9-11-24 entire issue hi res by The Cornell Daily Sun

The Corne¬ Daily Sun

Security Report Reveals Rise in Rape, Hate Crime

Editor’s Note: This story discusses sexual assault, rape and ethnicity-based crime on campus.

Sept. 6 — Cornell’s 2024 Annual Security Report and Annual Fire Safety Report reveal continued increases in on-campus occurrences of rape, hate crimes and arson, among other offenses.

Under the Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act, all institutions of higher education across the country are required to prepare, publish and distribute campus crime statistics on a narrowly deﬁned set of offenses. Cornell sent out its 32-page report Wednesday morning.

The Sun compared this year’s ﬁndings with those of the University’s 2021 Annual Security Report to identify potential trends in campus crime over the last six years.

Sexual Assault and Violence Against Women Act Offenses

Last year’s increase in on-campus rapes comes after that number more than tripled from seven in 2021 to 25 in 2022. 28 on-campus rapes were documented in 2023. According to the report, no instances of rape were reported in 2023 in noncampus buildings, which include houses owned by fraternities and other student organizations ofﬁcially recognized by the University. Five such offenses were reported in 2022.

After at least four reports of drugging incidents and a sexual assault allegation in November 2022, the Interfraternity Council (IFC) temporarily suspended all fraternity parties and social events. The ban was

extended throughout the fall semester and lifted in January, 2023, announced along with the implementation of sexual violence prevention and enhanced risk management measures among the IFC community.

Forty on-campus occurrences of stalking were reported in 2023, the greatest number within the last six years. Cornell saw slight decreases in dating violence and fondling, with 22 and 35 reports, respectively. Domestic violence, which has recently accounted for no more than two offenses per year, was reported seven times in 2023.

Nine other reports of Clery Act offenses were made in 2023 with no provided location — four rapes, one fondling, one stalking and three dating violence incidents. 24 more sexual assault reports were made for which no offense was speciﬁed — three on campus, two in residential facilities, two off campus and 17 for which no location was identiﬁed.

The notable dips in reported crimes in 2020 and 2021 may be attributed to reductions in student activity during the COVID-19 pandemic. All Cornell students were virtual from March 13, 2020 until the end of the Spring 2020 semester. Some students returned to campus in Fall 2020, but student gatherings were inhibited by strict University regulations. Heading into the Fall 2021 semester, most of these regulations had been rolled back.

Hate Crimes

Nine Clery Act reportable hate crimes occurred in 2023 — one race-based intimidation, seven ethnicity-based intimidations and one ethnicity-based vandalism. This makes 2023 the only year within the last six during which more than one race- or ethnicity-based hate crime was reported.

See REPORT page 13

Remembering 9/11

Advocates, Cornell Athletes Argue Over Artifcial Turf Project

Sept. 6 — Around 20 advocates from Zero Waste Ithaca and partner organizations gathered outside the City of Ithaca’s Planning Board meeting on Tuesday to protest Cornell’s plan to build a new athletic facility with two artiﬁcial turf ﬁelds. Meanwhile, over 50 Cornell athletes, coaches and administrators attended to show support for the project.

If passed, the Meinig Fieldhouse project would construct one new indoor ﬁeld and one new outdoor ﬁeld on the lot between Weill Hall and Charles F. Berman Field. At Tuesday’s meeting, the board voted against requesting an additional environmental impact statement.

However, after previous protests, the project managers changed the original plan of using recycled crumb rubber infill, which significantly contributes to the concentration of PFAS in artificial turf, to using a plant-based infill for the outdoor field.

Critics of the project expressed concern over the impact of plastic pollution on the Ithaca community. The proposed artiﬁcial outdoor ﬁelds are anticipated to have life cycles of eight to 12 years.

“The number one source of microplastic emission is synthetic turf,” said Yayoi Koizumi, the founder of Zero Waste Ithaca, referencing a University of Toronto study from February.

Koizumi also referenced a 2023 study from the University of Barcelona that found that 15 percent of macro- and mesoplastics collected from nearby waterways were from artiﬁcial turf. She described witnessing this pollution herself in the deterioration of a ﬁeld she used to visit in Vermont.

“Where did it go?” Koizumi asked. “It’s like whole swaths of green gone in 10 years.”

In particular, microplastics contain perﬂuoroalkyl and polyﬂuoroalkyl substances. Current research suggests that PFAS exposure at certain levels may be harmful to human health, including increased risk of some types of cancer and hormone disruption. PFAS can enter the human body in many ways, including in the air or water systems through runoff.

Susan Allen, chair of the Department of the Environment at Ithaca College, began her speech to protesters by asking if anyone had cancer.

“We’re living in a suite of toxins, many of which we do not know enough about,” Allen said.

Many protesters viewed the conﬂict as reﬂecting a power imbalance between Cornell and the Ithaca community.

“It’s pretty wicked the way in which y’all have been treating us, because you put money over people, which is absolutely not right,” Common Council Alderperson Phoebe Brown (D-Second Ward) said in her speech.

Brown also criticized the relationship between Cornell and its athletes.

“Watching these young, beautiful people who will be running up and down on plastic that they’re not even informed about breaks my heart,” Brown said. “They

By ERIC REILLY Sun Assistant Managing Editor

SILOCHANIE MILLER Sun Staff Writer

ANTHONY CORRALES / SUN STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER Flags ﬂy on the Arts Quad to honor of lives lost on Sept. 11, 2001.

