Cornell’s historians — professors, graduate students and archivists — see President Barack Obama’s policies toward a more transparent government not merely as a step forward, but a complete reversal in direction.

On Jan. 21, Obama released a memo in which he encouraged governmental agencies to “adopt a presumption of disclosure, in order to renew their commitment to the principles embodied in the Freedom of Information Act and to usher in a new era of open government.”

The act, which allowed for the disclosure of most official governmental documents, was first instated in 1966 during the Lyndon Johnson’s Administration.

“FOIA was built on a presumption of openness and disclosure rather than secrecy,” explained Prof. Fredrick Logevall, history.

Jennifer Jensen ’11, Arts & Sciences

So, what brings you to the Libe [Café] on a Friday afternoon?

Well, I am just killing time. I have to meet with a dean for academic advising to figure out my transfer credits. I just transferred from Northwestern. I started at Cornell, tried Northwestern, and then came back.

What made you come back?

Well, I just like Cornell better. I’m happier here.

Being from Chicago, what do you think about the recent inauguration, since Obama is from your home?

Amazing is the first word that comes to mind. Life-changing is another.

If he could enact any policy, your choice, what would it be?

January 20th marked a new page in American politics, as well as the equally-celebrated turning of an old one. President Obama is inheriting obstacles whose solutions well surpass the power of any one individual. If we expect a new president, new cabinet or new government to fix all of our problems and mend all of our wounds, we are simply naïve.

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — President Barack Obama’s administration will engage in “direct diplomacy” with Iran, the newly installed U.S. ambassador to the United Nations said yesterday.

Not since before the 1979 Iranian revolution are U.S. officials believed to have conducted wide-ranging direct diplomacy with Iranian officials. But U.S. Ambassador Susan Rice warned that Iran must meet U.N. Security Council demands to suspend uranium enrichment before any talks on its nuclear program.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama wants automakers to make greener cars at a time when General Motors and Chrysler are hanging by the thread of a massive government loan and auto sales have plummeted to their lowest levels in more than two decades.

Obama’s plans could bring smaller cars, more hybrids and advanced fuel-saving technologies to showrooms, but car shoppers will probably pay more upfront because the new rules are expected to cost the hamstrung industry billions of dollars.

“The consumer needs to understand that they will see significant increases in the cost of vehicles,” said Rebecca Lindland, an auto analyst for the consulting firm IHS Global Insight. Her firm estimated the upgrades could add $2,000 to $10,000 to the price of a vehicle.

Like the good second semester senior that I am, I picked up and left last Sunday to spend the first three days of classes being a drunken mess in D.C. The atmosphere in D.C. was decidedly positive and infectiously patriotic. After drinking too early on Monday, I spent the afternoon throwing shoes at a blow-up Bush in Dupont Circle, and my gay best friend (GBFF) and I toured some of the bars in town, sampling the various men the city had to offer.

In the battle against climate change, sometimes one step forward is followed by two steps back. Even at the dawn of a new administration, the positive efforts of academia will still need to compete with the reticence of those in Washington.

The King Abdullah University of Science and Technology in Saudi Arabia announced in April that it had awarded Cornell a $25 million grant to pursue alternative energy research. This was welcome news. These pages have often supported the efforts of the University to foster relationships around the world, and an academic partnership with a Saudi Arabian university is another step towards bolstering Cornell’s international presence and rapport. At the same time, the grant represents a positively significant push towards useful green technologies.

I know it’s Day One — or maybe Day Two, who knows? — and we should be tapering the celebration and demanding that the Big O get rolling down that bold new course he so adamantly promised us. But I’ve been waiting for eight long years and I’ll be god-damned if I’m going to recede into soberness just hours after watching honor and dignity finally and dramatically be restored to the White House. I think a star-studded concert in the foreground of a national monument is in order!

The tasks that face our new president are daunting and the solutions to our problems are not simple. But the dawn of a new Era of Responsibility means the burden is a collective one, and does not fall on the government alone.

Offering few tangible examples of what his tenure as president will bring, Obama struck a somber tone that starkly contrasted with the optimistic underpinnings of his victory speech we saw 77 days ago. The president strayed from his trademark message of change that steered his trek to the White House, instead treading down a path emphasizing one of the most rudimentary and fundamental American values: truth.

At noon today, Barack Obama will be sworn in as the 44th President of the United States.

The change is long overdue. Obama’s inauguration should make all Americans proud, regardless of race, creed or political affiliation. But, while the moment is sweet, our new leader will have no time to rest.

As soon as Obama steps into the Oval Office, he will inherit the reins of a nation mired in debt and reeling from a string of foreign policy failures. And to top it off, he will be expected to somehow heal the country’s wounded markets and deliver millions of Americans from insolvency.