Cornell hosted a variety of events in celebration of this year’s Veterans Day, but some students wish for the University to grant students the day off.
We call on President Martha Pollack and the Cornell administration to repurpose the former Phi Kappa Psi fraternity house at 525 Stewart Avenue as a program house for veterans and civic-minded students. A group of students and alumni have proposed this drastic change for the house to Vice President Lombardi with more than 118 letters of support. We, a current student and an alumnus both unaffiliated with Phi Kappa Psi, wholeheartedly back this proposal. Cornell should dedicate 525 Stewart for veterans and their civilian allies. The Cornell Undergraduate Veteran Association has sought a space to call its own since its establishment in 2015. Repurposing 525 Stewart would support civic-minded students. Additionally, it would support many of Cornell’s ongoing initiatives and be a substantial step towards making Cornell the leading home for student veterans among its peers.
Cornell serves a variety of students in a variety of ways.
On Saturday, President Martha E. Pollack rededicated the War Memorial in Anabel Taylor Hall to include Maj. Richard Gannon ’95 and Capt. George Wood ’93, two alumni who died in the Iraq Conflict.
The Student Assembly unanimously voted to grant veterans a non-voting S.A. position and considered recommending academic accommodations during religious Muslim holidays.
The new position would give voice to veterans who are “an underrepresented population … [struggling] with inclusivity as well as knowledge of organizations, support centers, and resources across campus,” according to the draft resolution.
I’ll preface this column by stating my intentions. I’m here to attempt to calm down these masculine macho men we see too often in many of the fraternities here at Cornell, and to approach this subject through my experience with it in the Marine Corps. That’s right, I’m a jarhead. During boot camp, we were legally and illegally hazed. The specificities of my treatment are best left unsaid because quite frankly, they were disgusting and atrocious, and absolutely insane, but there was some purpose to this hazing.
Ithaca’s VFW and members of the community organized the parade, and the Kappa Sigma fraternity at Ithaca College helped with setup. The fraternity has helped run the Veterans Day parade for three years, its president said.