INDEPENDENT SINCE 1880
The Corne¬ Daily Sun Vol. 140, No. 34
8 Pages — Free
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 2024 n ITHACA, NEW YORK
News
Dining
Science
Weather
Resolution Rejected
Rethinking Eating
Fascinating Feces
Cloudy
Daniela Rojas '25 explores how to navigate relationships with food at college and take care of your body. | Page 5
Tompkins County Legislature rejects Resolution m, which condemed violence in the Middle East in a 7-6 vote. | Page 4
Bumble bee "outhouses" may mitigate disease transmission, Cornell researchers find. | Page 8
HIGH: 51º LOW: 29º
Business Club Culture Revealed Students Reflect By BENJAMIN LEYNSE Sun Contributor
BORIS TSANG / SUN FILE PHOTO
Club critiques | Cornell students attend club fest to learn about various organizations before spring recruitment begins.
Tanvi Bhave ’27, a computer science major interested in exploring business, said that she planned to apply to Delta Sigma Pi until her friend informed her of the organization’s academic hazing misconduct from last spring. DSP is one of Cornell’s more than two dozen business-related clubs and professional fraternities. While many are aware of the club scene’s exclusivity, little is known about what it actually takes to become a member of these organizations. As spring recruitment season roars on, The Sun spoke to business club applicants, members and leaders for an exclusive look at the inner workings of this semester’s recruitment process, revealing reports of alleged misconduct and engineered exclusivity. Alleged Misconduct in the Recruitment Process One student speaking to The Sun on the condition of anonymity went through the interview process for Cornell Undergraduate Asia Business Society — which, according to its website, values “leadership, family and excellence” in its impact on Cornell and the greater business community. CUABS’ first interview round was broken into three rooms — a casing room, a game room and a “shock room,” according
to the source. Applicants assigned to the “shock room” waited silently in a line before being given the number of a room. At first, the students thought they mistakenly went to the wrong room when they were directed to what they described as a “pitch-black classroom.” “There's no … room number [on the door], so you kind of second-guess yourself, but I had no other choice but to go in,” the student said. Through the door was a dark, empty lecture hall with two CUABS members sitting in the back row. Potential new members were instructed to stand on a red “X” at the front of the room, where a projector blared directly into their eyes. They were then asked a series of questions, the student said. Club leaders first asked potential new members about their interest in CUABS, but would repeatedly ask them to speak up throughout their response, to the point where potential new members had to yell. Additional prompts included telling club leaders a joke and identifying their interviewers despite still being in the dark. “The point of it is to have that unexpected shock, because it's not the professional or the stereotypical thing that you would expect when you go into an interview like that,” the student said. Two other students who also went through the recruitment process in fall 2023 confirmed similar experiences in an interview with The Sun. Cornell’s hazing policy bars organizations from facilitating an activity that “causes, encourages or compels another person to engage in any activity that could reasonably be perceived as likely to create a risk of mental, physical or emotional distress or harm” as an “explicit or implicit condition of recruitment, admission, initiation into, affiliation with or new or continued membership status.” This includes activities that “abuse, humiliate, degrade or taunt another person or persons.” CUABS declined to comment. This report comes after DSP’s suspension until spring 2023 for hazing new members. New members were reported to have spent up to 80 hours a week on conducting case studies, completing brotherhood interviews and sending detailed thank-you letters.
After Dean's List Discontinuation By BREANNA FERREIRA Sun Staff Writer
Starting Fall 2023, incoming Cornellians, including the Class of 2027, became ineligible to receive the Dean’s List distinction on their transcript. The move away from the Dean’s List came after discussion within the Faculty Senate regarding equity concerns. The Faculty Senate’s Resolution 182: Regarding the Award of Honors and Distinctions to Cornell’s Undergraduate Students, passed in May 2022, sought to create a more fair and equitable learning environment for students. “[The proposal] is aimed at creating consistency across the undergraduate colleges and schools in the award of academic honors and distinctions and balancing recognition of high-achieving students against amelioration of an unhealthy level of competition at Cornell,” the Faculty Senate wrote in the resolution. Cornell will officially stop listing the honor on student transcripts by Spring 2026, thereby leaving only two Ivy League universities — the University of Pennsylvania and Columbia University — maintaining the tradition. Many students, such as Parthenia Tawfik ’26, a student in the College of Arts and Sciences, believe the Dean’s List distinction is less relevant and more arbitrary than it seems. “I didn’t really ever think about it,” Tawfik said. “It’s very much a subjective thing because it’s different across all colleges.”
