Nobel Laureate Toni Morrison M.A. ’55, had a joyous homecoming yesterday in a packed Bailey Hall, which welcomed the renowned writer with a standing ovation. Morrison, who graduated from Cornell 54 years ago, read from her most recent offering to the literary world, A Mercy, published last year.

Isys Johnson ’11 often finds herself in the company of her four-legged friend Jack, a 10-month-old German Shepherd. Johnson’s most recent sidekick, Jack accompanies her to lectures in the School of Hotel Administration, to dining halls and on runs around campus.

The recent stretch of nice weather in Ithaca provided no relief for the community in the region that depends on it the most. With rain and cold prevalent from May through July and the resulting spread of plant diseases, local farmers felt the effect in their crop yields this past harvest season.

With 12 resolutions and three amendments on the table, yesterday’s Student Assembly meeting was a packed legislative session. The focus, however, surrounded discussion of Resolution 30, which proposes a number of changes to the S.A.’s Election Guidelines.

A recent increase in crime near campus prompted leadership from the Cornell University Police Department, the Cayuga Heights Police Department and the Ithaca Police Department to hold a panel discussion last night to clarify the facts of the recent spike in crimes and explain the prevention systems in place.

Though many of the “Reimagining Cornell” academic task forces released earlier this month call for major overhauls of some academic programs, the School of Industrial and Labor Relations Task Force report does not recommend any changes to its academic programs, faculty levels or students services.

As the country faces its most serious economic recession in years, the rate of young, well-educated professionals settling in Upstate New York is reaching critically low levels, creating a brain drain in the region, according to some University faculty members.

A public hearing concerning regulatory measures for horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing for the local Marcellus Shale natural gas resource was held at the State Theater in Ithaca last night, the topic of discussion: the draft of the Supplemental Generic Environmental Impact Statement (dSGEIS).

Claude Lévi-Strauss, often referred to as “the father of modern anthropology,” was renowned in life for his unifying theories and sociological bridging between tribal and “civilized” cultures. The French anthropologist, who died on Oct. 30 at the age of 100, was honored in a panel discussion of his life’s work yesterday in the Kroch Library Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections.

The Cornell Organization for Labor Action and the Cornell Students Against Sweatshops are joining student activists nationwide in celebration of what The New York Times called the student anti-sweatshop movement’s “biggest victory by far.”