Columns
Letter to the Editor

LETTER TO THE EDITOR: On the state of shared governance at Cornell

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To the Editor:

When The Sun prints “Assembly in Crisis” in an above-the-fold headline, it is easy to lose faith in shared governance at Cornell. It is no secret that maintaining a truly shared, shared governance has had its challenges — and that increasing disillusionment, apathy and decreasing trust in an already exclusionary system will have precarious impacts on student engagement moving forward. The chaos of the recent Student Assembly presidential elections is just one more example of this. As students of Cornell history, however, we want to encourage Cornellians to remember the value and history of shared governance here. Exactly 49 years ago this week, a group of Black students occupied Willard Straight Hall in response to a series of incidents, including the unfair disciplining of a small number of students by the University; the students had engaged in protests related to the building racial tensions on campus.

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WANG | Public Versus Private

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Back when I was in high school, I was friends someone who was incredibly smart, gifted and a good friend. He managed to graduate at the top of of our class, and was a ferociously talented pianist. In all honesty, I thought he would get into every college he applied too. The problem was, it didn’t matter what I thought. When college decisions came out, he didn’t get into Harvard.

Columns
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HAGOPIAN | Reframe Political Correctness

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I’m a bleeding heart liberal, but I’ve acquired a few ostensibly conservative views as I’ve gotten older. One of them is an opposition to political correctness. I also believe that Howard Stern is one of the great comedic geniuses of the modern era. One frequent contributor on the Howard Stern radio show was Eric Lynch, better known as “Eric the Midget.” Eric became a show fixture in 2002 when he called in to curse out Howard for disparaging Kelly Clarkson. His abrasive personality and his willingness to challenge Stern made him a hit with fans; he insulted the crew and they insulted him right back.

barbaria
Editorial

EDITORIAL | Inform the Public, Release the Report

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The Elections Committee’s refusal to comply with the ruling of the judicial codes counselor in the Varun Devatha ’19 disqualification case is direly unfortunate and demonstrates an embarrassing lack of regard for reason on the part of our student government. Furthermore, it represents an impractical and dangerous seizure of power by a small, unelected council, and the public statement from the members of the committee does little to inspire any confidence in that body’s decision to uphold Devatha’s disqualification for violating election rules regulating promotional materials. We iterate once more how patently absurd it is to believe that a “steal his look” meme so profoundly affected the fairness of the election as to merit a disqualification.Should those on Elections Committee wish to regain the trust which they have so thoroughly dispensed themselves of, they must immediately release all documentation relating to the Devatha case, beginning with the initial challenge to the campaign, all the way through their assessment of the Judicial Codes Counselor opinion and their final report — including their assessment of why they believe they, rather than the JCC, have final authority on the matter. If the committee is so confident in its decision, let it argue it in front of the students which it serves. The committee’s statement references the responsibilities of “the overall community as an informed body politic” — and yet such an invocation rings hollow when the committee refuses to inform the body politic! If the committee is going to risk overturning the democratically expressed will of the people, they should do so openly.

Columns
Sex on Thursday

SEX ON THURSDAY | Hands Off

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With the consistent barrage of garbage coming out of the Trump administration (Did he collude with Russia? Use campaign funds to pay off Stormy Daniels? Pass one of the worst tax bills in American history? Consistently endanger the lives of thousands upon thousands of undocumented people living in the United States? Bring us to the brink of war again and again?

Columns
Sex on Thursday

SEX ON THURSDAY | Bedside Manners

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I was in CTB last week finishing up an essay when the song “Slow Motion” by Trey Songz came up. Normally, a throwback track like this wouldn’t incite so much nostalgia and excitement in me, but this song took me back to one of my favorite hook up memories. The summer before I began Cornell, I went from having my first kiss to showing up to my summer fling’s house wearing nothing but lingerie and high heels. Walking from his driveway to the front door, I remember that song bursting from inside of the house and my heart racing in anticipation of his surprise when he opened the door. He went absolutely crazy.

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Letter to the Editor

LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Elections Committee on Election Outcome

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To the Editor:

We’d like to start by thanking all who participated in this election. It has been a long cycle for the candidates, members of the Elections Committee and the student body as a whole. As we come to a conclusion, the Elections Committee would like to address concerns that have been brought up during this process. Before we begin, we must make it clear that we are bound by confidentiality regarding specifics around candidate challenges. Because of this, we cannot directly address the veracity of all claims brought up regarding this election, but we will do what we can.

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TRUSTEE VIEWPOINT | Student Burnout and Why We Should All Be Concerned

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Spring break has come to a close. What for most of us was a reinvigorating escape from the academic rigor of Cornell will quickly spiral into a rather nerve-wracking finals period. This transition period has always called for members of the Cornell community to come together and foster an encouraging and supportive academic environment. While we frequently place the onus on our administrators to cultivate a caring community through mental health and social services, it’s time to take a step back. It’s time to acknowledge how students and faculty members can better recognize and address students’ mental health concerns on our campus.

campus climate task force
Letter to the Editor

LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Where is the Cornell community?

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To the Editor:

Over the past several months, we have been inundated with emails from Cornell’s administration in the wake of racist incidents, always addressed to the “Ithaca Campus Community.” These messages always condemn bigotry, and claim that the Presidential Task Force on Campus Climate is working to make Cornell a more inclusive community. But as these attacks continue, we struggle to define exactly what this “Cornell community” is. We all have our own communities on campus that make us feel safe, empowered and challenged, but is there a greater sense of community that makes us feel responsible for the safety of others? When violent bigoted incidents occur on campus, not everyone is equally affected. The majority of people who condemn the attacks and mobilize against a weak administrative response are directly impacted by the incidents.

Columns
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LAM | Just Married: China and Xi Jinping

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Due to decades of crackdowns and surveillance, political bravery, it seems, in Communist China comes in small doses. Last month, a mere two of the 3,000 delegates in the National People’s Congress, China’s rubber stamp legislature, voted against the constitutional change to the abolish Chinese presidential term limits in a secret ballot. The identities of these two delegates will never be known, like that of the solitary Tank Man in 1989, but I laud their opposition nonetheless. With the unwavering support of the other 2998 delegates, however, China is on a different trajectory now. President Xi Jinping can now theoretically stay in office for life.