5-9-23 entire issue hi res

The Corne¬ Daily Sun

Deadheads Return to Barton

By JONATHAN MONG and XINYU JOANNE HU Sun

Editor

Dead and Company — which is a band comprising John Mayer, Oteil Burbridge and Jeff Chimenti as well as former Grateful Dead members Bob Weir and Mickey Hart — performed on May 8 at Barton Hall as part of their summer 2023 farewell tour. The concert took place 46 years to the day after the

President Pollack Sits Down With Te Sun to Review 2022-2023 Year

By SOFIA RUBINSON and AIMÉE EICHER

Sun Managing Editor and Sun Assistant Managing Editor

The 2022-2023 school year brought both progress and controversy for Cornell, with the creation and continuation of various campus initiatives, disruptions in Greek life and more recently, tense discussions over the state of free speech at the University. Discussing these topics and more, President Martha Pollack sat down with The Sun to review her top priorities and stances on the most contentious issues affecting Cornellians.

University follows a structured budget model to control costs.

“If you look at the amount that students who receive aid pay and adjust for inflation, they actually pay less now than they did 20 years ago,” Pollack said.

The University launched the To Do the Greatest Good initiative in October 2021, which aims to raise $5 billion for the University by 2026. For the Spring 2023 semester, the campaign allowed for increases in University grant aid for all undergraduates who qualify for financial aid.

Pollack stated that the initiative is on track to reach its fundraising goals, which include $3 billion to fund the Ithaca campus, $1.5 billion for Weill Cornell Medicine and $500 million for Cornell Tech.

Affordability

Cornell’s affordability is a primary concern for many Cornellians, with undergraduate tuition increasing by 4.4 percent going into the 2023-2024 academic year. Pollack commented on the financial resources required to sustain the University.

“To provide the kind of education we want to provide at Cornell, it's very expensive. We do everything we can to control costs,” Pollack said. “But, world-class faculty are expensive, [as are] world-class labs and facilities [and] world-class libraries — so we need resources.”

Regarding the rise in tuition, Pollack emphasized that Cornell always increases financial aid with tuition. She noted that the

One of the goals of the campaign, Pollack said, is to improve socioeconomic diversity among Cornell’s student body. The University aims to increase the number of students on financial aid, though Pollack noted that the proportion of students on aid will not increase due to a rise in overall enrollment.

Approximately half of Cornell undergraduates receive financial aid, Pollack said.

“If you compare to 2020, not only have the number of first-generation students increased from 13 percent to more than 19 percent, but the number of students who are coming with aid has increased by about 650 [students],” Pollack said.

Cornell’s endowment reported a 1.3 percent investment loss for the 2022 fiscal year, compared to a significant 41.9 percent gain during the year prior.

Grateful Dead’s performance at Barton Hall on May 8, 1977.

The original performance, known simply as “Cornell ’77,” has become legendary amongst “Deadheads” — the nickname for the Grateful Dead’s fans — as one of the band’s greatest performances in a storied 30-year career.

“It was an amazing show,” Bill Sherman ’78, who attended the 1977 show, said. “The memory I think all of us have is, it was 60 degrees and sunny before we went into the show. Everybody was playing Frisbee in shorts and T-shirts. We came out four hours later, six inches of snow. You never saw so many people going, ‘Woah, how long were we in there?’”

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

THE C ORNELL D AILY S UN G UI D E T O S LOPE D AY 2023

appy lope ay ve!

As per recent tradition, Slope Day will be held the day after classes end to celebrate the end of the academic year.

Free Breakfast

Free breakfast sandwiches and fruit will be served in front of Schwartz Center from 7:30 - 10:30 a.m.

Wristbands

If you have not already obtained your Slope Day wristband, you must pick one up today with a Cornell or government-issued ID.

Music

Coco & Clair Clair and Snakehips! will open the concert, followed by Coin.

Weather

Expect a sunny day and hot temperatures.

Schedule: Gates Open: 11 a.m.

Slope Fest

On Ho Plaza: 11 a.m. - 4 p.m.

Concert Begins: Noon

All Ithaca Starbucks to Close by June

Workers claim stores are closing in reaction to unionization

By JONATHAN MONG Sun News Editor

A year after the Starbucks workers in Ithaca successfully voted to unionize and the Collegetown location subsequently closed, Starbucks has announced that it will permanently close the two remaining Ithaca locations — on E. Seneca Street and S. Meadow Street — by May 26, although it denied that the closures were in retaliation for the unionization effort, according to a statement made by a Starbucks official to the Ithaca Voice.

