On May 16, members of the Cornell community including President David Skorton gathered in Sage Chapel for an evening of remembrance honoring those who died in China after a powerful earthquake occurred in the Sichuan province. The 7.9-magnitude earthquake that took place on May 12 has since left 51,000 people dead, nearly 300,000 injured and over 29,000 missing. According to the Associated Press, the disaster also left 5 million people homeless and destroyed more than 80 percent of the buildings in some remote towns and villages.

In 1968, Cornell students created the Student Homophile League, making Cornell the second university in the country to have a gay student organization. In the past 40 years, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender activism at Cornell has continued to evolve and support the LGBT community.

An exhibit in Olin Library titled “Queer Cornell: LGBT student activism, 1968-2008” opened on April 11. It displays quarter cards, flyers and pictures chronicling LGBT activism on campus since the SHL was created in 1968.

Members of the Cornell and Ithaca communities gathered yesterday afternoon to observe the dedication of a recently installed plaque commemorating the spot where the Redbud Woods once stood.

In July of 2005, the University had this patch of urban wildland, located near the intersection of University Avenue and Lake Street, leveled to make way for a 176-space parking lot as part of its West Campus Residential Initiative. The administration’s decision to pave over Redbud Woods was the cause of many well-publicized protests over a several year period by environmental activists including students and faculty.

Last Friday, a group of NYU students took over a building in hopes of gaining a laundry list of demands from the university. While the NYU protest was less than successful, Cornell has its own history of student protests. While most students have heard of the Straight Takeover in 1969, read about a host of other student protests and the history of activism on campus in this week’s Daze feature.