A LISTING OF FREE CAMPUS EVENTS

Today

The Essentials of R for Statistical Analysis 10 a.m. - Noon, B30A Mann Library

Law, Economics and Policy Seminar With Brittany Street 11:40 a.m. - 12:55 p.m., 225 ILR Conference Center

Effects of Market Proximity on the Proﬁtability of Farmer CollectivesEvidence from India With Mathew Abraham 12:20 p.m. - 1:20 p.m., 175 Warren Hall

Joint Development and Trade Workshop With David Atkin 1:25 p.m. to 2:40 p.m., 525 ILR Conference Center

Artiﬁcial and Other Intelligences With Graciela Speranza 4:45 p.m., K164 Klarman Hall

Exploring Turkish Language and Culture Series: Discovering Turkey 5 p.m. - 6 p.m., B14 White Hall

Introduction to Bloomberg 5 p.m. - 6 p.m., 103 Mann Library (Stone Classroom)

The Corne¬ Daily Sun

Tomorrow

Macroeconomics Workshop With Liyan Shi 11:40 a.m. - 12:55 p.m., 498 Uris Hall

Innovation & Entrepreneurship Workshop: A Scientist’s Dilemma: Am I the CEO or CSO? 11:45 p.m. - 1 p.m., Virtual Event

Coding and Summarizing Qualitative Data With MaxQDA Noon - 1:15 p.m., 291 Clark Hall

The Civil-Military Rift in Contemporary Israel With Guy Ziv Noon - 1:30 p.m., G08 Uris Hall

Producing Spin Currents with Magnetic Orders With Xiaoxi Huang Noon - 1 p.m., 701 Clark Hall

Art Bling: Warhol, Basquiat and Hip Hop With Prof. Judith Peraino 4:30 p.m., 124 Lincoln Hall Human Ecology Study Abroad Information

By MING DeMERS Sun Photography Editor

Seen by Te Sun: Clubfest

Hundreds of Cornell’s clubs tabled at Clubfest in Barton on Sept. 7

BARTON HALL | Across two sessions and four hours, thousands of Cornellians explored new clubs. Originally slated for the Arts Quad, the event was moved to Barton Hall due to the rain.

YAMATAI | Students were also treated to a number of performances, including Yamatai, Cornell’s taiko drumming group.

CU NOOZ | The Sun’s arch nemesis also tabled at Clubfest. Jacob Weinstein ’26, Laura Lee ’26 and Soﬁa Romanello ’25 hold up fake trophies, akin to their fake writing skills.

ALBANIAN STUDENT ASSOCIATION | Touchdown the Bear made an appearance. He poses with Adriana Krasniqi ’25, Megi Bare ’27, Evi Duro ’26, Fati Mixha ’25 and Liriana Nezaj ’27.

MEDIOCRE MELODIES | Among the clubs were many a capella and performing arts clubs. Genna Handel ’26, Anthony Wang ’26 and Daniel Hofmann ’26 sing at their table (they weren’t that bad).

CSSC | The Cornell Ski & Snowboard Club was one of the many physical activity organizations at Clubfest. Annika Schon ’26, Jessie Sutton ’25 and Arden Conine ’26 pose at their table.

ROTC | Cornell’s Reserve Ofﬁcers’ Training Corps challenged Cornellians to see how many pullups they could do.

WHISTLING SHRIMP | Touchdown was rivaled by another costumed mascot, who brought attention to the improv group. Tess Lovell ’25, Jacob Irons ’27 (in costume) and Hudson Athas ’27.

How Cornell Formed its Dining Contingency Plan

By ISABELLA HANSON

Senior Writer

Sept. 10 — Following months of negotiations, the United Auto Workers and Cornell ratiﬁed an agreement on Sept. 2, concluding a two-week long strike. The agreement invited employees back to Cornell and improved compensation and beneﬁts for the University’s employees.

With over 1,000 striking employees, the University limited meal options across campus, closing popular eateries including Terrace Restaurant and the Big Red Barn. Additionally, due to the shortage of workers, the University invited retirees of relevant stafﬁng to work temporarily.

Curtis Weh ’25 felt that the University let the unfair compensation reach a point where the strike had to occur.

“I think at times [being a student during the strike] could deﬁnitely be tough, but I think it’s also fair,” Weh said. “I think that the workers that are here are doing a really good job of getting us the food that we need, … so I was in full support of whatever they were doing.”

Ryan Lombardi, vice president for Student and Campus Life, told The Sun that the dining team developed contingency plans and worked hard to ensure students received nutritious meals in response to the strike. Throughout the strike, Cornell Dining did not serve hot lunches, instead offering boxed lunches at a few select locations. The lunches-to-go were sourced from York Street Market, an existing campus partner.

Lombardi also discussed the environmental impact of switching to a grab-and-go system.

“From a sustainability [perspective], [the boxes] generate more waste than using dishware or buffets or things like that,” Lombardi said. “The materials were recyclable … if students chose to recycle them, … but [they] deﬁnitely generate more waste.”

Once the strike ended, the unused boxed lunches were donated to local food bank networks. Lombardi

also shared that the University worked to accommodate those with dietary restrictions and preferences, despite the limited resources available to provide the usual variety of food options.

