11-29-22 entire issue hi res

The Corne¬ Daily Sun

English Dept. Welcomes Professor

Chelsea Frazier brings expertise on Black feminism and ecology

Cornell Law School Will Not Withdraw From U.S. News Rankings

By ANGELA BUNAY Sun Managing Editor

Cornell Law School Dean Jens Ohlin released a state ment on Wednesday, Nov. 23 addressing the trend of top law schools withdrawing from the U.S. News and World Report rankings. Cornell will not with draw from the rankings at this time, according to the statement.

Cornell Law refrained from issuing a statement when peer institutions began withdrawing

“We should move to a world where all of us — faculty, administrators, students and applicants — focus on academ ic quality instead of numerical rankings.”

Dean Jens Ohlin

from the rankings last week.

Ohlin said in the statement that while he believes the rankings distort academic decision-mak ing, do not capture the institu tional quality and create incen tives adverse to the interests of the legal profession, withdrawal from the rankings is not the solution.

“Withdrawal from the rankings process will not have the desired impact that many assume that it will have,” Ohlin wrote in his statement.

Ohlin cited reasons for the decision to not withdraw in his statement as well. He noted that U.S. News said that it will continue

to rank the law schools, regardless of their withdrawal. Additionally, he mentioned that all law schools are required to report the same data used in the rankings to the American Bar Association, which is publicly made available.

“The reality is that [the] U.S. News & World Report is a journalistic enterprise, and they don’t need anyone’s per mission, including mine, to pub lish a ranking,” Ohlin wrote in his statement, “and they have ready access to information from the ABA and other public sourc es to construct their rankings.”

Ohlin said that regardless of whether Cornell Law withdraws from the rankings, he believes a deeper conversation needs to be had on the role of rankings in legal education, professional practice and in higher education overall.

“We should move to a world where all of us — fac ulty, administrators, students and applicants — focus on aca demic quality instead of numer ical rankings that are, at best, a crude proxy for the reality on the ground, and at worst, a fun damental distraction from aca demic progress,” Ohline wrote. “I pledge myself to this effort.”

Last week, Georgetown Law, Stanford Law and Columbia Law — Ohlin’s alma mater — also joined Yale, Harvard and Berkeley in withdrawing from the rankings. The University of Michigan Law School, ranked 10th, announced its withdrawal last week as well.

Prof. Chelsea M. Frazier, Literatures in English, understands the power of a well crafted nar rative. As one of the newest fac ulty members in the Department of Literatures in English, Frazier teaches her undergraduate and grad uate students how art and literature show Black women’s conceptions of the world and ecological prob lems — and provides them with the tools to tell stories of their own.

Frazier, who received her Ph.D. in African American Studies from Northwestern University in 2019, is a prolific writer and speaker in her field. Her work centers around the intersection between Black feminist theory and environmen tal thought. Frazier has authored several papers concerning environ mentalism and Black feminism, and has had numerous speak ing engagements in recent years.

Currently, Frazier serves as an assistant professor in the

Department of Literatures in English and the Feminist, Gender and Sexuality Studies Program. Despite being a newer faculty member, Frazier has already made an impact in the department.

“Chelsea is a marvelous addi tion to our department, bringing intersecting concerns with ecocrit icism, feminism and Black studies — and, to top it off, aesthetics, in a wide frame of literature and visual art, involving circulations between global and U.S. settings,” Prof. Andrew Galloway, literatures in English, wrote in a statement to The Sun. “She has hit the ground running with energetic teaching, advising and critical writing, con stituting a very welcome new mem ber of a department whose range and depth continue to be among the most impressive in the world.”

By CAMDEN WEHRLE Sun Staff Writer See FRAZIER page

While looking for employment in academia, Frazier was attracted to a call from Cornell for a professor ship in African American literature and culture, citing the department’s strong ties to visual culture, American

studies and creative writing.

“I was really drawn to the way that there was so much creative synergy in Cornell’s English department,” Frazier said. “I was also really drawn to the fact that so many of my colleagues had a sustained inter est in environmental thought.”

Prof. Caroline Levine, literatures in English, served on the committee responsible for hiring Frazier out of a pool of 150 applicants for the position. According to Levine, in recent years the English depart ment has lost several scholars in the field, leading to a gap that the search committee was created to fill.

“Professor Frazier has very impressive credentials for both teaching and research,” Levine said. “[Out of the candidates] some people really rise to the top and it’s because their research is very innovative and we know they’ll also be filling an import ant role in the classroom.”

Students Gear Up for Finals Period

By AIMÉE EICHER Sun Assistant News Editor

As the fall semester comes to a close, students are preparing for the upcoming finals period, facing stress and navigating study resources for the exam-filled week.

