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News

Arts

Sports

Weather

Mannequin Pussy

Rehearsal Reviewed

Winning Weekend

Cloudy

Luke Dennis '27 reviews Nathan Fielder's latest TV series, The Rehearsal, a nuanced take on reality. | Page 5

Bailey Hall was ignited by a performance from indie-punk band Mannequin Pussy and opener Pom Pom Squad. | Page 3

The Red took down Harvard and Brown en route to defeating No. 2 Missouri in weekend sweep. | Page 8

HIGH: 36º LOW: 29º

Trustees Affirm Support for Pollack Presidency President Pollack faced backlash from donor Jon Lindseth '56, who sought her ouster at trustees meeting

By JULIA SENZON Sun News Editor

Following calls for President Martha Pollack’s resignation, The Cornell Board of Trustees unanimously voted in support of Pollack’s leadership, according to a public statement released Saturday, Jan. 27.

The Board of Trustees’s verdict defending Pollack follows Jon Lindseth ’56, emeritus member of the Board of Trustees and large donor to the University, releasing an open letter to Board of Trustees Chair Kraig Kayser MBA ’84 and the entire Board of Trustees on Wednesday, Jan. 23 condemning President Martha Pollack and Provost Michael Kotlikoff’s leadership throughout antisemitic incidents on campus.

Lindseth further denounced the University’s “misguided commitment” to diversity, equity and inclusion which has “yielded not excellence but disgrace.”

According to Lindseth, DEI policies at Cornell suppress academic merit, free expression and viewpoint diversity.

The Board of Trustees, however, affirmed steadfast confidence in both Pollack’s leadership and the University’s

commitment to DEI initiatives.

“Cornell was founded on the principle that ‘any person can find instruction in any study,’” the statement reads. “Under President Martha E. Pollack’s leadership, the University has remained faithful to this principle and to the core values that unite our institution.”

Cornell’s trustees met in New York City on Friday and Saturday, with the vote regarding Pollack’s presidency occurring on Saturday, according to the statement.

At the point Lindseth sent the letter, he said that he was still waiting for a response from Kayser regarding adding his calls for resignation to the agenda for the meeting on Friday.

In his letter, Lindseth labeled the Friday meeting as an “emergency board meeting.” But Joel Malina, vice president for university relations, attested that Board of Trustee meetings are scheduled several years in advance and the weekend gathering was “part of a regularly scheduled series of meetings to discuss University affairs” in a previous statement to The Sun. The faculty-elected members of the University Faculty Committee and the University’s faculty trustees also affirmed

JULIA NAGEL / SUN PHOTOGRAPHY EDITOR

Pollack perseveres | The Cornell Board of Trustees unanimously affirmed support for President Pollack's leadership in a Jan. 27 public statement, defying calls for her resignation.

their unanimous support for President Martha Pollack and Provost Michael Kotlikoff’s leadership in a statement to The Sun. “We believe that the president and provost continue to represent the best interests of our community of students, faculty and staff in navigating the complexities of

current social and political times and in supporting the academic mission of our University where ‘any person…any study’ is our lived motto,” the faculty-elected members of the University Faculty Committee and the University’s faculty trustees wrote.

Julia Senzon can be reached at jsenzon@cornellsun.com.

Esteemed Donor Ann S.A. Instates Luke Thomas '27 Bowers '59 Dies at 86 As New Director of Elections

By MATTHEW KIVIAT Sun Staff Writer

Ann S. Bowers ’59, a trailblazer in the world of technology and a philanthropist who donated large sums to Cornell throughout her life, died on Wednesday, Jan. 24 at the age of 86.

Over three decades, Bowers donated over $100 million to the University establishing the Cornell Ann S. Bowers College of Computing and Information Science — the first college at Cornell named after a woman — and helping finance the construction of Gates Hall, the current home of CIS. Bowers also funded the Bowers and Noyce professorships, which support University faculty in various fields. Bowers’s generosity also enabled the construction of a new academic building to house CIS, which is expected to open in 2025.

Bowers, who was born in 1937 in Pennsylvania, studied English as an undergraduate at Cornell and earned an honorary doctorate for public service from Santa Clara University in 2000.

Bowers spent her professional career in the technology industry,

leading human resources at the Intel Corporation in the 1970s. After marrying Intel co-founder and co-inventor of the integrated circuit, Robert Noyce, Bowers left her position and began working at Apple in 1980, where she was appointed one of its first vice presidents.

Bowers is credited with playing a pivotal role in the early years of Apple, having been an expert in dealing with the notorious perfectionism of the late Steve Jobs, Apple’s co-founder and former chief executive officer. Jobs became so close to Bowers and Noyce that he often arrived at their home unannounced.

Following the death of Noyce in 1990, Bowers co-founded and served as the board chair of The Noyce Foundation, named after her husband, an organization that sought to improve science and math education in K-12 public schools. The Noyce Foundation officially closed its doors in 2015.

Bowers, throughout her career, was also deeply involved in Cornell’s leadership. She served as a trustee, a founding member of the President’s See BOWERS page 4

By DOROTHY FRANCE-MILLER Sun Contributor

The Student Assembly voted in Luke Thomas ’27 as Director of Elections on Jan. 25, saying goodbye to former Director Rahul Verma ’24 with a resolution commending him for his service.

The Director of Elections chairs the election committee, which is responsible for organizing Cornell’s undergraduate Student Assembly elections. The role is voted on annually by the Student Assembly, prior

to the spring election of other annual assembly seats.

