INDEPENDENT SINCE 1880
The Corne¬ Daily Sun Vol. 138, No. 38
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2021
n
ITHACA, NEW YORK
8 Pages – Free
Arts
Arts
Sports
Weather
Goodnight Moon
Valentine
Six in the City
Snow Showers
Megan Pontin ’23 discusses the power wielded by children’s books like The Very Hungry Caterpillar. | Page 4
Indie-rock artist Snail Mail releases triumphant and honest new album, Valentine, an ode to heartbreak. | Page 5
C.U. Delays Vaccine Mandate for Campus Faculty and Staff
Offense shines as Cornell men’s hockey downs Boston University 6-4 at Madison Square Garden. | Page 8
HIGH: 35º LOW: 26º
First flurries
Extends vaccination deadline to Jan. 18 By JYOTHSNA BOLLEDDULA Sun News Editor
The University has granted a one-month extension to faculty and staff to get vaccinated against the COVID-19 virus. Before the extension, on-campus staff were expected to receive their vaccination by Dec. 8. Employees now have until Jan. 18 to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 or to get a University-approved medical or religious exemption. This applies to all employees on Cornell’s Ithaca, Geneva, New York City and other campuses. The announcement comes after the federal government extended the deadline on its earlier vaccine mandate for all federal employees. Following pressure from labor unions to extend the deadline due to a labor shortage in multiple sectors, the federal government announced the extension on Nov. 4. An initial executive order in September 2021 mandated the vaccine for all federal employees, and the University followed See STAFF page 3
JOAO SILVA / THE NEW YORK TIMES
Vaccination | Cornell has extended its staff vaccination deadline.
KATRIEN DE WAARD / SUN STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
A student walks through one of the first snow flurries of the season on West Campus on Nov. 23.
University Reports Increasing COVID Cases as Holidays Near As students settle back into Ithaca as they return from Thanksgiving break, according
By MIHIKA BADJATE Sun Assistant News Editor
As the holiday season swings into gear and Ithaca witnesses its first snow flurries of the winter, Cornell COVID-19 cases have risen to 30 to 50 cases a week for the past three weeks. The increase in case numbers is in line with rising cases across the country. The slight uptick in Ithaca cases also comes after New York State declared a state of emergency last Friday as a precautionary measure against high case counts and the threat of the newly discovered omicron variant.
Cornell reported almost 40 cases between Nov. 17 and Nov. 23, and over 50 in the seven-day period before that. to the COVID-19 Tracking Dashboard, Cornell reported almost 40 cases between Nov. 17 and Nov. 23, and over 50 in the seven-day period before that. This marks an increase
from case counts just a month ago, when daily case counts were in the single digits. Most of the new cases come from Cornell students and staff. From Nov. 17 to Nov. 23, 16 of the new positive cases were from students and 21 were from staff. Cornell has been on green alert level since Sept. 24, when it moved to yellow due to more than 400 cases reported at the beginning of the semester. Tompkins County COVID cases have also risen since mid-October, with 259 new cases reported between Nov. 21 and Nov. 28. Total active cases See COVID page 3
Pulitzer-Winners to Speak in Goldwin Smith Hall Lecture Discussion will center around immigration journalism By ANGELA BUNAY Sun Assistant News Editor
Award-winning immigration journalists Sonia Nazario and Nadja Drost will discuss the role immigration reporting plays in U.S. politics and policy in a conversation moderated by Molly O’Toole ’09, this semester’s Zubrow Distinguished Visiting Journalist Fellow. The Wednesday conversation titled “Move: An Urgent Conversation with Award-winning Immigration Journalists and Authors” will have both journalists share their insights on the field of immigration journalism and how it has shaped the nation’s political landscape.
Both Nazario and Drost are distinguished journalists who have won numerous awards, including each receiving Pulitzer prizes for Feature Writing. Nazario won the prize in 2003 for her six-part Los Angeles Times series “Enrique’s Journey,” which detailed the story of a 5-yearold Honduran boy’s arduous travel to the United States. Now, Nazario is a contributing opinion writer for The New York Times and is working on a new book. Alongside the Pulitzer Prize, Nazario’s work on the series also earned her the George Polk Award for International Reporting, the Grand Prize of the Robert F. Kennedy Journalism
COURTESY OF CORNELL UNIVERSITY
Immigration issues | Journalists Sonia Nazario, left, and Nadja Drost, right,
See EVENT page 3 will speak at Cornell on Wednesday.