INDEPENDENT SINCE 1880
The Corne¬ Daily Sun Vol. 140, No. 33
8 Pages — Free
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2024 n ITHACA, NEW YORK
News
Arts
Sports
Weather
Divestment Rally
On Perfectionism
Mixed Week
Sunny
Protestors praise mideast militants in divestment rally outside of Day Hall on Friday. | Page 4
Eve Iulo ’26 discusses Saltburn, self-worth and perfectionism. And the ugly truth of it all. | Page 5
No. 6 Cornell Women's Hockey falls to No. 7 St. Lawrence, Upsets No. 3 Clarkson. | Page 8
HIGH: 35º LOW: 20º
Lindseth Refutes IPD Revitalizes Staffing Plagued by staffing issues, mayor and IPD chief look to hire more officers DEI Supporters By CATHERINE ZHU Sun Staff Writer
By CHRISTINA MAcCORKLE Sun Staff Writer
In an interview with The Sun, emeritus board member and generous donor, Jon Lindseth ’56, refuted his critics who have defended the University’s commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion. Multiple alumni have criticized Lindseth’s open letter calling for President Martha Pollack and Provost Michael Kotlikoff’s resignation which connected antisemitic incidents and a lack of free speech to the University’s “misguided commitment” to DEI. The Alpha Chapter Alumni Association — a network of alumni who were initiated at Cornell’s chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha, the first intercollegiate Greekletter fraternity established for African American men — published a letter to the editor defending the University’s commitment to DEI, maintaining that DEI is central to Cornell’s founding principles. “Cornell University’s founding principle of ‘any person, any study’ was indeed our beloved University’s first ever DEI statement,” their letter read. In response, Lindseth told The Sun that he agreed that diversity has been part of Cornell’s history, but objected to how he perceived advocates of DEI to go beyond the acronym’s stated values. “Diversity is not new at Cornell. Here’s the problem with DEI — it's the
‘E.’ They want everyone’s outcome to be the same. They aren’t satisfied with all people are created equal at birth. They want everyone to come out the same,” Lindseth said. “For instance, they don’t want advanced placement and secondary schools because those people are going to get better grades and be more likely to be admitted.” In an email to The Sun, Lindseth also affirmed that while he supports diversity, he believes that it has gone too far. “I said I favor the Blacks at Cornell. What I don’t favor is anybody admitted just to fill a diversity need,” Lindseth said. “I am with Martin Luther King in this regard. He was very clear. Merit should be the overriding criteria.” Lindseth maintained that although he supports the principles of inclusion and diversity, DEI is harmful because it “has become a religion to people.” “This is their belief system. I happen to believe in Jesus Christ the Savior. For the DEI people, that’s their religion,” Lindseth said. Lindesth had not seen the contents of The Alpha Chapter Alumni Association’s letter before his interview with The Sun. In the interview, when presented with the letter’s contents, rather than addressing those arguments, Lindseth said that he supported Black students attending Cornell. “Blacks have chosen See LINDSETH page 4
COURTESY OF CORNELL UNIVERSITY
Lindseth responds | Jon Lindseth '56, a trustee emeritus and prominent donor to the University, responded to critics of his anti-DEI letter.
After reports last fall that the Ithaca Police Department was “dangerously under-staffed,” the City of Ithaca and IPD have aimed to mitigate officer shortages. Ithaca Mayor Robert Cantelmo grad told The Sun that the renewed union contract between the city and IPD as well as a new chief of police have helped facilitate the increase in hiring. IPD’s staffing issues were highlighted in 2023 when Ithaca Police Union President Tom Condzella said that the IPD had only 38 officers, down over 50 percent from just two decades ago. “In less than a month, since I’ve taken office as mayor, we’ve sworn in four new police officers,” Cantelmo said. “Back in 2022 when I first joined the council, we had 15 or 17 vacancies in the roster.” The new labor contract negotiated in October between the IPD and the city increased pay and added additional health benefits for its officers. Cantelmo also cited Ithaca’s new police chief as an important factor in the IPD’s renewal. Thomas Kelly, the new Ithaca chief of police filled a nearly three-
year vacancy in the agency. Kelly said engaging the IPD further in the community is one of his top priorities. “For Ithaca specifically, not having a chief for a few years and not knowing what the future of IPD looked like certainly impacted the department,” Kelly said. Kelly also described IPD staffing shortages reflect nationwide trends in police staffing. “This is one of those careers that was very challenging 20 years ago to get into with so many people com-
peting for positions,” Kelly said. “But certainly across the country in the last few years, along with competitive pay in other jobs, calls for change in law enforcement — which produced a lot of [necessary] conversations — also became a barrier for recruitment.” To continue reading this article, please visit www.cornellsun.com. Catherime Zhu can be reached at cyz23@cornell.edu.
BORIS TSANG / SUN FILE PHOTO
Staffing officers | The Ithaca Police Department recently filled a nearly three-year-long vacancy for its chief of police and hired more officers.
Students Face Restrictions in Cross-College Double Majoring By DOROTHY FRANCE-MILLER Sun Staff Writer
Eva Pérez ’27 originally opted to study biology within the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences rather than the College of Arts and Sciences due to qualifying for CALS in-state tuition, which drops Cornell’s annual tuition from $65,204 to $43,888. But Pérez said that her academic path is consequently out of alignment with her interdisciplinary interests, due to Cornell’s restriction on double majoring across different colleges. “I do not plan on going into agriculture or just life sciences but rather computational biology,” Pérez said. “If I were permitted, I would be a computer science major as well as a CALS biology student.” CALS is a contract college, meaning it is affiliated with and partially funded by New York State. There are two other undergraduate contract colleges at Cornell: the College of Industrial and Labor Relations and the College of Human Ecology. For access to multiple majors, not all schools are created equal. For example, CAS offers 40+ majors, whereas ILR offers only one major from which students can choose between four concentrations. While students can pursue minors outside of their home college, some students believe that double majoring offers greater benefits.
“You get to learn a variety of concepts that connect with each other through double majoring,” said Carina Lau ’27, who is double majoring in communication and information science in CALS. Cornell’s restriction on double majoring across colleges is due to the inability to reasonably complete general education requirements from both colleges within four years, according to Cornell Undergraduate Admissions. The University previously operated a concurrent degree program, which “allowed both a bachelor of science and either a bachelor of arts or bachelor of fine arts degree to be earned in about five years.” But this program was discontinued for students who matriculated after fall 2021. The concurrent degree program was also only open to students in endowed colleges — excluding students enrolled in contract colleges. When asked if the existence of Cornell’s contract colleges affected the availability of double majors or dual enrollment across schools, a representative of the University simply replied “No.” To continue reading this article, please visit www. cornellsun.com. Dorothy France-Miller can be reached at dfrancemiller@cornellsun.com.