Thomas ran against Sabine PazLe Draoulec ’26, winning in an 18-12 vote. Both candidates gave private speeches to the Student Assembly, before assembly members privately questioned both candidates one-on-one, delegated and voted.

“It’s essential for students to be active in our election process here at Cornell,” Thomas said.

“I’m looking forward to working to get more candidates to run for office and to drive up overall

JULIA NAGEL / SUN PHOTOGRAPHY EDITOR

Assembly engagement | The S.A. bid farewell to its Director of Elections Rahul Verma '24, commending Verma's work improving voter engagement.

engagement amongst the student body.”

He seeks to fill the shoes of Verma, who in his year in office oversaw the spring 2023 and fall 2023 elections, increasing voter turnout to the highest percentage since the pandemic. The spring 2023 elections had a voter turnout of 15.6 percent, compared to 10.55 percent in the spring 2022 elections.

“I believe that transparency in the elections and appointment process should be and remain the highest priority moving forward,” Verma told the Sun. “This is something that I have been working on in the structure of elections, and I encourage the next director of elections to continue this important work.”

The Student Assembly passed Resolution 46 commending Verma for his service to the Student Assembly.

“Rahul has skillfully navigated and maintained strong election integrity, even through unprecedented challenges that have emerged,” the resolution states.

Dorothy France-Miller can be reached at daf274@cornell.edu.

2 The Cornell Daily Sun | Tuesday, January 30, 2024

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Tuesday, January 30, 2024

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Olivia Sheldon: Fern Flowers 8 a.m - 4:30 p.m., Experimental Gallery Tjaden Hall

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The Cornell Daily Sun | Tuesday, January 30, 2024 3

News

New Law Class on Antisemitism

By CHRISTINA MACCORKLE Sun Staff Writer

DANIELLA GARCIA ALMEIDA / SUN CONTRIBUTOR

Punk performance | Marisa “Missy” Dabice of Mannequin Pussy peforms in a packed Bailey Hall on Saturday, Jan. 27, with over 500 fans in attendance.

Mannequin Pussy Performs at Bailey

By GRACE LIU and LUCA PAVLOVICH Sun Staff Writer and Sun Contributor

really like it when they go hard into the guitar, if you know what I mean.”

“These bands were chosen from a narrowed-down, crowd-sourced list.

We try to cater to as many genres as possible throughout the year, so we were really excited to finally be able to put on a punk show,” said Madeleine Racciatti ’24, Executive Director of the Cornell Concert Commission.

Indie-punk band Mannequin Pussy performed at Bailey Hall on Saturday, Jan. 27 to a crowd of over 500 attendees alongside special guest Pom Pom Squad.

Organized by the Cornell Concert Commission, the show began at 7 p.m., one hour after doors opened.

Headliner Mannequin Pussy per“I really like it when formed several popular songs from they go hard into the prior projects, including “Control” and “Romantic,” as well as the title guitar, if you know track from their upcoming album “I what I mean.”

Got Heaven,” which comes out on March 1.

Hayden Krushel ’27 Formed in 2010, the Philadelphiabased punk band consists of Colins “Bear” Regisford on bass and vocals, The Cornell Concert Commission Kaleen Reading on drums and perplans to host another event later in the cussions, Maxine Steen on guitar and spring whose performing artists are synthesizer and Marisa Dabice on yet to be announced. guitar and vocals.

“Mannequin Pussy invites listeners to engage urgently, passionately with Grace Liu can be reached at fundamental human questions about gliu@cornellsun.com. how to live through hair-raising sonic Luca Pavlovich can be reached at peaks and musical catharsis,” read the ltp26@cornell.edu.

Campus Groups event description.

Before Mannequin Pussy took the stage, concertgoers roared as they witnessed Pom Pom Squad’s Mia Berrin, dressed in her hyper-feminine garb, frequently bend over backwards onto the stage as she performed.

Based out of Brooklyn, New York, opener Pom Pom Squad is the solo grunge/rock project of Berrin, who first performed under that moniker in 2015. At Bailey Hall, Berrin performed alongside Alex Mercuri on guitar, Lauren Marquez on bass and Shelby Keller on drums. The group performed a few songs from their past album, “Death of a Cheerleader,” but also showcased new music, including their new song “Everybody’s Moving On.” “This electrifying project [‘Death of a Cheerleader’] explores contradictory tenets of 21st-century young womanhood — the carnality and the vulnerability, the sugar and the defiance. Pom Pom Squad offers a fresh and decidedly black and queer take on picking up the pieces — from heartbreak, from injustice — and creating yourself anew,” read the description from the Cornell Concert Commission.

“I really liked the music,” said Hayden Krushel ’27, reflecting on the night’s performances. “I hadn’t heard of [Pom Pom Squad] before, or of Mannequin Pussy either. But I

Amid international conflict in the Middle East and antisemitic threats on campus, Prof. Menachem Rosensaft, law, is turning to education to foster respectful discourse in a new antisemitism class. But some students are calling for balanced course offerings representing other Middle Eastern groups.

This semester, Rosensaft is teaching LAW 4013: Antisemitism in the Courts and in Jurisprudence about the history of antisemitism in law and jurisprudence across 19th-century Europe, 20th-century America, Nazi Germany and the former Soviet Union to the present.

Rosensaft said the course was originally set to run in the 2025 spring semester, but the deans of Cornell Law School urged him to move the course up to this semester due to the Israel-Hamas war and its impacts both on campus and the world.