With classes ending on Dec. 5, the three-day study period allows students to dedicate their time to studying and work ing on final projects, without the obliga tion of classes. Finals will begin on Dec. 9 and end on Dec. 17.

Students largely expressed feeling over whelmed about their upcoming final exams, saying that they feel they have little time to prepare before the finals period begins.

“I have one [exam] the first Saturday and then also Sunday. It’s very front loaded this year,” said Emily Crites ’25. “ I feel like I’m still catching up, making sure I know all the material the first time around.”

Anjali Kulkarni grad echoed this sen timent, though she also appreciated the respite from work that Thanksgiving break provided.

“I think it gave me some time to take a step back, regroup and be more mentally prepared for what’s coming,” Kulkarni said, noting the additional stress of her upcoming graduation from her Masters of Engineering program this semester.

Kristen Moon ’25 also said she enjoyed taking time off from schoolwork, but she

felt that the University-designated days for Thanksgiving break did not provide enough time for her to travel home.

“I did skip the Monday and Tuesday

Study season | As Cornellians return from Thanksgiving break, they are beginning to prepare for final exams and projects.

last week, so, with skipping, [the break] was enough, but I feel like if I had gone to classes on Monday and Tuesday, it wouldn’t have been,” Moon said. “I live in Oregon, so if I didn’t skip, there wouldn’t have been enough time to get home.”

As they begin to study for final exams, students said that additional office hours were a helpful resource.

Law Dean's disclosure | Cornell Law School Dean Jens Ohlin announced that the school will not withdraw from the U.S. News and World Report rankings.

HANNAH ROSENBERG / SUN SENIOR EDITOR

JULIA NAGEL / SUN PHOTOGRAPHY EDITOR

Angela Bunay can be reached at abunay@cornellsun.com.

New Prof Brings Expertise on Black Ecoliterature

my class with a set of critical tools so they can approach hip-hop music and culture from a histor ically, socially and emphatically responsible lens.”

Levine also noted Frazier’s work writ ing for the general public as a benefit.

“A lot of people in the wider world are unsure why the humanities matter and why literature and culture matter, and to have somebody who speaks forcefully on behalf of what we do and why it matters is great,” Levine said.

For the fall 2022 semester, Frazier is teach ing English courses at both the undergraduate and graduate level. She teaches a section of the ENGL 1168: Cultural Studies First-Year Writing Seminar, with the topic “Race, Gender, and Writing about Hip-Hop.” The class covers the relation of hip hop — a Black cultural art form that Frazier said is often maligned — to mainstream culture and politics.

“The class is not about teaching music neces sarily,” Frazier said. “It’s really about providing

At the graduate level, Frazier is teaching ENGL 6644: Troubling Ecology, which critically examines texts she describes as Black Ecoliterature, comprised of notions of Blackness, gender formation and ecology.

According to Levine, graduate students in particular enjoy Frazier’s work relating to questions of race in literature and culture connected to the environment.

“A lot of [graduate students] are thinking about environmental studies, thinking about Black studies.” Levine said. “There’s a lot of grad students really eager to take her course so I think that’s a reason she was slotted into the graduate teaching rotation so fast.”

Despite the wide gap between the first semester fresh men enrolled in the FWS and the graduate students tak ing Troubling Ecology, Frazier said most students are new to Cornell like she is, and she hopes to offer all students

tools to thrive in their academic programs and careers.

“Even though they are in different places develop mentally, there’s a lot of ways where we’re all finding our comfortability and footing within Cornell, and using the classroom space as a grounding point,” Frazier said.

Frazier is also set to teach two classes in the spring semester, both of which have had strong enroll ment numbers during pre-enroll. ENGL 2560: Black Queer Writing and Media will introduce students to a variety of texts by black and queer thinkers and artists, who present alternate ways to exist in a heteronormative, patriarchal culture. She will also teach ENGL 3365: Black Ecoliterature, which will be an undergraduate companion to her graduate course.

“I definitely want to encourage students to come on down and join the conversation,” Frazier said. “If you come in with a willingness to be curious, you’re going to do well.”

Independent Since 1880

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Camden Wehrle can be reached at cwehrle@cornellsun.com.

FRAZIER

PPGA Advocate for Vendable Plan B Pills

By JULIA SENZON Sun Staff Writer

Planned Parenthood Generation Action, a campus organization that champions sexual education and repro ductive justice, is promoting the implementation of Plan B vending machines on campus.

Plan B, along with other morning-after contraception pills, is used to lower the chanc es of pregnancy due to unpro tected sex. Pills can be taken up to five days after unprotected sex, but they are more effective when taken earlier.

After the Supreme Court’s

“The survey’s purpose was to gain responses from the community to gauge the need for the machines, price points, where they should go and what should be in them,” Levy said.

