INDEPENDENT SINCE 1880
The Corne¬ Daily Sun Vol. 135, No. 77
MONDAY, APRIL 15, 2019
n
16 Pages – Free
ITHACA, NEW YORK
News
Arts
Sports
Weather
Breaking Stereotypes
Record Store Day
Road Warriors
Showers
Cornell alumni led students on a ‘cultural exchange‘ to Pakistan.
See how Ithaca’s own Angry Mom Records celebrated the occasion.
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Cornell men’s lacrosse took down nationally-ranked Notre Dame on Sunday.
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HIGH: 56º LOW: 23º
Convocation Speaker Cancels, and a Committee Scrambles Hasan Minhaj ‘breached contract’ shortly before planned announcement
Seeking a speaker | The Cornell Convocation Committee was sent into disarray after planned speaker Minhaj (seen below) dropped out shortly before its planned announcement.
By NICHOLAS BOGEL-BURROUGHS Sun Senior Writer
Late on Thursday afternoon, everything was going according to plan. Cornell Convocation Committee members were excited to reveal at a Student Assembly meeting that comedian Hasan Minhaj would address seniors on graduation weekend. The committee had created a graphic for social media and arranged a party to celebrate the culmination of months of work. But by 6:30 p.m., the committee’s leadership was scrambling. Minhaj had dropped out, they learned shortly before their planned announcement, and they wanted to keep anyone from knowing.
BRYAN DERBALLA / THE NEW YORK TIMES
Charlotte Lefkovitz ’19, the committee chair, told eager attendees that the committee was delaying its announcement out of respect for the seriousness of an S.A. divestment vote that immediately preceded the scheduled unveiling. “I ultimately felt that right now is not the time, given the emotions,” Lefkovitz said
at the close of the public S.A. meeting. She and some other members later wrote similar statements on Facebook. An email to committee members, sent 15 minutes later and signed by Lefkovitz, gave an additional reason. “Hasan Minhaj breached contract and is no longer our speaker,” read the message,
which reminded recipients that they had signed a confidentiality agreement and warned in an uppercase subject line: “URGENT — EXTREMELY CONFIDENTIAL.” “The most important thing is that NO ONE CAN KNOW ANYTHING. Neither that he was supposed to be our speaker nor that he has dropped out,” read the message, which was sent to members by Andrew Semmes ’19, the senior class president and a member of the committee. “I have been lenient with people leaking stuff thus far but if anything gets out no questions asked you will lose membership and privileges,” Lefkovitz continued. In the committee’s Slack channel, Semmes told members that if anyone asked about the delay, they should say: “It’s been postponed to a better time and place. That discussion was so divisive so we didn’t think it was a good time.” It’s unclear why Minhaj, the host of Netflix’s Patriot Act, pulled out, and his publicist did not respond to multiple messages See CONVOCATION page 5
Swastika Spotted on Culture Fest Celebrates Diversity on Campus ALANA and ISU pair up for afternoon of food, dance, music Goldwin Smith Hall, Raising Concerns By CAROLINE JOHNSON Sun Contributor
By OLIVIA WEINBERG Sun Staff Writer
A swastika was found emblazoned on the facade of the west side of Goldwin Smith Hall facing the Arts Quad, drawing concerns from students over the current campus climate. The anti-Semitic symbol, now covered by duct tape, has been there for “quite some time,” said President Martha E. Pollack in a statement sent to the Cornell community Sunday morning. This is not the first time swastikas have been found around campus: three incidents were reported on North C a m p u s this past November. It is unknown who is responsible for drawing COURTESY OF MICHELLE ABRAMOWITZ the symbol Concerning climate | President and who taped Pollack sent out a campus-wide over it. The email on Sunday condemning the drawing is currently under swastika, and committing to a full investigation investigation. by the Cornell University Police Department, according to Pollack’s statement. CUPD declined to comment after The Sun reached out with two phone calls requesting additional information Sunday afternoon. In an interview with The Sun, President of Cornell See SWASTIKA page 6
Music, dance, laughter and the smell of blended spices permeated through Barton Hall as Culture Fest commenced for its second annual event, featuring performances, music, food and presentations Sunday afternoon. Culture Fest began last year in response to racial incidents and hate crimes on campus, according to ALANA Intercultural Board President Elaine Liu ’19. The organizers designed the event as a way to showcase the diversity on campus and “celebrate it through understanding and appreciation,” said Liu. “We don’t want the celebration of cultures to be a reaction to bad incidences,” said Shemar Christian ’21, vice president of programming for ALANA. “It should just be a constant thing, which is why we are trying to have [Culture Fest] annually.” This year, ALANA Intercultural Board also collaborated with the International Student Union to host the Culture Fest. According to Venus Dulani ’19 of ISU, the two organizations decided to work together because both ISU and ALANA had the shared goal of “celebrating international diversity.” The event featured organizations representing a wide array of cultural groups, such as the Cornell Sikh Students Association, Black Students United and South Asian Council, which engaged with students to educate and celebrate their differences. A new addition to this year’s Culture
Fest was the “World Walk,” a segment that focused on international diversity. Groups representing different countries
set up tables and presented to students See CULTURE page 6
ANNE CHARLES / SUN STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Diversity on campus | This year’s Culture Fest is the second iteration of the annual event, which was founded last year in response to hate speech on campus. Above, an image from 2018.