The course debuts after a semester of high tensions on campus surrounding the Israel-Hamas war, including Patrick Dai ’24 posting antisemitic threats and Prof. Rickford, history, who is now on a voluntary leave of absence, remarks labeling Hamas’s initial invasion into Israel as “exciting” and “exhilarating.” Amid these tensions, Rosensaft hopes that his course will not only serve students academically but also emotionally.

“What I want to provide in this course is a safe space,” Rosensaft said. “This is not your standard academic or law school course. This is a course where people have emotion and question and anxiety and fear and anger on both sides of the issue.”

Talia Dror ’25, vice president of finance for Cornellians for Israel and a student in the class, said she appreciates the way the course connects the history of antisemitism to the present Israel-Hamas War. “Being in this class highlights, from a historical perspective, what leads to modern-day antisemitism and how we can see that through the judicial system,” Dror said. “I’ve genuinely appreciated all the insight that the professor has given on both the Oct. 7 attacks and the subsequent American university response.”

The course initially focuses on critical definitions and concepts, which Dror said has been valuable in understanding antisemitic phrases and ideas.

“We’ve addressed the concept of antisemitism being linked to anti-Zionism,” Dror said. “We’ve addressed the phrase ‘From the river to the sea, [Palestine will be free]’ that we’re seeing very often on this campus and have actually broken down why that is an inherently antisemitic phrase.”

Cornellians advocating for Palestine have previously chanted, “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” in demonstrations throughout the fall 2023 semester.

Many advocates for Palestine use the phrase “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” as a call for

Palestinian liberation.

But some advocates for Israel, including some Jewish Cornellians, interpret the phrase as a call for the destruction of a Jewish state. Some Jewish people connect discomfort with the phrase to Hamas, the Palestinian militant group that led the Oct. 7 invasion of Israel, utilizing the phrase while pursuing its claims to present-day Israel.

“There’s not a clear distinction between [what is] pro-Hamas and [what is] pro-Palestine when you use Hamas’s rhetoric,” a Jewish student told The Sun at a pro-Palestine die-in on Nov. 9.

Dror said that even if students disagree with the professor or among themselves, the class is productive because it provides a channel for civil discourse.

“We always start from a point of fact,” Dror said. “And then, based on that fact, people can make arguments. Based on fact, we are able to have more academic and nuanced discussions that factor in the different perspectives and opinions.”

Laila Salih ’25, president of the Muslim Educational and Cultural Association, also feels that fostering spaces in which people with different beliefs and backgrounds can come together is both valuable and feasible on Cornell’s campus.

“I know these types of settings can work because I helped put together the community care dinner back in December,” Salih said. “It was a room full of Jewish people and Muslim people and non-affiliated people who sat down and had dinner together. They talked about how they were feeling about the situation. And it restored an essence of humanity to [discourse about the conflict].”

See ANTISEMITISM page 4

SIMONE JACOBS / SUN STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Teaching history | Flags on the Arts Quad fly for lives lost during the Holocaust, a subject covered in the course.

4 The Cornell Daily Sun | Tuesday, January 30, 2024

News

How New FAFSA Impacts the Students Who Need It Most

New FAFSA raises concern for students with siblings and students with complex financial situations

By SOFIA PRINCIPE Sun Staff Writer

With an $88,150 total cost of tuition for non-New York residents, Cornell was ranked 25th among the most expensive universities in the country, according to CBS News.

Now, Cornell students might have an even more difficult time affording tuition due to calculation and format changes to the Free Application for Federal Student Aid. On Dec. 27, 2020, Congress passed the FAFSA Simplification Act due to complaints about the form’s length and complexity. In addition to the 2024-2025 FAFSA being shorter, their financial aid formula has changed. Rather than calculating an Expected Family Contribution, the new version of the FAFSA calculates a Student Aid Index, which is an eligibility measure of the family’s financial strength. The SAI excludes the consideration of family members in college and establishes new eligibility criteria for Federal Pell Grants.

As the second child in her family to attend college, Ceci Rodriguez ’26 pays her tuition independently, relying on adequate financial assistance to fund her education. She annually completes the FAFSA to compute her eligibility for federal Pell Grants, federal student loans and financial aid provided by Cornell.

To Rodriguez’s surprise, the new version of the FAFSA released Dec. 31 no longer increases students’ eligible financial aid if they have siblings in college, a change which significantly reduces Rodriguez’s ability to afford her tuition.

“The FAFSA no longer providing a sibling discount is now a major economic stressor for me,” Rodriguez said.

Although Rodriguez has benefitted from her past

financial aid awards, she is concerned that she may not be as fortunate for the 2024-2025 academic year due to the new federal student aid formula.

As a senior, Olivia Maday ’24 is particularly concerned for her two younger siblings in college who will see a drastic decrease in their financial aid next academic year. She feels that Cornell should increase their individual financial aid offers to account for students’ loss in federal aid.

Kevin Jensen, the executive director of Cornell’s Office of Financial Aid and Student Employment, affirmed that Cornell’s administration upholds their responsibility to meet 100 percent of undergraduate students’ demonstrated financial need, even in light of these issues in a statement to The Sun. “If a student or family experiences a reduction in federal grant aid because of this or any of the many changes to the federal need analysis formula this year, Cornell grant aid will be increased to compensate for the loss,” Jensen said.

