Columns

LEVIN | Learning Can Be Uncomfortable. Good. 

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Not long ago, our Student Assembly proposed a resolution that would force professors to excuse students who wish not to read, discuss or listen to any course material that offends them, including anything that refers to “sexual assault, domestic violence, self-harm, suicide, child abuse, racial violence, transphobic violence, homophobic harassment, etc.” Conceivably, the resolution would apply to any and all social issues, triggers and distressing themes that a student might prefer not to engage with. The President and Provost annulled the resolution, reasoning that it stands against Cornell’s founding vision of free inquiry. On this matter, I agree with the administration. 

Columns

BEARD | The Philosophy of Life 

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While standing trial for impiety and corrupting the Athenian youth , Socrates famously defended himself stating that “the unexamined life is not worth living”. It’s a cliche phrase that’s found its way onto t-shirts and the coffee mugs of arm-chair philosophers the world over. Despite its overuse, it’s a phrase I like for two reasons. In seven words it stresses the importance of philosophical questioning as well as living our philosophical principles in the real world. It’s simple, succinct and easy to remember. But in spite of its simplicity, over the years Socrates’ words seem to have been forgotten and replaced with the variety of philosophy taught in dimly lit classrooms at Cornell and schools like it across the country.

Columns

SWASING | An Education I Enjoy

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This semester, I was faced with a dilemma that plagues many college students: Choosing between two classes for my major. One is a class that I am genuinely interested in, excited to learn about, and eager to take something away from. The other is a class that I know would be less work and would likely result in a better grade. 

Columns

WILK | Here Lies Learning, With Success in its Wake

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But this place isn’t for just staying afloat. It’s for jet-propelled water hoverboards, and then the covert uses of the technology those take. If we’re honest, nearly none of us here came just to get by.We’re in this for worlds more than that

Arts & Culture

DJ Diesel: Getting Hype With One of the NBA’s Biggest Stars

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DJ Diesel’s set was a worthwhile experience, improving in quality with each song and mixing enough genres for a wide range of tastes to enjoy. There’s only so much hype that can be generated over Zoom as opposed to in-person, especially with a laggy connection, but Shaq did an admirable job at rising to the challenge with his visuals, body language and facial expressions all on point.

Dining

A Foodie’s Trip to the Doctor

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What do your teeth, brain, mood and gut all have in common? Unsurprisingly, it turns out one answer is almost everything. They are, after all, interconnected and essential aspects of your body and life. The other, often overlooked answer, however, is food. The COVID pandemic put into perspective how little control we have over certain parts of our health, but quarantine was sobering, proving we don’t have to be “an inert chunk of randomly assembled molecules drifting wherever the universe blows” us.  In fact, the decisions we make about our food give us resounding leverage over our health.

UCode

UCode Classes Move Onto Cornell’s Campus

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With a curriculum first pioneered by Cornell engineers, UCode, a national programming engineering company, has returned home after relocating their Ithaca classes to Carpenter Hall.

News

Ujamaa Residents, Community Members Discuss the Black Male Experience in Education

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Ujamaa Residential College’s main lounge was temporarily converted into a think tank on Thursday evening for students to unpack how the American education system seems to work against black men. Titled “For Colored Boys: Why Education Fails Black Men,” the event stemmed from a motivation to “isolate an aspect of the educational disparity problem that most people aren’t focused on,” according to the event’s hosts, Joshua Sims ’21 and Christopher Emodi ’21. “For example, the fact that black women are doing so much better [in academics] than black men means to me there is another issue, pertaining specifically to black men, that needs to be addressed,” Sims said. Throughout the conversation, students tackled specific issues marking the education system through an anecdotal lens: One student shared his experience in fourth grade, in which a teacher didn’t believe he was capable of reading more than what was assigned. But when a white peer presented the same information, the teacher found the story to be much more credible.