See BUSINESS CLUBS page 3
See DEAN'S LIST page 4
Test-Optional Policies Maintained by Cornell Admissions By KATE SANDERS and DALTON MULLINS Sun Staff Writers
Cornell Undergraduate Admissions announced on Feb. 6 that it would extend its test-optional and test-blind policies for the Fall 2025 application cycle, leaving all Cornell colleges and schools without a standardized testing requirement. Cornell’s admissions testing policy states that SAT and ACT scores will be considered on an optional basis for the College of Arts and Sciences, the College of Engineering, the College of Human Ecology, the Jeb E. Brooks School of Public Policy and the School of Industrial and Labor Relations. The College of Agriculture and Life Sciences; the College of Architecture, Art and Planning and the Cornell S.C. Johnson College of Business — which includes the School of Hotel Administration and Dyson School of Applied Economics — will remain test-blind and not consider test scores for any applicants. Cornell initially suspended its testing requirement in April 2020 in response to access issues stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic. The University then announced in
September 2021 that this suspension would continue for the Fall 2023 and upcoming Fall 2024 admissions cycles. Tuesday’s announcement comes in the wake of Dartmouth’s Feb. 5 reintroduction of its SAT/ACT requirement. Dartmouth stands alone as the only Ivy League university that will require standardized test scores for admission in Fall 2025, while Columbia announced in March 2023 that it would become permanently test-optional. At the time of publication, Cornell Admissions had not responded to a request for comment on factors that motivated the University’s continuation of testing policy and whether the University plans to continue the suspension of testing requirements in admissions cycles after Fall 2025. Critics of testing requirements have said that the tests do not reflect a student’s full abilities, often citing disparities in standardized testing performance along socioeconomic lines. Research on standardized testing has found that test scores are strongly correlated with annual household income. Opportunity Insights, a research organization in Harvard University’s Department of Economics, found
that students from families whose household income is within the top 20 percent were seven times more likely to score a 1300 or higher on the SAT or a 29 on the ACT than those from families whose household income is within the bottom 20 percent. These scores rank above the 90th percentile of test-takers, according to data from the College Board and ACT. However, in an interview with The New
York Times, Stuart Schmill, the admissions dean at Massachusetts Institute of Technology — which announced their reinstatement of their standardized testing requirement in March 2022 to “better assess the academic preparedness of all applicants” to the university — said that after reinstating testing, diversity increased in the university’s incoming class.
See TEST OPTIONAL page 4
JULIA NAGEL / SUN PHOTOGRAPHY EDITOR
Policies persist | Cornell continues its test-optional and test-blind admissions policies.
2 The Cornell Daily Sun | Thursday, February 8, 2024
The Year of the Dragon
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The Cornell Daily Sun | Thursday, February 8, 2024 3
News
Students Divulge Club Recruitment BUSINESS CLUBS Continued from page 1
“When I’ve talked to people from business fraternities and asked them about their process, they said they cannot disclose information about their rush [process],” Bhave said. DSP did not respond to a request for comment. Engineered Exclusivity Within the two-week pre-recruitment period, business clubs and professional fraternities generally hold between three and nine recruitment events. Some of these are held in conjunction with other clubs, while others are hosted individually. Celina Chen ’27, a freshman in the Nolan School of Hotel Administration school, is one of hundreds of prospective applicants this spring. This semester marks Chen’s second time applying to student business organizations, having done so previously in the fall. She made it to the second round of interviews for Cornell Alternative Investments before being dropped. For all the other clubs Chen applied to, she was unable to make it past the first round. Chen attributes these struggles to the high value of demonstrated interest in the various organizations she was interested in. For the first few days of the two-week pre-recruitment window last semester, Chen fell sick and she was unable to attend networking events or information sessions. By the time she recovered, she felt that she was at a disadvantage. “[Being sick] really impacted the first round of the application process because you have to demonstrate really, really high interest in order to get into at least the first round,” Chen said. Business organizations’ recruitment events sometimes overlap. Many business clubs and fraternities also do not disclose complete timelines of recruitment events on their websites. While dates are listed, specific times and locations are omitted. Instead, applicants must look on Instagram or sign up for mailing lists which are often only updated days and sometimes hours before the event. For example, on Jan. 31, Cornell Finance Club listed their presence at the “Navigating Finance Clubs’’ event held from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. in conjunction with three other clubs. Not listed on their website was another event held from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. conducted with DSP and Social Business Consulting in a separate location. That event was listed on only the DSP website. Yash Moitra ’27, Dyson School of Business representative and business club applicant, contends that business organizations purposely overlap events.