According to guidelines outlined on the Cornell Financial Aid website, if students’ eligibility status for federal Pell Grants changes, their Cornell grant or endowed scholarship will be adjusted to ensure their demonstrated need is fully met.

The Department of Education estimates that the new FAFSA takes roughly ten minutes, with some applicants answering as few as 18 questions. Despite its simplification, Maday found the new FAFSA to be just as difficult to navigate.

“I think [the revised FAFSA] will be beneficial in the long run, but currently, many students are struggling to learn this new format,” Maday said.

Austin Grattan ’26 echoed that the FAFSA’s updated format will be beneficial in subsequent years, but for

now, the form remains tedious and time-consuming.

“In concept and in theory, [the new form] is better,” Grattan said. “But I found that when I actually did fill it out, it took almost the same amount of time because there were new rules that my dad and I did not really understand.”

This abridged version of the FAFSA also raised concerns over the holistic accuracy of its calculations for students with complicated family finances. Rodriguez and Maday said that they believe the extensive resources required for the old FAFSA seemed essential to generating an accurate report of their finances.

“Although it is easier to complete the newly shortened FAFSA, I do feel like necessary information about familial and economic circumstances are being omitted,” Rodriguez said.

Cornell Financial Aid attempts to combat this issue by requiring necessary financial information in the self-reported CSS Profile that students must complete in addition to the FAFSA. Maday also questioned the efficiency of college financial aid offers given that the 2024-2025 FAFSA was released on Dec. 31, roughly three months later than the usual release date of Oct. 1. As Cornell’s first-year applicants are required to submit the FAFSA by Feb. 15 and continuing students must meet a March 1 deadline, students now have less time to complete the application.

Students are concerned that they may also see delays in their financial aid packages since FAFSA information will be provided to colleges in late January, which is after most college application deadlines.

To continue reading this article, please visit www.cornellsun.com.

Sofia Principe can be reached at sprincipe@cornellsun.com.

Ann S. Bowers ’59, Law School Introduces Antisemitism Course The new course aims to promote civil discourse among students Celebrated Cornell Donor, Dies at 86 ANTISEMITISM

Continued from page 3

BOWERS

Continued from page 1

Council of Cornell Women and as chair of the Cornell Silicon Valley Advisors — a group that seeks to build Cornell’s business community in the Bay Area — for over a decade. In 2013, Bowers received the Frank H.T. Rhodes Exemplary Alumni Service Award, which honors alumni who have served the University tremendously.

In a University press release, President Martha Pollack reflected on the life of Bowers, highlighting her legacy in the tech industry and her continuing impact to Cornell.

“Ann was a trailblazing woman in tech, and I was fortunate to meet her during the first year of my presidency at a meeting of the Cornell Silicon Valley advisers and learn about her fascinating career,” Pollack said in the press release. “We are deeply grateful for her devotion to and her vision for Cornell, which helped us establish one of the best computing and information science colleges in the world.”

Prof. Kavita Bala, computer science, who is the inaugural dean of CIS, further expressed her appreciation of Bowers’ dedication to the University and her career in the Cornell press release.

“Ann was a forward-thinking

leader who dedicated much of her life to fostering and creating environments where technologists and innovators could thrive,” Bala said in the press release. “Her commitment to building a culture of creativity, excellence and collaboration will forever be remembered, especially at Cornell where her generosity enabled the founding of the pioneering college that bears her name.”

Bowers’ friend Rebecca Robertson ’82, who is on the Cornell Board of Trustees and Cornell Engineering Council, emphasized Bowers’ commitment to the University in a Cornell press release after the establishment of her namesake college in 2020.

“Ann’s love for Cornell, her experience during the foundational days of Silicon Valley, her commitment to education in math and science — to me this gift is a lovely coalescing of the many different strands of her life,” Robertson said in the press release. “She’s a very generous leader who cares deeply about mentoring the next generation.”

Bowers is survived by her stepchildren Margaret Noyce, Priscilla Noyce, William B. Noyce and Pendred (Penny) Noyce.

Matthew Kiviat can be reached at mkiviat@cornellsun.com.

However, Salih said that while MECA stands against antisemitism and all forms of discrimination, she wished that the University addressed and responded to the Islamophobia on campus at a level matching its response to antisemitism.

“Our [MECA’s] reaction when we saw the class was understanding that the University has the capability to [address Islamophobia,] but they have not done so,” Salih said. “Lives have been lost on both sides [of the Israel-Hamas war], and it’s distressing for everyone involved, but the effort seems to be very unequal when it comes to addressing antisemitism and Islamophobia.”

“When there is obviously an imbalance of which group is getting more support, people become afraid to disagree.”

Laila Salih ’25 Salih specified that she was disappointed that the University did not acknowledge that Greekrank contained posts with graphic, violent language towards Muslim students in October, in addition to antisemitic posts.

“It’s preposterous to me that in the same Sun article that published Dai’s antisemit-

ic threats, it mentioned these threats against Muslim women, but the University made no acknowledgment of it,” Salih said. “Or that [Dai] disguising themselves as a Muslim and using stereotypes to make hateful threats is Islamophobic in itself.”

Salih said the University’s lack of support may discourage further speech and activity that supports Muslim students.

President Martha Pollack did not include the words “Palestine” or “Palestinian” until her third email statement following the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war on Oct. 7, prompting condemnation from Cornellians advocating for Palestine.

“When there is obviously an imbalance of which group is getting more support, people become afraid to disagree. It feels like the moment you say something [the University perceives as] wrong, you could be caught on camera,” Salih said.

