I’ve never been good at saying goodbye, so writing this piece is difficult. I debated treating my 43rd and final column in The Sun much like any other. No single topic or issue, though, can encapsulate my four years at Cornell, three of them as a columnist.

Last week, the University completed reviewing applications for the Class of 2017. A record-low 15.2 percent of students were accepted, and news of Cornell’s increased selectivity inspired much joy, pride and validation across campus.

Despite significant dialogue about Cornell’s new Tech Campus in New York City, there has been an absence of community discussion about the other new campus Cornell has slowly been constructing — the one being built online.

Here at Cornell, a student may be expelled or otherwise punished for violating the Code of Academic Integrity. Obviously, having the courage to report a rape on Cornell’s campus is not condemned, but at the University of North Carolina, different rules apply.

Members of the Cornell community who are American citizens by virtue of birth, myself included, often forget and take for granted the rights and opportunities that come with our birthright. After attending a friend’s naturalization ceremony in Cortland, N.Y., last week, however, I now recognize the meaning of citizenship.

The second semester of senior year is a milestone for any undergraduate on the Hill. After three and a half long and difficult years, one is rewarded with the opportunity to take fewer credits and spend more hours at the (few) bars than at the (many) libraries. But is the four month sojourn at Camp Cornell worth the ever-increasing cost of tuition?

For perhaps the first time ever, my Facebook news feed lit up in a show of collective activism this past weekend. Not over a political or social cause, mind you, but rather solidarity regarding the sale and use of information shared over Facebook. In light of proposed changes to the site’s privacy policy, Cornellians perceived a threat to their ownership of their digital identities.

Last month, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the case Fisher v. University of Texas, and sometime in the next year we will know the fate of affirmative action practices in college admissions.

Tonight many Cornellians will roam Collegetown in costume for Halloween. Many men on campus, however, have been dressed up for weeks in response to the wave of bias incidents and violence toward women. We’ve been very convincing iterations of Two Face — successfully spreading awareness of campus resources and encouraging others to take action in response to newsworthy episodes, while ignoring our own everyday transgressions and those of our friends. In not openly condemning and challenging a pervading culture that continues to objectify women and denigrate minorities, male Cornell students like me exacerbate problems and nullify the effects of the institutions we promote to the community at large.

What value do political debates really hold?