According to an email sent to students about dining options during the strike, students had the option of meat, vegetarian, vegan, halal and gluten-free. Additionally, students could ﬁnd frozen kosher meals at 104 West.

However, vegetarian student Isabela Vargas ’27 said she, often struggled to ﬁnd suitable options for lunch. On one occasion, she used a meal swipe in Okenshields only to discover that they lacked a vegetarian meal for her.

Certain meal plans provide students with a limited amount of meal swipes for the entire semester. During the strike, students were limited to boxed lunches when using their meal swipes, which had a pre-portioned food amount instead of buffet meals.

In an email sent to students on Aug. 23, the University announced that only students with meal plans could get boxed lunches, requesting students without meal plans, faculty and staff to bring their own lunches from home.

In an effort to compensate for those unable to utilize on-campus eateries and provide extra food options, the University implemented food trucks for two days after the strike ended.

“When everyone came back to work the day after Labor Day, it took them a few days to kind of get back to full speed, [and] we thought it would be good to try to introduce some options that were designated … for faculty, staff [and] students who don’t have meal plans to have an option on Central Campus,” Lombardi said.

To ease the transition to fully-staffed dining services across campus and offer viable meal options to students with non-swipe meal plans, the University brought in food trucks for two days, from Sept. 3 to 4.

But Vargas said she “didn’t even know that there were food trucks” with the trucks announced the same day they started.

“When I found out about the food trucks, me and my friends went to one and they were out of half of the things on their menu, so really, what good did that do for me?” Vargas said. “Because they were out of their vegetarian entree.”

Cornell Dining granted students enrolled in a meal plan primarily based on meal swipes with a $50 City Bucks credit, four days later, on Aug. 30, the food trucks were introduced.

“The thinking was that students were really, really patient and understanding during those two weeks, and so it was an opportunity for students to have another option over that long holiday weekend,” Lombardi said. “It was really not looked at as an alternative, but really looked at as just a gesture of appreciation and a supplemental something to thank students for their patience and to just give them access to some other options.”

While Cornell Dining sought to provide more options for students to recompense for their struggle during the strike, some students felt the City Bucks was not adequate.

“[City Bucks] just seem like a workaround way for us to not be rightly compensated for our struggles,” Vargas said.

Nellie Davis ’28 criticized the University’s efforts to make amends with students.

“Buying food and making stuff can get expensive, and [ﬁrst-year students] just can’t do that a lot of the time,” Davis said. “I feel like [the University] should have done more, or at least, I feel like that plus, an actual formal apology would have been a lot more impactful.”

Vargas echoed this dissatisfaction with the University.

“It frustrates us because we’re being used as pawns,” Vargas said. “And I don’t blame the workers for that if anything, I blame the University for allowing that to happen.”

Isabella Hanson can be reached at ihanson@cornellsun.com

Te Yellow Deli Now Accepts City Bucks

Sept. 10 — During the two-week long strike that saw more than 1,000 Cornell workers walk out and closures of eateries around campus, Cornell gave 50 City Bucks to students on some University meal plans. Cornell described the move as a “gesture of appreciation” in an email to students obtained by The Sun.

As students discovered places to spend their newly acquired currency — which is accepted at 12 Ithaca area brick-and-mortar businesses and through Ithaca To Go, a delivery service — one participating restaurant did not appear in Cornell’s online list of establishments that accept City Bucks: The Yellow Deli.

However, in late August, a sign appeared in The Yellow Deli’s window that City Bucks and Ithaca College Bomber Bucks, a similar Ithaca College currency for buying food, would be accepted at the restaurant.

According to Neeman, since the restaurant started accepting City Bucks and Bomber Bucks, a few people have used them to buy food at the restaurant.

“We are thankful to be able to take the City Bucks,” Neeman said. “We are just happy to be able to take them and meet new people.”

Lindsey Knewstub, a representative of Cornell University Media Relations, declined to comment on the process, if any, for The Yellow Deli to be approved to accept City Bucks or whether the University was aware of allegations against the Twelve Tribes.

The Yellow Deli, which opened its location in the Ithaca Commons in January 2023, is operated by the Twelve Tribes of Israel, a communal religious group that holds fundamentalist Christian beliefs. Since its founding, the Twelve Tribes has come under scrutiny for its views toward marginalized groups. The Southern Poverty Law Center describes the Twelve Tribes as a “white supremacist cult.” According to the SPLC, the Twelve Tribes hold a “tangle of doctrine” that calls slavery “a marvelous opportunity” for Black people and maintains that “homosexuals deserve no less than death.”

By KATE SANDERS and JONATHAN BRAND Sun News Editor and Sun Senior Writer

Sun

Law School Opens NYC Entrepreneurship Clinic

By CHRISTINE SAVINO Sun Staff Writer

Sept. 5 Cornell Law School is set to launch its ﬁrst law clinic in the Big Apple.

Beginning in January 2025, the Entrepreneurship Law Clinic will expand from Ithaca to the Cornell Tech campus on Roosevelt Island.

Through the Entrepreneurship Law Clinic, law students provide pro-bono legal services to emerging businesses, entrepreneurs and startups in the Ithaca area and under the guidance of law school faculty.

Students assist with business formation, hiring and employment, intellectual property management, commercial contracts and public service initiatives, such as aiding small businesses during COVID-19.