“What does this mean for the kind of discourse we can have?”

One way Salih hopes to see the University devote more resources to combat Islamophobia is through expanded course offerings on subjects about Islamic history and culture, especially more accessible, lower-level courses.

This spring, the Department of Near Eastern Studies offers 65 courses, including courses titled “Palestine and the Palestinians;” “Jewish Law, State Law” and “Judeophobia, Islamophobia, Racism.”

“I feel like people don’t

seem to understand what Islam is at its core,” Salih said. “There just needs to be an expansion of classes about historical Islam, modern Muslims [and] Arab ethnic groups that are lower-level and easier to access.”

Salih hopes the University ultimately expands its efforts to combat and educate against all forms of hate.

“I don’t have to agree with you. But the condition for my listening to you is that you must listen to me and that we must give each other mutual respect.”

Prof. Menachem Rosensaft “The Jewish population on campus deserves the University recognition and response to antisemitism, but the Muslims on campus deserve equal attention and action in addressing Islamophobia,” Salih said.

Altogether, Rosensaft stressed that fostering an environment of mutual respect and safety for all students is essential when providing a space to share perspectives on tense subjects.

“I don’t have to agree with you. You don’t have to agree with me,” Rosensaft said. “But the condition for my listening to you is that you must listen to me and that we must give each other mutual respect.”

Christina MacCorkle can be reached at cmaccorkle@cornellsun.com.

A&C

Tuesday, January 30, 2024 | The Corne¬ Daily Sun | 5

&

Lost Borders: The Rehearsal LUKE DENNIS SUN CONTRIBUTOR

Titanic would be much less dramatic if right as the ship was going down, DiCaprio looked into the camera and assured the audience that what was happening was entirely performance and he was not in any real danger. There are certain expectations we have about film and art that we do not want to be questioned. One of which is we don’t want the fake characters to acknowledge they are a fake person in a make-believe reality. But what happens when real people are unsure if they are playing a character or themselves? What happens when we lose track of the border that separates real from fake?

In Nathan Fielder’s TV series The Rehearsal, some actors play themselves, some play other actors in the show and some are not actors but regular people. This genreless documentary/ reality show conglomeration is an attempt to see how rehearsed real life can be. It is more of a psychological experiment than entertainment. So it is no surprise when the people involved in the production are confused about their roles. This comes to fruition when Remy, the young child actor (who is fatherless in real life) playing Fielder’s son begins to develop an attachment to Fielder.

When Remy’s time as an actor on the show ends, he cannot let go of the fantasy he was paid to be a part of. In trying to see how close fiction and reality can intertwine, the show significantly warps the reality of one of its participants.

Fielder narrates episode three, “Gold Digger,” saying, “Every now and then there are these glimmers. These moments you forget and you just feel like a family.

That’s when you know the rehearsal is working.” On the surface, Fielder is saying that with each day of rehearsal, he feels less like an actor and more that his scene partners are his real wife and child — an artistic pushing of boundaries

COURTESY of HULU

The fourth wall | Luke Dennis '27 discusses the increasingly tenuous separation between audience and performer in The Rehearsal.

that eventually gets people harmed in the process.

But if the “you” Fielder is referring to is the audience, then it becomes even more nuanced. He is saying that when the performance is good enough, we the audience forget it is fake despite his attempts to remind us. Essentially, if art can blend itself seamlessly into reality and neither the audience nor the performers recognize the stage, then what’s the difference?

Some works rely on that barrier between performance and reality to dissolve.

In & Of Itself, by Derek DelGaudio, is a one-man theatrical performance that was performed 552 times. But the film is different from the actual performance in the theater, as DelGaudio is also the narrator. In one scene he narrates, “You think this is a performance. You see a man in a theater. There's an audience. His lines are memorized. His actions are rehearsed. It is difficult to see past what this looks like. Hell, it's easy to lie on a stage. It's even easier to lie in a film.”

He is acknowledging the illusion that we all ignore when watching a show. To have an emotional interest in a piece of fiction, most creators attempt to bring the audience into their made-up world and hope they will believe it.

Yet DelGaudio does the

opposite.

In further narration, he says, “I do not expect you to believe anything you're seeing or hearing. And knowing you won't believe me, that's the only reason I'm going to tell you the truth.” DelGaudio can hide in the veil of performance because we have separately categorized truth and fictional entertainment in our minds.

And quite a good hiding spot, for where is the last place you would look for someone being truthful?

Is the stage not made for deceit, with its costumes and curtains, its sets and manufactured sounds?

DelGaudio’s idea echoes what the author Tim O’Brien once said in a lecture: “That's what fiction is for. It's for getting at the truth when the truth isn't sufficient for the truth.”

Something both Fielder’s and DelGaudio’s pieces have in common is their recognition of the limitations of art. A third work that not only recognizes its limitations but centers around them is the film Inside by Bo Burnham.

The musical, comedic, single-set, sole-performer film, analyzes its own importance in a world of looming concerns. In the song “Comedy,” Burnham sings, “If you wake up in a house that's full of smoke don't panic — call me and I'll tell you a

joke.” This line is questioning just how useful art is. Often art is described as “life-saving,” but in situations where lives are in immediate danger, it seems that little can be done by art to help someone. Instead, it seems art can only be “life-saving” when our physiological and personal safety is secure. This brings an inherent limitation to art, as no matter how much it attempts to replicate life, it will never sustain us in the way other things do.

