In an environment apparently filled to the brim with authority figures telling you what to do, the challenge of college is to navigate the various voices and forge your own experience.

It is the our responsibility as students to make our voices heard and actively help shape the University into the place we believe it can be.

Despite the hopes of its organizers, the University’s Blackout Party — which marked the opening of Robert Purcell Community Center’s alcohol-free dance club — drew a small crowd on Friday. Sydney Reade ’15, a Class of 2015 Council representative, called attendance at the event “unimpressive.”

Congratulations, you shining beacon of good grades, better board scores and obnoxiously impressive extracurricular activities: You’ve made it to Cornell, the Ben Affleck of the Ivy League! Now that you’re on your way to Ithaca — also known as the Middle of Nowhere — you’ll need a guide to keep you safe from all the crazy townies, fratty upperclassmen and irritatingly punctilious R.A.s.