2019 Parents Weekend Ad Supplement Inside INDEPENDENT SINCE 1880
The Corne¬ Daily Sun Vol. 136, No. 25
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 24, 2019
n
20 Pages – Free
ITHACA, NEW YORK
News
Arts
Sports
Weather
Late-Night Dining
Frankenstein
Major Meltdown
Chance Of Showers HIGH: 64º LOW: 41º
Trillium stopped serving hot stations during late-night dining hours this semester.
Ramya Yandava ’21 shows what Frankenstein’s literary legacy tells us about the ethics of robotics and evolution. | Page 13
| Page 3
Astros Assistant General Manager Taubman ’07 is at center of a World Series media debacle. | Page 20
CU Nooz Receives Cease, Desist Letter
Shortline parent company responds to Fall Break satire By SARAH SKINNER Sun Managing Editor
that animal agriculture could save developing countries. Upset by the incident, Feliz then left the classroom and skipped more of that day’s programming. On Sept. 12, Feliz emailed the leadership of the program — including Sarah Evanega, the director of Cornell Alliance for Science — about their concerns regarding the incident, which had not been addressed. Feliz said there was no response until Sept. 20, and then Evanega suggested a meeting with human resources, which Feliz declined. Ultimately, Evanega met Feliz during a class on Sept. 24, according to Feliz. Evanega reportedly asked Feliz to consider leaving and asked if the program was right for them, citing that it was “about biotechnology and not social
Coach USA, the parent company of the Shortline bus service whose routes routinely ferry Cornell students in and out of Ithaca, sent a cease and desist letter to on-campus satire publication CU Nooz about an online piece that poked fun at fall break travel times. The letter, obtained by The Sun and sent by Coach USA’s legal counsel, called the piece “libelous” and threatened legal action if not pulled off of CU Nooz’s website. The article, originally entitled “Student Spent Entirety of Fall Break on Shortline Bus” spoofed the travel experience of a fictional student on a nonexistent Shortline route, saying that long bus journeys prevented her from spending time at home. Sean Hughes, a spokesperson for Coach USA, said the article could be misleading to customers in a statement to The Sun. “Shortline understands that the article was satirical, but if anyone unknowingly was doing a search on ShortLine services and this article came up they would not see that it was fake news,” Hughes said. The letter, sent Monday morning, lists instructions for the piece to be “immediately removed” and for “no further libelous material will be published on cunooz. com.” The original article was posted on Oct. 16. After recieving the letter, CU Nooz updated the article on Tuesday morning, crossing out words and replacing them with bolded, all caps text: “Kayla Gladstone ‘22 spentDID NOT SPEND the entire duration of Fall Break on a Shortline service” and “When asked for comment about the delays, aNO
See SCIENCE page 5
See CUNOOZ page 5
SABRINA XIE / SUN DESIGN EDITOR
Alliance for science | Julia Feliz says discrimination resulted in her dismissal from the Alliance for Science Program.
Ex-Fellow Calls Cornell Program Racist
Cornell says Julia Feliz was removed for disrupting Alliance for Science classroom By KATHYRN STAMM Sun Staff Writer
After over a month of back and forth, Cornell’s Alliance for Science asked one of its fellows, Julia Feliz, to leave on Oct. 15, citing them as a continued interruption to the program. Feliz called the program racist. Feliz — a scientific researcher in conservation ecology — was a member of the fourth cohort for the Global Leadership Fellows Program, which started in 2015. They were born in Puerto Rico and were the first Afro Indigenous fellow, they told The Sun. The 12-week program focuses on agricultural biotechnology innovation, bringing “emerging international leaders” to Cornell’s campus to learn skills to bring back to their home countries, according to a statement from John
Carberry, senior director of media relations. According to Carberry, 27 of the 31 fellows were people of color, coming from various countries including Bangladesh, Brazil and Burkina Faso. Feliz described not only facing racism, but also intimidation, negligence of their requests and retaliation for speaking out throughout the program. On Sept. 10, a visiting professor made “sexist, racist and really inappropriate comments,” while giving a seminar talk, Feliz told The Sun. Part of the program curriculum includes “seminars and workshops led by international thought leaders and subject matter experts,” according to the program website. Feliz claimed the male professor angrily accosted them, interrupting their question following up on his claim
First N.Y.S. Early Voting Begins Oct. 26 By AMANDA CRONIN Sun News Editor
Lawns and street corners are littered with red, white and blue signs: “Justice Claudette Newman for Supreme Court!” “Svante Myrick for Mayor!” This year, voters don’t have to wait until election day to bubble their ballots. “Early Voting,” signed into New York state law in January, gives voters a nine-day head start beginning
Oct. 26. Students, faculty and staff registered to vote in any New York state county can queue at Ithaca Town Hall in the Commons or at the Crash Fire Rescue building starting at 9 a.m. on Saturday, Oct. 26, and concluding at 2 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 3. People voting on general election day, Nov. 5, should report to their usual assigned polling location. Ithaca Town Hall, located two
blocks north of the Commons shopping center, is the closest early location to Cornell’s campus. The 10, 30, 31, 32, 51 TCAT bus lines service the area Monday through Friday, as well as the fee-free 70 and 72 bus lines on Saturday and Sunday. The closest Nov. 6 polling place is St. Luke’s Lutheran Church in Collegetown. ALICIA WANG / SUN GRAPHICS EDITOR
See VOTING page 5
Early bird | Voters will be able to vote early beginning Oct. 26.