All of the law school’s other clinics are located in Ithaca, where the law school is based.

Established in 2018, the Entrepreneurship Law Clinic stands as the law school’s only transactional clinic, which means students gain hands-on legal experience in business.

The law school received a donation from Franci Blassberg ’75 J.D. ’77 and Joseph Rice III in 2023, which helped establish the Blassberg-Rice Center for Entrepreneurship Law. The center will use the funding to expand the Entrepreneurship Law Clinic to New York City.

Prof. Celia Bigoness, law, is the founding director of the Blassberg-Rice Center and the Entrepreneurship Law Clinic. Bigoness emphasized the beneﬁts of the new location.

“Law clinics serve two principal purposes, and our expansion to NYC serves both purposes … — providing pro-bono legal services and hands-on clinical training experience for students,” Bigoness stated to The Sun.

“The clinic has been hugely successful — so successful that its capacity isn’t nearly enough to satisfy student demand,” Cornell Law Dean Jens David Ohlin wrote to The

Sun. “This expansion will allow us to scale the program while keeping the intensive, hands-on approach that makes it so effective.”

Law students may join the clinic in their second or third years and often stay for the remainder of their degrees.

Kathleen Joo J.D. ’23, participated in the Entrepreneurship Law Clinic in her second and third years of law school and is now an associate at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP. She believes that the expansion will advance the clinic.

“While I was a student there, … [the clinic] was the closest experience we could get to full-time work,” Joo said. “I imagine the expansion also means that students will get access to a greater variety of clients and projects.”

With this development, students will also be able to spend a semester at Cornell Tech with the J.D. Program in Information and Technology Law.

The law school also hired its second full-time clinical instructor to facilitate the expansion.

Prof. David Reiss joined the law school in July and is the research director of the Blassberg-Rice Center for Entrepreneurship Law. He will teach at the clinic’s New York City location and Bigoness will continue teaching at its Ithaca location.

Reiss previously taught at Brooklyn Law School where he founded its Community Development Clinic. He explained that he is enthusiastic to apply his experiences to the clinic.

“I have represented entrepreneurs and social entrepreneurs over the course of my legal career, ﬁrst in practice and then as a director of a law clinic, and can’t wait to get started at the [Cornell] Tech campus,” Reiss said.

Cornell Scientist Kristin

Hook Runs for Congress

By KATE SANDERS Sun News Editor

Sept. 9 — Kristin Hook Ph.D. ’16 is challenging Chip Roy (R-T.X.) for his house seat in Texas’s 21st congressional district during this fall’s elections. The district contains several Austin neighborhoods and surrounding areas in Central Texas.

Hook will face tough odds running as a Democrat in a House district that has not voted for a Democratic representative since 1976, when Robert Krueger (D-T.X.) was reelected to his House seat. In 2022, Roy defeated his Democratic challenger, Claudia Zapata, by a margin greater than 25 percent.

At Cornell, Hook completed her Ph.D. in animal science and conducted ﬁeld research on sexual selection, an evolutionary mechanism for choosing mates. Hook then served as a science and technology expert in the U.S. Senate under Elizabeth Warren (D - M.A.), the National Institutes of Health and later the Government Accountability Ofﬁce, a job she left in accordance with the Hatch Act to run for the House.

As a scientist, Hook worried that people in power have been overlooking empirical evidence for personal gain.

“There’s a lot of money to be made from misinformation that’s spread, and a lot of people like to cherry-pick their information,” Hook said.

Collegetown Dining Surges as Students Seek Alternative Dining Options

By TAEHEE OH Sun Staff Writer

Sept. 9 — Throughout the two-week-long United Auto Workers Local 2300 strike — which ended on September 2 — many students turned to Collegetown as an alternative meal source amid limited dining operations on campus.

In turn, Collegetown restaurants reported a spike in sales.

“I don’t normally go [out to eat]. I think I only ate out like three times total last year,” said Ally Guo ’27. “There just wasn’t enough choice of food and the boxed lunches were not good.”

Chris Gardner, the general manager for Wings Over Ithaca, said that throughout August, the restaurant approached “record sales” as students looked for off-campus dining options during the strike.

“It’s a tough time but it was something that we embraced and we did the best we could because we had Cornell students in here like crazy,” Gardner said. “So it was really good for the business.”

Some Collegetown restaurants had to quickly adapt to accommodate increased demand.

BiBiBowl Asian Grill Manager Heidi Cheung said that not knowing how long the strike would last made it difﬁcult to determine effective adjustments for the eatery.

“We deﬁnitely either had to extend hours or tried to hire on another person, but because [of] the [uncertainty around the] strike, we weren’t 100 percent sure [whether to fully commit to it],” Cheung said. “It was always [on] a temporary hold, something we were prepared for.”

Cheung also explained that “staying on top of inventory” was difﬁcult for the restaurant because it was not expecting the sharp increases in sales.

“For inventory, because of the surplus in it, even for the providers, it wasn’t something expected so soon,” Cheung said. “So some things we had to outsource from other places. But for the most part, I think they did a pretty good job of trying to stay on top of it.”

Gardner said that the strike “changed the way [they] had to do a whole lot of things” due to unforeseen trafﬁc at Wings Over Ithaca.

