Provost Kent Fuchs is conspicuously tearing off layers of the Big Red Tape that engulf Day Hall and we applaud him for his work. The decision to make public the 20 reports from the academic task forces was mission-critical for the process of “Reimagining Cornell.” It beseeches the University community to play a more active role in a truly academic debate about the future of cuts, where those who speak out will have facts and figures to support their cause as opposed to mere speculation.

If art and design are some of the few fields where life and work are inextricably linked, then architect Daniel Libeskind’s lecture on Wednesday night epitomized the anti-“nine to five.” Far from being someone who sits down in a cubicle, pays his dues to the corporate world and then goes home to enjoy what non-work related pleasures he can, Libeskind, from the beginning and for better or for worse, has saturated his work with his voice, his hand, his beliefs and his personal history. From photos of his childhood in Poland and his expressive account of his family’s ties to the Holocaust, to his politicized slogans paired with highly commercial works, Libsekind’s sometimes incongruous but always passionate beliefs can be traced through his prolific building history.

Leave it to the University to send us piles upon piles of the long-awaited task force reports on a Thursday night. We thought we had made it through yet another treacherous week of sleepless nights ... and then this hit our desks! The nerve of them VILLAINOUSLY transparent administrators! Down here at the bat cave we’re hard at work as HEROIC minions scour through these top secret documents to bring you, dear readers, some very, very important news you probably won’t bother reading on a Friday afternoon anyway. In any event, a lot else happened this week we’re sure you’re more interested in ...

The ringing of the phone tore through the silence of a small hotel room in Washington D.C. and woke Bob Richardson up from his sleep. It was 5 a.m. Richardson picked up the receiver, only to hear an unfamiliar voice speaking in a Swedish accent.

The reality of Bryan Christy’s life may be stranger than fiction.

This reptile boy turned lawyer turned journalist turned author presented a reading from his debut book, The Lizard King: The True Crimes and Passions of the World’s Greatest Reptile Smugglers, to a crowd of fans and curious Cornellians last Tuesday in Uris Auditorium. Christy discussed the peculiarities of his life, his research and the illegal business of reptile smuggling.

According to Christy, The Lizard King is the product of two passions: reptiles and writing.

“When I was a boy in South Jersey, what I cared about was reptiles,” he stated. “On my street, if you had a snake, you were king.”

The word “autismus”, which once described the symptoms of schizophrenia, was coined in 1910 by Swiss psychiatrist Eugen Bleuler, who may have referred to modern day autism without even realizing it. Today, scientists certainly know more about autism than they did 100 years ago, but the demand for further research remains high. Organizations throughout central New York have been working persistently on research regarding the disease for years. With a recent lecture “Autism in Central New York: Research and Practice” and a new study being conducted, Cornell University has become a welcome addition to the group.