According to Evan Sunshine ’24, who took the lead on the

original 2022 collective bargaining negotiations, Andrew Sugar, the district manager for both Ithaca locations, informed workers on shift — including Sunshine — at the E. Seneca Street location on May 5 about the stores’ closure, while those not on shift received a brief voicemail with no caller ID.

Sunshine stated that Starbucks’ justification to the workers for closing the stores was due to financial and operational needs, although he expressed skepticism about the reasoning.

“The store with the most significant amount of revenue [the College Avenue location] was shut

down,” Sunshine, who worked at the College Avenue location prior to its closing, said. “So most of the customers have migrated to the Commons and Meadow stores in different capacities, meaning that the revenues for those stores are actually higher than they were in previous years, especially because the Commons store has recently acquired a bus stop.” The Sun could not independently verify the revenue at the Ithaca locations.

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

News Editor and Sun Assistant News

Looking back | President Martha Pollack discussed the most contentious issues facing the University this year, ranging from free speech to Greek life.

JULIA NAGEL / SUN PHOTOGRAPHY EDITOR

Rocking out | Alumni and students gathered in Barton Hall for the iconic Dead and Co. concert.

HANNAH ROSENBERG / SUN SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHER

Jonathan Mong can be reached at jmong@cornellsun.com. Xinyu Joanne Hu can be reached at xhu@cornellsun.com.

Jonathan Mong can be reached at jmong@cornellsun.com.

“To provide the kind of education we want to provide at Cornell, it's very expensive.”

President Martha Pollack

Tuesday, May 9, 2023

A LISTING OF FREE CAMPUS EVENTS

Today

Cognition and Competition: Evidence from Gas Station Managers With David Huffman

11:15 a.m. - 12:45 p.m., 141 Sage Hall

Climate Smart Communities: State and Local Climate

Action: Cornell University Class Symposium

11:30 a.m. - 12:40 p.m., Virtual Event

From Just Coping to Creating Joy Noon - 1 p.m., Virtual Event

Fires and Forest Loss in the Colombian Amazon

12:25 p.m. - 1:15 p.m., G08 Uris Hall

Break and Learn: A Discussion Across Diverse Asian/ Asian American Experiences

1 p.m. - 2:15 p.m., Virtual Event

The Algorithmic Middlebrow: BookTok and the Rituals of Recommendation With Lindsay Thomas

5 p.m., 258 Goldwin Smith

Tomorrow

Joint Development and Labor Economics Workshop With Seema Jayachandran

1:30 p.m. - 2:45 p.m., 102 Mann Library

What is My Problem? The Science (and Art) of Procrasination

2 p.m. - 3 p.m., Virtual Event

How Does Behavior Ecology Contribute to Resolving the Gender-Health Paradox? With Siobhan M. Mattison ‘03

3:30 p.m. - 5 p.m., 102 Mann Library

Biophobia Symposium: Plenary

7 p.m. - 9 p.m., 200 Savage Hall

Deep Dive House Big Band Hosted by Prof. Greg Evans

8 p.m. - 10 p.m., Deep Dive

Postal

J.P. Swenson Elected as Student Trustee to the Board of Trustees

By SOFIA RUBINSON and GABRIEL MUÑOZ

Sun Managing Editor and Sun Assistant

News Editor

J.P. Swenson ’25, a sophomore in the School of Industrial and Labor Relations, has been named the student-elected trustee to the Board of Trustees with 874 votes, the Office of the Assemblies announced on Monday at 2 p.m.

The election was certified by the Chair of the Committee for Campus-Constituency-Elected Trustees after there were no challenges. The votes were decided by ranked choice voting, and the winner was determined after the fourth ballot. Of the 15,024 eligible voters, 1,910 voted in the election, representing 12.7 percent of the student body.

Swenson, who is currently an undesignated at-large representative for the Student Assembly, ran on a platform to expand access to healthcare, increase communication between students and administrators and elevate the inclusion of marginalized groups. In the candidate forum on April 26, Swenson said his experience receiving mental health services informs his focus on improving healthcare for students.

“I would say that the biggest issue that plagues the most of the Cornell undergraduate population has to be the access to mental and physical health services through Cornell Health,” Swenson said during the forum. “I think that — as a person who has received services from Cornell health, especially with the [Counseling & Psychological Services] program — it is a long and enduring process that is slow

Rally Held for TIAA Fossil Fuel Divestment

By ASLI CIHANGIR Sun Contributor

and takes a lot of ambition. And when someone is down, it might be hard to try to put all that effort in to receive those resources.”

Climate Justice Cornell held a campus rally on April 28, protesting the fossil fuel investments of the Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association of America — one of two main investment companies with which Cornell’s retirement plan works.

