As May 1 quickly approaches, and signs around campus urge us to “Skip Class” and “Learn Something” on the Commons, we are likely to react with some obvious and legitimate questions. It’s easy enough to get the first directive. It’s not like most students at Cornell need a reason to skip class. For many, “I don’t feel like it” is sufficient. But learn something? Learn what? And isn’t that what class is for?

Why we can't help but care, despite all the petty debates, crazy campaign ads and sex scandals. 

0 0 1 501 2856 Cornell University 23 6 3351 14.0

About twenty minutes ago, I finished eating at Appel, one of the several dining halls on North Campus. As I left, I carefully placed my dirty dishes on one of the revolving trays to be washed. I felt sick to my stomach. I realized that I always feel sick to my stomach at that moment, whenever I go to a dining hall. It wasn’t the food (although it sometimes might be with Appel); it was a lurch in my gut, the type of shame you get when you have to be reminded to say please by your parents or when you realize you are preventing a pregnant woman from having a seat on the bus. This moment, somehow, was clashing with the values of my upbringing in a very consistent and visceral way. For most of the semester, I had been trying to figure out why.