Columns

LETTER TO THE EDITOR: RE: ‘The Paradox of Fall Semester’

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To the Editor:
In his editorial entitled, ‘The Paradox of the Fall Semester’ Andrew V. Lorenzen presented a thoughtful analysis of the science involved in re-opening Cornell. In particular, he analyzed the assumptions, axioms, postulates, self-evident facts or whatever you want to call them, upon which the model and the analysis were based. This is so rarely done in the use, misuse and abuse of science today. I applaud Mr. Lorenzen for presenting science as it should be presented. In a speech entitled, What is Science?, Richard Feynman said: “As a matter of fact, I can also define science another way: Science is the belief in the ignorance of experts.

Columns

LORENZEN | The Paradox of the Fall Semester

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As Cornell administrators face rising concerns from the Cornell and Ithaca community over their reopening plans, they have repeatedly argued that their plans are supported by research which proves there will be fewer infections in a hybrid semester than online. This conclusion relies on a foundational assumption which has been invoked time and time again — that students will return to the Ithaca area regardless of whether Cornell is in-person or online, and Cornell can only properly test and monitor its students if the semester is in-person. By arguing that Cornell must reopen because students will return anyway, the administration has crafted a central paradox for its reopening plans this semester, which has been reflected in its recent convoluted messaging to the student body. For the administration, both the problem and the solution to managing the virus this fall is students returning to Ithaca. Before we consider the paradox wrought by the administration’s logic, let’s first consider the assumption itself.

Columns

Letter to the Editor: RE: ‘Despite Risk of Over a Thousand Infections, Pollack Reiterates That Reopening is the ‘Best’ Path’

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To the Editor:

In a recent article you provide a quotation from President Martha E. Pollack describing what she expects will happen this coming semester: “‘We anticipate finding many hundreds, and probably more than a thousand, of coronavirus cases in the Cornell community over the coming semester,’ Pollack wrote.”

According to the Tompkins County Department of Health, since the pandemic began, our county has had 228 people test positive for the virus and two deaths from the virus. Those two deaths were of non-residents who had been transferred to Tompkins County from the overloaded medical system of the metro-New York City area during the worst of the outbreak there. 228 cases in five and a half months. Now, Pres. Pollack expects more than 1000 infections in a little over three months? Does Pres. Pollack’s predicted 1000 infections “in the Cornell community” mean only among students, faculty and staff of Cornell?

collegetown

SMITH | Getting Cold Feet

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Whenever being home was getting to me or quarantine seemed like it would never end, I would comfort myself with a vision of the little studio apartment I’d saved up to lease in Ithaca. There would be houseplants galore, I could once again see my friends and I would be more mentally challenged than I am currently by my three-month free trial of Skillshare. Enter Pres. Martha Pollack’s email, announcing the hybrid, altered semester and the start of classes on September 2nd. That email was the answer to a lot of my prayers, though there are the obvious limitations as a result from COVID-19. Yet, ever since it arrived in my inbox there’s been a sense of anxiety I can’t kick.