TIAA — the leading provider of retirement plans for American university faculty members — has faced criticism for its investments in the fossil fuel industry. According to a report by the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis last year, TIAA is the fourth-largest holder of coal bonds globally and has invested at least $78 billion in fossil fuels.

Under the TIAA Divest campaign, students and academics across the country have been demanding change. A student-run climate justice club at Cornell, CJC, has joined this nationwide movement.

The rally featured speeches from three Cornell faculty members actively involved in climate and energy research — Prof. Caroline Levine, English, Prof. Aaron Sachs, history and Prof. Robert Howarth, ecology and environmental biology.

Howarth emphasized the pressing need to divest from fossil fuels, referring to the lat-

est report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, an intergovernmental body of the United Nations which works to progress scientific knowledge about anthropogenic climate change.

“The IPCC issued their most recent synthesis report [in March]. It’s the first update since 2014,” Howarth said in his speech. “And they tell us what we all know — that we have less than a decade to really turn the tide.”

As an Earth systems scientist dedicated to researching global change, Howarth voiced deep concern that his retirement funds are being used to support the industries that he has spent his life fighting against. Howarth also expressed frustration that, as a staff member, he does not have the ability to divest his retirement from fossil fuels, despite his strong desire to do so.

“It is tremendously disturbing to me that TIAA funds are being used to finance fossil fuels,” Howarth said. “My retirement is 100 percent [going to] TIAA. ... So those are my funds and there’s very little I can do to move it away from fossil gas — which is terrible.”

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

Swenson also spoke of his desire to implement a bike share program on campus, increase funding for club sports and professional clubs, subsidize lunch bills and bolster diversity, equity and inclusion programming.

In an official statement to The Sun, Swenson highlighted his platform and said he is committed to continuing the work of his predecessor Selam Woldai ’23, whose term is finishing after winning her election in 2021 and focused on increasing diversity and inclusion at the University.

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

COE Employees Organize Coalition for Equitable Pay

Te Cornell Outdoor Educators Coalition was established to build community and promote accessibility

By FINLEY WILLIAMS Sun Staff Writer

The idea for a coalition of Cornell Outdoor Education employees struck Emile Bensedrine ’23 at COE’s senior dinner, hosted in November 2022. He found himself sitting around a table with people he neither knew nor recognized, which prompted him to question the lack of community among COE staff.

“I [realized that] half the people at this table I’ve never met,” Bensedrine said. “We’re a super siloed off organization, and we don’t even talk to each other. And then one person said, ‘If you handed me a union card right now, I would sign it.’”

The next month, about 10 student organizers and employees of COE gathered over lentil soup at a table in Goldwin Smith Hall. There, they discussed plans to form a coalition of COE students, employees and allies meant to advocate for better pay, a more diverse working environment and greater student involvement in COE decisions.

A few months later, those initial whispers of a representative body have morphed into the Cornell Outdoor Educators Coalition, whose recent efforts have included petitioning for a $14.20 per hour baseline wage, in line with the minimum wage of New York state, for all COE employees; better accommo-

dations for COE employees guiding trips; clear and accessible wage scales; a peer-led grievance resolution process and more funding from the University. The petition garnered over 350 signatures from Cornell community members and OEC supporters.

According to Zohar Grinvald ’25, an organizer with OEC, COE employees lacked an organized,

intentional community.

“There’s no place for people to come together and just be, so that’s missing, and because that doesn’t exist, there’s no place for people to realize that the problems they’re facing are also problems that other people are facing,” Grinvald said. “So OEC is kind of the solution. Collective action needs to be taken — let’s try to bring people together and figure something out.”

Organizers brought their petition to COE Co-Director Mark Holton last week, resulting in a conversation that Holton called “inspiring,” adding that OEC’s platform is in alignment with COE’s strategic plan.

“Our meeting was inspiring. Our values are very well aligned, and most of the concerns brought up are things we have already been searching for ways to accomplish,” Holton wrote in an email to The Sun. “I think the first step is to make a regular meeting schedule to share information on what we are working on with OEC or anyone who wants to join in.”

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

Swenson success | J.P. Swenson ’25 won the student-elected trustee election with 874 votes.

COURTESY OF J.P. SWENSON ’25

Equitable environment | Cornell Outdoor Education staff did not have an organized, intentional community prior to the establishment of the Cornell Outdoor Educators Coalition.

MING DEMERS / SUN ASSISTANT PHOTOGRAPHY EDITOR

Demanding divestment | Climate Justice Cornell joined the nationwide TIIA Divest campaign, which is urging TIAA to end its investments in the fossil fuel industry.

