4-25-24 entire issue hi res

The Corne¬ Daily Sun

ASSEMBLY CONTROVERSY First-Year Women Accuse Candidate of Misconduct

S.A. presidential candidate Getulio Gonzalez-Mulattieri '25 denies harassment allegations

By SOFIA RUBINSON Sun Senior Reporter

He’s a well-known community activist and U.S. Air Force veteran attending Cornell as an undergraduate in his mid-thirties — and he’s a real contender to win his bid for Student Assembly president. His name is Getulio Gonzalez-Mulattieri ’25, and he’s running to build “a more just, compassionate campus,” accord ing to his candidate profile.

But his campaign promise contrasts with his history of alleged harassment, according to four first-year women. The young women told The Sun that he has made a series of unwanted and inappropriate advances at them — often in intimate, isolated settings — including making suggestive comments and, in one instance, showing up at a place of work to confront one of them after she had attempted to distance herself from him.

In some cases, he was persistent even after being rebuffed, the women said. The women, who all come from minority backgrounds, said that Gonzalez-Mulattieri has demonstrated a pattern of targeting women of color in particular.

One first-year woman said that if Gonzalez-Mulattieri, who turns 36 on Friday, wins the Student Assembly presidency, she would feel “sick.”

In response to these allegations, Gonzalez-Mulattieri said that he is “extremely friendly” and that his “intention was never to make anyone feel uncomfortable.”

“I apologize for any misinterpretation of my actions,” he added.

Naomi’s Story

Last semester, a newly turned 18-year-old in the Brooks School of Public Policy was enrolled in two classes with Gonzalez-Mulattieri. This arti cle, for reasons of privacy and security, will refer to her by the pseudonym Naomi. Naomi told The Sun that she generally tries to maintain a friendly demeanor and, at first, extended that to Gonzalez-Mulattieri. She would talk to him and others in her class cordially, she said, and once gave him a fist-bump while

parting ways.

After an evening academic event on Sept. 7, days after the fist-bump, she said, Gonzalez-Mulattieri offered her a ride back to her dorm on North Campus. It was dark and raining outside, so she agreed, “against my better judgment.” Before he began to drive, Gonzalez-Mulattieri allegedly turned to Naomi and asked if she “felt something between us” during the fist-bump days earlier.

Naomi, who said she was deeply uncomfortable in that one-on-one situation, told Gonzalez-Mulattieri that she had a partner. She remembered that a tense, awkward silence ensued.

ter). Months after the incident, on Feb. 1, Gonzalez-Mulattieri sent Naomi text messages unexpectedly.

“Hey, I honestly don’t know what I did to warrant any animosity from you last semester,” one of the messages from Gonzalez-Mulattieri obtained by The Sun reads. In another he said, “If I wronged you in some way I’m open to hearing how and I’d like to apologize pre-emptively. But beyond that I have a clear conscience and will continue acting as such.”

Naomi responded to the message, which she said was sent after she avoided talking to him the day before. “[Y]our inappropriate behavior towards the girls at brooks has caused us ALL to naturally distance ourselves from you,” an excerpt of Naomi’s message read. “I’d like to remind you we are newly turned 18 year olds and your advances are very unnerving.”

“To my knowledge, I haven’t said or done anything inappropriate. Either way, I’ve gotten the message loud and clear, and I apologize for anything I may have done that’s escaped my notice,” an excerpt of Gonzalez-Mulattieri’s response read. “I won’t be interacting with you all any further.”

Two days later, on Feb. 3, Gonzalez-Mulattieri allegedly approached another first-year student, referred to in this piece as Sarah, at her place of work, a campus coffee shop. Sarah said she had never seen Gonzalez-Mulattieri there before, despite having often worked the same shift. Gonzalez-Mulattieri approached Sarah and asked if she was mad at him, she said. Immediately following the interaction, Sarah texted her friends that she was “scared.” Gonzalez-Mulattieri said it was a “possibility” that this

Sarah’s Story

Sarah, then an 18-year-old in the Brooks School, also met Gonzalez-Mulattieri in a policy class. In the beginning of the fall semester, Sarah said, Gonzalez-Mulattieri glanced at her computer screensaver and caught sight of a photograph of Rihanna in a bra and underwear. Sarah said he asked if the photo was of her.

After Sarah told him that it was the pop singer, GonzalezMulattieri allegedly said the photo “could be” her, looking her up and down “in a way that seemed sexual, like it was implying something,” she said. Gonzalez-Mulattieri continued on, saying he “thought that was you,” Sarah alleged. GonzalezMulattieri denied comparing a student to a revealing pho-

Ting Appeal Rejected, Pinard Appeal Approved, D'Angelo Disqualifed

By DOROTHY FRANCE-MILLER Sun Senior Writer

In what was once a five-candidate race for Student Assembly president, only three candidates remain — Zora deRham ’27, Audrey Pinard ’25 and Getulio GonzalezMulattieri ’25.

Student Assembly presidential candidate Claire Ting ’25’s disqualification appeal has been denied in a 7-1-0 vote, and candidate Emily D’Angelo ’25 has been disqualified from the S.A. elections. Pinard was previously disqualified due to her campaigning before the start of the voting and campaign period, but her appeal was approved in a unanimous vote, reinstating her candidacy.

Ting’s appeal came in response to her April 15 disqualification from the presi dential race due to violating election rules by leaking personal documents with the alleged goal of intimidating other potential candidates. Her disqualification ends her final attempt to be considered for president.