“They [overlap events] to weaponize the power they have, which doesn’t work for people’s schedules,” Moitra said. Moitra described it as a tactic to weed out people who are not interested enough. He stressed that clubs should do better to synchronize their schedules, especially given how they already organize a handful of inter-club events, but stated that as it stands there is zero coordination of schedules. However, Veronica Lewis ’25, president of Cornell Finance Club, said that business organizations’ hectic recruitment schedules are not made with malicious intent. “We have so many events not because we’re trying to overwhelm people or keep them from doing our classes,” Lewis said. “What we want is to be as accessible as possible.” However, many applicants feel that they have to attend a majority of a club’s events to be considered competitive candidates due to low acceptance rates and demonstrated interest being weighted in their applications. For example, Cornell Consulting Group has a two percent member acceptance rate, with approximately four of 200 applicants accepted every semester, according to Jonah Wang ’26, CCG director of member development. Similar organizations such as Cornell Consulting said that they could not disclose their application numbers. However, Andrew Zhang ’25, vice president of membership for CC, noted that their organization does not have a quota limiting the number of membership spots. “To be candid, of course, we are a competitive organization,” Zhang said. Given this competition, prospective applicants often apply to multiple clubs to increase their chances. Zara Qizilbash ’27, who applied to seven different business clubs last fall, said they spent at least seven to eight hours each week on applications. For many applicants, the incentive to apply lies in the various career possibilities each club provides. At events, clubs and fraternities advertise the companies where alumni have received jobs and promote exclusive opportunities their members will have. Still, the strict barriers to entering Cornell’s business club and fraternity scene stand tall. “I truly do believe that a lot of people behind these organizations are wonderful people and they really, really want you to succeed,” Moitra said. “It’s just that their practices are set in stone.” Benjamin Leynse can be reached at bcl68@cornell.edu.
4 The Cornell Daily Sun | Thursday, February 8, 2024
News
Dean’s List Honor Discontinued Big Red Stays DEAN’S LIST
Continued from page 1
Cornell’s seven undergraduate colleges each have their own set of requirements for students to earn a place on the Dean’s List, including different credit and GPA requirements. For example, The College of Architecture, Art and Planning requires a minimum GPA of 3.8, while the Nolan School of Hotel Administration requires only a 3.3. In the School of Industrial and Labor Relations, there are different GPA requirements for each class year, with first-year students needing a lower GPA than other students in the college. When asked about the reasoning behind the Dean’s List requirements at each individual undergraduate college, the at each declined to comment. Though first-year students and future Cornellians no longer have the opportunity to be considered for the Dean’s List, Hannah Sherman ’26, a student in the College of Engineering, does not think this disadvantages them in any way. “I don’t think it’s unfair because you still have a record of the grades you’ve gotten,” Sherman said. “If employers are super interested in knowing which students would have gotten on the Dean’s list, that evidence is all still there on your transcript.”
“I don’t think it’s unfair because you still have a record of the grades you’ve gotten. If employers are super interested in knowing which students would have gotten on the Dean’s list, that evidence is all still there on your transcript.” Hannah Sherman ’26
Sherman acknowledged the usefulness of the Dean’s List as a tool for tracking a student’s success in the classroom, but was wary of its ability to measure a student’s full academic potential. “It’s a measure of how well you do in your classes,” Sherman said. “I don’t think that’s necessarily a measure of how successful you’ll be.” Madeline Esquivel ’24, a student in the College of Architecture, Art and Planning, believes that the discontinuation of the list will help foster less competitiveness on campus and positively influence students’ mental health. “I think it’s a good move, honestly, because just removing the conversation away from academic
validation might help encourage more camaraderie and [a closer] community atmosphere between colleges,” Esquivel said. Instead of relying solely on her GPA and the Dean’s List honor as validation, Esquivel strives to measure her academic success in terms of satisfaction from what a course has taught her.
“Coming from an architectural school background, we’re never really shown our grades until the end of the semester. So I moved away from looking at letter grades as cues to my progress and more [towards] self-reflection on whether I am learning something.” Madeline Esquivel ’24
“Coming from an architectural school background, we’re never really shown our grades until the end of the semester,” Esquivel said. “So I moved away from looking at letter grades as cues to my progress and more [towards] self-reflection on whether I am learning something.” Sherman does not think the presence or absence of the Dean’s List distinction on student transcripts will affect life after college or have a substantial impact on students’ hireability. “Do employers really look at that kind of stuff, or are they really only looking at your grades and extracurricular activities?” Sherman said. The removal of the Dean’s List comes in conjunction with Cornell’s decision to remove median grades from student transcripts, a similar measure previously used to show how well students performed in comparison with fellow students in each class. “There’s a lot of pressure already on students, so this is just one less thing to worry about,” Tawfik said. “There are more important things to be focusing on.”