However, as the film progresses and Burnham’s mental stability begins to crumble, he shows that working on the film is the only thing that can keep him functioning. In a way it does sustain him, yet is also quite parasitic as it slowly drains him of energy and purpose. In the song “Don’t Wanna Know” he sings, “Am I on in the background? Are you on your phone? I'd ask you what you're watching but I don't wanna know. Is there anyone out there? Or am I all alone?”

Burnham’s breaking of the fourth wall puts the audience under the spotlight. He challenges the idea that his work will be passively consumed and calls out anyone doing so. Our expectation for art is that of a one-way relationship: It presents something to us and there is no obligation for us to present something back.

This brings the blurriness between performance and reality to a heightened intensity.

What happens when the actors harshly criticize the audience? At what point is it no longer performance but the actual person who is speaking to you? In “Goodbye,” Burnham sings, “Hey, here's a fun idea. How about I sit on the couch and I watch you next time?” The argument can be made that he is no longer playing a character. He is genuinely trying to reach the audience as himself; the cruel irony is that he is on a screen, in front of a camera, digitized into a million pixels, the furthest thing from being human.

We spend so much time trying to replicate reality in a myriad of ways.

When artists attempt to find where the separation between reality and fiction lies, they realize they can only do so by merging the two — often with themselves and others caught in the disorienting crossfire. Somewhere along the way, we’ve lost the border between real and imaginary. Or maybe the border was something we imagined in the first place.

Luke Dennis is a freshman in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. He can be reached at ld524@cornell.edu.

ARTS & CULTURE ARTS & CULTURE

6 The Cornell Daily Sun | Tuesday, January 29, 2024

Opinion

The Corne¬ Daily Sun Independent Since 1880 141st Editorial Board ANGELA BUNAY ’24 Editor in Chief

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A Student's Plea for Grade Transparency

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To the Editor

Re: Lindseth's "Open Letter" Dear Mr. Lindseth: You have devoted your great talents, time and wherewithal to Cornell. I genuinely thank you for this; nonetheless, I must take issue with your “open letter” to Cornell’s board of trustees.

You are from the class of 1956; I am from the class of 1976. The Cornell campus was much different from your time to my time there. When I enrolled in 1972, the racial strife that had occurred at Cornell in 1969 was still fresh. Cornell’s president, James A. Perkins, resigned his position in 1969 in the face of alumni backlash over his handling of that crisis. (As sidenotes, in 1963, Mr. Perkins established the Committee On Special Education Projects (COSEP), the first of its kind at a major American university designed to increase the enrollment of African American students at Cornell and provide them with supportive services. In 1995, the Cornell board of trustees — led by a trustee who had been a leader in the 1969 seizing of Willard Straight Hall — established the James A. Perkins Prize for Interracial Understanding and Harmony).

After Mr. Perkins’s resignation, his successor, President Dale M. Corson, in further response to the 1969 strife, in 1972 established Ujamaa, an AfricanAmerican residential college that still exists today. And, yes, during my time at Cornell from 1972 through 1976, racially- based “differences” persisted in both Black and White campus communities. White students felt that Ujamaa, reserved only for Black students, was “reverse” segregation that did not foster goals of racial inclusion; Black students championed Ujamaa as a recognition of Black culture.

Step by step, however, and because of Cornell’s commitment to eradicating prejudice, Cornell exemplifies recognition of racial, religious and cultural differences and achieving enlightenment and growth in the ever-evolving human condition. Today, when I visit Cornell, I do not see the racial or religious division that existed during my time as a student in the 1970s. Instead, I see brilliant young men and women who collaborate, without any care about different skin, culture and beliefs, to mold the future of our world, their world and the world of generations to follow.

To continue reading, visit cornellsun.com — Charles L. Schlumberger ’76

I

n an era of widespread grade inflation and soaring tuition, universities face a critical question: Are they institutions of learning or mere diploma mills? As a computer science student aspiring to law school, I understand the importance of a high GPA. Yet, as someone investing four years and $360,000 in my education, I seek more than the superficial pursuit of good grades. I seek a genuine education and transparent grades encourage learning. For Cornell, a bold stance on grade transparency will signal a commitment to substantive education.

In the late 1990s, Cornell began a two-pronged experiment to counteract the detrimental effects of grade inflation on learning. In 1998, our University began posting median grades for courses on the registrar’s website. In 2008, Cornell added median grades to student transcripts. Yet, in 2011, the Faculty Senate passed a resolution to remove median grades from the registrar’s website — and, last month, the Faculty Senate passed a resolution to remove median grades from student transcripts.

Why this backtrack? Both grade transparency-reducing resolutions are based on a study suggesting that the inclusion of median grades on the registrar’s website increased the number of students shopping for leniently graded courses — thereby increasing grade inflation at Cornell.

On this basis, the Faculty Senate decided the experiment had failed and that median grades must go.

I disagree for two reasons. First, the research followed by the Faculty Senate was conducted before median grades were added to student transcripts. Second, the goal of the initial resolution, in being transparent about median grades, was not to combat grade inflation per se but rather to combat its adverse effects, by providing context for grades.

On the first point, one may well ask how the Faculty Senate could shut down the experiment based on a study conducted before the experiment had finished.