ALLYSON KATZ / SUN STAFF WRITER

Asli Cihangir can be reached at ac2492@cornell.edu.

Finley Williams can be reached at fwilliams@cornellsun. com.

Sofa Rubinson can be reached at srubinson@cornellsun.com. Gabriel Muñoz can be reached at gmunoz@cornellsun.com.

In Exclusive Sit-Down, Pollack Discusses Campus Issues

To maintain stability in the funds directed to the University, Pollack said the value of the endowment is averaged over a certain period, and the amount paid out in a year is based on this average. Pollack added that, when she came to Cornell, she expanded this period to seven years.

“What that does is it smooths the amount of money we have. So, when things go bad, we’re still averaging in those good years,” Pollack said. “When things get good again, you’re still averaging in from the bad years, but it protects you against drops in the future.”

Admissions

Pollack established the Presidential Task Force for Undergraduate Admissions in December 2022, with the goal of developing a University-wide undergraduate admissions policy and principles of practice for the colleges’ individual admissions offices.

“It’s our responsibility, every few years, to look at our admissions processes and make sure that they’re working well and they’re achieving our goals,” Pollack said. “And our goals, of course, are to admit a class that is extremely academically strong, that will thrive here, that will go out and carry our mission into the world. But we are also, of course, interested in diversity of all kinds.”

The University is aiming to partner with and increase outreach to K-12 programs to admit students from across the country, Pollack said.

Pollack stated that while the admissions team will not use artificial intelligence to make decisions, the University is investigating the ways in which machine learning can complement the process.

Pollack added that the University does not take rankings from the U.S. News and World Report into account and does not make decisions for the sole reason of improving its standing.

Free Speech

The Student Assembly unanimously passed a resolution which urged the University to implement content warnings for potentially “triggering” class material on March 23.

The resolution received backlash from national press, especially from conservative-leaning media outlets. On April 3, Pollack rejected the resolution in an email to S.A. President Valeria Valencia ’23, citing concerns regarding academic freedom and free inquiry.

“The problem is not a warning that there’s going to be a topic or contextualizing the topic.

The challenge is when it’s a requirement,” Pollack said during the interview.

“When it’s a requirement, the faculty are then very concerned about the fact that maybe they missed a topic that they didn’t realize was going to be difficult for students. … And so that leads to the chilling of speech, but… often, I think contextualization is important.”

Pollack told The Sun that her quick response time rejecting the resolution, just 11 days after it passed through the Student Assembly, was not due to groups like FIRE urging a response or callings from the independent Cornell Free Speech Alliance. Instead, she said the resolution’s timing — passing right before spring break — gave her time to respond quickly due to a lull in campus activity, and that she did not need to consult many administrators before making her decision as free expression is a topic she has spoken about for decades so she had a clear vision for her messaging.

Addressing the CFSA, Pollack said the group is composed of alumni and that the University did not give out any email addresses to the organization, despite student and alumni

reports of unsolicited emails. The group has made stark allegations about the state of free speech at Cornell, notably prior to the content warnings resolution, posting on their website that Cornell has “abandoned” its commitment to free inquiry and that Cornell students and faculty “live in fear” over discussing controversial topics.

“I think they’re well intentioned. I think they care about the University. They do not have any official connection to the University, [and] they do not speak for the University,” Pollack said. “They do not speak for me. I do not speak for them.”

Pollack said she finds it “incredibly frustrating” that groups, such as the CFSA, attack diversity, equity and inclusion principles under the guise of defending free speech, and that she will defend DEI as strongly as she defends free expression.

“Let’s not call attacks on DEI defenses of free speech — both those things can coexist,” Pollack said. “I think at universities, both those things must coexist. Are there sometimes tensions? Absolutely. If you’re trying to create an inclusive environment, and you’re also trying to not be doctrinaire about speech, you’re going to have clashes. But that doesn’t mean by any stretch of the imagination that you can’t and shouldn’t be committed to both.”

On April 17, Pollack announced in a campus-wide email that the University would be adopting the 2023-2024 academic year theme of “The Indispensable Condition: Freedom of Expression at Cornell.” Pollack told The Sun the University was working on the theme for many months, but the discussion around free speech at Cornell caused by the content warnings resolution did speed up the announcement.

Pollack also said that she does not know if the University has ever had an academic year theme before, outside of the sesquicentennial year. She referred to her previous administrative position at the University of Michigan, where they have themed semesters. She said the theme would entail a number of different initiatives, likely including a community all-read, speakers modeling dialogue on challenging issues, museum exhibits and educational programs for faculty on how to handle difficult topics in the classroom.