Test Optional TEST OPTIONAL Continued from page 1
“Once we brought the test requirement back, we admitted the most diverse class that we ever had in our history,” Schmill told The Times. Proponents of testing requirements like Schmill often cite the utility of the SAT and ACT as predictors of future success. Data from Opportunity Insights also found that standardized test scores are a stronger predictor of success during and after college than high school grades are. In a previous interview with The Sun, Chief Executive Officer of Strategic Test Prep and standardized test tutor Laura Whitmore explained how colleges use standardized tests as a tool to evaluate their applicants. “Colleges are businesses, so they have to make a bet on each student that they accept,” Whitmore said. “So [test scores] help mitigate risk for them [and] see where students’ skills are at and what kind of additional support they may need.” Still, Cornell does not anticipate making changes to its testing policy for the next two admissions cycles. Applicants to the University in Fall 2026 can expect the University to announce its testing policy for that admissions cycle in Spring 2025. Kate Sanders can be reached at ksanders@cornellsun.com. Dalton Mullins can be reached at dmullins@cornellsun.com.
Breanna Ferreira can be reached at bferreira@cornellsun.com.
Resolution Calling for Ceasefire Falls One Vote Short By ERIC REILLY Sun News Editor
The Tompkins County Legislature rejected Resolution m, Urgent Humanitarian and Local Imperatives Regarding Ongoing Violence in Israel, Gaza and the Middle East, which fell one vote shy of reaching the eight required votes at their Tuesday, Feb. 6 meeting. The 7-6 failed vote was met with silence from a crowd that included over 35 community members who spoke in favor of the resolution during a nearly two-hour-long public comment session. Submitted by legislators Gregory Mezey ’09, Anne Koreman, Travis Brooks and Veronica Pillar M.S. ’14 Ph.D. ’19, the resolution would have urged the legislature to call on the federal government “to do everything within their powers to influence the parties involved” to release civilian hostages held by Hamas, promote a lasting ceasefire and allow greater humanitarian aid to Gaza. The resolution promoted a “twostate solution” that provides the “right of all Palestinians to reside
securely and peacefully in a recognized state of Palestine and for Israelis to live securely and peacefully in the state of Israel.” Locally, the resolution proposed that the legislature remind residents that the Tompkins County Office of Human Rights serves as a resource for victims of discrimination. The Tompkins County Human Rights Commission, which is an advisory board to the Office of Human Rights, passed a resolu-
tion in December which “strongly urges [the] County Legislature to join other jurisdictions in calling on President [Biden] and Congress members to demand an immediate and sustainable ceasefire.” Dozens of individuals attended a Jan. 2 meeting to urge the Tompkins County Legislature to introduce and approve a similar resolution. Ceasefire resolutions have been passed in Chicago, Atlanta, Detroit and San Francisco.
The resolution also noted that “the ongoing war in Gaza between Israel and Hamas is affecting our campuses and communities in Tompkins County in disturbing ways, including increased antisemitism and Islamophobia, polarization of opinions, mental health issues and stressed local support services.” “The Legislature strongly condemns all forms of intimidation, discrimination, terrorism and hate and affirms that the actions of specific organizations or governments in no way justify any form of antisemitic, Islamophobic or anti-Palestinian words or actions,” the resolution states. Seven legislators — Susan Currie, Shawna Black, Amanda Champion and the four who submitted the resolution — voted in favor of the resolution. Prof. Rich John ’81, law, Randy Brown ’85 MBA ’86, Michael Lane, Mike Sigler, Lee Shurtleff and Dan Klein voted against the resolution. Legislator Deborah Dawson was absent from the meeting.
NINA DAVIS / SUN STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Legislators listen | Members of the Tompkins County Legislature deliberate over Resolution m. They reached a conclusion one vote shy of the eight required votes to pass.
Eric Reilly can be reached at ereilly@cornellsun.com.
The Cornell Daily Sun | Thursday, February 8, 2024 5
The Corne¬ Daily Sun
Dining Guide
Food, Body and Gutting the Conversation By DANIELA ROJAS
ISABELLE JUNG / SUN GRAPHICS EDITOR
Dining Editor
Editor’s Note: This piece mentions disordered eating behaviors.
T
rying to eat healthily and consistently at college is a daunting task for anyone. It becomes a monumental task when faced with health issues that warrant food restrictions and limitations and few resources to go around. Over the past year, I’ve learned that a lot of –– what I previously considered to be –– physical symptoms of anxiety and stress, were mostly pre-existing gastrointestinal (GI, a fancy way to say “stomach”) issues. My relationship with food has waxed and waned to an occasionally toxic degree; I’m pretty sure that I am not the only one. I’ve had to find ways to cope while being in an environment where food is always changing, impacting my body in unpredictable ways. One of the number one things that helped me? Having honest conversations about my body and food. What people see on the outside does not always match what’s going on inside.