While Cornell Health offers emergency contraception, their restricted hours limit access, especially considering emer gency contraception is more effective when taken earlier. Furthermore, off-campus phar macies are not always conve nient.

PPGA is working to provide an option where students feel comfortable purchasing emer gency contraception.

“I want to assure the com munity that we are putting thought into the location and understand the desire for a loca tion that is accessible but feels private,” said Levy.

Megan Edwards ’26 said that a Plan B vending machine would be a valuable campus resource.

“I think that a Plan B vend ing machine on campus is a great idea,” said Edwards. “It would help students worry less about accessibility and time to access emergency contracep tion.”

Cornellians Feel Stressed, Supported for Finals Week

“Office hours have always been really good for me — being able to go meet with my TAs, my professors,” said Grace Ryan ’24. “I make sure that I’m on track with every thing, that I know what I’m preparing for.”

Kelly Jiang grad said she especially appreciates office hours from course teaching assistants, who help make the

the professor does,” Jiang, who is concluding her first semester as a mechanical engi neering Ph.D. student, said. “They’re a lot less intimidating to go [to] and ask questions.”

Despite this support from professors and course staff, some students expressed frus tration at having to take mul tiple final exams in one day. During finals week, Moon and Crites both have two exams scheduled in one day, with one exam in the morning and another at night.

“I wish the two tests in one day were illegal,” Moon said.

Ryan said she wished finals period allowed for more flexi bility with rescheduling exams to avoid taking multiple in the same day, though she

acknowledged the difficulty in providing this accommoda tion to every student.

“I know this is a very dif ficult thing — especially with big classes, because everyone has very different schedules — but I always end up having multiple exams on the same day, and I just wish there was some way around that,” Ryan said.

Although she expressed feeling stressed about finals week, Moon said she appre ciates the support from her professors.

To continue reading, please visit cornellsun.com.

Aimée Eicher can be reached at aeicher@cornellsun.com.

overturn of Roe v. Wade, which gave states the authority to ban or protect abortion, there has been a greater emphasis on emergency contraception. In the wake of the decision, many Americans stocked up on the morning-after pill to better con trol their reproductive futures.

Plan B vending machines are spreading across college cam puses to provide around-theclock, affordable access to emer gency contraception.

“I got inspired by seeing a post on Instagram from Boston University where they had [implemented Plan B vending machines] and reached out for more information,” said Marley Levy ’24, PPGA member.

At Boston University, stu dents spent five years advo cating for contraception vend ing machines on campus. On March 1 the machine was unveiled with a price of $7.25 for Plan B, compared to most retailers that charge $40 to $50.

Through conversations with Cornell Health, PPGA decided to collect survey responses on perspectives towards a Plan B vending machine.

Sophie Meng ’26 said that Plan B vending machines pro mote reproductive choice.

“I think giving students easier access to emergency contraception is a good idea because everyone should be able to choose how they want to handle their unique situation,” Meng said.

Cornell Health had previ ously considered implement ing emergency contraceptive machines on campus but found difficulty gaining adequate funding. PPGA is exploring various possibilities to raise funds.

“In the grand scheme of things, we wouldn’t need an astronomical amount to put our plans into action,” Levy said.

However, Levy said that the University’s strong response to Roe v. Wade proves that reproductive justice is valued on campus.

“I believe that the funding of [Plan B vending machines] would be the University caring for its students,” Levy said.

Grace

material more accessible.

“My TAs are great. They’re always there if you have ques tions, they respond to emails really quickly and they go over the material in a way that we understand a lot better than

IAD to Host Kiswahili Literature Panel

By ESTEE YI Sun News Editor

Cornell’s Institute for African Development will host a literary panel on Friday Dec. 2, in its first formal collaboration with the Safal-Cornell Kiswahili Prize for African Literature.

During this free event, three recent winners of the prize will discuss poetry, travel and Kiswahili intergenerational transcendence, according to the event webpage. Panelists will examine the role of contemporary Kiswahili African literature in the American higher education system.

After the U.S. Department of Education awarded it the Undergraduate Studies and International Foreign Language Grant in 2019, IAD has worked to increase commitment to and continued engagement in African languages — specifical ly Kiswahili, Twi and Tumbuka languages — through expanded academic programming and lan guage offerings.

The three recent prize win ners taking part in the panel will include Anna Manyanza, a nov elist and children’s book author whose debut fiction novel won the 2015 prize; Jacob Ngumbau Julius, whose poem won the 2018 prize and Lello Mmassy, whose short story ‘Mimi na Rais’ took the 2019 prize in the fiction cat egory.

