States in 1938.  He received his bachelor’s degree and Ph.D. in biochemistry from the University of California, Berkeley.  He received his postdoctoral training in chemistry at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, according to the University. Hess began working at Cornell in 1955, serving on Cornell’s faculty for 50 years. Colleague Prof. Volker Vogt, molecular biology and genetics, described Hess in a University press release as “a pioneer in the study of a class of proteins called ion channels, gate-keepers that allow specific small molecules to enter cells.”
Hess originally studied proteins in solution, then began focusing on membrane-bound proteins.