“If we are to continue to lead, we must continue to seek and nurture exceptional talent without regard to gender, race, ethnicity, nationality, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status or other characteristics that too often divide us.”

—“An Update on Gender Equality,” President Skorton, The Sun, March 9

I doubt President Skorton’s reaffirmation of meritocracy came as a surprise to anyone. Indeed, such is expected from the president of a major academic institution. Puzzling, however, are his further comments on the state of the University.

In celebration of Black History Month, Cornell faculty, students and administrators gathered at a panel discussion called “A Brief History of Black Education in America: Ithaca and beyond” yesterday to look back on the cultural impact of black education in America.

Moderated by Eric Acree, director of the John Henrik Clarke Africana Library, the discussion began with a reflection upon African American education in historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) in the mid to early 19th century.

At that time, African Americans were restricted in their opportunities for higher learning. The HBCUs tried to fill the gap by providing “a rich set of educational programs,” said Ira Revels, senior associate librarian at Olin Library.

The Sun recently reported that Cornell’s LGBTQ community has gone without a director or manager since the summer and gone without an assistant dean for a year and a half. These positions have been vacant since before the economic climate worsened, so there is no reason they should remain unfilled. However, even in the current recession, the University should seek to fill these positions, as well as maintain its support for other diversity offices.

This is the fourth article in a series analyzing socioeconomic issues at Cornell poverty and in the surrounding community.

Despite the nation’s economic crisis, Cornell’s new financial aid initiative, announced last January, has continued to help many students from families of low-socioeconomic status. On top of this, the University offers a number of services and programs to Cornellians from low-income families, many of whom are first generation college students, in order to ease the adjustment to college life.

Currently, the financial aid office offers a number of services to all students at Cornell, including walk-in hours and peer advising.

The economic downturn has hurt all facets of the University, especially those parts of the community that were often overlooked before any economic crisis.

Cornell’s Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer/Questioning community has gone without a permanent director or an office manager of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer and Questioning Resource Center (LGBTQ RC) since the summer, and without an assistant dean of Students/Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer/Questioning Outreach (LGBTQ) for a year and a half.

Yesterday evening at the Anabel Taylor Hall, the Interfaith Council at Cornell hosted the fourth annual “I Believe in … Dinner,” an event started by Lee Leviter ’08 to promote interfaith diversity. About 100 guests attended the event, representing over 20 different faiths and religions. Guests sat in assigned seats so that people of different backgrounds were next to each other.

Emily Smith ’10, the chair of ICC, formally started the event by remarking on its importance and purpose.

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ISTANBUL — It’s Sunday morning. I’ve been sleeping for the past eleven hours and wake exactly how I feared — hurting all over. This is a product of my own doing. I’ve grown up my whole life watching football and have always had a burning desire to play. When the opportunity came along, albeit in Turkey, there was no chance I was turning it down.

My first practice started a bit shaky — “Stretch your calves, Aleks!” yelled Jokson, the burly team captain leading stretches at the center of our circle. As I repositioned my legs, the whole team went up in fits of laughter, thoroughly enjoying their leader’s elementary English. “Hello by the way,” I thought after this fine introduction, “My name is Alex, pleased to meet you!”

Last week, the Asian/Asian American Center (A3C) Committee held the first of several information sessions in order to update and inform students of A3C’s progress. However, many students were angry to hear that proceedings were slower than had been anticipated.

At the information session, the students on the A3C committee presented on the importance of the center and answered students’ questions. Clara Ng-Quinn ’10, a member of the committee, gave a PowerPoint presentation to inform students of the purpose of A3C — that it would serve as a central hub for the Asian community at Cornell and in Ithaca and as an institutionalized resource not already available to Asian students.

Even as a little kid, I always knew I was different from everyone else. While most children played with blocks and video games, I would spend hours chasing my dog in the backyard on all fours. My first word was “woof,” and I wasn’t house broken until I was five years old. To this day, old issues of The Sun line the floor of my room. Most disconcerting to my parents, however, was that I had the unhygienic habit of cleaning myself with my tongue and then greeting their business associates with licks on their faces.