Founded in 2014, the prize,

previously named the MabatiCornell Kiswahili Prize for African Literature, has promoted “the goal of recognizing African languag es and encouraging translation from, between and into African languages,” according to its web site. The prize rewards a total of $15,000 to unpublished fiction, poetry, memoir and graphic novel manuscripts.

The panel will also feature Menansili Abraham Mejooli grad, a biomedical engineering Ph.D. candidate; Prof. N’Dri Assié Lumumba, Africana studies and Prof. Mukoma Wa Ngugi, litera tures in English.

Ngugi, who co-founded the prize with Lizzy Attree, an assistant professor at Richmond American University London, is the author of several novels, including ‘Nairobi Heat,’ and

has had his works translated into German, Turkish and French. He is also a former editor of Pambazuka News and a politi cal columnist for BBC Focus on Africa Magazine, with his columns appearing in publications like the Los Angeles Times, The Guardian, International Herald Tribune and South African Labour Bulletin.

Attendees will learn about the significance of Kiswahili litera ture in American universities, the ways in which they can engage with contemporary African liter ature and the importance of this engagement for African languages, especially among Cornell under graduate students. Registration is currently open on the event’s website.

Estee Yi can be reached at eyi@cornellsun.com.

Prize-winning panel | Recent winners of the Safal-Cornell Kiswahili Prize for African Literature will participate in a Friday panel.

COURTESY OF CORNELL UNIVERSITY

“I know this is a very difficult thing - espe cially with big classes, because everyone has very different schedules - but I always end up having multiple exams on the same day, and I just wish there was some way around that.”

Ryan ’24

“I got inspired by seeing a post on Instagram from Boston University where they had [implemented Plan B vending machines] and reached out for more information.”

Marley Levy ’24

Plan B | Planned Parenthood Generation Action is advocating to implement vending machines on campus that include emergency contracaption.

JEENAH MOON / THE NEW YORK TIMES

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

Study period | Once classes end on Dec. 5, students will be able to take advantage of the extra time to study.

LEILANI BURKE / SUN STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Former Sundance CEO Visits Cornell

GILLIAN LEE SUN STAFF WRITER

On 2:00 pm on Nov. 17, Keri Putnam sat poised with a smile across her face opposite me at a table on the second floor conference room of the Schwartz Center. Despite a camera to my left, Putnam remained relaxed and ready — after all, this is not her first interview. For the half-hour that followed, I, along with the Cornell Daily Sun Multimedia Department, clung to Putnam’s every answer, from her personal career journey to her keen insight on inclu sive storytelling in film.

Before climbing the ranks in the film industry, Putnam studied theater history and literature at Harvard University. She started her film career at HBO and contin ued there for 15 years, going on to work at Miramax Films for four years. This all led to her 2010-2021 role as CEO of Sundance Institute — arguably the highest position in the sphere of influential U.S. filmmaking.

Putnam is one of Cornell’s 20 active A.D. White Professors-at-Large. As part of this initiative, she traveled to Ithaca from Nov. 14 to Nov. 18. Throughout the week, Putnam talked with numerous Cornellians ranging from students in the Performing and Media Arts Department to the Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management. The keynote event of Putnam’s trip was a special preview screen ing of Nanny, winner of Sundance’s 2022 U.S. Grand Jury Prize in Drama, at Cornell Cinema.

At the start of our conversation, Putnam

‘Our

ISABELLA HACKETT SUN CONTRIBUTOR

articulated how working in the industry expanded her perception of film, saying, “I didn’t understand, quite as deeply, how many other people globally are affected by the stories that are put on screens until I began to really work in the industry.” It is easy to dismiss film as a one-to-two-hour source of entertainment, but it is important to recognize how deeply impactful film can be. Film transcends reality. Filmmakers can take us into fantasy worlds, provoke our emotions and unravel truths in society. “I think the stories that we tell in [film and television] really reflect what we value as a society, what we understand about one another and the ways in which we commu nicate,” said Putnam.

Film’s role to “reflect” our world can be two-sided, since our world can also reflect the screen. Thus, film’s immense platform comes with dangers: if identities are with held from the screen, their visibility shrinks in the real world. This translates to a lack of understanding and empathy toward groups holding these marginalized identities.

“When you have things on television and in the theaters that only reflect a por tion of the population — that are either made by or featuring most often… cis-gen dered, white men — you don’t actually get to feel the full spectrum of humanity in those stories,” said Putnam. “What people see on TV, what they see in films — espe cially young people — it helps them imag ine what they can do, what they can be, what they’re valued.”

