The Cornell Daily Sun (https://cornellsun.com/tag/puerto-rico/page/2/)
Ficek began her lecture by asking the audience a simple question: “Everything was destroyed [after Hurricane Maria]. … [so we wondered,] what was taking so long?”
“There were many times I was doing my all to fight back the tears, [but] as a group, we knew we needed to fight our feelings and be as supportive as possible,” Aoife Casey ’19 said.
The Student Assembly called on the University to withdraw its money from any investments that include Puerto Rican bonds on Thursday.
Four weeks into the semester, University of Puerto Rico students are adjusting to Ithaca’s weather, their new work load and Cornell’s social scene.
The Assembly voted to table the vote until next Thursday’s meeting, when its members hope to summon an administrator to explain the University’s response in the event that the Assembly passes the resolution.
“When you hear about events like a devastating hurricane, you want to help out,” said Stacie Mann, Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s K-12 education resource coordinator, who spearheaded the knitting initiative.
“We need to begin by problematizing the whole issue of being ‘American citizens,’” said native Puerto Rican Prof. Vilma Santiago-Irizarry, anthropology and Latino/a studies. “Because we’re not. The basis for our citizenship is not constitutional.”
Cornell is offering a free semester to 58 students at Universidad de Puerto Rico impacted by recent storms in spring 2018 as their home institution continues to operate at limited capacity.
Canceling debts “may be well intentioned,” Klarman wrote in his letter, but would be “impractical” as it would undermine the obligation of bond issuers to repay their obligations that support Puerto Rico’s credit markets.
Klarman manages The Baupost Group, a hedge fund in Boston, which owns $911.6 million in bonds issued by Puerto Rico, the group confirmed to media outlets.