Pinard began campaigning on Instagram on April 5, which was 10 days before the designated campaign and voting period began. This is a violation of the election rules, which do not permit the promotion of a candidate “through email, social media or other digital media” prior to the start of this period.

She was disqualified by the S.A.

which we were not aware of when the Elections Committee originally made the decision to disqualify her.”

D’Angelo was disqualified due to her inability to complete mandatory tabling hours by the required date.

S.A. presi-

dential candidates are required to complete 2.5 hours of tabling, during which candidates sit at a location determined by the elections committee to answer questions and engage with students.

According to the report, D’Angelo had completed zero hours of tabling. She was disqualified in a unanimous vote.

Sources close to the elections committee stated that the committee attempted to contact D’Angelo multiple times, but she failed to complete the requirements properly regardless.

Dorothy France-Miller can be reached at dfrancemiller@cornellsun.com. MING DEMERS / SUN SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHER

Weill Cornell Updates Safety Guidelines After Alleged Sexual Assault

By GABRIEL MUÑOZ Sun City Editor

Editors Note: This article discusses sexual assault in healthcare.

Over a year after former urologist and Weill Cornell Medicine assistant professor Dr. Darius Paduch was indicted over alleged widespread sexual assault against patients, Weill Cornell unveiled new patient safety guidelines.

Paduch, 56, was accused of sexually assaulting dozens of male patients, including several minors, between 2005 and 2018 while he worked at Weill Cornell and in 2019 while he worked at Northwell Health. On April 11, 2023, Paduch was arrested and indicted by a federal grand jury, where he pleaded not guilty to the charges.

The sexual assault accusations against Paduch include masturbating victims without consent or warning, introducing his fingers in the victims’ rectums without gloves or consent and exposing his genitals to victims to demonstrate masturbation technique, under the guise of medical care.

In September, another lawsuit was filed accusing Baduch’s former employers, including Weill Cornell Medical Center, of not taking action despite allegedly knowing about his abuse of patients.

On Monday, April 22, President Martha Pollack and Dr. Robert Harrington, dean of Cornell Weill Medicine, released a joint statement denouncing the alleged behavior from Paduch and announcing new patient safety guidelines. The University’s Office of General Counsel engaged outside counsel to conduct an investigation into Paduch’s conduct, according to the statement.

“We feel deeply for the survivors and their families. No patient who entrusts us with their care should ever experience such appalling behavior,” the statement read.

The statement describes three changes to current programs offered by the medical center, including an expansion of requirements for the chaperone program.

According to Weill Cornell’s website, medical chaperones are trained, objective observers, who are members of the health care team that are present at exam-

inations.

Many of the instances of alleged sexual abuse occurred when Paduch was interacting with patients unattended, according to the indictment.

According to the Weill Cornell Medicine website, chaperones are required for any vaginal, pelvic or intravaginal exams or procedures, including ultrasounds. Chaperones are also offered for exams involving the external genitalia, breast and/or rectum. Patients over the age of 18 may refuse a medical chaperone.

Training modules and policies related to patient sexual assault were expanded. The statement announced the addition of a new module titled “Allegation of Sexual Misconduct Involving a Patient” and simplified processes for reporting harassment, discrimination and retaliation. The Office of Professionalism was also established to ensure individual accountability, com-

munication and mutual respect in educational, research and clinical settings.

There will likely be updates on the Paduch case this week, according to the statement.

A trial for the case is scheduled to begin Wednesday, April 24, Nicholas Biase, a spokesperson from the U.S. Department of Justice, told The Sun.

Members of the Cornell Community may consult with the Victim Advocate by calling 607255-1212, and with Cornell Health by calling 607-255-5155. Employees may call the Faculty Staff Assistance Program (FSAP) at 607-255-2673. An Ithaca-based Crisisline is available at 607-2721616. The Tompkins County-based Advocacy Center is available at 607.277.5000. For additional resources, visit health.cornell.edu/ services/victim-advocacy.

Reexamining Cornell’s Historic Land Holdings

By SKYLAR KLEINMAN Sun Staff Writer

Cornell University will celebrate another birthday this Saturday. 159 years ago, on April 27, 1865, New York Governor Reuben E. Fenton signed the bill chartering the University on Ezra Cornell’s Ithaca farm. Three years later in 1868, Cornell University accepted its first class of 412 students.

However, Indigenous communities at Cornell and in Wisconsin have criticized the University’s founding permitted by the 1862 Morrill Act, which distributed public land — often obtained through seizures of native land by the federal government — to land-grant institutions.

Mr. Cornell raised almost $6 million from Ojibwe, Miwok, Yokut and Dakota land acquired through 63 treaties or seizures, making him the single largest beneficiary of the act with around 980,000 expropriated acres from over 230 Indigenous peoples.

Cornell’s Dispossession

Though Mr. Cornell received nearly 10 percent of the land distributed under the Morrill Act across 15 states, he predominantly focused on the Wisconsin Great Lakes Area — the ancestral home of the Ojibwe — due to prospective logging profits from white pine trees.

Mr. Cornell bought around 500,000 acres of white pine timberland in 1865. The University later sold it to lumber companies in the early 1900s for around $5 million.

Michael Whalen of Cornell University’s Division and Planning Budget reported that the profits from this sale “fueled the operation of the University through most of the 19th century.”

