Today, the Board of Trustees converges on the Hill. If this is news to you, we’re not surprised.

Aside from extending an invitation to a few involved students to attend a dinner here or a forum there, the University has made little effort to inform the community of this weekend’s events.

Whale tails left and right. Cleavage front and center. Boxer-briefs everywhere I look. These are just three reasons why Cornell should adopt a uniform policy. Or, at the very least, a dress code.

My friend Zoë is always impeccably dressed. Each morning, it is as if she has a stylist put together the most weather-appropriate, perfectly coordinated ensemble, from her carefully selected jewelry right down to her choice of footwear. Often, clad in rain-soaked ballet flats, I can only stare with jealousy at Zoë’s cozy wellies. On days when my hair looks like the before-picture on What Not to Wear, Zoë’s is inevitably pulled back with an flawlessly coordinated headband.

Editor’s Note: This column is the first installment of a two part series, the second half of which will appear in tomorrow’s Sun.

A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of listening to one of my friends give a presentation about his summer in Palestine. During the summer, my friend worked as an intern with a human rights group in the West Bank. The part of his presentation that I remember most is his trip to the village of Bil’in. During his brief stay in Bil’in, my friend took part in a protest against a wall that separates the village from a nearby Israeli settlement. The wall cuts off 60 percent of Bil’in’s farmland, in an economy that is heavily dependent on agriculture. Moreover, the International Court of Justice and the Israeli High Court have both ruled that the wall is illegal. The villagers of Bil’in have peacefully protested against the wall every Friday for the past four years. And every single Friday, their protest is broken up by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), who often throw canisters of tear gas to break up the peaceful protests. Sometimes, they even fire live rounds at the protestors. This, of course, is less likely to happen when the media or international supporters are there to take part in the protest.

Everyone loves to hate Congress. Despite recent improvements, Congress still only boasts an abysmal approval rating of 21 percent, according to the latest numbers from the Gallup report. Last year, Rasmussen Reports had their approval rating hit single digits, making George Bush seem quite popular in comparison.

When you were a kid, what did you do during Halloween? You were probably in a cute or scary costume, telling ghost stories with a flashlight and, best of all, going from door-to-door to get free candy. There was something both frightening and magical in the night air.

Now that you’re all grown up, what do you do on Halloween? You’re probably going to dress up in a skanky or stupid costume (or not dress up at all), take too many shots and, worst of all, black out by chugging too many Keystone Lights. Well, I guess things change when you grow up, and you just have to go along with it. But the true spirit of Halloween — the imagination and the magic you experienced as a child — has vanished.

If you didn’t see the homecoming parade, you’re not the only one. The crowd was anemic for reasons ranging from weather to unawareness. The procession, on the other hand, was as hearty as they come. In tow were 25 student groups displaying, for Cornell, unusual vigor and costume coordination.

The vomiting sure didn’t help. With the intensifying stench of bullshit emanating from the whole Balloon Boy Fiasco the Heene family, specifically their sleazy patriarch Richard, needed a near-perfect performance from B. Boy on the morning talk-show circuit. He’d have to pour on the cuteness. He’d have to kill ’em with innocence. He’d have to make America want to reach through their TV screens to pinch his little cheeks, tussle his hair and send the little rascal on his way.

The rush to sign off-campus housing contracts for next year has already hit a lull. For weeks, anxious students have been trying to navigate the murky waters of Collegetown realty, often unaware of the laws meant to protect tenants. And like every year, the scramble has left many unclear of what their lease really means, what they are paying for and what services they have the right to receive.

A few weeks ago, I picked up The Sun to see yet another attack on Darwinian evolution. Fellow staff columnist Judah Bellin ’12 poo-pooed those of us who detract from evolution’s detractors. He pointed to massive atrocities committed by ruthless dictators in Darwin’s name. He claimed that biologists’ dogmatic support of a single theory is hypocritical. I rushed to a computer to e-mail Bellin my response.

A few weeks ago, I picked up The Sun to see yet another attack on Darwinian evolution. Fellow staff columnist Judah Bellin ’12 poo-pooed those of us who detract from evolution’s detractors. He pointed to massive atrocities committed by ruthless dictators in Darwin’s name. He claimed that biologists’ dogmatic support of a single theory is hypocritical. I rushed to a computer to e-mail Bellin my response.