Deckhead:

Editorial

Body:

As one of his first decisions in office, President Skorton announced this week that Cornell will selectively divest from Sudan in response to the genocide in Darfur. Since 2003, the Sudanese government has supported the so-called janjaweed militia in Darfur (comprised mostly of Arabs), in their campaign of rape and murder against mainly non-Arab tribespeople. The Sudanese government derives most of its revenue from oil. Skorton has therefore decided to bar investments of the Univeristy’s endowment assets in oil companies currently operating in Sudan.

Deckhead:

Editorial

Body:

Greetings. When we last left off, a recent Cornell grad had just bit the dust on NBC’s “The Apprentice,” President Skorton had passed his swim test and was preparing for the math placement exam, Cornell was coming up with new ways to get people drunk and San Francisco police had captured a renegade Collegetown criminal.

It’s great to greet all of you from my first column in The Cornell Daily Sun. In our short time in Ithaca, my wife, Robin Davisson (professor in the College of Veterinary Medicine and in the Weill Medical College), and I have already begun to feel right at home. The students, faculty, staff, and the larger community have all made us feel welcome and a part of this scene. Like you, we were drawn here by the egalitarian ideal of Cornell, the distinction of the faculty and the uncommon sense of larger purpose that pervades the University’s every endeavor. It is a pleasure to be starting with the Class of 2010.

Deckhead:

The Sampling

Body:

If David and I hadn’t stumbled on Alcudia’s beautiful Plaza de Toros, I probably never would have agreed to go to a bullfight. David had suggested going to one a few times before, but I always grimaced and objected. Seeing the stadium changed my mind. It was a tiny, whitewashed affair with simple stone steps for seats. Ancient and still well-used, the trash from the last event still littered its sandy pit. Alcudia was a small seaside town that had seemed to resist Mallorca’s tourist swarms and still retained a genuine local effect. It felt very real and old, and as travelers are wont to do, we were quickly charmed and felt we must come back for an event — a corrida de toros.

Deckhead:

Gain Through Loss

Body:

This whole thing could just turn out to be one giant mistake.

Ever since I matriculated at Cornell, or Cornell matriculated me or, well, someone got matriculated and they liked it a little too much … ever since then, I’ve had my eyes on having a column in The Cornell Daily Sun. Unfortunately, I had no idea what it would take to convince The Sun of my worthiness.

Deckhead:

Agree to Disagree

Body:

For all the emphasis that’s placed on a fun-filled, academic-free Orientation Week, Cornell students seemed to be doing a lot of theorizing and postulating this past week. The topic at hand? Why we weren’t having a fun-filled Orientation Week. From poor weather, to a “lame” freshman class, to an unfortunate alignment of the planets, explanations for Borientation Week ran the gamut.

Deckhead:

John Manetta Once Told Me

Body:

Allow me to be the 10,000th member of the Cornell Community to say welcome, class of 2010. While others have welcomed you with free laundry bags, diversity classes and free beer, I would instead like to welcome you to Cornell by relating one of the most memorable moments of my freshman year.

Deckhead:

Cornell Unzipped

Body:

“A what column?” my father asked, sounding alarmed. I’d known it wasn’t going to be easy to tell my parents that their daughter was going to write a sex column. They imagined Cornell to be a mysterious place where students leave the library only to attend class and where there are Dixie cup dispensers next to fountains of opportunities. However, they had been unexpectedly understanding about my sometimes smart and (equally frequent) not-so-smart decisions since my arrival at school. They knew orientation week is to college students what cruises are to senior citizens: the weather’s nice, the food’s buffet-style and people are willing to relax their morals to enjoy a fling with someone they just met.

Deckhead:

Infomaniacs Anonymous

Body:

For days, I’ve been agonizing over how to spend my first column.

It’s not that I’m strapped for ideas. Summer’s news has given me plenty.

I could talk about how Connecticut Democrats in 2006 came to politically crucify the same man they voted to be their vice president in 2000.

Body:

Welcome back. (Or, for those of you who are new, welcome!) We hope you’ve had a relaxing summer. Apparently, life on The Hill continues even when we’re not there to live it. But we certainly do not expect you to follow every Cornell discovery, shift in C.U. administration and campus-related criminal conviction while at a distance, so we’ll sum it up for you. Over the next two days, The Sun will provide you with the Cliff’s Notes version of Summer, 2006 in Ithaca, New York: