athletics

GUEST ROOM | Should Cornell Exit the Ivy League?

By |

Our beautiful Ithaca campus has over 270 buildings, many of which are underutilized.   President David J. Skorton said that we need to do a better job repurposing many of our existing buildings.  A perfect example is the Johnson Graduate School of Business. It  was relocated to Sage Hall and was completely renovated.  It is now one of the most beautiful and technically advanced business schools in the country!    The last thing Cornell needs right now is another building that sucks more energy off the grid and removes healthy outside activities for our students.  Many universities and corporations are working to reduce their brick and mortar footprint and decrease energy consumption, Cornell seems to be doing the opposite.

Columns

DO | Beauty is in the Eye of Darwin

By |

Handsome individuals, of all varieties, seem to flaunt their favorable genetics for the world to see. Even accounting for the whole mask thing, the frequency with which I find myself admiring an attractive Cornellian has me all the more certain that I’m going to die alone. I’m 80% joking about that last part.

Columns

DERY | Bring Back Recess

By |

Picture this: It’s 10:55 a.m., which means that the end of your third Tuesday lecture is only five minutes away. You’ve processed maybe 30% of the information thrown at you this morning. Maybe. All the content is scribbled down somewhere in your notebook anyway; you’ll get to it later, but definitely before your test on Friday (right?). “It’s going to be one of those weeks, huh?” you think to yourself. Your leg starts twitching. This time, though, it’s not from the stress. 

Columns

GUEST ROOM | A School Lockdown

By |

We had a wonderful Family Weekend celebrating our daughter’s junior year at Cornell University. After a year of online classes and more nasal swabs than humanly possible, it was a relief for her (and us) to return to some normalcy. Our family experiencedIthaca and its environs in all its glory. Stunning fall foliage, a festive sorority dinner, delicious local ice cream, an incredible hike and waterfall – everything we’ve come to associate with the University and upstate New York in our years as Cornell parents (our oldest daughter graduated from Cornell as well). 

Columns

ONONYE | 21 Things to be Thankful for in 2021: Cornell Edition

By |

Last year, I wrote a column titled “20 Things to be Thankful for in 2020: Cornell Edition” to encourage Cornellians to be thankful in spite of the struggles of the pandemic. Rereading that article is just a glimpse into how drastically our lives were changed by the start of the 2020 pandemic.

Columns

YAO | Home for the Holidays

By |

The pandemic delayed this reckoning with age, independence and moving away. After my brief entanglement with college campus freedom was snuffed out, I spent fall 2020 at home instead of at  Cornell. I took prelims and attended club meetings while my childhood stuffed animals looked on curiously. I felt closed in by the pale green walls of my bedroom as 2020’s Thanksgiving break reverted to those of my grade school years in an anticlimactic fashion. A far cry from the packing and unpacking and repacking that has characterized this holiday break. 

Opinion

SEX ON THURSDAY | From Fuck Buddy to Class Buddy

By |

When I arrived at class on the first day of this semester, the person sitting next to me ended up being a familiar face. A face I recognized from long nights rolling around in my sheets and early morning wake ups. Among our 25 person class was a former fuck buddy. The kind of relationship where texts were limited to “what time tonight?” Or, “u up?” And the typical after sex cuddling was replaced with high fives. Things between us ended due to diverging wants.

Columns

SPARACIO | Sour Patch Kids on a Sunday

By |

On Sunday Nov. 7 I ate a whole bag of Sour Patch Kids and as I did, I began to digest a reality that is sour and then sweet. I sat at my desk as my phone buzzed with CornellALERTS. Luckily, I was able to avoid the evacuations that occurred on the parts of central campus which received bomb threats. I can’t imagine the fear that my peers in those circumstances experienced. 

There’s a sentiment on our campus that seems more pervasive now than ever — the idea that we are aboard the academic titanic.

Columns

GUEST ROOM | Do Not Forget Hong Kong

By |

I am Kinen Kao. I am a Hongkonger. I was among the protesters of the 2019 Hong Kong pro-democracy movement. I want liberty and democracy for my hometown. ***

I am Kinen Kao.

Opinion

SEX ON THURSDAY | I Have a Thing for Older Guys

By |

I have a thing for older guys. I don’t mean old guys — sleeping with somebody’s fifty-something-year-old father isn’t my inclination at all. I’m talking about boys five to 10 years my senior, men in their late 20s and early 30s who have, by now, exchanged their fraternity era alcoholism for a studio apartment, stable employment, some sexual competence and maybe a cat. My preference for men of some maturity is driven by a simple rationale. It’s not that I lust for receding hairlines or deflated pecs years past their prime.