“There are enormous attacks on free speech and academic freedom and free expression from both ends of the political spectrum. I’m not saying they’re equal. In fact, I think that the efforts to ban books and ban the teaching of certain subjects is way more damaging than other sorts of pressures. But there are pressures from both ends,” Pollack said. “And I just think it’s really important as a community and academic community, that we address these questions.”

Reproductive Care

In November, the Student Assembly passed a resolution requesting the University to provide funding for an M.D. gynecologist at Cornell Health. On Feb. 10, Pollack rejected the resolution.

“Of course I care about women’s health. I mean, that’s one of the reasons we approved the resolution for vending machines with birth control,” Pollack said, referring to her support of a Student Assembly proposal to install vending machines with nonprescription health care supplies, including contraception. “Cornell Health provides primary care — that’s its mission. That’s what it does. We don’t have the population to have specialists.”

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

Sofa Rubinson can be reached at srubinson@cornellsun.com.

Aimée Eicher can be reached at aeicher@ cornellsun.com.

“Let’s not call attacks on DEI defenses of free speech — both those things can coexist.”

President Martha Pollack

RACHEL CANNATA SUN STAFF WRITER

Listening to Beach House’s new Extended Play feels like being underwater or alone in space, in the best way possible. It was perfectly consistent with the dream-like sound of their older music, and subverts the typical structure of a song into something new. It isn’t quite an absence of structure, but it definitely is not typical.

The first song on the EP, “American Daughter,” has a really unique melody that clashes slightly with the instruments behind it and is very satisfying to listen to. The same simple vocal melody repeats for the first two minutes of the song, layered over synthesizer and electric guitar. There’s no clear distinction of chorus, verse or bridge. Rather than progressing with the traditional structure of a song, it moves through the building instruments that get fuller, busier and more tense. The soft, haunt -

On Beach House’s Become

ing vocals stay at the same low volume but the sound gets crowded as drums and additional guitars join Certain lines come back, but never exactly in the order they had been said or with exactly the same words. For example, the first group of lines “When I met her,/ knees together/ She held my head there/ underwater” becomes “We held our heads there,/ underwater” toward the end of the song. When the melody shifts, it’s only for a few moments and it’s only a slight tweak of the original melody that had been repeating. The repetition is enchanting and doesn’t get boring or annoying because the dimensions of the sound continually change behind the steady, echoing vocals, keeping it interesting and suspenseful.

Similarly, the title track “Become” pushes the listener’s analytic mind to connect different sections of the song by creating a sort of dialogue between them. As is typical of Beach House’s music, there are very few words in each

song and each line is very concise. The lyrics are beautiful but very simple, for example: “Time goes by/ Don’t you cry/ Become light.” They’re made more complex as you start to hear these simple lines throughout the song being brought together in new arrangements, echoing each other, becoming a conversation. I really enjoyed hearing lyrics that feel isolated from each other brought together, all while the vocals stay low and steady and the instruments behind the voice continue to stack and grow.

Each of the five songs on the EP has very short, drawn-out lyrics with plenty of instrumental time and space between them for the listener to soak in each line. The EP is really cohesive, each song leading seamlessly into the next. It almost felt like one 24-minute song. It’s consistent and surprising at the same time. Each song fits with the rest of the album and none of them have any abrupt or extreme shifts within them, but subtle choices make each

song unique and worth listening to carefully. It feels effortlessly beautiful and profound.

These five songs are from the session of the album the band released in Feb. 2022 called Once Twice Melody . The band said of the songs off the new EP: “We didn’t think they fit into the world of OTM , but later realized they fit in a little world of their own.” Listening to it feels like you’re in your own little world, too. This is the type of music that I would listen to while staring at the ceiling at 3 a.m. It’s very chill and not as dramatic as some of their most popular songs like “Silver Soul.” It’s perfect to listen to when you’re in the right mood and stretches how much a musician can say with very few words.

Rowan Drake Talks Ithaca and Upcoming EP

KIKI PLOWE SUN STAFF WRITER

A few months ago, I had the pleasure of interviewing the banjo player of an Appalachian folk band, at one end of what the rich Ithaca music scene produces. On the other end of Ithaca’s music spectrum is Rowan Drake, a 19-year-old alternative pop artist who spoke to me about his upcoming debut EP.

Rowan was born and raised here in Ithaca, NY. He released his first single “Closure” in 2020 and, since then, has garnered over 5 million likes on TikTok and 1.3 million views on YouTube. He also recently signed with Atlantic Records. So what is behind the Ithaca teenager’s deal with an enormous record label, you might ask? A moody voice, an intense relationship and time spent alone with a guitar.