It is one thing to say film is not diverse, and it’s another thing to actually investigate

why this is and how to do better. Putnum set out to address film’s lack of inclu sion onscreen in her years as Sundance’s CEO. One of the largest initiatives during Putnum’s tenure was a partnership between the Sundance Institute and the University of Southern California to analyze the demographic trends of who is submitting to Sundance’s programs compared to who is being accepted. “Through that data, we found out that a lot of women, people of color, queer people, were submitting work and being accepted in the early stage pro grams — roughly fairly representing the population — but by the time they needed money to make a film… all those other identities were dropping off and white men were getting money,” Putnam explained.

After discovering money as the root issue, Putnum, along with the rest of the Sundance Institute, revolutionized inclu sion at Sundance by creating funding and fellowships for marginalized communi ties, particularly for women and people of color. Putnam articulated that this funding has considerably moved the numbers at Sundance, with approximately 50 percent women and 50 percent people of color at Sundance.

Yet, Putnum did not stop there; Sundance brought their research to Hollywood. Putnam is a co-founder of ReFrame, a coalition stemming from the inclusion initiatives at Sundance dedicated to creating an overall gender-representative film industry. ReFrame held a two-day con ference where they presented the Sundance data and held a conversation with the top

male and female leaders in Hollywood about making the industry more diverse. ReFrame has even partnered with IMDbPro to create the ReFrame Stamp, which gives a seal of approval to films and television with gender-balanced hiring.

While Putnam has a lot of boast-wor thy accomplishments in her ten-plus years at Sundance, she was quick to not let me credit her with Sundance’s commit ment to equality. Putnam pointed out how Sundance’s early years were already pioneering, such as the trailblazing queer cinema that came out of Sundance in the 1990s which propelled 2000s gay charac ters in mainstream sitcoms. Putnam stated that personal, inclusive storytelling is in the “DNA of the organization.”

Sundance has continuously challenged the dominant modes of storytelling, and the success it can bring. Sundance has mobilized a domino effect in the industry, but whether that change continues to grow is uncertain. It’s tempting to keep film as it is — why change a medium that already fills us with joy? Redefining inclusion in film does not mean we scold ourselves for enjoying mainstream film and television, but it does mean we open ourselves up to new forms of storytelling and storytellers. Film is an opportunity to hear the voices our world silences. We must both question what types of stories we are told, and which ones we open our ears to hear.

Words’: A Love Letter to Upstate N.Y.

to produce the song.

Stanley Michael Kaminsky ’26, law grew up in northern Pennsylvania, constantly inspired by his three artsy older sisters. By the age of 14, he was the guitarist in a band with his friends.

He had no initial plans to break into singing, but his friends convinced him oth erwise. During our interview, he said “they were like, just try it. Just try it. And [I said] I really don’t want to. And then finally, because I was getting annoyed, I tried it. And it ended up being a lot of fun. And I’ve just done it ever since.”

Kaminsky is now a singer-songwriter, as well as a third-year law student at Cornell University. While his eighth-grade band didn’t stand the test of time, he’s released two solo songs since the beginning of his under graduate career. He developed his first song, “Never Need Anything More,” with some of the Audio Arts graduate students at Syracuse University. Seven years later, he recently released “Our Last Words.”

Kaminsky wrote his newest song right after graduating from Syracuse University in 2016. He was reminiscing upon the grand moments of his college experience — both the “great, monumental, and life-changing,” as well as the trials and tribulations. This song was an outlet for Kaminsky to “let go of all that nostalgia.”

For three years, the song went untouched. In his last year of law school, Stanley began a similar process of reminiscing; “I feel like I’m already getting nostalgic, even though I’m still here.” He decided that it was finally time

As it’s shaped by the experiences of living in Syracuse and Ithaca, Kaminsky wanted to keep the song local. He collaborated with Syracuse music producer Steve Brown at Subcat Studios. Kaminsky contacted Cornell’s Department of Art to find a stu dent interested in designing the cover art. Arden Conine ’26 was eager to complete the job, and she did it wonderfully; her design perfectly encapsulates the song’s theme of growth.

On the first listen, “Our Last Words” may sound romantic. “I think if you’re a listener, and you have no idea what the song is about … it might sound like it’s about a person,” Kaminsky said. Instead of a romantic interest, though, it’s a love letter to upstate New York. Even if they’re sometimes hesitant to admit it, Cornell students are well acquainted with the unique beauties of being a student in this region — namely, the incomparable fall foliage.

No Cornell student will hesitate to tell you about their late nights drinking caf feine. Life as a Cornellian is a grind; ask any student when their prelim season is (it’s all semester). When you can count on one hand the hours between when you left the Cocktail Lounge last night and started class this morn ing, it’s hard to imagine reminiscing about sleep deprivation and stress.

We often forget how hard we worked to even get into Cornell, many of us having pulled similar all-nighters throughout high school. Every so often, though, we look up and remember the incredible views sur rounding campus. Cascadilla Gorge’s incred ible waterfalls and the view from Anabel

Taylor Hall’s courtyard remind us why we came here, which motivates us to keep pushing forward.