Many factors could have influenced this decision, such as professors who want to continue grading leniently to receive positive course evaluations, low-ability students who ride on the coattails of high-ability students by way of inflated GPAs and a cautionary mental health review. In any event, the Faculty Senate used an arguably incorrect interpretation of the study to reduce the transparency of grades. The study found (as anticipated) that including median grades on the registrar’s website increased compositional grade inflation — i.e., the proportion of the student body enrolling in higher-grading classes. Yet, further research should have been conducted to study whether adding median grades to transcripts — an essential component of the original plan

— mitigated this effect.

While compositional grade inflation may undermine the credibility of every Cornell student’s raw GPA, including median course grades on the registrar’s website ensures that this impact is distributed equally among all students. Under this information regime, all Cornell students have equal access to information enabling them to select leniently graded courses if they want to — eliminating the advantage for well-connected students who hear rumors about different courses from their friends. Thus, while Cornell combats grade inflation through more effective strategies, the unfair advantages of grade inflation are minimized by grade transparency.

On the second point, the addition of median grades to transcripts diminishes the opportunity cost of not selecting GPA-boosting courses, as it becomes more challenging to mislead uninformed employers and graduate schools that a high GPA reflects stellar performance rather than a strategically selected course load. Thus, including median grades on transcripts disincentivizes students from course shopping based on class difficulty.

Furthermore, including median grades on transcripts would seem — intuitively — to incentivize academic venturing. The context-setting median grade decreases the risk to students of enrolling in challenging low-median courses, by tempering the harm caused by a lower grade. Students can justify to parents, employers, graduate schools and themselves that their “low” GPA is not due to underperformance but to a rigorous course load. However, empirical evidence is important: Cornell must capitalize on its position as a pioneer in grade-in-context policies to research their effects on course shopping and academic venturing.

Admittedly, providing median grade information is not a perfect policy. A high median grade on a transcript can falsely imply that a student took the “easy” way.

However, Cornell must solve this through University-wide grade capping, to ensure there is no “easy” way. Cheating can inflate median grades, too, harming the honest student. However, Cornell must solve issues of academic integrity directly, through stricter enforcement. Moreover, median grade information might seem unnecessary if raw letter grades indicate mastery of the material. However, even if it were true that raw grades demonstrate mastery, median grades would still have value in communicating the difficulty of courses to external observers. In any case, raw letter grades do not speak for themselves because professors have different standards for what constitutes mastery of the material.

To continue reading, visit cornellsun.com

The Cornell Daily Sun | Tuesday, January 30, 2024 7

Comics and Puzzles

Fill in the empty cells, one number in each, so that each column, row, and region contains the numbers 1-9 exactly once. Each number in the solution therefore occurs only once in each of the three “directions,” hence the “single numbers” implied by the puzzle’s name.

(Rules from wikipedia.org/wiki/ Sudoku)

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The Corne¬ Daily Sun

TUESDAY JANUARY 30, 2024

8

No. 9 Wrestling Takes Down No. 2 Missouri in Weekend Sweep

By NATE KRACKELER Sun Staff Writer

As senior No. 8 Jacob Cardenas rose from the mat following his meet-clinching victory on Sunday, Jan. 28, the crowd’s unified roar of approval commemorated not only an undefeated weekend, but also the fact that No. 9 Cornell wrestling (7-3, 2-1 EIWA) was back on track. Following three recent losses against ranked opponents, the Red entered a tough weekend slate and took down Harvard (3-3, 0-2 EIWA), Brown (1-4, 0-2 EIWA) and No. 2 Missouri (8-1, 4-0 Big 12) across two grueling days of wrestling.

In the opening meet of the weekend, Cornell was dominant as it dispatched Harvard. Junior Greg Diakomihalis kicked off the meet with an impressive major-decision victory over a ranked opponent before senior No. 2 Vito Arujau made his highly anticipated return from injury. Arujau didn’t miss a beat, earning a 13-5 major decision. The rest of the team followed his lead, recording two pins, two technical falls and two more major decisions to take the duel 37-6.

The match against Brown saw further Cornell dominance, as the Red demolished its opponents across the board. Cardenas and senior No. 8 Chris Foca were particularly impressive as Cornell wrestlers won every individual match, recording three pins and four technical falls to score an awe-inspiring 47 points. Brown were deducted a point for unsportsmanlike conduct, leading to a bizarre final score of 47 to -1 and confirming an Ivy sweep for the Red. The main event of the weekend was Sunday’s meet against Missouri. The Tigers were undefeated heading into the contest, boasting multiple ranked wins and a strong

lineup that included six wrestlers ranked inside the top 10 at their respective weights.

Following a stretch of tough losses in recent weeks, the Red was certainly the underdog but has a history of pulling off upsets in front of its rowdy home crowd.

The match kicked off at 125 pounds, where the Tigers jumped off to a 6-0 lead following a first round pin by No. 7 Noah

and junior No. 28 Ethan Fernandez, who have been two of the Red’s most improved wrestlers this season, took resilient decision victories, bringing the score to 9-6.

That set the stage for a marquee matchup between freshman No. 12 Meyer Shapiro and No. 5 Brock Mauller. This time, it was Shapiro who did the mauling, as he dominated the three-time All-American, taking

JULIA NAGEL / SUN PHOTOGRAPHY EDITOR

Tigers tamed | Sophomore Evan Canoyer closely battled No. 6 Peyton Mocco.

Surtin. Arujau struck back at 133, completing a third round comeback to win 10-9 and causing a particularly raucous crowd in Newman Arena to erupt. Cardenas emphasized the energy that the home fans exerted on the match.

“The home crowd is the best part,” Cardenas said. “I think our team truly feeds off of support, and it’s great to feel people behind us.”