“It’s become all of a sudden a seven-day week job,” Gardner said. “But when the strike ended we were able to see a little bit of more relief as the kids were able to go back to the dining halls a little bit more.”

When the strike ended, some Collegetown restaurants experienced a drop in trafﬁc as dining halls reopened to full capacity.

Gardner said that he remains optimistic about the lasting impact of the surge as his business comes back to its typical level.

“I like to think that we put out a pretty good product over that time and we made some new Wings Over fans,” Gardner said.

“Unfortunately, politicians are no different, especially when the science goes directly against the interests of their donors.”

One example Hook noted was Texas Senate Bill 8 — a state law from 2021 known as the Texas Heartbeat Act — which banned abortion after electrical cardiac activity in an embryo can be detected by an ultrasound, which typically occurs after about six weeks of pregnancy.

However, experts dispute whether this electrical cardiac activity constitutes a heartbeat, especially since the heart develops later in a pregnancy.

Abortions are now banned at all stages of pregnancy in Texas, with exceptions only for cases where the life of the mother is at risk.

“Think about the heartbeat bill here in Texas, there is no heartbeat at the ﬁveor six-week mark,” Hook said. “That’s just a ﬂat-out misinformed title for a bill that’s going to make people sympathetic to thinking about the fact that this is a fetus that will eventually develop into a baby.”

Another area in which Hook wants to enact change is education. Hook, a graduate of Texas public schools, criticized the underfunding of the Texas education system, saying that it is a deliberate attempt to keep voters in the dark about important political issues and deprive them of the full ability to make

informed decisions.

“Part of the problem with the lack of critical thinking is the underfunding of education,” Hook said. “There’s been a coordinated effort to undermine the education of the voters, and that’s led to a lack of critical thinking skills.”

Hook said a lot of the skills that she learned during her time at Cornell were instrumental in her ability to run her own campaign as a ﬁrst-time candidate.

“I had to ﬁgure out what I wanted to study, apply for funding to get there. I did ﬁeld work in England for multiple summers. I ran my own lab, acquired my own undergraduates to help me and balanced my budget. I published my own papers,” Hook said. “It was a lot of starting everything from scratch.”

mean different types of services provided in retail locations? Does that mean a new fancy beverage we are rolling out?” Cutler is also looking for novel ways

to continue Cornell’s commitment to sustainability.

“We are currently looking at implementing reusable containers within our dining facilities, which means an individual could bring a container in so they wouldn’t have to use one our disposable products,” Cutler said. “When they come back, they could exchange it for a clean container.”

Above all, Cutler is excited to work with “extremely talented directors and managers, front line associates [and] talented culinarians” to bring Cornell Dining to the number one collegiate food and beverage services in the nation.

“My goal is to get us to number one and I feel that we have the tools and the team here to make that happen,” Cutler said.

Christine Savino can be reached at csavino@cornellsun.com.

Taehee Oh can be reached at toh@cornellsun.com

Kate Sanders can be reached at ksanders@cornellsun.com.

Challenging campign | Cornell alumni runs for a House seat in a Republican-leaning district in Texas.

ISABELLA JUNG/SUN GRAPHICS CONTRIBUTOR

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No matter what career path you’re looking to go down — from law, politics and media to science communication, literature and finance — there’s a place for you here at The Sun. So, what are you waiting for? Our general application is open until Sunday, September 15, at midnight.

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Alex Nading is a medical and environmental anthropologist, and professor in Cornell’s Department of Anthropology. He edits for Medical Anthropology Quarterly. Professor Nading can be reached at amn242@cornell.edu.

On Lawnmowers and Expressive Activity

Ihate lawnmowers. This week, my classes and meetings were disrupted twice in the span of two hours by these droning, polluting machines.

I have a good mind to complain to the administration, telling Cornell that its use of lawnmowers infringes on my academic freedom. As a compromise, I’d be willing to put up with lawn mowing in spaces where the mowers will cause minimal disruption. I want to propose that only the grass between the Sage Chapel and Day Hall be mowed by gas-guzzling machines that violate city and town noise ordinances.

“Illogical!” you might say. “We cannot possibly allow the Arts Quad grass to lay untamed. Imagine the Ag. Quad! What would parents, visitors, and prospective students think of us?”

You would be correct. My proposal is illogical. Despise it though I might, the mowing must go on. As a reasonable person, I should be able to tolerate a few minutes of loud noise and get on with my work. The mowers aren’t affecting me personally, after all.

We can usefully interpret the regulations on lawn mowing through the lens of what our leaders have taken to calling “expressive activity.” Maintaining the landscape, no matter how noisy, is Cornell University’s attempt to secure its aesthetic brand. As a private corporation with protected rights and discretion over its campus, Cornell must be allowed to express itself.

Cornell’s 2024 Interim Expressive Activity Policy, a set of guidelines determining standard practice for on-campus protest, is currently being reviewed and discussed by a special ad hoc committee, and in fora for students, faculty and staff. The policy’s proponents proudly trumpet its “content neutrality.” The policy is allegedly designed to protect everyone’s right to teach, learn and work. According to the University, noisy protest threatens that fundamental right. Apparently, it threatens that right in ways that lawn mowers — which I am conﬁdent are measurably louder and more disruptive than most any protest or vigil you might see at Cornell — do not.