But, Mr. Cornell’s business ventures in Wisconsin came at a high cost to Indigenous communities.

Rick St. Germaine, a knowledge-keeper for the Lac Courtes Oreilles community of the Anishinaabe Ojibwe in Wisconsin, said that deforestation harmed Ojibwe through the deprivation of both resources and spirituality.

“To watch the trees just all sawed down and the land ravaged was very hurtful to us,” St. Germaine said. “To lose places that were sacred to us was even much more hurtful.”

According to Prof. Jon Parmenter, history, “Cornell University played an essential role in

not only setting the prices for standing timber, but also setting the pace of settler-colonial intrusion” by instigating the mass deforestation in what Parmenter described as “the conclusive or final dispossession of lands and resources of Wisconsin’s Indigenous peoples.”

The Blue Hills Pipestone Quarry

The University maintains a 50 percent mineral interest on a 155,340-acre parcel of Wisconsin land, including the Barron County Blue Hills Pipestone Quarry which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is home to soft pipestone historically used by the Lac Courtes Oreilles to craft pipes for Midewiwin religious ceremonies.

Last month, St. Germaine spoke to Cornellians about the quarry’s spiritual significance to the Ojibwe in a lecture titled, “Cornell University and the Blue Hills (WI) Pipestone Quarry: A Perspective from Anishinaabewaki.”

“[The quarry] is one of the most important [sites],” St. Germaine said. “It is an essential component of the way we send messages to our Creator.”

However, St. Germaine spoke about how Indigenous access to the quarry has been restricted since Barron County bought the land rights to the quarry in 1975 from private owners.

“Our people were told to stay out, that we were trespassing,” St. Germaine said.

Though the University owns only the mineral rights, transferring them to the Lac Courtes Oreilles could open legal negotiations with Barron County over access to the quarry.

“[The Lac Courtes Oreilles] would have to be consulted about any use of the minerals on that property,” Parmenter told The Sun. “They [could] also initiate use of minerals on that property.”

According to Parmenter, Barron County administrators reached out to him after St. Germaine spoke at the University. Parmenter described the county’s reaction as “mortified.”

Barron County administrators, including Tyler Gruetzmacher of the Soil and Water Conservation Department, drafted a letter with St. Germaine clarifying quarry access.

“We had a really nice discussion expressing that the county is not going to limit [Lac Courtes Oreilles’] access to [the quarry],” Gruetzmacher said. “We don’t feel we have any reason to.”

Gabriel Muñoz can be reached at gmunoz@ccornellsun.com.

Safety guidelines | New Weill Cornell Medical School safety guidelines require chaperones for sensitive exams.

STEPHEN SPERANZA / THE NEW YORK TIMES

S.A. Presidential Candidate Accused of Harassment

boyfriend was a threat for his vocal activism, though the message contained no reference to Gonzalez-Mulattieri’s political views

said she watched him immediately leave the dining hall.

One October evening, Gonzalez-Mulattieri drove Sarah and a friend, who also spoke to The Sun, to their dorm after class. The two freshmen said Gonzalez-Mulattieri invited them to a “champagne and shackles” fraternity date night, during which participants are typically joined together with zip-tie handcuffs until they finish a bottle of champagne. Gonzalez-Mulattieri told the students they would have to drink most of the bottle, Sarah said.

After the women said they did not want to attend, Gonzalez-Mulattieri allegedly kept persisting, a common tactic he used when women she knew turned him away, Sarah said.

Gonzalez-Mulattieri said that he invited the young women to the fraternity event as friends, though he admitted that all other pairs at the event were romantic couples. He said that drinking was not required for the event and denied telling the women they had to drink more than he would.

On Oct. 30, Gonzalez-Mulattieri replied to a photo on Sarah’s Instagram story — a selfie of her with cleavage showing. He sent a heart-eyes emoji, to which Sarah did not respond. Gonzalez-Mulattieri said he “sends everybody hearts” on Instagram.

After Sarah expressed her worry about these incidents to her boyfriend at the time, he sent Gonzalez-Mulattieri an Instagram direct message on Oct. 31 at 1:28 a.m., reading in part: “I’ve heard some complaints around the campus that you’ve been bothering freshman who are clearly a little too young for you!” the message read. “If you don’t stop, the Cornell admin WILL have to be involved. On that note stay safe and stop trying to get with little girls!” Gonzalez-Mulattieri read the message but did not respond, instead blocking him on the platform.

The next day, Gonzalez-Mulattieri posted a video on Instagram responding to “threats against [his] reputation or attempts at slander,” calling the threats “crimes” and saying that he is not intimidated.

At the end of the video, Gonzalez-Mulattieri said that he is “not going to stop posting about Gaza.” GonzalezMulattieri said the video was mainly responding to people who called him antisemitic for his posts about the IsraelHamas war. He claimed the message sent by Sarah’s

Continued from page 1 Sofa

Julie’s Story

A third student, a then-17-year-old Brooks first-year who will be referred to as Julie, was enrolled in a small class with Gonzalez-Mulattieri. According to Julie, the two sat next to each other and would frequently discuss her high school accomplishments, with GonzalezMulattieri calling her “so young” and “so ambitious” on multiple occasions. Gonzalez-Mulattieri said he was unaware of the ages of the young women with whom he associated last semester.

