Opinion

GUEST ROOM | The Climate March to Nowhere

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Cornellians on Friday took part in the second climate strike of the academic year. The movement is rooted in the urgent need for climate action, an environmental cause that transcends political ideologies. Yet, many marchers at the last climate strike, including myself, were not aware that the platform of the march also extends to social justice. By tying climate action to other political concerns, global climate strike organizers alienate conservatives on an issue that requires unity. Because of this, I did not march in Friday’s strike and will likely not participate in future demonstrations.

Opinion

GUEST ROOM | On Divestment and a Recent Rally at Board of Trustees Meeting

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In the days leading up to Oct. 18, University administrators prepared to receive Cornell’s esteemed Board of Trustees, a group of 64 people  “vested with ‘supreme control’ over the University” and with final say on all recommendations made by other administrating bodies, including the Student Assembly. Among this select group of people entrusted with such great decision making power are University President Martha Pollack, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and the oldest living descendant of the University’s eponym Ezra Cornell. The student body is granted three representatives, Cornell faculty have two, University employees have only one and tens of thousands of others with a stake in the actions this institution undertakes have no representation at all. For all the talk of the system of “shared governance” on which the day-to-day administration of the University is supposedly run, we can’t help but note how unequally power is actually shared.