In his upcoming EP, Rowan is still reeling from the ups and downs of a relationship, and the body of work revolves around his emotions toward one girl. “It’s really a kind of time capsule piece for me and the girl who all the songs are about. So I’d say I’m most excited for it to exist in the world, so that hopefully, it kind of immortalizes the relationship that meant a lot to me, for both me and for her,” Rowan shared.

His project will give us an intimate peek into a body of emotion that is meant for only one person. The EP has an epistolary nature: “All I want is to write to one specific person, which is Ella, so it’s very easy for me to filter out everything else. [...] I really just want this one person to feel like I’m speaking to them.”

In Rowan’s efforts to speak directly to Ella, listeners might perceive his authenticity and find space to unpack their own emotions. Rowan hopes the work “reaches other people, of course, but [will] leave it completely up to them to how they consume it.” He also shared that he wants listeners to “let it be a safe space for themselves to process things that they don’t normally let themselves process.” This is

a unique power of music: to help us experience the full course of what it means to be a human, and to make often isolating experiences like an intense break-up feel more universal.

Rowan’s experience growing up and creating music in Ithaca contributes to the depth of his work. “I just think that Ithaca has this pull to it,” Rowan told me. “It’s just [...] the way the world works there. It’s, like, between [...] the waterfalls and streams and the forest, it’s just like all of it has really kind of seeped into me. [...] So I would say it’s just a massive part of my sound.” Ithaca does exist as a special place for creativity and connection. Romanticizing experiences is especially easy here given the dramatic landscape. So, it makes sense that an intense relationship set against the backdrop of Ithaca would facilitate a uniquely creative energy for Rowan.

Rowan also shared how growing up in Ithaca helped develop his sense for experimentation and feeling of creative freedom. “Growing up going to Grassroots, I just heard strange music with strange sounds. So to add, like, I don’t know, to sample a subway in New York and make it sound all crazy and put it into my music, it has never once felt like I’m breaking a rule.”

Listening to the singles Rowan has already released, it seems that he is still working on finding his sound. Maybe the EP will provide the thematic unity he needs to fully find his niche as he shifts beyond the beginning of his career. His record deal and clear passion talking about what he does are positive signs for his future as a budding artist.

Rowan also shared a number of influences and musical role models that make me inclined to predict a positive future for his career. He listed Nick Drake (60s-70s folk), Mazzy Star (90s dream pop) and Jim Morrison (lead vocalist of 60s rock

band the Doors) as influences for his music, and named Jeff Buckley (90s folk-rock) and Radiohead (90s00s rock) as some of his current favorites. Despite the variety in decade and genre, Rowan’s influences share one important thing: intense emotion. The artists he named are experts with emotional and moving lyricism, which Rowan has attempted to adopt into his own work.

“The only thing that will make your music stand out in any way is that you just say truthfully how you feel and do truthfully what you think sounds good,” Rowan advises aspiring musicians. Hopefully, his authenticity and raw emotion in the EP will help him find success in the coming months.

Kiki Plowe is a sophomore in the College of Arts and Sciences. She can be reached at kplower@cornellsun.com

Rachel Cannata is a sophomore in the Hotel School. She can be reached at rgc96@cornell.edu

Emma Leynse

Finding Your Voice in Cornell's Cacophony

Iwill confess, I was scared of The Cornell Daily Sun’s opinion section as a freshman. I know, that sounds bad coming from someone who was the editor of the opinion section for a year — along with the amazing Katherine Yao ’23 — and loved it. Little did I know when I first joined that The Sun would teach me my most valuable Cornell lesson: how to find and articulate your voice, and how to uplift the voices of others.

But when I first joined The Sun right before the pandemic as a confused and overwhelmed freshman, the opinion section was scary. Let me explain. The idea of putting your own voice out there, writing your opinion about anything and putting your name on it for the whole internet to see, was terrifying to me. As a new college student, I didn’t see the value of being so public with my opinions.

I read the columns in The Sun, about anything from the struggles of student life to conversations about fundamental issues at this University, and I was in awe of the confidence of these writers in putting their voice out there for their peers and all of the Cornell community to read and think about. As a freshman, I did not feel like my voice mattered enough to be published.

I started on The Sun in the Arts and Culture section back when it was still Arts & Entertainment. I was unsure if I even wanted to join, but I liked writing about books and exploring the arts events on campus, and I loved the flexibility and creative expression that arts and culture journalism gave. Before I knew it, I was drawn into the Sun rabbit hole — and I am so, so much better because of it.

In February of 2020, right before the pandemic grabbed my college experience by the throat and choked it, I met Cornell and Sun alumnus Marc Lacey at a visiting journalist event in the basement auditorium of Goldwin Smith. Lacey, now the current Managing Editor of The New York

what, but that push was what I needed.

