Columns

GUEST ROOM | Post-Confirmation Depression

By |

“My most fervent wish is that I will not be replaced until a new president is installed.” — The dying wish of Ruth Bader Ginsburg ’54

In confirming Justice Amy Coney Barrett, Senate Republicans have essentially said, “Whatever.”

Watching the confirmation on Oct. 26, as Democrats had all but given up on fighting the inevitable, I could feel a sense of helplessness creeping. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, aware that there was nothing left to do, said that Republicans would regret their actions “for a lot longer than they think.” He called the confirmation one of the Senate’s “darkest days.” All this bleak rhetoric left me feeling the same way I felt the night Ginsburg died: deeply saddened, yet powerless to change the outcome. 

No matter how blatant the hypocrisy was, Republicans insisted that they could find a justification for their actions. Senator Ted Cruz recited esoteric court confirmations from the 1800’s, shamelessly plugging his new book. Senator Lindsey Graham, declaring he wouldn’t seek a confirmation in an election year, and urging the nation to “hold the tape,” seemed unwilling to be held to his own standard.

Columns

GUEST ROOM | For the School of Public Policy, The Only Choice Is Ruth Bader Ginsburg

By |

Next year, the Master of Public Administration program at Cornell will be turning 75 years old, thus making it one of the oldest MPA programs in the Ivy League. First housed in the SC Johnson College of Business and, since 1985, in the Cornell Institute of Public Affairs, 2021 will represent a rebirth of sorts as the MPA becomes the anchor of the newly formed Cornell School of Public Policy. With eight concentrations ranging from International Development to Environmental Policy, the MPA at Cornell is arguably one of its most versatile degrees, allowing its alumni to scale the ladders of organizations across the areas of law, business and nonprofit management. President Martha E. Pollack, the second woman to have led Cornell in its 155 year history, pointed out in an address earlier this year that the School of Public Policy would “enhance Cornell’s reputation as a leader in public policy and train our students with broad policy perspectives that will serve them in the public and private sectors.” In theory, President Pollack is right. The top five schools of public policy all seek to train students on a broad set of policy competencies.

Columns

ONONYE | Mourning Your (S)heroes, Mourning Ginsburg

By |

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg ’54 has been one of the most inspirational people in my life. I unfortunately never had the opportunity to meet her. But when she passed away just a few days ago, I mourned her death. Experiencing her death and the impact that it has had on so many people has forced me to consider and reconsider our definitions of mourning and grief. I should clarify that I am a big “fan” of Justice Ginsburg.

Columns

BARDMESSER | Performative Activism Isn’t How to Honor RBG’s legacy

By |

It seems like this increasingly apocalyptic year won’t be giving us any breaks anytime soon. The pandemic continues on, as the United States breaches 6 million cases and a semi-recovered Europe braces for another wave, perhaps worse than its first. The inevitable march of climate change is manifesting on the West Coast, bloody skies borrowed from the Old Testament. The ongoing protests motivated by the extrajudicial murders by the police across every state serve as an ever-present reminder of the systemic racism in this country and the futility of fighting it within courts. And now the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg ’54 is another harbinger, with the inevitability of a third Trump appointee, one conservatives are gleeful to announce will be young, with so many years left to do more damage to the tatters of our civil rights.

Columns

ROSENBAND | May Her Memory Be A Revolution

By |

On the night of Sept. 18 the world lost a shining light and a bulwark of our democracy with the passing of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg ’54. A beloved wife, mother, grandmother, a champion of women’s rights and human rights, Justice Ginsburg carried the burdens of the world on her shoulders. At just 5’ 1” tall, oftentimes soft-spoken but always fearless, she towered over us all and will be remembered as one of the greatest women who have ever lived. I have never cried this hard over someone I never knew.