Julie said Gonzalez-Mulattieri would send her text messages during class that made her feel “unsettled.” During a fall lecture, Gonzalez-Mulattieri sent Julie a message that read, “You look nice.” In another lecture, Julie said she corrected a professor’s slide during a presentation, leading Gonzalez-Mulattieri to text her that she was “so bossy” and “It’s not an action, it’s the energy. Not complaining, btw.” After class, when she wore a shirt with the top two buttons undone, Gonzalez-Mulattieri made a sexually suggestive comment about her outfit, Julie said, an allegation that Gonzalez-Mulattieri denied.

Together with Naomi, Julie reported GonzalezMulattieri’s behavior to a trusted Brooks School administrator on Sept. 28. The administrator provided them with resources and options to pursue conflict mediation or obtain a restraining order, but both of those options would necessitate meeting with Gonzalez-Mulattieri in person, Julie said, which they did not want to do.

“It is undeniable that both of us have told him directly, in front of other people and privately, that we do not wish to speak to him. And that is how we would like to resolve this conflict,” Julie said.

In mid-October, a couple of weeks after Julie said she told Gonzalez-Mulattieri to stay away from her, she sat at a two-person table at Morrison Dining, placing her bag on a seat before heading to a food line, she said. To her surprise, she said, she returned to see Gonzalez-Mulattieri, whom she had not invited, settling in at the same table. Upon seeing Gonzalez-Mulattieri walking off to get his meal, Julie said she felt “panicked” and quickly moved her items to a different location. When Gonzalez-Mulattieri returned to the table and noticed she had moved, Julie

Te Story Behind Cornell’s Ties to 155,340 Acres of Wisconsin Land

Continued from page 3

Gruetzmacher, who said he is “the county point person” on quarry matters, told The Sun that he plans to meet with St. Germaine later this month for further discussion.

Gruetzmacher added that “it’s a total mystery” to him and other administrators as to why the Lac Courtes Oreilles were previously denied access to the quarry.

St. Germaine did not respond to requests for comment on the meeting with county administrators and whether he felt that access to the quarry would be secure in the future.

Jim Leary — the son of Warren Leary who owned the quarry from 1959 until 1975 — said that even after the county’s clarification, the denial of Indigenous access to the quarry “didn’t surprise [him]” due to ongoing anti-Indigenous racism in northern Wisconsin.

“I think [racism] is still there, sad to say,” Leary said. “During the treaty rights period, I had a pro-treaty rights bumper sticker on my car, and occasionally I’d get hassled in minor ways.”

According to St. Germaine, the Lac Courtes Oreilles were able to access the quarry during Leary’s ownership and were only denied access since Barron County purchased it.

However, St. Germaine recalled experiencing an increase in Indigenous racism in the years fol-

lowing Wisconsin Supreme Court decisions restoring Indigenous hunting and fishing rights on public land.

“We would launch our boats from a public landing as was required in our agreement with the state, and all of a sudden we’d have a thousand non-Indians there with slingshots,” St. Germaine said. “We were hit. A lot of people were injured, and the tires were slashed on our trailers. They fought tooth and nail and really attacked us.”

Calls for Repatriation

Despite the clarification of Indigenous access to the quarry, Parmenter maintains a strong belief that it is necessary for the University to repatriate its mineral rights on the quarry to its original owners, the Lac Courtes Oreilles.

“Cornell [is not] off the hook for this,” Parmenter said. “Those mineral rights represent an object of cultural patrimony in the University’s possession, and it belongs to the Indigenous community. The only way their rights to [the quarry] are going to be secure is if they have that.”

Parmenter added that access to the quarry is highly unstable and “dependent on good will and personalities [of county leadership], and as we’ve seen, that doesn’t always last.”

There is precedent for the University to repatriate its mineral rights to the Lac Courtes Oreilles.

Just a few weeks ago, Julie and a friend, who did not wish to be interviewed, were discussing GonzalezMulattieri’s presidential run, their discomfort with him and the potential he has to obtain a high position of power on campus. An acquaintance, who was in the room during their discussion, told Gonzalez-Mulattieri after the fact about the conversation, leading to repeated phone calls from the S.A. presidential candidate to Julie and her friend, which they did not answer. Text messages from the acquaintance to Julie said that Gonzalez-Mulattieri was extremely angered to hear their comments, dismissing the women as “privileged.”

Less than a week ago, Gonzalez-Mulattieri allegedly followed Julie into Morrison Dining, but as soon as she greeted a male friend, Gonzalez-Mulattieri left the dining hall, she said.

Gonzalez-Mulattieri denied following or approaching any young women at dining halls.

“I never intended to make anyone feel uncomfortable. I think I’ve been the most vocal when it comes to telling people that if there’s any moment when I make them feel uncomfortable, please let me know,” Gonzalez-Mulattieri said. “That said, it’s a small group, and as soon as I understood that they were feeling that way, I stepped away.”

Five first-years students — including Naomi, Sarah and Julie — sent an email to a Brooks School administrator on April 10 explaining that the nearly 36-year-old man had “routinely harassed our small group with unwanted advances.” Julie told her resident advisor about GonzalezMulattieri’s alleged harassing behavior on April 11, and the R.A. filed a referral to the Title IX office, she said.

“He doesn’t respect boundaries,” Sarah said. “It’s not that he doesn’t understand them. He fully understands boundaries, but he still wants to push past them because he doesn’t respect the individual.”

Sarah told The Sun that over the course of several months, she and the other women were “trauma bonded” by shared experiences with Gonzalez-Mulattieri.