Many don’t realize what they see on the outside is not a reflection of what’s actually going on inside. Food has probably been one of the biggest challenges I’ve had to tackle while “adulting.” On top of the billion other things you, as a college student, need to do, you either have to go to a dining hall and use a meal swipe, go to a campus cafe or restaurant that accepts BRBs, make something at your dorm or use your own money to buy something off-campus. This doesn’t sound too bad until you run into obstacles: The dining hall is not open when you need it to be or you are running out of BRBs because you are so busy studying and working that you don’t have time to go to a dining hall. Sometimes Nasties is the only place open. Their hot food is tasty and fresh. Granted, it can be greasy and there aren’t many options aside from chicken tenders, fries, burgers, pizzas and the occasional sandwich. My taste buds are satisfied but my gut says otherwise. If I don’t eat, I get nauseous, sometimes experiencing debilitating pain and migraines. If my stomach doesn’t agree with what I ate, I vomit and experience a host of negative symptoms. Unless you have money to purchase any food from anywhere at any moment, being able to consistently eat what makes you feel better is nearly impossible. As someone who had a colo-
noscopy and endoscopy in August 2023, I’ve learned the importance of listening to my body. Few doctors believed a (then) 19-year-old would need a colonoscopy this early, considering most doctors don’t recommend getting a colonoscopy until age 45 to screen for colon cancer. A little known fact: My doctor ended up removing a (thankfully, benign) polyp in my stomach and diagnosed me with hemorrhoids, esophagitis and gastritis. Since then, it’s been a journey to maintain my gut health. Sometimes, it just matters that I ate, not what I ate. This mentality has helped me not beat myself up in general, too. It doesn’t matter that I wasn’t the most productive person today. Rather, it matters that I got out of bed to begin with. I also have a fair share of mental health struggles; needless to say, on many days, food just became disgusting to me. On days that I can stomach more, I’ve had to search for little routines and things to assist. Talking to friends and family members who shared my struggles made all the difference. I will note, however, there is a fine line between validating and minimizing someone else’s struggles. College is already primed as a space where conversations around health run rampant, such as the freshman fifteen. Some people are just not ready to talk about it. Having honest conversations with myself did help, but I’ve had to remind myself to be kind. How I perceive my weight is an example of this. I’ve been told by doctors to lose weight for my own health given that my BMI classifies me as obese. When my stomach issues became more prevalent, my appetite dis-
appeared. My pain and symptoms intensified to the point where I stopped eating. I lost roughly 30-40 pounds in a matter of months (which is nowhere near healthy). People either didn’t notice, showed concern or told me how “good” I looked. Being congratulated for being unhealthy made me mad. Many don’t realize what they see on the outside is not a reflection of what’s actually going on inside. Sure, I lost the weight I was supposed to, but not in a healthy way. The definition of “healthy,” though, is subjective. Having these conversations and experiences made me realize why I need to define what “healthy” is for me. I kept comparing myself to societal standards of “health” by judging what I saw in the mirror. The process was agonizing, to say the least. It wasn’t until my colonoscopy produced tangible results indicating my pain was valid that I realized my baseline of “healthy” is not the same as anyone else’s. In a way, these are a mixture of attainable goals and routines to keep me at a baseline. I want to share so people know they are not alone and to provide ideas. Having at least one meal be consistent (in terms of time and frequency) is one of my methods. For me, that’s breakfast. If I don’t have breakfast, I struggle mentally and physically. With lunch and dinner, it depends on where I am on campus. Always carrying snacks keeps me functioning when I feel lightheaded in between meals, classes and work. I love taking apples and bananas from the dining halls for later. I also always have instant oatmeal and oat milk in my dorm; it’s warm, filling and doesn’t wreak havoc on my gut.
It’s my replacement for instant noodles. Recently, I’ve also realized how much of an impact actually being hydrated makes. My half-gallon bottle helps ensure that I’m actually drinking enough water, and it has made such a difference in my ability to function. I try to stock up on over the counter meds ahead of time, including Imodium, Pepto Bismol and Miralax. Smoothies are my best friend, particularly those made with oat milk (Crossings in Toni Morrison makes plenty of these). I do my best to limit my greasy food intake and eat salad at least once a week. I am not a doctor of any sort, but I can say that in combination with medication I’ve been prescribed, these lifestyle changes have helped me immensely. However, I would not have realized these things without having conversations with myself about my health. The inside of your body is just as, if not more, important than what is outside your body. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. If you or a loved one is struggling with an eating concern, please reach out to a professional. You are loved and deserve to love yourself. The National Suicide Hotline can be reached at 988. Call 607-255-5155 and ask to speak to an on-call counselor 24/7. The National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders can be reached from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. EST Monday to Friday at 888-375-7767. Daniela Rojas, dining editor, is a third-year student in the College of Arts and Sciences. She can be reached at dwise-rojas@cornellsun.com.