“Content neutral” is a well known legal term in higher education. It’s a restriction on speech that’s aimed at time, place and manner — not ideas or speakers. For example, the rules universities routinely make against excessive noise after hours in dormitories fall into this “content neutral” approach. A restriction on a student’s right to shout their political views — left, right or center — in a dorm hallway at 1 a.m. is a content neutral one.

The Interim Expressive Activity policy claims to extend this sensible kind of idea to the University’s public spaces. This is where the policy falters.

Expressive activity in public areas of college campuses, it turns out, happens all the time. As you read this, people are walking the quads actively expressing themselves about literature, science and politics, saying things that passersby might vehemently disagree with. I might express myself by coming to work in a red Make America Great Again hat or a kefﬁyeh. One or more of my colleagues and students would likely be offended, but I would not, as far as I

can tell, be violating the Interim Expressive Activity policy.

Plainly, the Interim Expressive Activity policy is not content neutral. It dictates the time, place and manner not of any expressive activity (as in the dormitory example), but of collective, public expressive activity. The issue the policy seeks to address is not one of individuals expressing their views, but of groups of people coming together to express their views in front of one other. This is what is so chilling about the Interim Expressive Activity Policy— it fears strength in numbers.

When Cornell, the individual private entity, chooses to use its funds to mow the grass, it is expressing itself. I can’t make any reasonable objection. When a single student stands up on a soapbox in the Arts Quad in broad daylight to make a political statement, we as students, faculty, and even administrators, might also be hesitant to object. In truth, the University can theoretically use the principle of content neutrality to shut that kind of speech down, too—but it hasn’t, yet. But for some reason, it is when students, faculty and staff organize themselves to send strong messages about what they believe (even at decibel levels far below those of the dastardly mowers), that the University sees a problem.

There is only one way this double standard on content neutrality makes sense. The authors of the Interim Expressive Activity policy must believe that group expression is more dangerous than individual expression. There exists a certain threat in numbers. If a group has too much momentum, Cornell may fear losing control.

As a private entity, Cornell has no obligation to uphold the constitutional right to lawful peaceful assembly. And as a private entity, the University reserves the right to express itself and its values however it sees ﬁt. Moreover, as the corporate entity of which students, faculty and staff are a part, Cornell reserves the right to decide which values are our collective values. Our leadership can declare, for example, that inviting outspoken bigot and antisemite Ann Coulter to campus expresses not our common endorsement of Coulter’s abhorrent views, but our common “commitment to free expression.” So maybe you can see why the leadership views collective expressive activities that question decisions like the Coulter invitation or that call for divestment from Israeli arms manufacturers as a threat. Sanctioning this expression busts the myth that there is a single collective spirit called “Cornell” that transcends politics as it is practiced elsewhere. Through the Interim Expressive Activity Policy, Cornell reserves the right to speak for itself, and for you.

There is a reason corporations prefer monocultures like Bermuda grass lawns, where only a few lifeforms can survive, to wild landscapes that support a profusion of beetles and bees, chipmunks and moles — control. What the Interim Expressive Activity Policy says, quite clearly, is that those groups who prefer wildﬂower meadows to putting greens would do well to keep that opinion to themselves.

Sophia Arnold

Sophia Arnold is a third year student in the Brooks School of Public Policy. Her column Under Scrutiny focuses broadly on political and campus issues. She can be reached at sarnold@cornellsun.com.

Profts First, People Last: Kotlikof ’s Cornell

After weeks of negotiations, United Auto Workers union members voted last Sunday to ratify their new contract with Cornell University. Although workers have walked away with historic wage increases, Cornell has once again shown itself for what it is — a corporate plutocracy willing to go to any length to preserve its bottom line.

For most of us on campus, our understanding of the UAW strike comes courtesy of Cornell’s public relations team, who worked tirelessly to keep students and parents alike informed and up to date on the disruption caused by those troublemaking agitators out on the picket line.

From touting their 17 percent raise offer to ﬂaunting their request for a mediator, Cornell would have you believe that the UAW — a separate, outside entity, of course — had gotten greedy and uncooperative, refusing one generous offer after another.

But Cornell’s bad faith negotiating didn’t just stop at a few misleading mass emails. Ever resourceful, Kotlikoff’s administration turned its rhetoric inwards, shamelessly shifting the burden onto its mid-level employees, student workers and retirees alike. Faced with the demand for a living wage, Cornell instead threw up its hands and asked others to pick up the slack.

Despite Cornell administation’s best efforts to convince us otherwise, what our workers asked for was not greedy, nor unfeasable.

Our administration asked us to view this as a community endeavor necessary to maintain our campus operations, ensuring the well-being of its students during a time of labor shortage. Cornell – and its mercenary human resources team – would have you believe that they are simply too strapped for cash, that the UAW was extorting our destitute administration at the expense of students and the community. They even tried to coerce us to be strikebreakers ourselves, to replace the workers who are withholding their labor — their only means of power in negotiations — to ﬁght for better terms.

Yet despite Cornell administration’s best efforts to convince us otherwise, what our workers asked for was not greedy, nor unfeasible. Under the last agreement, Cornell workers made an average of $22 an hour, and in some cases, as low as $19.17. That comes out to a little less than $36,000 annually.

The “historic” 17 percent raise

Cornell initially touted actually translated to a paltry three percent raise per year — which was still lower than the cost of living in Ithaca for a single worker with no children.