Gabriel Levin ’26 contributed reporting.

In 2020, the University returned the diaries of Fidelia “Flying Bird” Fielding, the last fluent speaker of the MoheganPequot language, to the Mohegan Tribe. The University acquired the diaries in 2004 when it received the Native American Collection of Huntington Free Library in Bronx, New York.

“[Repatriating the mineral rights] is a really simple, straightforward opportunity for the University to do a good thing,” Parmenter told The Sun.

MJ Raade ’25, a descendant of the Ojibwe nation, actively advocates for the repatriation of mineral rights as a member of Native American and Indigenous Students at Cornell.

“It’s unsettling, the amount of people that don’t know about it,” Raade said. “[Repatriating] the quarry site is a small step. I don’t understand why [the University is] not doing it.”

Raade also criticized the University for its land acknowledgement. NAISAC has proposed adding a clause stating that “Cornell’s founding was enabled in the course of a national genocide by the sale of almost one million acres of stolen Indian land.”

To continue reading this article, please visit www.cornellsun.com.

By CARLIN REYEN Sun Columnist

BThe Corne¬

A Cheapskate’s Guide to Navigating Cornell

eing on a college campus as big as Cornell’s can be overwhelming – and pricey. Between paying for Ithaca’s insane rent, and groceries alone, without even factoring in the inevitable extra expenses that pop up in student life, the summer and semester’s earnings can evaporate into the Ithaca humidity much faster than you might like.

The Cornell experience is, simply put, a ridiculously expensive one, and it can feel exhausting when there is little financial assistance or leeway on campus — no reasonably priced on-campus dining options, no free laundry or gyms like other universities have, rent prices comparable to major American cities, a PE requirement that somehow costs extra on top of an already staggering tuition sticker price?

This is my call to all my fellow students who are anxiously waiting for FAFSA to get it together this year. Ask any of my friends and they will tell you that I am the Nancy Drew of locating free stuff on campus. I’m here, and I want to share what I’ve learned over the years.

First, let’s talk books. As an

Literatures in English major, I am presented with roughly 10 titles minimum per semester that I am expected to have purchased from the Cornell Store. Even with the CAMP Program, I would be paying $450 a year on books that I’m likely only going to read once.

My best friend is the Cornell Library website. I highly recommend looking at the syllabi of your courses as soon as they are posted to Canvas at the start of each semester. Chances are, most of the titles are available to be checked out. If not, though, Cornell subscribes to BorrowDirect, an interlibrary loaning system, where you can request books or scans of materials you need and they will be delivered to you either electronically or for free pickup at a Cornell library. With this tactic, I have not paid for books since my freshman fall first-year writing seminar.

Especially while living off campus now as a junior, it’s apparent that grocery prices are gouged at all convenient stores in Collegetown. Without a car, it can be a logistical nightmare to get to Tops or P&C Fresh, which I’ve found to be some of the most affordable options near campus. Take it from someone who knows: it’s simply not pretty biking up East Buffalo with all your groceries or getting abandoned in Lansing during a TCAT shortage.

I present to you: Anabel’s Grocery, a beacon of light amidst a hellscape of Big Red Bucks eateries. Anabel’s is

Lifestyle Editor’s Weekly Report

By Daniela Rojas, Lifestyle Editor

Sun Survey Predicts Winning Flavor: Brewing CommuniTea

On April 12, Sun’s Lifestyle team conducted exit polling at the April 12 ice cream sampling and voting event at Mann Library. Among a sample of 84 randomly selected people present, Brewing CommuniTea earned approximately 47 percent of the vote, with 39 percent going to Toni S’Morrison and 11 percent going to Coming Out Of Your Shell. All three ice cream flavors are available for purchase at the Cornell Dairy Bar. Brewing CommuniTea will be scooped during Commencement and Reunion.

Cornell Feline Club to Host Seventh Annual ‘Feline Follies’ Cat Festival

On Saturday, April 28, the Cornell student chapter of the American Association of Feline Practitioners will host their seventh annual “Feline Follies’’ cat festival at the College of Veterinary Medicine from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., raising money for local animal shelters. Tere will be cat crafts, cat bingo, cat lectures, cats to pet and a silly cat show. According to the Cornell Feline Health Center, adoptable cats will be present from Brown Coat Cat Rescue. Michael Goldstein, Professor of Psychology (and professional photographer), will be at the vet school Saturday and Sunday with his kitty photo studio offering professional photo packages for $20 at the first floor atrium of Cornell Vet School. All funds will be donated to local animal shelters.

located in Anabel Taylor Hall and has fresh produce, bulk snacks and other essential meal items for actual co-op prices. They also accept SNAP benefits.

It’s frustrating to have to go all the way home for food when you’re trying to have a productive on-campus day, but tempting when the food and coffee on Central are incredibly expensive for no good reason. This can be an added stressor in a day full of responsibilities. One hack I’ve developed is ordering an iced coffee at Zeus (one of the cheapest options, and fairly delicious) in a reusable cup, a sustainability initiative incentivized by charging less than for a single-use cardboard cup. If you’re feeling really in a pinch, you can also bring your own tea bags to campus and fill up with hot water using Zeus’ handy tap.

I will also say that if you camp out at Zeus around closing/after hours, you may be able to snag some leftovers from the kitchen staff. And it’s likely there will be some sort of visiting speaker reception in the Klarman Atrium, which will be catered with complimentary refreshments.