Leaving behind the sights of the fall semester, the lyrics “spring forward” allude to the spring semes ter. It also represents mov ing on to a new chapter of life. To Kaminsky, this song is about acknowledg ing how much an experi ence has impacted you, but still allowing yourself to move forward. He told me, “be grateful for the good experiences you’ve had. Be able to look back at them, but then … move, and … do other great things with your life.”

As winter approaches, we may feel tempt ed to resent the reality of living in Ithaca. Yet maybe we could bear the winter a bit more joyfully with a mindset like Kaminsky’s. I understand that this winter will be some Cornellians’ first, whereas Kaminsky grew up with the snow. Still, I think it may do us all some good to try to celebrate Ithaca while we are here.

After all, we may find ourselves wishing to return after our four years are done. We may find ourselves telling stories of college’s best and worst moments and reminiscing upon our all-nighters. After moving to a big city, we may find ourselves yearning for Ithaca’s small-town luxuries. Maybe we’ll have a bad day and want to visit Rosa in

Stimson Hall, only to remember she is countless miles away. It might come when our friends start to live further away than the distance from North to West campus. Whenever it hits, I think we will all miss Ithaca at some point. And when we do, we can listen to “Our Last Words.”

You can stream Stanley Michael Kaminsky’s “Our Last Words” on Spotify, Apple Music, SoundCloud, YouTube or Tidal. The song has a beautiful mix of vocals and guitar and meaning unique to Cornellians.

Isabella Hackett is a freshman in the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences. She can be reached at ifh4@cornell.edu.

Gillian Lee is a sophomore in the College of Arts and Sciences. She can be reached at gl386@cornell.edu.

COURTESY OF ARDEN CONINE ‘26

Tanks[for]giving Us No Break

it does.

About a month ago a fellow columnist, Julia Poggi ’25 wrote a column about the importance of not being too productive over breaks and “minimizing school work to the bare minimum.” Although I agree with her claim that “the best way to ruin a break is through unnecessary guilt surrounding productivity,” I see no purpose in forcing yourself to be unproductive.

Isabelle Pappas

Like It Iz

Many of us took our Thanksgiving break the weekend before it was supposed to start. This is because the admin’s idea of an appropriate number of days for a “break” never seems to align with our own.

Essentially, the Thanksgiving break that Cornell gave us was three days long: Wednesday, Thursday (a national holiday) and Friday.

The weekend doesn’t count, as we are obligated to have Saturdays and Sundays off, and one of those days was spent traveling back to Ithaca on the busiest travel day of the year. Thus, the break was stingy to begin with.

By nature of the holiday, Thanksgiving break comes at the busiest time of the semester, making the break not really much of a “break” from schoolwork. One might argue that working over the break defeats the purpose of a “break,” but I actually don’t think

If you don’t want to catch up or get ahead on school work, by all means, don’t spend your break doing something you don’t want to do. However, if you don’t want to write an essay or study for a final (because who really likes doing these things anyway…) but choose to do one or both of these things because you know it might make your finals week a little less stressful, then certainly do that.

This week is the last week of classes, which means finals week is well upon us. Final essays or projects have been posted for most classes. Despite how hard you might’ve tried to free yourself from doing schoolwork this Thanksgiving break, it was virtually impossible to do so entirely.

Many of us, if asked, will deny that we did any work over break, that we were more unproductive than we actually were.

But most of us actually probably did some work.

grades, so if studying for a final or writing an essay over the Thanksgiving break can mitigate this anxi ety, I don’t see anything wrong with doing just that. Mitigating stress and anxiety is similar to managing pain.

From my perspective, lots of students at Cornell take their “breaks’’ to catch up or get ahead on schoolwork. So many of us have such concern and anxiety around

When all the pain is concentrated in a single point, it becomes intolerable. When the pain is spread out over a large area, we can handle more of it.

It’s the same thing with academic stress. When a semester’s worth of work is due for every class in the same week, this creates extremely high stress for a few days.

When we spread out the pain — that is either studying for a final or writing an essay you don’t know how to start — then the work becomes much more manageable.

Short breaks like Thanksgiving break allow us to do just that and to mitigate stress down the line.

So, the next time someone says they didn’t do any schoolwork over the holiday break, know that they might be lying.

Because most of us did something, and even if we didn’t accomplish as much as we would have liked, something is better than nothing.

Has College Made Me Stupid?

be the best out of hundreds of peers, each of which were likely among the best in their high schools.

My high school equipped me for this mental change, and often defended their resistance to grade inflation as a means of deflating academic egos in preparation for college.

