Columns

MEIDENBAUER | Students and Athletes: All Teams Deserve Support From The Student Body

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The general Cornell attitude is that student-athletes should be treated just as any student would be. On the surface, this statement makes sense, yet our peers are often the least supportive of any additional needs that student-athletes have. I’ve been told by several naive peers that student-athletes think they’re better than the rest of the student body; this idea is a pervasive one that exists across campus. In my experience, this couldn’t be further from the truth.

Letters To

LETTER TO THE EDITOR | Cornell Football Program

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It’s time to make a change in the Cornell University Football Team’s leadership.   David Archer has had more time than any football coach in the long 100+ year history of Cornell University football to produce, at the very least, a winning record with the team.  He has failed to accomplish this in 8 seasons, despite leading the program for a total of 9 years.  Instead he has only a meager 21 wins over 8 playing seasons, averaging less than 3 wins a year!  A near decade of losing has to end, and Archer must be held accountable for his record,  just as any other coach would in another sport.  Cornell has attained great success in other sports like hockey and lacrosse.  There’s no reason not to demand that same level of success in football.

Letters To

LETTER TO THE EDITOR: RE: Football Loses Early Lead, Suffers Loss in Season Finale to Columbia and Ties for Last-Place Ivy League Finish

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I am astounded by the kid-gloves coverage by the Sun of the Cornell football program.  In Cornell’s nearly 70 years in the Ivy League, the University  has somehow managed to share the title a total of only 3 times, and has never outright won the league.  

Head Coach David Archer’s record is 21-59.  Cornell should not countenance that kind of failure in anything it does, especially in football where it invests considerable resources, including many precious admissions spots.  We have recruited the last six University Presidents from Big-10 and Pac-12 schools, where records of 59-21 get coaches fired, yet they come here and support  a non-competitive football program.  

Week after week, year after year, decade after decade Cornell football is an embarrassment.  There is no accountability in the athletic department at any level.  The Sun’s coverage perpetuates this by failing to ask Coach Archer hard questions about the repeated failures of his teams, to question whether he should continue to retain his job and to ask the same of the athletic director. Andrew Wong ’89

athletics

GUEST ROOM | Should Cornell Exit the Ivy League?

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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.

athletics

BERNSTEIN | The NCAA’s ‘Amateurism’ Fallacy

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Do you, the athlete or the fan, prefer watching sports when the athletes are unpaid? Does that really change the way you watch the game?The truth is, it doesn’t. People like sports and players making money won’t drive away interest. It won’t change the way that college sports are played either.

Arts & Culture

Senior Designer Profile: Caroline Donelan ’16 Discusses Collaboration, Confidence and Sportswear

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Throughout her time on the hill, Caroline Donelan ’16 has always sought to take advantage of Cornell’s opportunities, both academic and extracurricular. Her various interests have led Caroline to take various classes outside of the Fiber Science and Apparel Design major, such as Introduction to Wines and Vines, and to join Cornell’s running club. Donelan’s interest in running and athletics greatly influenced the senior collection — which features a number of different sportswear garments — that she will display at Cornell Fashion Collective’s runway show this Saturday. After graduation, Caroline plans on continuing to work with sportswear in a technical design position at Nike. The Sun: What got you into fashion, was it always a part of life, or was there one moment when you decided that you wanted to study it?

athletics

POOR | Arbitrating Sex and Athletics

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Teenage track star Dutee Chand has found herself at the heart of a controversy confounding athletes around the globe. On the surface, the debate contends to address unfair advantages in athletics; on deeper inspection, the arguments expose biases underlying gender categories in international competitions. Dutee Chand trains hard and runs fast. In September, she clinched the gold medal for the 100 meter sprint at the National Open Athletics Championships in Kolkata. With medals in her relay race and the 200 meter dash as well, her reentry into competitive track and field has been triumphant.

Uncategorized

Tragic Events Shape Athletic Community

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Forever Wild

Earlier this week, I wrote an article that attempted to explain why Cornell student-athletes are so adept at making the right decisions and staying out trouble involving headlines and handcuffs.

In my interviews, I found a lot of answers; proactive awareness programs run by the administration, solid recruiting practices by Cornell coaches, and a sense of accountability and responsibility among the Red’s student-athletes.