BERKOWITZ | Cornell’s Legacy in the 21st Century

“In the future, when the history is written of what institutions did, or did not do, to mitigate the catastrophic effects of climate change, the millions spent on research and teaching will fall in the positive column of universities’ ledgers. Just as surely, the hundreds of millions, even billions, invested in fossil fuel industries, especially those that conduct business as usual in exploration and extraction, will fall in the negative column, never to be erased. At that time, it will be asked why institutions such as Harvard pursued financial gain in this form, knowing full well that they were contributing to large and growing human suffering and to shortened lives for many, especially the poor, who will come after them.”
Several weeks ago, Professor James Engell of Harvard, along with eighteen fellow professors, made this thought-provoking statement in The New York Times. In a way, Engell was asking of Harvard: what do you want your legacy to be? As proud Cornelians, we too should be concerned about creating a lasting legacy we can be proud of in the 21st century in the midst of climate change, a growing crisis on a scale we have never seen before.

BERKOWITZ | Jon Snow

“Who Shot J.R.?” The now infamous question in 1980 that puzzled Dallas fans for months after the end of season three generated such curiosity that over 80 million Americans watched the “whodunit” episode. It’s hard to imagine a show in 2016 being able to similarly capture the public’s attention due to the endless availability of old and new content. Yet, if the name Jon Snow sounds familiar, that’s because whether you watch Game of Thrones or not, the growing curiosity his name has generated is reminiscent of the ever popular Dallas mystery 30 years ago. Is Jon Snow dead? Is he alive?

BERKOWITZ | An Amazin’ Mistake

Jason Bay, Luis Castillo, Scott Kazmir, Carlos Beltran — these are just a handful of names associated with agony in recent Mets history. In several weeks, we may have a new name to add to the mix, Mike Piazza. On April 30, the actual jersey Piazza wore in the first post-9/11 game, when he hit the infamous go-ahead home run and gave all Americans something to cheer about, is to be publicly auctioned off to the highest bidder. How did this happen? As a Mets fan who has in recent memory witnessed, among other embarrassments, two regular season collapses and an entire SportsCenter “Not-Top-Ten” segment devoted to Mets plays in 2009, we have come to intuitively believe that anything is possible.

BERKOWITZ | Video and the Future of The Cornell Sun

If “the pen is mightier than the sword,” and “a picture is worth a thousand words,” then what does that mean for video? The presence of videos in our lives, particularly in mobile and digital form has grown significantly lately. Whether we’re watching ‘Snaps,’ or YouTube, our generation is increasingly enamored with a video-first mindset when it comes to absorbing new content on all platforms.  What does this mean for The Cornell Daily Sun — why should it have any bearing on us? Given the shifting landscape of content consumption towards video, it’s important to seriously consider delving deeper into video content in order to reinforce our reputation as the premier collegiate newspaper in the country. It’s ironic isn’t it?