From my time as an arts writer to arts editor and finally associate editor, The Sun taught me how to cultivate my voice and support others in doing the same — an important lesson that no class at Cornell has taught me in the same way. The Sun has shown me just how vital it is to share your voice, to find what is important to you and scream it into the void, because someone will hear: That’s the first step toward change. As a cohort, the Sunnies in the class of 2023 ran the paper during numerous national and campus-wide events, from the University and campus response to the murder of George Floyd in 2020, to the lacking state of mental health support on campus after numerous student deaths in 2022. During all these events, articulating student voices in The Sun was vital in contributing to the campus conversation.

By writing and editing, I discovered my own voice on The Sun, and learned how to support other writers and empower them to share their voices through empathetic leadership.

To any new student at Cornell, I say this: Spend time harnessing and articulating your own voice. Cornell can be cacophonous. There is so much going on at all times, so many dialogues and conversations, that it’s easy to feel like your voice doesn’t matter. But it does. Find your version of The Sun, a place where you know that your voice matters.

In our time at Cornell, in these four (ish) years, we get a chance to be a part of something special. The Sun has been a special thing for me — something so unique and chaotically precarious and beautiful, kept alive by passionate students and enthusiastic alumni, just like any other student organization.

Times, talked about his experience on The Sun and in journalism and gave his thoughts about the changing landscape of the journalism industry.

I went up to Lacey at the end of the event and, after countless minutes waiting in line to talk to him, I asked him a question. Explaining my uncertainty about joining The Sun, I asked if he thought I should join. I don’t know what I was thinking when I asked that, but he laughed and said something along the lines of Of course you should! Just try it out And so I did, of course. I think I would have ended up at The Sun no matter

I want to thank all those passionate students who did The Sun with me: To John Colie ’23, who convinced me to join arts and brought me to my first Sun info session; To Vee Cipperman ’23, who got me to make a wholesome podcast with them during our first stressful compet season, and later brought us out of the pandemic as our valiant EIC; To Catherine St. Hilaire ’22 and Odeya Rosenband ’22 who taught us the ropes of the associate and opinion editor positions; and last but not least, To Katherine Yao ’23, my opinion editor-in-arms, who I could not have managed the opinion section without. A special thank-you to John Schroeder ’74, who has kept the heart of this paper beating for decades with his tireless dedication, and to all the alumni whose passion keeps us afloat. I am eternally grateful for all these people who have made my time on The Sun a highlight of my Cornell experience.

It’s safe to say, I’m not scared of the opinion section anymore; I admire everyone who is not afraid to put their voice out there among Cornell’s cacophony. Do some exploring, don’t devalue your own voice and listen to those around you. And maybe, Cornell won’t be as cacophonous as it may seem.

Bear with me

SUN SENIOR FEMALE ATHLETE OF THE YEAR

Subramaniam’s Resilience and Devotion to Squash Highlighted

By RUTH ABRAHAM Sun Sports Editor

Five years after a successful career on the Cornell squash team, senior Sivasangari Subramaniam will leave the University as one of the most accomplished squash players in recent history.

Subramaniam got her start playing squash with her older brother in her home country of Malaysia. She began competing in junior tournaments at 9 years old and developed a strong relationship with the sport.

When the chance to compete in collegiate squash came around, Subramaniam was resistant at first.

“When I was in high school my dad asked me if I wanted to go to any Ivy League schools in the US. I actually said no, because I just didn’t want to leave home and I had the fear of slacking off in squash and things like that,” Subramaniam said.

But what changed her mind was the coaching and team at Cornell. Having a former number one player as coach — and a team with a history of success — was enough to convince her to make the 9000 mile journey from Malaysia.

Subramaniam immediately emerged as one of the best collegiate squash players in the country, going 9-1 in her freshman year at the No. 1 spot. She capped off her season as the runner-up in the Ramsay Cup, the individual national championship for women’s squash.

As the national runner-up, Subramaniam returned to Ithaca for her sophomore season looking to take it one step further. She finished the regular season with a 15-1 record and ranked No. 2 in the country. She earned All-Ivy League and All-American honors after falling just short of a national championship in the semi-finals.

After COVID-19 canceled her next season, she returned in 2021 on a mission. For the first time in her career, she was undefeated, winning 19 matches in a row to finally get a hold of the national championship. With her win, she became the first Cornell squash player — man or woman — to win a national individual title. She was a unanimous All-Ivy selection and earned

All-American honors once again.

