Sally Dear, an adjunct lecturer at Binghamton University had had enough. Three of her students — each a varsity athlete on the men’s basketball team — were consistently disrupting her class. They sent text messages that they claimed were to their coach, they left early, arrived late or simply did not show up at all. Dear, who had taught at Binghamton for 11 years, went public with her frustration with the school's athletic department. Then, two weeks ago, she was fired.

Do you know how expensive beef jerky is at Noyes? It’s not cheap. Actually it’s about $5, the same price as everything else at Noyes. Maybe their price scanner is broken, maybe they just like ripping me off. Either way, when I buy two types of beef jerky and spicy jalapeno chips for $15, it’s a special day for me. When I mix Evan Williams with Wegman’s brand cola, you know I’m gearing up for my special day. When I skip all my classes, it’s probably a day like any other. But it might be my special day.

To the Editor:

Re: “Intramural Hockey Axed in Budget Cut,” Sports, Sept. 1.

Playing intramural ice hockey and then downing our nightcap — a Ruloff’s pitcher — was one of our favorite pastimes in college. So you could imagine our dismay when we discovered that the Athletics Department axed our beloved sport.

More than the disappointment that Cornellians will no longer have the privilege of playing on Lynah’s legendary sheet of ice, the end of intramural ice hockey shatters the heart of a revered Cornell institution.

When making an important life-altering decision, I like to pretend that all of my options were trapped on a desert island, engaged in a Battle Royale of theoretical proportions. It’s a methodology that has been passed down in the Scarselletta clan for generations; it’s how my sister decided to go blonde, and how my mother chose which children to keep.

I have a confession to make — I am an apostate. I don’t believe in having a bear as Cornell’s mascot. Sorry my dear Touchdown, it is time to bid thee adieu. I know it sounds rather odd and downright un-Cornellian, especially coming from a confirmed traditionalist like me, but let me explain.

Prominent TV commercial actor and occasional swimmer Michael Phelps publicly apologized Sunday for smoking weed. Phelps was compelled to apologize not because he ripped his first bowl and felt just oh-so awful afterwards, but because some British newspaper published a photo of him smoking out of a bong. As it turns out, weed-smoking swimmers — at least unapologetic ones — lack the ability to sell inappropriate beachwear to old, fat Europeans.

Senior wide receiver Joshua Friedman (center) caught a game-high six receptions for 121 total yards Saturday during Cornell’s loss to Navy.

You know the feeling. You get your first taste of it in July when NFL training camps open up. Maybe your team is missing that shutdown cornerback or your team’s running back is absent due to heated contract negotiations (read: Stephen Jackson). With your luck, it will be your No. 1 draft pick who sits out at training camp in a contract dispute. Whatever the shortcomings are, none of them matter come September. Every team starts with a clean slate and theoretically, all 32 teams are vying for equal footing for the Vince Lombardi trophy. Anything can happen; just ask New York Giants fans.

Ned Harkness, the coach who turned the men’s hockey and lacrosse programs into perennial national title contenders, passed away Friday morning. He was 89.

“Ned was a legend, not just at Cornell but in the hockey world,” Men’s Hockey Coach Mike Schafer ’86 stated in a press release. “As a coach, he had a positive impact on a lot of lives. He was a pioneer of the winning hockey tradition here at Cornell. Today is a sad day for Cornell hockey, for college hockey, and for all those that Ned has touched in his life.”

Harkness was at the helm of Cornell’s only two national championships in hockey — 1967 and 1970. The 1967 title also capped off the only undefeated, untied season in collegiate hockey history.