6 The Cornell Daily Sun | Thursday, Feburary 8, 2024
Opinion
The Corne¬ Daily Sun Independent Since 1880 141st Editorial Board ANGELA BUNAY ’24 Editor in Chief
SHEILA YU ’25
SOFIA RUBINSON ’24
NOAH DO ‘24
GRACE XIAO ’25
Advertising Manager
Managing Editor
Associate Editor
Julia Poggi
Web Editor
HUGO AMADOR ’24
AIMÉE EICHER ’24
Opinion Editor
Assistant Managing Editor
JONATHAN MONG ’25
UYEN HOANG ’25
News Editor
Assitant Web Editor
JULIA SENZON ’26
ANNA LIANG ‘24
News Editor
Assistant Advertising Editor
JULIA NAGEL ’24
ERIC REILLY ’25
Photography Editor
News Editor
GRAYSON RUHL ’24
GABRIEL MUÑOZ ’26
TENZIN KUNSANG ’25
NIHAR HEGDE ’24
JOANNE HU ’24
DANIELA ROJAS ’25
MARISA CEFOLA ’26
RUTH ABRAHAM ’24
MAX FATTAL ’25
MEHER BHATIA ’24
Sports Editor
News Editor
Science Editor
Arts & Culture Editor
Assistant News Editor
Dining Editor
Assistant News Editor
Sports Editor
Assistant Arts & Culture Editor
Science Editor
MING DEMERS ’25
MARIAN CABALLO ’25
Assistant Photography Editor
Assistant News Editor
KATE KIM ’24
CARLIN REYEN ’25
Layout Editor
Assistant News Editor
ISABELLE JUNG ’26
KIKI PLOWE ’25
Graphics Editor
Assistant Arts & Culture Editor
VEE CIPPERMAN ’23
CLAIRE LI ’24
Senior Editor
Assistant Photography Editor
ESTEE YI ’24
DAVID SUGARMANN ’24
Senior Editor
Assistant Sports Editor
PAREESAY AFZAL ’24
ALLISON HECHT ’26
Senior Editor
Newsletter Editor
ELI PALLRAND ’24
JASON WU ’24
Senior Editor
Senior Editor
Editors in training Editor in chief Desker Managing Desker Associate Desker News Deskers Dining Desker Photography Desker Science Desker Layout Desker
Gabriel Levin '26 Eric Reilly '25 Henry Schechter '26 Marisa Cefola '27 Anushka Shorewala '26 Daniela Rojas '25 Jullia Nagel '24 Laine Havens '25 Paris Chakravarty '27
SUBMIT A LETTER TO THE EDITOR OR GUEST COLUMN The Cornell Daily Sun is devoted to publishing a broad and diverse set of content from the Cornell and greater Ithaca community. We want to hear what you have to say about today's paper or any of our pieces. Guidelines on how to submit can be found at Cornellsun.com. And here is our email: opinion@cornellsun.com
Julia Poggi is a third year student in the College of Agriculture & Life Sciences. Her fortnightly column The Outbox is a collection of reflections, advice and notes to self about life at Cornell, with a focus on coursework-life balance. She can be reached at jpoggi@cornellsun.com.
Planning your Abroad Experience: What No One Tells You
I
still remember my Cornell info session during fall break of my senior year of high school. While most of it fades into blurry memory, one part stands out: When the Cornell admissions team advised all of us that any person, enrolled in any study, could study abroad. I write this from Florence, Italy, having in some ways fulfilled said prophecy. However, I would say that the process of studying abroad, particularly as someone on the pre-medical track, is far more difficult than advertised. I’ll start with the basics: Many of your classes taken abroad will not count for your major. They may count for your college (Cornell credits), but some will just be “throwaway classes” (aka classes required for your program that don’t yield any credit back home). Most programs do not factor your abroad grades into your Cornell GPA. For this reason, studying abroad needs to be carefully planned from day one, or at least semester one. If you’re an engineer or pre-med or otherwise have many year-long class sequences (think CHEM 2070 and 2080), many of these classes must be taken your freshman and sophomore year (if you plan to study abroad junior year). If you have major requirements that are only offered in one term, for instance, a lab only offered in spring, you must think about that when deciding which term to study abroad or which year to take that class. If you are in Arts and Sciences, you may want to align your language requirement with the language of a destination you may want to travel to abroad. A friend of mine who studies Farsi at Cornell was limited to English-speaking countries due to the A&S requirement, while others enrolled in other colleges (including myself ) can pick from a myriad of regions regardless of national language. Beyond destination, few people talk about the merits of a program vs. a university, housing options and the financial difficulties associated with certain cities. A program may assign you an apartment, roommates and help with a visa, while a university may leave you figuring out housing and class enrollment by yourself. Especially for expensive cities like London or Paris, finding roommates to agree to extortion-level rents on shortterm leases can be difficult, and often requires networking at Cornell months if not years in advance. Not only do finances matter when it comes to housing, but so does campus culture. While I live with three roommates, all of whom attended Cornell, we are the only apartment in our building housing students, and by luck of the draw, we ended up in a placement much farther from the main student areas and
