3-25-19 full issue hi res

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INDEPENDENT SINCE 1880

The Corne¬ Daily Sun Vol. 135, No. 71

MONDAY, MARCH 25, 2019

n

12 Pages – Free

ITHACA, NEW YORK

News

Arts

Sports

Weather

Cornell Degree

Real-life Lunatic

Heartbreaker

Mostly Sunny

Alumnus burns Cornell degree in a YouTube video to show that hard work matters more than an elite degree. | Page 3

Eric Andre encouraged excessive ranch consumption during his comedy act Saturday night. | Page 6

Cornell men's hockey lost to Clarkson, 3-2 in overtime, in the ECAA championship game. | Page 12

HIGH: 36º LOW: 19º

‘Islamophobic’ Remarks Spark Tension During S.A. Meeting By NICOLE ZHU and SEAN O'CONNELL Sun Assistant News Editor and Sun Staff Writer

HARRY DANG / SUN STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Climate justice | Students gather on Ho Plaza to call for the University’s divestment from fossil fuel in a rally organized by Climate Justice Cornell.

Rally: Divest From Fossil Fuels Climate Justice Cornell hands petition to trustees By ANYI CHENG

environmental, financial and ethical reasons has been an increasingly prominent issue at universities across the country, Despite chilling winds and drizzling according to rally leader Nadia Vitek ’22. “The endowment comes from our tuirain, dozens of students clad in orange gathered on Ho Plaza Friday afternoon to tion,” Graham told The Sun. “Our money rally for the University’s divestment from is going towards an industry that is causing climate change. There are so many negative fossil fuel. “We will not rest ‘till you divest,” they impacts.” The rally kicked off with students conchanted, waving signs and cheering. “Hey, gregating at noon outside Willard Straight ho, fossil fuels have got to go!” Hall. They donned bright orange chanted rally cries “Cornell’s sacred mission, the pursuit of clothing, and urged passerby students to truth, is in contradiction with the fossil sign a divestment petition that CJC addressed to the Board of fuel companies.” Trustees. “I get my trustees and other Prof. Caroline Levine administrators don’t want to rock the boat. I’m with them in trying The rally was organized and led by to preserve this amazing university,” said Climate Justice Cornell with two major Prof. Caroline Levine, English, in a speech goals in mind: raising awareness on campus addressing the rally. “Cornell demands that everyone one about fossil fuel divestment and attracting attention from the Board of Trustees — of us conducts that pursuit of truth with who met on Friday afternoon during the integrity,” Levine said. “The fossil fuel rally — according to Cassidy Graham ’22, industry did the exact opposite. The fossil fuel industry deliberately sowed a camCJC community retention chair. Divesting from fossil fuels entails the paign of lies.” According to Levine, fossil fuel corporemoval of investments from corporations in the fossil fuel industry and instead rations have researched and known about choosing other sectors to invest in. The See DIVESTMENT page 5 movement to divest from fossil fuels for Sun Assistant News Editor

Tensions over the Boycott, Divest and Sanction movement came to a head at the Student Assembly meeting on Thursday, after a community member who identified herself as a Jewish Cornell student made comments towards Omar Din ’19, College of Human Ecology representative and one of the proponents of the BDS resolution, that he described as “Islamophobic.” During the open microphone session, Sydney Eisenberg ’21 questioned Din, a leader of Students for Justice in Palestine, on his cultural background and his involvement in minority organizations, said Mahfuza Shovik ’19, S.A. representative for the College of Engineering. Eisenberg then implied that Din was active in both the Palestinian and Arab communities, said Shovik. When Din responded that he was neither Palestinian nor Arab, but was involved with the Muslim Education and Cultural Association, Eisenberg said she was “uncomfortable” with his presence on S.A., said attendee Jaqueline Hutchinson ’19, a supporter of Students for Justice in Palestine who was present at the meeting. Eisenberg then suggested that Din had a “conflict of interest,” said Mackenzie

Smith ’21, S.A. representative for the College of Arts and Sciences. According to Hutchinson, Din objected to the characterization before the open microphone session was closed. Soon after, Eisenberg left the room. The meeting then continued as scheduled, addressing other items on the agenda. At the end of the S.A. meeting, Din publicly decried Eisenberg’s comments as “Islamophobic rhetoric.” “[The comments] make me feel most

“They may have come out of place of ignorance, but they were inappropriate regardless.” Dale Barbaria ’19 unwelcome here in the Assembly and in the community and I really, truly hope that when this debate continues, it’s done with a level of civility and with a level of openness and welcomeness for everyone,” Din said emphatically. President of Cornell Hillel Jillian Shapiro ’20 then approached the microphone. She apologized repeatedly, saying See S.A. page 5

BORIS TSANG / SUN PHOTOGRAPHY EDITOR

Student Assembly | A student questioned Omar Din ’22, shown at the right, a member of Students for Justice in Palestine, on his cultural background and his involvement in minority organizations, attendees say.

International Students Face Additional Hurdles in Job Searches By VALE LEWIS Sun Staff Writer

BORIS TSANG / SUN PHOTOGRAPHY EDITOR

With droves of students scoring internships and jobs for the summer, many international students have not reported the same amount of luck. While they may have equally competitive resumes and transcripts as domestic students, the lack of guidance on how to secure work visa

sponsorships from employers has been one of the major obstacles for their job search. To acquire the H1-B visa, which allows foreigners to work full-time in the United States after graduation, international students need to find employers that are willing to give out sponsorships. “[Sponsorship] is basically the company telling

the U.S. government ... ‘He is effectively the best-suited candidate for the job, and there's no American student that would be better suited than him,” Aditya Narayanan ’21 told The Sun. However, finding companies that are willing to provide sponsorship at career fairs is a difficult process, according to Narayanan, an Indian cit-

izen. “Every single small or medium-sized company I’ve talked to in any of the career fairs at Cornell, none of them are willing to sponsor me,” Narayanan said. “I’m not sure why Cornell doesn’t find those sort of companies to come down as well because that’s a really big issue.” Many students have expressed frustration with

the fact that it is not always clear at career fairs which companies are willing to sponsor international students, according to AbdulRahman Al-Mana ’20, who’s from Qatar. “You only have such a limited amount of time at these things. And so you’re ultimately wasting your time — time that you can See VISA page 5


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