After a record-breaking season, she was set to take a semester off to compete at the Commonwealth and Asian Games, representing her home country of Malaysia. Her success continued that summer, with her being named as flag bearer for Malaysia at the Commonwealth Games, and then in July 2022, she rose to a career-high ranking of No. 16 in the World Squash Rankings.

Riding on such a wave of momentum going into the Commonwealth Games, everything fell apart in an instant. Subramaniam was in a car accident in Kuala Lumpur and was forced to withdraw from both games. Her injuries were so severe she had to retrain her body and didn’t know if she would be able to recover to her original state.

“It was a tough summer. Obviously, I was very sad, like suddenly it was very unexpected, and everything was [put] on hold,” Subramaniam said. “But the good part is I’m alive, it was a crazy accident and I’m just happy to be back and be playing again”.

Subramaniam said it was tough coming back. Once the physical injuries healed, it was the mental side that she had to overcome to return to playing.

“In the beginning it was a bit tough when I was first coming back, I was like, am I going to be like how I was or like better?” Subramaniam said. “There was no doubt in my mind that it was very tough mentally. I think I just tried to stay positive each and every day when I came in for training and things like that.”

But she was strong and was able to pull through.

“My coaches here helped a lot, they always talked to me and things like that, but I think it was more of the mental strength that pushed me throughout these tough times,” Subramaniam said.

She returned for her final year this past season.

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

Wrestling’s Diakomihalis Makes History for Cornell

By RUTH ABRAHAM Sun Sports Editor

A four-time NCAA national champion, four-time All-American and four-time Ivy League Wrestler of the Year, senior Yianni Diakomihalis has achieved everything a college wrestler would want — plus so much more.

If you asked him 15 years ago if he thought he would be in this position, Diakomihalis said he doubts it.

Diakomihalis got his start in wrestling as a kid after his father, a relatively successful wrestler in his time, wanted his children to learn. His father, a Division III AllAmerican wrestler, did not just want them to learn how to wrestle, but he wanted them to learn the skills it took to become a champion.

“He really wanted me and my brothers to be tough, hardworking, disciplined… he felt like he got a lot of [those skills] from wrestling.”

The more he and his brothers wrestled, the more Diakomihalis got invested and committed to the sport. Over time, as he put it, “I got pretty good.”

“Pretty good” was an understatement to his accomplishments early on. A four-time NYS champion in high school wrestling and only one of two Americans to win two cadet world championships, among his numerous other accomplishments, Diakomihalis was a stellar athlete. He was good enough to get offers from schools all over the country with top wrestling programs.

Due to the success of the program, combined with the high-level academics, Cornell had become an easy choice.

“I could’ve gone pretty much anywhere, [but] with Cornell, I always had that option where I could wrestle and I have a future outside of the sport,” Diakomihalis said. “The system at Cornell, the way that they treat guys, that stuff matched up with me really well.”

Diakomihalis began his collegiate career on high-speed. He began his rookie season on a 19-match win streak, posted an 18-0

record against wrestlers from EIWA schools and went 5-0 in Ivy League competition. He won the Bearcat Open, New York State Intercollegiate, Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invite and the EIWA Championship. He capped off his historic season with his first NCAA national championship at 137 pounds, becoming only the second wrestler to win a national championship after four-time champion, Kyle Dake ’13.

Entering his sophomore season on an 18-match win streak, Diakomihalis returned to action winning match after match, culminating in his second straight NCAA Championship. He concluded a perfect, 29-0, sophomore year with a unanimous first-team All-Ivy selection and as a finalist for the Hodge Trophy as the nation’s most outstanding wrestler.

It would be 973 days until Diakomihalis would wrestle for the Red again, after taking an Olympic redshirt season in 2019 and then the 2020-21 season being canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Especially with the pandemic, and the unpredictability of if competition would ever return, Diakomihalis could have left Cornell and gone professional, not risking losing further years of competing and training to COVID-19 or anything else that may have come up.

But he chose to remain at Cornell and with the team.

Chasing Dake and his records was a reason to stay, but really the main factor keeping him at Cornell was the relationships he built with his teammates.

“[Wanting to win four national championships] played a factor, but the big thing for me was the team. I’ve been with them for so long that it would have felt like kind of a slap in the face for me to leave a little early just because things weren’t going the way

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

Record-breaking | Diakomihalis became only the fifth four-time national champion.

JULIA NAGEL / SUN PHOTOGRAPHY EDITOR

“Yianni’s the best ever to wear a Cornell wrestling singlet, period.”

Mike Grey ’11

Ruth Abraham can be reached at rabraham@cornellsun.com.

Ruth Abraham can be reached at rabraham@cornellsun.com.