Yet, I still wasn’t immune to the whiplash that accompanied the transi tion from exceptional to average. This sentiment seems to be shared by many students, who are now “ordinary” among Cornell’s student body. For some, this feeling manifests itself in impostor syn drome, a sense that they are unworthy of Cornell or do not belong here. While

an exceptional student.

This phenomenon is furthered by Cornell’s use of comparative measures of success, such as published class means and the widespread knowledge of per formance statistics for each exam. What doesn’t accompany the means and stan dard deviation of a prelim is the dis claimer that the group of people to which we compare ourselves is much smarter than we realize.

I often remind myself that high ACT and SAT scores are the rule, not the exception, among people at Cornell. But I still sometimes feel rather stupid — or at least unexceptional — when I see how I measure up to my exceptional peers. Exceptional now feels impossible.

likely lies somewhere in between these theories, and is a product of both a new

Julia Poggi is a sophomore in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. She can be reached at jcp337@cornell.edu. Te Outbox runs every other Sunday this semester.

Over break, I perused through an old copy of my high school graduation program. As I flipped through the pages, I ran my fingers over the embossed letters of my name.

On the adjacent page, I spotted my name on award and fellowship recipi ent lists. Below the awards was a list of schools to which the graduating class was matriculating. Among them was Cornell University, in bold print.

Two years later, I now assess my standing at that bolded institution. What do I have to show for it? I am a decent student, don’t misunderstand, but I am nothing overly outstanding compared to my peers. No awards or fellowships, no special cohorts or evidence of outstand ing scholarship.

To stand out in large introductory classes at Cornell, take chemistry or microeconomics for instance, you must

I don’t doubt my academic place here, Cornell’s more difficult academic setting has recalibrated my expectations of being

Perhaps college hasn’t truly made me stupid, but it has surely made me feel much stupider than I have in the past. Yet, it is possible that I am unfairly blaming college for this change — fac tors like neural development, lifestyle habits and social maturity likely contrib ute too.

The brain undergoes many changes until it stops developing in our mid to late twenties; among those changes are alterations in self-perception and ego.

Beyond physiology, greater expo sure to education may correlate with a decreased perception of our abilities. As explained by the physiological phenom enon, the Dunning-Kruger effect, we often feel less confident in our compe tence as our understanding of a subject increases.

Moreover, living by oneself for the first time enables-less-than exceptional habits like poor sleep and inefficient studying — both of which may cause a true drop in performance associated with the higher caliber of my academic peers.

The truth behind my “feeling stupid”

academic environment and the natural changes that accompany growing older and attending college.

Now, I must remember that being exceptional should not be the goal. I know that given my abilities and course work, to be exceptional would come at the cost of social life, hobbies and other engagements that I value beyond the prestige of my name in a yearbook or on an award certificate.

College is four years of life to be enjoyed, regardless of where you fall in the pack.

Julia Poggi

Te Outbox

Isabelle Pappas (she/her) is a junior in the College of Arts and Sciences. She can be reached at icp6@cornell.edu. Like It Iz runs every other Monday this semester.

I am a decent student, don’t misunderstand, but I am nothing overly outstanding compared to my peers. No awards or fellowships, no special cohorts or evidence of outstanding scholarship.

When we spread out the pain — that is either studying for a final or writing an essay you don’t know how to start — then the work becomes much more manageable.

One might argue that working over the break defeats the purpose of a “break,” but I actually don’t think it does.

The truth behind my “feeling stupid” likely lies somewhere in between these theories, and is a product of both a new academic environment and the natural changes that accompany growing up and attending college.

TOAD MODE

Fill in the empty cells, one number in each, so that each column, row, and region contains the num bers 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 wiki pedia.org/wiki/ Sudoku)

I am going to be small

Strings Attached by Ali Solomon ’01

3 N OTICES

Miss Finger Lakes and Miss Upstate New York, the local preliminary for Miss New York and Miss America will be held January 14, 2023 in Corning NY. Miss Competition is for ages 13 to 18. Accepting applicatios now. For more information, Email chriskeiff@aol.com, Phone 607 425 010

26 A PA R TMENT FOR R ENT

We have availability for the 2023-2024 school year beginning June 1st at Hudson Heights apartments. These studios include electric, heat, water, garbage and parking. Coin-operated laundry facilities available on site. Prices start at $850/month for a 12 month lease, with options for 10 month and semester leases with different rates. If you have any questions or would like to schedule a tour contact us by email: renting@ithacaLS.com. Please visit our website www.ithacalivingsolutions.com for photos and more information.