our class locations. On the other hand, people in dorms may have a greater proportion of students in their vicinity, but less independence and fewer amenities. For me though, the biggest barrier to studying abroad was the difficulty associated with planning my courses to graduate on time and fulfill my major. While many pre-med students take their MCAT the summer before senior year, which allows for maximum completion of prerequisite classes, I took mine over the winter break of my junior year to ensure I did not need to take a gap year to study abroad. I am so grateful for my decision and even if I do take my gap year, I have no regrets about going abroad. However, I had very little guidance about how to best schedule my MCAT and was often told that my situation was “unusual” rather than given advice. I chose my program partly out of interest in Italy, but mostly due to the fact that it was one of the few that started after the first MCAT test dates of the year. In order to fulfill my major requirements, I took semesters overloaded with credits and may have to take summer or winter courses or request course substitutions in my senior year. Academics can also take a hit in another way. As I mentioned, my program offers few classes aligned with my major. On the one hand, this encouraged me to branch out, taking classes about Renaissance art history and business. On the other hand, a lack of autonomy in course selection and scheduling proved stressful and demoralizing after making such sacrifices to attend my program. Beyond academics, I found myself saving money from summer and academic year jobs to afford a more luxurious abroad life. Many students eat out for most meals, and with the norm of weekend travel, flying from a nonhub city like Florence racks up costs quickly. Don’t misunderstand me — I am having a great time and am not trying to complain. For all of the sacrifices I made, I am beyond grateful for the offerings provided by Cornell and the support of my family while I am abroad. I do not mean to discourage students or criticize the Cornell programs; I simply want to show that going abroad is not as easy as it may seem. Nor is the process as indiscriminate as advertised. As I continue my experience abroad, my column will explore various facets of studying abroad as a Cornell student. It felt fitting, however, to start the semester by recapping the many hours of planning and meeting that enabled this experience.
Comics and Puzzles
Sundoku 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)
The Cornell Daily Sun | Thursday, February 8, 2024 7
Puzzle #492
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The Cornell Daily Sun | Thursday, February 8, 2024
Science
SCIENCE
Bumble Bee Nests Found to Have ‘Outhouses’
By ELLIE VANHOUTEN
KATIE ORLINSKY / NEW YORK TIMES
Sun Contributor
Cornell researchers recently observed a novel ‘outhouse’ structure in Arctic bumble bee nests that could mitigate the spread of fecalborne disease within bee colonies. The outhouse is a small and damp subterranean cavity separated from the main structure of a bee nest by a small barrier. In a recent study, Lea Valdes grad and Hailey Scofield Ph.D. ’20 found that the outhouse cavity was the only area of the nest that contained fecal matter — a feature that had not been previously observed in a wild bumble bee nest. Separating feces from the colony may reduce the spread of intestinal parasites such as Crithidia bombi, a common parasite in bumble bees that spreads through contact with contaminated feces. Pathogens like Crithidia adversely impact colony health and exacerbate the negative effects of pesticides and nutritional stress. Disease is one of the primary contributors to the global decline in bee populations and diversity. However, there remains significant gaps in research about disease transmission within bumble bee colonies, whose underground nests are hard for biologists to locate and study, according to Valdes. Arctic bumble bees in particular receive even less research attention. “These big, fluffy [Arctic] bees do most of the pollination in high
disease via flowers rather than within the colony. Valdes and Scofield address this gap and provide insight into inter-colony disease transmission. “Our study shows one way that [Arctic bumble] bees can defend themselves behaviorally against disease, suggesting that they might be able to slow the spread of disease within the colony,” Valdes said. The findings serve as a foundation for future lab experiments to explore the role of the outhouse in slowing disease spread. As a part of the McArt Lab, Valdes has begun conducting manipulative studies based on this initial research, analyzing how the presence of outhouse structures affects the amount of pathogens in the colony and the rate of transmission. Valdes is also overseeing field-based research to see how evenly disease is distributed across bumble bee colonies. Though the research enhances understanding of bumble bee nesting and hygienic behaviors, the discovery of Arctic bumble bee nests was itself rewarding, according to Valdes. “It’s really difficult to find wild bumble bee nests, which has caused a big gap in conservation efforts and curiosity of how these insects live,” Valdes said. “Finding the nests was a really shocking, exciting moment.”