I know as college students our inboxes are all inundated and that it can be vastly time-consuming to scour emails for mention of attrative opportunities. Yet, by subscribing to the listservs of various campus centers and clubs, I find news of many free, catered events on campus. Clubs often have food tast-

ings or speaker receptions, and it’s always enjoyable to attend a talk by an expert while also fueling your body for a night of on-campus study.

Especially if you identify with a demographic that is represented by the Centers for Student Equity, Empowerment, and Belonging on campus, check out their sites for events and other opportunities for support.

I’ve discovered that signing up for on-campus research studies is another way of supplementing my semester income. Various campus labs are seeking participants, and being part of eligible studies often yields a higher-than-minimum-wage hourly payment, at least in my experience.

If you’re ever in Ithaca at the beginning of O-week, wait in line at the Dump & Run — you can find a lot of clothing in really great condition, as well as useful household items, purely because of how much Cornellians discard at the end of each academic year. Not only is it cost effective, but it’s also a sustainable way to find new clothing.

Also, asking for financial assistance on campus and being your own advocate is so important. The more time I spend at Cornell, the more apparent it is to me that students are just numbers here: with Cornell’s campus size, it is so easy to get swept up in the crowd, and unfortunately, it seems Cornell operates with the mindset that

individual student success isn’t something they should invest in because, frankly, they don’t need to: the university knows demand for an IvyLeague education will always allow them to just replace a student who fails out or can’t keep up financially.

I know that just telling someone to advocate for themself can be privileged advice, and thatsocially, this can be a difficult thing to do, especially given power dynamics (both perceived and actual). However, I just want to provide a bit of empowerment and encouragement to those students who may be struggling, as I have also seen time and time again that the university won’t care if we don’t reach out and advocate for ourselves.

Even though it’s probably in my best interest to keep my frugalities to myself, I always appreciated the advice of older Cornellians who had learned the ropes of campus and were willing to share their advice with me. I’m not going to gate-keep tips that have saved me money over the years and help uphold a system that only helps the University make more money for itself.

Carlin Reyen is a third-year student in the College of Arts and Sciences. Carlin can be reached at creyen@cornellsun.com.

COURTESY OF MICHAEL GOLDSTEIN

The

Randy Wayne

Encouraging Open Dialogue

Thank you for your open letter to Provost Kotlikoff entitled, “Let Us Feel Safe Here.” In it, you ask the question “Will you pay thousands to an anti-trans speaker and then have me arrested if I speak out in the Q&A to defend myself when the speaker decides my question is not worth hearing?”

It’s an important question and, as a co-host of the event to which you are referring in your letter, I would like to set the record straight. No one was, or will ever be arrested for asking questions during a Q&A, even if those questions are critical or harsh.

That does not resemble what happened at the Ann Coulter event on April 16. At the beginning of the event, there was a clear warning alerting all attendees that disruptions would lead to arrests. Later, during the Q&A, the assistant professor in question took their opportunity at the microphone to deride Ms. Coulter and the audience about their racism. There was no question asked. The professor then disrupted Ms. Coulter’s attempts to answer subsequent questions posted by other audience members. Eventually, after several disruptions, the professor was removed from the venue and arrested.

This recent event, the protests around the Israel-Hamas War and the talk several months ago with Michael Knowles have led to some significant tensions on campus. Such tensions underscore the challenges we face in engaging with ideas that diverge from our own. However, it is precisely in these challenging times that we must champion the cause of free speech, particularly in an academic setting where we are all — students, faculty and administrators — exploring complex worldviews.

Next week, we are honored to host ex-Philosophy Professor Kathleen Stock, who has also faced considerable controversy for her views. Formerly a faculty member at the University of Sussex, Stock is regarded as a gender-critical feminist, a stance which led to her resignation under intense pressure. Her previous lectures at Cambridge and Oxford were marked by serious protests (in one case a student glued themselves to the floor) yet they also provided vital platforms for discussion.

Continue reading at ww.cornellsun.com

Armand

TArmand Chancellor

he chimes ring with the alma mater, students walk with friends to class or a dining hall and snow falls on the cherry blossoms. Welcome to Cornell University, same as it was and will be, even if the students change, the fashions change, the technology advances and new buildings that assault eyes are erected. A part of the Ivy League, which — while technically just the name of our sports conference — signifies that we are part of a storied institution that has produced numerous Presidents, Congresspeople and Supreme Court Justices.

The current problems of institutions like the Ivy League — and Cornell specifically — are not, as many on campus today claim, rooted in their histories but are in fact a modern or even post-modern problem. The problem is that our traditions throughout the campus mean nothing. Where in the past they were filled with life, they now, just like our mascot Touchdown, are empty.

There is no better example of this than Cornell’s system of shared governance. Born out of the historic Willard Straight takeover in 1969, where students fought and won the right to help run the University. While shared governance still exists in name, the actual institutions are laughable: just look at the administration’s complete bypass of the system to implement the Interim Expressive Activity Policy. Rather than passing productive resolutions, the members of organizations like the Student Assembly treat their institution as a reenactment of House of Cards. And for those who think the current saga in the SA is a new phenomenon, whether it be in 2024 or 2020 the S.A. has spent a long time treating ethical standards as suggestions.