Mr. Gnu

by Travis Dandro

Mr. Gnu by Travis Dandro

MEN’S HOCKEY

Men’s Hockey Wins at MSG

Bancroft’s hat trick leads Cornell to 6-0 shutout

By AARON SNYDER Sun Sports Editor

Freshman forward Dalton Bancroft’s hat trick led men’s hockey to a 6-0 victory over No. 6 UConn at Madison Square Garden on Saturday night.

One of Cornell (6-4, 4-2 ECAC)’s big advantages on an up-and-coming UConn (10-3-3, 7-2-2 Hockey East) team was its experience playing under the bright lights. Cornell plays at the Garden every year, and entered the night having won four of its last five contests at the World’s Most Famous Arena.

being focused and there were no dis tractions. They came out ready to play,” Schafer said. “I thought they did a tremendous job handling the distrac tions and all the things that are outside our normal control, and came ready to

Cornell did not relent in the second period. Specifically, Bancroft did not relent. He added two more goals in the middle frame to complete a hat trick.

“Personally, the bounces were there tonight and I had some great plays from my teammates,” Bancroft said.

With just over nine minutes left in the period, Bancroft deflected sopho more defenseman Michael Suda’s shot in for his second goal of the night. A minute and a half later, he finished off Sam Malinski’s slap shot on a Cornell power play to complete the hat trick and give Cornell a 5-0 lead.

“As a freshman you want to do whatever you can to stay in the line up,” Bancroft said. “It just seems like the bounces are there right now and it’s helping the confidence a lot.”

that’s a special talent.”

On the other end of the ice, Cornell shut down a highly potent Huskies offense. Sophomore goaltender Ian Shane was stellar in net, notching a 29 save shutout. He was assisted by some nice blocks, including a diving one by senior defenseman Travis Mitchell in the second period, and timely clears.

“I think everyone, including myself, was just kind of dialed in on the details and making sure that we were mental ly focused and ready for this game,” Shane said.

That experience, and what head coach Mike Schafer ’86 correctly anticipated would be a “sea of red” in the stands proved to be big advantages for Cornell on Saturday night.

The Red struck before the Huskies had a chance to get acclimated to their surroundings. UConn came into the night allowing an average of 2.13 goals per game. 74 seconds into Saturday night’s contest, Cornell had put two goals up on the Garden’s jumbotron.

“I really liked our guys’ mindset,

play hockey.”

32 seconds after the puck dropped, Bancroft connected on a wrist shot from the slot off a pass from soph omore forward Sullivan Mack. The goal sent the Cornell crowd into a frenzy and knocked the Huskies on their heels.

42 seconds later, senior forward Matt Stienburg cut to the net along the goal line and snuck a backhand feed to sophomore forward Ondrej Psenicka, who fired it past UConn’s Logan Terness’s stick side and in to give the Red a 2-0 lead.

With three and a half minutes left in the first period, junior forward Gabe Seger intercepted a pass in the neutral zone and broke to the net on a two-on-one. Seger fed the puck to Stienburg who buried a backhander in the crease and gave Cornell a com manding 3-0 lead.

The outstanding performance solid ified Bancroft as one of Cornell’s most dynamic offensive producers. Schafer praised Bancroft after his nifty move and great vision set up Mack’s game winner on Tuesday against Sacred Heart.

“When he gets his feet moving, he plays well,” Schafer said. “He’s got great hockey sense and awareness…

The Red preserved Shane’s shutout down the stretch of the game. With just over four minutes left in the game, senior forward Max Andreev notched Cornell’s sixth goal of the game. The marker made it the second consecutive trip to the Garden that Cornell has scored six goals, after the Red defeated B.U., 6-4, last year.

The dominant victory was an important step for the Red and goes a long way to resolving questions over whether Cornell can defeat the elite teams in college hockey. The win is Cornell’s fourth in a row and should be a confidence booster for when No. 9 Harvard comes to Lynah next weekend.

“We talked about earning respect back, and to do that you have to win. We got off to a slow start playing our first six games on the road against good competition,” Schafer said. “We’ve got Harvard coming in on Friday and Dartmouth on Saturday. We’ve just got to get back to work when we get back to campus.”

Aaron Snyder can be reached at asnyder@cornellsun.com.

Celebration | Junior forward Gabriel Seger and senior forward Matt Stienburg celebrate Stienburg’s goal at Madison Square Garden on Nov. 26, 2022.

AARON SNYDER / SUN SPORTS EDITOR

“As a freshman you want to do whatever you can to stay in the lineup...it just seems like the bounces are there right now and it’s helping the confi dence a lot.”

Dalton Bancroft ’26

“I thought they did a tremendous job handling the distractions and all the things that are outside our normal control, and came ready to play hockey.”

Mike Schafer ’86

“I think everyone, myself included, was just kind of dialed in on the details and making sure that we were mentally focused and ready for this game.”

Ian Shane ’25