What our workers are requesting is less than an additional one percent of the money Cornell sets aside each year for salaries. In fact, last year, Cornell’s operating budget boasted a surplus of a little over $39 million; substantially more than the UAW asked for. Yet, Cornell’s Vice President and Chief HR Ofﬁcer Christine Lovely initially claimed a salary increase would come from students’ tuition. This isn’t exactly a blatant lie — our administration would much rather reach into our pockets than take from their own.

But these negotiations were never about what Cornell could afford — it was always about what Cornell could get away with.

Our University has preyed on the assumption that most students know little about labor negotiations. Too little to recognize that requesting a mediator this late in the game is a miserly stalling tactic, that a 17 percent compounded raise isn’t generous and that pressuring other employees to perform union labor is not an attempt to keep operations functioning, it’s an unscrupulous bid to break a strike.

Of course, for those of us familiar with Cornell’s administration, this callous greed is par for the course. By pressuring other employees to work longer hours and take on additional duties, the University created an inhospitable work environment and allowed its students to suffer in the meantime.

But the most insidious tactic Cornell employed was simply waiting, counting on the fact that its striking workers couldn’t afford to hold out for long. This wasn’t just a strategy; it was a deliberate gamble on the poverty they impose upon their workers. Cornell never wanted to reach a fair deal — it was always about protecting its proﬁt margins.

The University capitulated only because they couldn’t continue to operate without the workers they were so willing to starve. The administration’s willingness to exploit the economic vulnerability of its employees was not an accidental byproduct of fruitless negotiations, it’s simply the same old Cornell: sacriﬁcing the people it’s supposed to serve so that our Presidents and Provosts can afford their multi-million dollar home renovations.

From hiking tuition to underfunding the TCAT, Cornell has once again proven that its loyalty lies with its proﬁts. Our University has demonstrated that it has the resources to do right by its workers — if only it had the will.

Julia Poggi is a third year student in the College of Agriculture & Life Sciences. Her column Te Outbox is a collection of reﬂections, advice and notes to self about life at Cornell, with a focus on coursework-life balance. She can be reached at jpoggi@cornellsun.com.

Where’s Your Empathy? Lessons from the UAW Strike

Nineteen-year-olds holding Goyard bags and wearing Prada sneakers joke as they pass the striking workers. I hear one mimic the union cheers and snicker to their friends. As the teens walk by Day Hall, I wonder where they’re headed.

Would I be relieved if they were going to an ILR class? Perhaps, in those classrooms, they’d change their opinions on low-paid labor and challenge their beliefs. On the other hand, there’s something depressing about studying labor relations while blatantly disrespecting labor movements.

Maybe they’re headed to the Statler. Aspiring to be leaders in hospitality and business, they’ll use their Cornell education to propel themselves into prestigious roles where they can put their disregard for the working class to use.

Joking aside, I don’t believe these students are bad people — just misguided. At times, I’ve been in their shoes, making jokes despite knowing better. Strikes are contentious, and people have opinions on either side. But we need to remember that these are the workers who feed us and keep our buildings clean. In a setting where many are living away from home for the ﬁrst time, the striking workers care for us in ways we often don’t fully realize.

Moreover, Cornell’s hyper-competitive job-seeking culture makes us ignorant to the reality of work. When applying for jobs or accepting offers, students often consider the prestige and career capital of a position over compensation. Unpaid internships for “experience” and resume-building research skew our perspectives on the importance of beneﬁts and living wages. The “bubble” of dining plans and front-loaded housing payments helps us forget daily ﬁnancial stresses, even though many of us know student loans and the cost of living will catch up with us after graduation.

Opinions about labor movements on campus deﬁnitely vary. The group of students I saw doesn’t represent the majority at Cornell. But there’s still a cohort of wealthy students, many of whom have never worked real jobs, who look down on the service and blue-collar workers who keep the University functioning. From the comfort of luxury cars, they’ll tell their friends,

“college shouldn’t be political,” and complain about the closure of on-campus cafés.

At the same time, other students joined the picket line and posted “We stand with the UAW” signs in their Collegetown windows. They gladly packed lunches and found ways to adapt during the strike. These students went beyond supporting the workers in conversational debate, they stood in solidarity with them and ampliﬁed their voices.

Now that the strike is over, we must not forget the lessons we learned during those two weeks. Some of my favorite Cornell moments are grabbing a snack with a friend or decompressing after class over a cup of coffee at the Big Red Barn. Much of the “college experience” happens in dining halls and dorm lounges. The people behind the scenes — cooks, dishwashers, custodians and facilities workers — ensure that our Ivy League education isn’t just academic but rooted in social and community engagement. These workers aren’t accessories to our college experience; they play integral roles in our daily student life. Our lives are intertwined, and students have a greater stake in worker job satisfaction than we often realize.

Protests also play a valuable role in keeping our student body engaged with the world beyond the classroom. In a somewhat rural place like Ithaca, it’s easy to become disconnected from news and events. Protests force us to engage with public discourse and confront the struggles the broader community faces. The UAW strike opened my eyes to the challenges of people I interact with daily but had never stopped to talk to. But it also opened my eyes to the cruelty of Cornell students, and our inability to connect with those different from us. Just as the University administration took the strikes as a way to confront failures in their compensation standards, we should all see the strikes as a call to action for personal reﬂection on our beliefs. Most importantly, we should use it as an opportunity to ﬁnd common ground across barriers of occupations, age or other identities. Protests strengthen our community — if we choose to not let them divide us.

