To the Editor:

Re: “Rally Protests Hamas Rule, Calls For Peace,” Opinion, Feb. 24

Regarding the ongoing tumult over the recent vandalizing of the Gaza display on the Arts Quad, while this writer offers no view on the merits of the terrible situation in Gaza and Israel, one must ask why the Cornell University administration has elected to politicize the Arts Quad in the heart of the campus in contravention of its own rules and regulations that expressly prohibit outdoor displays and postings? (See: the Office of the Dean of Students’ website for the official posting policy guidelines at: http://sao.cornell.edu/SO/postering.php.)

After students protested earlier this week over the lack of transparency within the College of Architecture, Art and Planning, students, faculty and administrators gathered yesterday in Sibley Hall to discuss concerns regarding the future path of the college.

Issues raised included the selection process of a new architecture department chair, the lack of tenured faculty, the relationship between permanent and visiting faculty, the transparency of the administration and the morale of the college.

The meeting came just several days after architecture students plastered signs inside and outside Sibley Hall criticizing the College for insufficient communication.

On Feb. 19, Peter J. DeMott, a local peace activist, died from injuries he sustained after falling from a tree. DeMott, served in both the U.S. Marines and the U.S. Army and spent much of his life protesting war, most recently the Iraq War. He was 62.

DeMott was born in Washington D.C. in 1947, but, according to his autobiography, grew up in Minnesota and Nebraska. After serving in the Vietnam War, DeMott developed strong anti-war views.

In a personal biography, DeMott wrote, “My experience in the military convinced me of the futility of war and of the sad misallocation of resources which war-making requires … My faith in God prompts me to work for a world which unifies us all by ties of love and solidarity and mutual cooperation.”

To the Editor:

Re: “Loud and Clear,” Opinion, Feb. 23

I find it somewhat troubling, but unfortunately not surprising that the editorial staff of this paper decided to applaud the actions of NYU students at the end of last week. Students forcefully taking over a building should not be an acceptable form of protest, just like tearing down a display on the Arts Quad or burning copies of the Cornell Review are not appropriate ways to express your opinions.

Calls for “no more incest” and a “new search” were pinned to the face of Sibley Hall early yesterday morning as part of an ongoing advocacy for openness by architecture students.

“The goal of all of this is to gain transparency within the school and to start a really rich dialogue between students and faculty,” said Andy Linn ’11.

Protest banner: Architecture students posted a banner outside of Sibley Hall yesterday. The banner was put up around 5:00 a.m. and taken down by 8:30 a.m.

On April 28, 2005, eight Cornell students occupied then-President Jeffrey S. Lehman’s ’77 office in Day Hall, protesting the construction of a parking lot in the so-called Redbud Woods area off West Campus.

Last week, dozens of student members of an organization called Take Back NYU! (and their supporters) occupied a dining hall inside New York University’s Kimmel Center demanding several things — most prominently additional transparency in NYU’s administration and endowment.

At first glance, I think most would agree that the NYU students engaged in the more meaningful protest of the two.

But if you look closer, you’ll know that the Day Hall occupation by the “Redbud Eight” was much more successful and will likely have a more prominent and long-lasting effect.

Last week in Washington Square Park, New York University learned that its students were no longer content with forming Facebook groups and holding discussions to enumerate their complaints with the university. NYU students took hold of Kimmel Student Center, engaging the campus in a protest that included, at times, roughly 70 demonstrators, to promote the idea of socially responsible investment.

According to endowmentethics.org, “Socially responsible investing (SRI) empowers shareholders to use their assets for positive change. SRI encourages investors to consider the social and environmental consequences of a given investment, as a factor equally important to, and reflective of, the investment’s financial performance.”

The University announced on Friday that it would terminate its business relationship with Russell Athletics due to concerns over labor violations and anti-union practices. While we applaud the decision of the University, the decision is largely due to the efforts of student groups and recent activism. The University should have the responsible foresight to sever ties with violating companies before students rise up in protest.

The war being fought in the Middle East is a two-sided conflict that has cost over 1,300 people their lives. Over the past two weeks, we fear that the battle taking shape here at Cornell is mirroring that conflict all too well, pitting people against each other as groups go head to head in debate. The war in Gaza must stay in Gaza and Cornell must recognize it is not a battleground for partisan action but is rather an academic environment where multifaceted thought should prosper.

According to the Campus Code of Conduct, those who dislike what an invited speaker has to say have the right, among other things, to ask pointed questions and express displeasure with evasive answers. The audience in a packed Lewis Auditorium was reminded of this yesterday before the Gaza in Crisis Discussion Panel, where members of the Cornell community discussed their position on the Gaza conflict.

The panel, which expressed largely pro-Palestinian viewpoints, came after recent events on campus highlighted the impact of the Gaza conflict on the Cornell community. Wasif Syed grad organized the event hoping to encourage discourse.