The Cornell Daily Sun (https://cornellsun.com/author/admin/)
Tompkins County has 98 confirmed cases of COVID-19, the health department said on Sunday. Before classes resume on April 6, the Faculty Senate rejected a contentious universal S/U grading proposal.
The University’s decision to suspend classes and accelerate the timeline for Ithaca departure is jarring. In the few days since President Martha Pollack’s Tuesday announcement, many students booked travel based on the presumed knowledge that they would not be ushered off campus until March 28. Professors have worked with students assuming that they had some in-person communication to make the transition to online learning as smooth as possible. Now, students have been forced to amend their travel plans again. Entire course syllabi have been destroyed and the academic merit of the current Cornell semester has been called into question.
After President Martha E. Pollack’s announcement suspending classes until April 6, The Sun spoke with University administrators regarding the policy change.
In our minds, one life lost is one life too many. We know the best way to save lives is by working together across communities and healthcare systems, and through education.
None of this is new. Cornell has a history of inconsistent snow day policies and waiting until the eleventh hour to close.
The Board strongly endorses the creation of a shared School of Public Policy
To say Cornell is the same institution today as it was in 1977, when former President Frank H. T. Rhodes took the helm, would be wrong. However, to say the University has had a vast character transformation over the past 43 years would ignore elements of this institution that still need to be changed. Yesterday, it was announced that the ninth president of Cornell, Rhodes, had died at the age of 93. Rhodes had the distinction of being one of the longest serving presidents of Cornell. He led the University across three decades, ending his term in 1995.
Our fear is no reason for us to treat our fellow students with anything less than the utmost respect.
You are a second semester sophomore or junior (maybe even a freshman) here at Cornell. The classes you signed up for during pre-enroll are working out great. You have time for lunch everyday, you go to bed at a reasonable hour each night and maybe you are even enrolled in a few classes that are helping you knock out those hefty graduation requirements early. Then, on the second Friday of the semester, an email from the registrar pops up in your inbox. It reads like a more stern version of the following:
“Dear student,
To make room for a second semester senior who is struggling to meet their graduation requirements, we have decided to remove you from a class you love.
If you see something, say something. If you hear something, say something. According to The Sun’s reporting, the parents of Antonio Tsialas ’23 are suing Cornell University, the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity and individuals. Cornellians who know information — but are willingly hiding that information from law enforcement — are sinning against the parents, siblings and friends of Tsialas. Cease the all-too-Cornellian habit of selfishness.