Riding on the momentum created by Arujau, Cornell rattled off a streak of victories. Sophomore No. 13 Vince Cornella

a 13-4 victory in which Mauller scored all his points on escapes. This result gave the unpredictable and athletic Shapiro another win against a top opponent on a resumé that is already impressive for a freshman.

At 165 pounds, Missouri struck back as two-time national champion No. 1 Keegan O’Toole defeated junior No. 2 Julian Ramirez in a highly anticipated clash. After an admirable performance by sophomore Evan Canoyer, who held No. 6 Peyton Mocco to only a decision victory, the duel moved into the final three

matches with Cornell holding a tenuous 13-11 advantage. With each team fielding a highly ranked competitor at each of the three heaviest weight classes, the contest was hanging in the balance.

Beginning at 184, Foca faced off against No. 11 Clayton Whitling. Foca has struggled thus far, after being forced to move up from his preferred 174-pound class due to injuries in the roster. He had no trouble with Whitling, though, breezing through to a 14-1 major decision. Next up was Cardenas, who faced No. 3 Rocky Elam, another three-time All-American with an undefeated record. A win by Cardenas would clinch the meet for the Red. After a cagey first round, Cardenas dominated the second, escaping and taking down Elam via a signature blast double. A resilient defensive performance in the third saw Cardenas come out on top, clinching the match 4-0 and the meet for the Red. Following a Cornell loss at heavyweight, the meet ended 20-16 in the Red’s favor, a truly exceptional win. In what has been a lukewarm Cornell Wrestling season thus far, Cardenas considered the weekend proof of the team’s true quality.

“We definitely don’t like some of our losses, but we all know how good we are,” said Cardenas, who was recently awarded EIWA Wrestler of the Week honors on Monday. “We just had to let it click and make it happen.”

Cornell next takes to the mat on Friday, Feb. 2 at 6:30 p.m. for an Ivy League dual meet against Columbia (1-7, 0-2 EIWA).

The match will take place at Friedman Wrestling Center.

Nate Krackeler can be reached at nkrackeler@cornellsun.com.

Men’s Basketball Dominates Princeton, Remains Undefeated in Conference Play

By DAVID SUGARMANN Sun Assistant Sports Editor

On Saturday, Jan. 27, Cornell (15-3, 4-0 Ivy) defeated Princeton (15-2, 3-1 Ivy) 83-68, extending its current win streak to five. Coming into the game, the Tigers owned the highest winning percentage — .938 — in Division I basketball. In recent years, the Red has struggled to defeat Princeton, falling short in four of its five previous contests against the Tigers.

After senior guard Matt Allocco scored the first points of the game for the Tigers, senior forward Sean Hansen put the Red on the board, converting his signature baby hook shot. The first 10 minutes of the game saw four ties and four lead changes. The Red struggled offensively during this stretch, scoring just 15 points.

With 10:29 left in the first half, Cornell trailed Princeton 17-13. A layup from senior guard Chris Manon and a three-pointer from senior forward Keller Boothby over the following minute of play put Cornell back in the lead, 18-17. This was the start of 10 unanswered Cornell points, and the Red went on to hold its lead for the remainder of the game.

Cornell finished the half on an impressive 30-7 run and headed to the locker room with a commanding 43-24 lead.

Dominance from behind the three-point line

proved to be a key in Cornell’s success late in the first half. After missing its first six attempts from behind the arc, the Red converted six of its next 10 to close out the half. The Red converted 36 percent of its three-point attempts by the end of the game. The Tigers — on the other hand — went cold from deep, knocking down just five of its 27 attempts throughout the game.

Due to Cornell’s fast-paced play style, one consistent issue for the Red is turning over the ball too often. The Red has been better of late in this stat category. After averaging 15 turnovers in its first 11 games, the team has averaged just under 11 turnovers per game in its last seven contests.

In the opening minutes of the second half, Cornell extended its lead to 21 points. The Tigers would not go out without a fight, though.

Once Princeton switched to a full-court press, a couple of turnovers by the Red helped the Tigers claw its way back into the game. With 7:16 left in the game, Cornell’s lead dwindled down to 11.

Hansen played a big role in thwarting Princeton’s momentum, knocking down two layups and assisting a third one to give the Red a little breathing room. Hansen finished the game with 12 points, four rebounds, five assists and a steal.

It was all Cornell from there, as the Red

would go on to win the game, 83-68. Cornell has now won its first four in-conference games, putting the team in a tie for first in the Ivy League with Yale. The 15-point difference was Princeton’s largest margin of defeat this season.

Junior guard Nazir Williams was Cornell’s top performer of the game, finishing with 20 points, eight rebounds, two assists and a steal. Williams was extremely efficient with his scoring, shooting eight for 11 from the field and knocking down all four of his attempts from behind the arc.

Manon also had an impressive outing, ending with a stat line of 16 points, 11 rebounds, six assists, two steals and two blocks, leading the team in the latter four categories.

The referees did not do the Red any favors in the game, awarding 33 free throw attempts to the Tigers compared to Cornell’s nine. Despite the discrepancy, the Red took down a Princeton team that was ranked 32nd in the AP Top 25 Men’s College Basketball Poll.

Men’s Basketball will continue its season on Friday, Feb. 2 against Dartmouth at Leede Arena in Hanover, New Hampshire. This game starts at 7 p.m. and can be streamed live on ESPN+.

David Sugarmann can be reached at dsugarmann@cornellsun.com.