With ethics as strict as a Collegetown bar I.D. policy, one might at least hope that the Assembly manages to put together productive legislation. Unfortunately — even when they’re not advocating for foreign policy changes — the S.A. has embarrassed those it is supposed to serve. They’ve made Cornell a national laughing stock by trying to mandate trigger warnings or disarm the campus police. But one cannot completely blame

the students on the Assembly or the fraction of students who voted for them, because the problem that affects them is much deeper. The true problem is that institutions like the S.A., and with them the most integral quali ties of a university, have lost their sense of purpose.

This lost purpose allows us to keep the facade of the same institutions and traditions, but with hollowed out meaning. This is what allows Cornell to give out the same degrees despite the perpetually decreasing knowledge behind them. Every year, more and more students are crammed into lectures that Professors and students alike couldn’t care less about. Cornell and the university system has lost its purpose, education and research, and instead has chosen to industrialize the degree process to the point that students outnumber beds.

The reason why the S.A. operates as a blight on Cornell is because its members and the student body at large have lost track of the reason for shared governance. And while some on campus are rabid to solve this problem through abolition, that too ignores the original purpose of shared governance fought for by previous generations. As with any institution, reorienting it back to its purpose requires evaluating the history of the institution. The history of the S.A. tells the story of students struggling against the administration to better their university — such as adding an Africana Studies center on campus. Shared governance allowed for that to happen and hopefully will allow future generations of Cornelians to share their frustrations with the administration rather than create more frustration among the student body with rank partisan resolutions and Game of Thronesesque intrigue. Once the institutions of shared governance find their purpose again and become filled with life instead of a hollow shell of themselves, and provide an example to the rest of the University to find its purpose as well.

Randy Wayne is an Associate Professor of Integrative Plant Science in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences

Standard Rate: $3.95 per day for first 15 words, 39 cents per day per word thereafter.

SC I ENCE

The Science Behind Arrakis: Understanding the Dune Ecosystem

By RAGHAV CHATURVEDI Sun Contributor

The environment on Arrakis — the desert planet central to Frank Herbert’s epic science fiction series Dune — is not entirely fictional, according to Cornell scientists.

Arrakis consists of bone-dry deserts with giant dunes, rocky cliffs and little sign of water. The climate is extreme, with scorching heat during the day and freezing temperatures at night. Despite the harsh conditions, the ecosystem is sustained through a delicate balance between the colossal sandworms and the ever-important economic resource spice — a prescience-inducing drug produced by sandworm life cycles.

Arrakis was not always a desert planet. Introducing alien sandtrouts disrupted Arrakis’ hydrological cycle — the continuous water circulation between land and atmosphere — transforming it into a desert.

Similarly, on Earth, wetlands are converted to deserts through desertification — when processes that move water from ocean to land are restricted.

“For example, clouds bring in moisture to the northern plains in India below the Himalayas,” said Prof. Jed Sparks, ecology and evolutionary biology. “If such air mass transport is stopped that would disrupt the [water cycle] of that region massively.”

Other cycles besides the water cycle contribute to a balanced ecosystem. According to Sparks, almost all life on earth is possible due to autotrophs — organisms like plants and bacteria that convert carbon dioxide or other simple molecules to nutrients like glucose that store energy. Other life forms can then consume these compounds to fulfill their energy requirements. Autotrophs also often produce oxygen as a byproduct.

On Arrakis, sandplanktons are autotrophic — they feed on the spice and create oxygen. The sandworms eat these sandplanktons and produce more spice, thus completing the cycle.

The relationship between sandplanktons, sandworms and spice is similar to ecological cycles on Earth. For example, mole crickets are insects commonly found in Florida that feed on cyanobacteria — a type of autotroph — in the soil.

“[The relationship between mole crickets and cyanobacteria] provides an analogy to spice which also seems to be composed of some kind of nutrients,” Sparks said.

Autotrophs like plants use chlorophyll — a green compound that provides plants their color — to use sunlight to make nutrients. However, since there is no hint of the color green on Arrakis, one may assume that the planet is devoid of chlorophyll. However, special kinds of autotrophs called chemotrophs use energy obtained from the oxidation of inorganic molecules to make nutrients without chlorophyll.

“It’s possible that all [sand] planktons are chemotrophs that rely on the compounds that make up spice which is an abundant resource on the planet,” said Prof. Benjamin Houlton, ecology and evolutionary biology.

With sandplankton helping to supply oxygen to Arrakis, the ecosystem could sustain other organisms such as the desert mouse —

Muad’dib — which resembles the real desert mice on Earth. The desert mouse’s enormous ears — almost half its body size — help with temperature regulation and trap the little moisture in the air. Large ears are common among other desert mammals like the fennec fox found in the Sahara.

The ultimate goal in the Dune odyssey is to bring back greenery to Arrakis. Herbert’s solution to return greenery to the planet was to break the cycle of hydrological disruption by killing the sandworms to end spice production forever.

David Lynch, in his effort to transform Arrakis, made a different ending for his 1984 film Dune. Lynch opted to make Arrakis green by making it magically rain when Atreides killed Fayed Routha. However, Denis Villeneuve’s Dune refrains from spiritual prophecies and can terraform Arrakis through scientifically plausible means.

“It’s possible that the magical water in the sandworms consists of cloud condensation nuclei,” Houlton said.

Cloud condensation nuclei are small particles that make water vapor condense and

thus induce rainfall. So, after the sandworms are killed and their water released, clouds may seed, spurring rainfall and returning Arrakis to greenery.