Hygienic hives | Arctic bumble bees isolate their feces in an ‘outhouse’ external to the main nest. latitudes — they can fly when it’s total, which they gently removed insects use to defend themselves cold, unlike little solitary bees,” from the ground and placed in against disease transmission. Insects that practice hygienic Valdes said. “Even though they do boxes — live bees and all — to fly behavior are not new — well-studmost of the pollination, we know back to a lab in Los Angeles. At the lab, Valdes and Scofield ied species like honey bees are little about them.” Valdes and Scofield uninten- let the bees operate as normal while known to defecate exclusively tionally stumbled across a wild they conducted behavioral studies, outside their nests to prevent the bumble bee nest while in Alaska to recording where the bees defecated spread of fecal-borne disease. These collect individual bees. and taking detailed notes of nest bees even strategically postpone defecation until warmer winter “While we were walking along, size and outhouse structure. we stepped on a pile of moss and The researchers noticed that days when they are able to leave it buzzed at us,” Valdes said. “We even in the absence of a physical their hive without freezing. However, the examination of immediately knew we had found outhouse structure, worker bees something and dug in.” continued to isolate their feces out- social immunity behavior in bumThe initial discovery of the bum- side of the main nest cavity. This ble bees — which are larger and ble bee nest prompted a systematic methodological isolation of feces is hairier than honey bees — has search of the area. Ultimately, the an evolved social immunity behav- not been as extensive, with prior Ellie VanHouten can be reached at researchers found ten colonies in ior — a conduct that highly social research focusing on the spread of etv8@cornell.edu.
New Application of Indium Improves Lithium Battery By MADISON KIM Sun Contributor
A team of Cornell University researchers have discovered a new application of the element indium to improve the efficiency of lithium batteries — a fundamental component of electric vehicles. Indium is a chemical element commonly found in touch screens, televisions and solar panels. In a Jan. 26 study published in Joule, lead author Shuo Jin grad and a Cornell Engineering team identified indium as a battery component that allows for rapid charging and long duration storage of energy. Utilizing the insights from the study, Cornell researchers developed a battery that charges in just under five minutes. Although the development of electric vehicles has been vital in reducing greenhouse gas emissions, the reality remains that they are too expensive for most consumers. However, the new battery is a step toward consumer access to cheaper electric vehicle options, according to lab leader and Dean of the College of Engineering Prof. Lynden Archer, engineering. “[Electric vehicle] makers have focused on building bigger batteries to achieve longer range travel,” Archer said. “[Bigger batteries] cost a lot more … the industry ends up building specialized products that only a subset of society can afford.” According to Archer, indium is a unique battery component due to an unusually fast solid-state diffusivity for
MADDIE MCGARVEY / NEW YORK TIMES
Invaluable indium | A team of Cornell engineers recently found that lithium batteries that utilize indium have faster charging times and longer lifespans.
lithium. Solid-state diffusivity refers to the ability of a material — in this case charged lithium atoms — to move through the solid materials of the positive electrode — the battery component where electricity flows in. This flow of charged lithium atoms creates an electrical current that is then stored as energy for later use. Because an indium anode allows for faster lithium ion diffusion, the battery charges in a matter of minutes. Additionally, indium helps distribute charged lithium atoms uniformly, which maintains the integrity of the electrode, especially through repetitive charging cycles. The more stable the electrode in a battery is, the less often the battery has to be replaced.
cycles while still maintaining its performance abilities, which is important when considering the sustainability of a car battery, according to Archer. The more lifetimes a battery can serve before getting repaired or replaced, the more it offsets the environmental impacts from its initial production. While it improves battery charging and lifetime efficiency, indium is heavy. A heavier battery means a heavier car, which is far less efficient and usually requires significantly more power to travel the same distances. To address the weight concern, Archer and his team blended indium with aluminum, an element much lighter but still chemically similar. Because both share important characteristics, blending the two may address the weight issue without compromising the beneficial properties of indium. According to Archer, continued search for lighter materials with a consistently low Damköhler number may be aided by generative artificial intelligence — a tool capable of solving complex problems with multiply constrained solutions. “A machine could excel at such searches because it frankly does not rest,” Archer said.
“[The balance of fast diffusivity and uniform distribution] is the secret for designing very fast-charging batteries that last a long time,” Archer said. The researchers found that utilizing indium led to a low Damköhler number, a term that captures the relative speed between the transport of matter to a chemical reaction site and the rate the matter is consumed by the reaction. In this specific case, the Damköhler number represents the speed at which charged lithium atoms are transported at the indium anode. As a lower Damköhler To continue reading this article, please visit number corresponds to a faster transport www.cornellsun.com. of reactants, it indicates a faster overall charging of the battery. An indium battery can be repeated- Madison Kim can be reached at ly charged and used over hundreds of mhk223@cornell.edu.