Astronomy

MEHLER | More Space for Space and Seeing the Seas

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As we prepare for the start of the semester, my sophomore brother is going to take BIOEE 1540: Introductory Oceanography taught by Professor Bruce Monger, earth and atmospheric science. I took the course my sophomore year as well, right in the middle of the pandemic where the course was fully virtual. Ask any Cornellian who has taken the course and hundreds if not thousands of them, including myself, will tell you how amazing the content, professor and impact of the course is. Over a thousand students each semester take oceanography for a reason, and the course remains as spectacular now as it did when it started years ago. 

Similarly, hundreds of students take ASTRO 1101: From New Worlds to Black Holes every semester; Bill Nye ‘73 even comes back every year to check in on the class. Similar to oceanography, this introductory astronomy course inspires students to do more than look up at the stars but understand what lies amongst them as well.

Columns

MEHLER | The Importance of Fine Art in the Dormitory Experience

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As Cornell now requires sophomores to live in on-campus housing, more students will spend their second year at Cornell in the West Campus houses, the new dorms within the North Campus Residential Expansion and in the heart of Collegetown in South Campus. While many may lament forgoing off-campus and being forced into dorms, there remains plenty of opportunity to personalize the Cornellian living space. By no means am I encouraging students to violate Cornell’s housing policies regarding tapestries, flags and anything else that may violate fire code. However, creativity finds its home in constrained spaces with limited coverage of common rooms and bedrooms permitted. I wish to share just some of the fine art that composed my friends’ and my Hans Bethe dorm for our sophomore and junior years.

Columns

MEHLER | The Case for Moving New York State Primaries

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New York State currently holds its primaries on the last Tuesday of June. I believe moving the primary date would facilitate more civic participation among all age groups, demographics and New Yorkers. New York State will be hosting its primary this year on June 28, 2022. While the primary has been held on the last Tuesday of June for decades, recent internal and external factors present a strong argument for moving our primaries earlier into the year. 

The deadline of a general election happening anywhere between Nov. 2 to Nov.

Columns

MEHLER | Student Tenants’ Rights Shifting in Your Favor

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After legislation passed the Ithaca Common Council on April 6, students’ renting rights are changing in their favor.  Take advantage of a rare opportunity to improve your off-campus living situation.  After joining the Ithaca Common Council in October 2021, I spent hundreds of hours talking with thousands of students, homeowners and longtime renters in Collegetown. Across a multitude of issues that constituents shared, housing repeatedly came up again and again. The issue of urban housing has more complexities than can be explained in a few hundred words or solved in a few years by a few elected officials. But I believe that the role of public officials is to listen to our constituents’ needs and find creative ways to make life better.

161 things

MEHLER | We’ll Get Together in Comstock Hall

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The “161 Things Every Cornellian Should Do” may not be the most realistic, but here’s a new bucket list to complete before graduation. Sitting outside of Ives Hall, I witnessed some of Cornell’s return to normalcy with a campus tour of prospective students walking by. The inaccuracies of the tour aside (for which AMST 2001: The First American University is an excellent source of Cornell truths), I listened to the tour guide give a brief view into each college within the University. After wrapping up the discussion of my home, the School of Industrial and Labor Relations, the tour guide stopped to ask her visitors: “Has anyone seen The Office?” I put aside my own quarrels with Cornell’s reputation being tied to a fictional television show rather than our outstanding campus, alumni and more while I waited to hear the tour guide connect the television show with the realities of being a Cornellian. Quoting directly from the show, the tour guide noted how one of the characters in The Office says, “We’ll get together in Comstock Hall,” before pointing to Comstock directly across from Ives and Barton.

Columns

MEHLER | Ithaca Fun-Uncle Activities

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Now halfway through my junior year,  having survived a college experience colored by the COVID-19 pandemic, family members outside of my immediate family have finally been allowed to come visit Cornell and Ithaca after hearing me talk about campus for years.  

Columns

MEHLER | Redraw Your Own Lines

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The attempts to silence the voices of college communities are hopefully fading, with the most recent release of New York’s maps for 2022-2032 starting to include college communities together.  After the New York Independent Redistricting Commission did not come to a consensus on one set of maps, the Democratic and Republican halves of the NYIRC each drafted their own “Letterss” and “Names” variants.  At the Congressional, Senate, and Assembly levels, the Democratic “Letters” maps include Cornell with its surrounding collegiate communities.  In the Congressional map, Tompkins County stands unified with Cornell, Ithaca College, SUNY Cortland, TC3, and Syracuse University all under one roof.  The Senate map combines the Ithaca schools with Binghamton University while the Assembly map keeps Cornell and Ithaca College congregated with the City of Ithaca and Tompkins County.  

Columns

MEHLER | Choosing To Be An Ithacan

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Coming to Cornell, I believe all students understand that they are choosing to make Cornell one of their homes. What we seem to  forget (and what I forgot as a 17-year-old applicant), is that we also have  the opportunity to choose Ithaca as our home when we choose Cornell. Whether you arrived as a freshman or transferred as a junior, Ithaca is where we live, eat, work and sleep. Ithaca provides for us, and we in turn provide for Ithaca. It’s our choice  to identify as Ithacans or just temporary visitors.