INDEPENDENT SINCE 1880
The Corne¬ Daily Sun Vol. 135, No. 43
MONDAY, DECEMBER 3, 2018
n
12 Pages – Free
ITHACA, NEW YORK
News
Arts
News
News
Viral Solitude
Top Picks for 2018
‘Comeback Kids’
Afternoon Showers
One year ago, Emery Bergmann ’21 produced a viral video documenting her loneliness. | Page 3
The Sun Arts staff reveals six of their top 10 albums of the year. | Page 6
Men's hockey claimed a 2-1 victory on Harvard's home ice, avenging last week's brutal loss in MSG. | Page 12
HIGH: 42º LOW: 27º
Education Reformer Levy ’74 Dies Student Group Former ‘principled student politician’ transformed NYC public school system By ROCHELLE LI and MATTHEW McGOWEN Sun Staff Writer and Sun Senior Editor
Harold Levy ’74 J.D ’79, former head of the New York City public school system and a spirited advocate for education, died from Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis on Tuesday at the age of 65. Levy’s contemporaries recounted a zeal and energy that left a lasting impact on thousands of underprivileged and minority children in his prodigious career. The son of Jewish refugees from Nazi Germany, Levy grew up in the Manhattan neighborhood of Washington Heights. He graduated from the Bronx High School of Science in 1970, 30 years before taking the helm as chancellor of the very same school system of his alma mater — the largest in the country and among the most diverse. Levy’s drive was evident even during college. As an undergraduate in the School of Industrial and Labor Relations, Levy served on the University Senate and was eventually elected student trustee. Prof. Barry Strauss ’74, history and classics — who was one of Levy’s friends during college — remembered him as intellectual and ambitious in a time when, “for a lot of people, [being ambitious] wasn’t cool.” “What struck me about Harold freshman year was just how mature and pragmatic he was,” said Joel Rudin ’74, who met Levy the first week of freshman year. “He was years
ahead of the most of the rest of us in terms of being level-headed and understanding [of] how things get done in the world.” The former student trustee was also a columnist and See LEVY page 5
By MATTHEW McGOWEN and MARYAM ZAFAR Sun Senior Editor and Sun Staff Writer
tically assess long-standing issues of housing affordability and quality. According to Stephen Smith (D-4th Ward), Ithaca Mayor Svante Myrick ’09 intends to create a new commission to holistically assess long-standing housing issues in the city, including the lack of enforcement mechanisms, affordable housing and preventing landlords from requiring leases to be signed over a year in advance. The commission will be made up of renters, Common Council members, lawyers, representatives from the Cornell Law School, Ithaca College and the Cornell Off-Campus Housing Office. “This has been a common theme,” Smith said in an interview with The Sun. “I’ve been on Common Council for six years now, and one of the early frustrations was realizing how little power we have to crackdown on low quality housing.” Smith added that the Common Council would separately look closely at enforcing the
The student-led Mental Health Task Force formally submitted a letter to Vice President of Student and Campus Life Ryan Lombardi on Friday, outlining proposed actions to improve Cornell’s mental health services. In January, President Martha Pollack rejected calls by The Sophie Fund — a mental health advocacy group — for an independent review of campus mental health “They should be services. The responding ... they Sophie Fund should be committing to called an a s s e s s m e n t more of what we’ve by the JED outlined.” foundation and internal Matthew Jirsa ’19 University reviews “insufficient” in a letter in August. Following Pollack’s announcement, the student-led task force, now co-chaired by Joanna Hua ’20, Matthew Jirsa ’19 and Chelsea Kiely ’20, began a months-long process of drafting recommendations to the University, culminating in the letter on Friday. As of Sunday evening, the letter had 273 co-signatures from students, faculty and community members. “Definitely, the ball’s in their court. They should be responding to this; they should be committing to more of what we’ve outlined in there,” Jirsa said in an interview Friday morning. Proposed reforms outlined in the letter include hiring more CAPS counselors, increasing access to off-campus mental health networks, appointing permanent mental health advocates as liaisons between students and “Every person in my seat administrators said we could double our and creating therapy staff ... and a transparent grading scheme we're not sure it to ease stress. would be enough.” Kent Bullis, executive direcVice President Ryan Lombardi tor of Cornell Health since July 2017, was also present during Jirsa’s reading of the letter. Bullis expressed his support for including students in the University’s reform efforts. “I’m very grateful to have folks that are like-minded and have the same concerns that we do. One of the things we always struggle with is making sure we have the student voice represented in the ways we’re thinking about things,” Bullis said in an interview with The Sun. The letter’s recommendations are not binding, but Jirsa hopes they will be considered during the University’s comprehensive review slated to start some time next semester. Lombardi said in an email Friday that the details of the review, includ-
See SVANTE page 5
See TASK FORCE page 4
‘One of the best’ | The young Harold O. Levy ’74 J.D. ’79, right, was an ‘articulate’ columnist for The Sun. He is seen here in The Sun’s former offices in the Colonial Building, on what is now the Commons.
SUN FILE PHOTO
Mayor Svante Myrick ’09 to Tackle Housing Issues By MATTHEW McGOWEN Sun Senior Editor
Following a months-long housing fiasco that resulted in withheld rent and a b r i e f stint
Submits Mental Health Petition
sleeping in the library, Shimon Shuchat ’19 and Mei Zheng ’18 have secured housing in Collegetown Terrace at the bequest of individuals that wish to remain anonymous, citing privacy concerns pertaining to business operations. Their plight has drawn significant attention from the Cornell community and the City of Ithaca, which is now considering a commission to holis-
A new committee | Ithaca's mayor, left, hopes to create a new committee for housing issues.
SUN FILE PHOTO