Like Arrakis, the Sahara desert in Africa was once a lush jungle before its climate was severely compromised due to drought. So, on Earth, how does one address regions under eminent drought risk?

According to Carlos Carillo, a research associate in earth and atmospheric sciences, scientists construct climate data over centuries to look for megadroughts — rainless periods that lead to desert formation. Scientists also identify important regions for water storage and circulation.

“The Amazon jungle, for example, transpires and recirculates a large amount of water for the entire world,” Carillo said. “If regions of the forest suffer drought and deforestation continues, many regions in the world will become dry.”

In theory, it is possible to predict droughts. However, actually preventing droughts is very difficult, according to Carillo. Due to technology constraints, steps to reduce stress in areas with drought are limited to cloud seeding, growing crops with less water needs and human immigration.

“If we do want to change the circulation of a global phenomenon that causes drought, it would require an external perturbation like a mechanical turbine that changes airflow,” Carillo said. “But the energy requirements for such a machine certainly could not be fulfilled by our planet alone.”

Since we lack the ability to change global climate phenomena, if large parts of our planet were to indeed become like Arrakis, then we certainly would require a Lisan Al Gaib or a Timothee Chalamet to save us.

Cornell Professors Share Insight Into AI in Veterinary Medicine

By SHAAN MEHTA Sun Contributor

Since the introduction of ChatGPT in November, 2022, the term “artificial intelligence” has been thrown around with increasing frequency in everyday speech, particularly on university campuses. AI is a technology that allows machines to simulate human intelligence. When many people think of AI, they imagine movies like Ex Machina or The Terminator. However, beyond providing existential storylines to sci-fi movies, AI also has the potential to innovate veterinary medicine.

According to Prof. Parminder Basran, clinical sciences, a radiation oncology physicist and director of the Veterinary AI in Diagnostic Imaging and Radiotherapy Lab, AI is already being used in veterinary medicine for specific purposes.

“When it comes to artificial intelligence in veterinary medicine, we’re talking about mostly narrow-use AI, or what’s referred to as ‘weak AI’ where AI solutions are being developed to tackle very specific problems,” Basran said.

An example of practical narrow-use AI is automated diagnosis and disease classification. A diagnostic x-ray image is input to the system, and a disease classification is output. While this form of AI can be useful in clinical settings, it is narrow in the sense that it deals with only one specialty and has only one output.

Conversely, for working on a larger scale with multiple inputs, general AI is available.

“There’s this scope of general AI or strong AI,” Basran said. “You may be thinking about different kinds of inputs that are associated with a diagnostic or decision support, things that

might be merging [lots of] data [with] image data to develop diagnoses or care plans.”

Because diagnoses may require considering a variety of data, the applications of AI in medicine are currently limited. While AI chatbots handle only language data, AI used for medicine need to input text, medical imaging and genomic data. Additionally, experts in veterinary medicine tend to have domain-specific knowledge from years of experience, information that is not always available online. Consequently, it is unclear if these veterinary AI models can work reliably and at the same level as human professionals.

Jennifer Sun, an incoming assistant professor in the Computer Science Department, believes that benchmarks are important to avoid issues of missing information or bias.

“To ensure these models benefit veterinary medicine, I think we need to design bench-

marks together with people in the veterinary community that have domain knowledge to make sure that whatever performance is on the benchmark actually reflects the real-world performance in those tasks, and also the benchmark to be diverse enough to cover all cases, not just cats and dogs,” Sun said.

Over the past few years, AI in healthcare has advanced at a rapid pace. For example, machine learning — a subset of AI that confers human learning capacities to machines — has become a fundamental tool for biological exploration, especially for drug discovery. This technology can be applied to develop better drugs in both human and veterinary medicine.

Additionally, the emerging field of personalized medicine may make its way to veterinary medicine soon. In personalized medicine, different datasets are integrated with multimodal machine learning to characterize individual

diseases. Targeted treatment strategies can be created based on people’s genetic profile.

“There’s a wonderful opportunity here to increase the diagnostic sensitivity and specificity [in veterinary medicine] with the goal of also improving patient outcomes. That whole field [of personalized medicine] will be emerging,” Basran said.

The rapid advancements of AI have also ignited questions on if human positions in healthcare will ever be replaced. Sun believes that while AI may cause a shift in healthcare by complementing healthcare providers, it will improve efficiency and provide support for decisions, streamlining the healthcare system without replacing humans.

“Humans have agency, the desire to improve the wellbeing of other humans and animals,” Sun said. “Ultimately, I see AI as a tool for humans to accelerate how we do diagnosis and treatment.”

Moreover, trust must be built before AI systems can take a greater role in healthcare.

“You’re not going to blindly use Tesla autopilot without ever having to test it,” Basran said. “Every tool has a range of usefulness. Until one really understands the range of usefulness of any tool, it’s hard to have trust in that tool. It’s going to take time for us to be in a position to understand what the range of usefulness is for a lot of these artificial intelligence tools.”

To continue reading this article, please visit www.cornellsun.com.

Raghav Chaturvedi can be reached at rc669@ cornell.edu.

CLARK HODGIN/THE NEW YORK TIMES

MAHU ALVAREZ/THE NEW YORK TIMES

Enigmatic ecosystem | The deserts and dunes of Arrakis, the setting of the recent science fiction film Dune, were inspired by real-world science.