To be frank, we’re surprised we made it to Slope Day, But now that it’s here we’ve got much to say. This semester’s been quite the wild ride, As we embark on a hiatus, we step out with pride.

Charter schools are “laboratories of innovation,” according to the Obama Administration. And with the president set to lift limits on charter schools across the country — as part of a necessary overhaul of the national education system — we support the State University of New York Charter School Institute’s decision to grant a charter to the New Roots School here in Ithaca.

Although President David Skorton and Vice President of Human Resources Mary Opperman appeared yesterday on Ho Plaza to talk with students directly about diversity, their cause was overshadowed by a different pending cloud: the renegotiation of employee contracts. The administrators were unable to provide concrete answers to students and staff regarding workers’ rights and we hope that Day Hall has answers soon — given that workers’ contracts are due to expire on June 30, just two months away. When contracts are renewed mid-summer, many of Cornell’s workers will have already gone over a month without paychecks, and will nearly wait another two months before their bank accounts begin rolling again. Due to a provision in the New York State unemployment law, educational institutions are not required to pay hourly employees during seasonal layoffs — mainly winter, spring and summer breaks. This loophole allows the University to “lay off” hundreds of its workers during all student breaks without having to provide any unemployment benefits.

Cum Laude. Latin translation: with honor. The epitome of scholarly distinction. The acme of a superbly-executed undergraduate career. With this semester winding down, a select group of seniors are laboring over final theses, fine-tuning lab reports and opening the doors to culminating performances — all with the hopes of securing those two striking Latin words (three if they are lucky: Magna Cum Laude, “with great honor,” or Summa Cum Laude, “with highest honor.”) Others are sitting tight with the knowledge that, with their 3.5 GPA, they have already nailed it — and that they have done so without having bothered with any of that tiresome thesis / lab / performance work. How much is an honors distinction worth at Cornell?

New York may soon be counted among the few states that offer marriage equality to gay and lesbian couples, depending on the outcome of a bill introduced last week. The bill has been championed by Governor Paterson, who rightly aligned the outlawing of gay marriage with historical examples of discrimination.

For the love of green, this has been one wild week down at the bat cave. With Earth Day and 4/20 back to back, we’re HEROICALLY burnt out ... not to mention blazed up. Now let’s go to Green Cafe.

The gay community is one of the most oppressed communities in the world and most poignantly, at Cornell. The actions taken by Chi Alpha Christian Fellowship to remove Chris Donohoe ’09 from his leadership position have highlighted this. But we know that his tale is just one example of such discrimination on college campuses across the nation, where social justice is being halted by fundamental values encroaching into the realm of progressive academics.

A building is meant to be a communal space that represents the needs and wants of its inhabitants. The people who design buildings, however, are increasingly unprepared for a discipline that requires such broad thinking.

Sixty percent of a sample of Cornellians does not engage in community service during a typical week, according to the recent PULSE survey of undergraduates. As the University reassesses its expenditures in light of the economic recession, we hope it will recognize the need to continue to provide students with meaningful opportunities for service.

As the Cornell community commemorated the 40th anniversary of the takeover of Willard Straight Hall this weekend, the question remains: How far have we come since the tumultuous spring of 1969? Four decades later, some facets of campus diversity have us concerned for the future of Cornell. It is debatable what the takeover itself directly accomplished. Yet it is undeniable that the image of 50 to 100 black students emerging from the straight — armed with weapons, following a 33-hour occupation — caught the nation’s attention and shed light on the unequal representation of black students in institutions of higher education, particularly in the Ivy League. In the 1970s, following the occupation, Cornell lead the way in enrolling an impressive number black students, but in the last two decades, we fear the University has backtracked in its diversity objectives.