Julia Poggi

SC I ENCE & TECH

Cornell Engineering Students Found AI-Powered Math Help Startup

By YANGZOM NOGA TENZIN Sun Contributor

During the Cornell of Engineering’s prelim season, Dufﬁeld Hall is packed, Ed Discussion is spammed and ofﬁce hour lines are out the door.

To make last-minute help more accessible, Yanni Kouloumbis ’26 and Nour Gajial ’26 founded MathGPT, an artiﬁcial intelligence-powered platform to assist with math problems. MathGPT has reached nearly one million users, according to Gajial.

“The two days before a prelim, ofﬁce hours are going to be swamped,” Kouloumbis said. “The day of the prelim, it’s very rare that there’s even ofﬁce hours. If you don’t really understand something, there’s not a lot of ways to get help.”

On MathGPT, users can upload a screenshot of their problem and receive step-by-step instructions to solve it. Its newest feature even creates an AI-generated video to explain the solution.

MathGPT is one of many collaborations between Kouloumbis and Gajial. The pair have gone to over eight hackathons together, notably winning a national hackathon at the University of Pennsylvania.

Both computer science majors in the College of Engineering, Kouloumbis and Gajial met in a ﬁrstyear advising class when Kouloumbis mentioned needing more people to join a team for a National Aeronautics and Space Administration hackathon in New York City.

“Hackathon was the most foreign word to me — I didn’t even know what it meant,” Gajial said. “I didn’t even know Yanni at that point. But

now we are doing a whole project together.”

After winning the hackathon, they decided to continue working together. They wanted to address the issue of no on-demand homework help, even in 2023, before ChatGPT was well-known.

They leveraged their knowledge of large language models to create an AI model that can learn from labeled training data with custom

prompts and an augmented retrieval technique and developed a way to help their model to understand math symbols in problems and use them in answers, according to the Cornell Chronicle.

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

Yangzom Noga Tenzin can be reached at ynt3@cornell.edu.

Cornell’s Decarbonization Goals Under Scrutiny: Cornell on Fire Report Calls for Greater Accountability in Climate Action

By CATHERINE ZHU Sun Staff Writer

According to an independent report from Cornell on Fire, Cornell’s accounted carbon emissions is only a small percentage of their total emissions, calling into question how much progress has been made in overall emissions reductions.

Cornell’s “baseline inventory” carbon emissions — which includes University facilities, faculty commuting, electricity, business travel, energy transmission, delivery losses and carbon removal — only make up 31 percent of its full publicly reported record.

Cornell on Fire is a coalition of Cornellians and community members calling for a University-wide response to the climate emergency. The reported baseline inventory data is used to calculate the University’s progress toward net zero emissions by 2035 but, by only addressing a subset of predetermined emissions categories, it may cause a miscalculated depiction of the University’s improvement.

The Climate Action Report — consisting of research, data and interviews — sheds light on the inaccuracies in the University’s current emissions accounting and areas hindering progress toward its decarbonization goal.

Decarbonization is the process of reducing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere by eliminating fossil fuel combustion. It is a step towards carbon neutrality — an equilibrium between emitted and absorbed carbon. Cornell is part

of a growing collective of universities worldwide committed to carbon neutrality by 2050.

However, Cornell on Fire’s recent report ﬁnds evidence that Cornell climate action has not gained much traction, including an increase in emissions as well as continued uncertainty regarding its Earth Source Heat project initiative.

“Cornell started tracking progress to carbon neutrality in 2008, and emissions have either ﬂatlined or may have actually increased since then,” said Prof. Bethany Ojalehto Mays ’08, psy-

chology, who is a member of Cornell on Fire.

Cornell’s public baseline inventory claims that they have reduced emissions by half. However, they exclude upstream methane emissions on a global warming potential 20-year time scale, which should be included according to the New York Climate Leading and Community Protection Act.”

GWP is a measure of how much heat a greenhouse gas traps in the atmosphere over a specific period compared to carbon dioxide. 20-year GWP emissions

tend to have a stronger impact on warming over a shorter time compared to 100-year GWP emissions.

There is a growing scientiﬁc consensus that GWP20 needs to replace GWP100 to account for the most severe near-future methane impacts.

Mays’s colleague Fenya Bartram ’25 also noted that it was difﬁcult hearing differing or conﬂicting expert opinions, from potential solutions for carbon reduction to areas they felt Cornell should change to improve their emissions account-

ing.

“It seemed that everyone had a slightly different version of the whole story,” Bartram said. “Earth source heat is a good example because some professors are really supportive of it, while others are more skeptical and believe we should opt for shallow geothermal instead, which is more proven, less efﬁcient.”

The document also provides various proposals, such as a carbon fee that could incentivize better decision-making, such as reduced carbon consumption that could push Cornell to meet its 2035 carbon neutrality goal.

Cornell’s decisions and their consequences exist also within the context of the sustainability efforts of the city of Ithaca, which has its own Green New Deal resolution aiming to reach community-wide carbon neutrality by 2030.

According to Mays, Ithaca’s municipal climate action plan aims to electrify all its buildings by 2030, and thus, the city crafted a green energy building code supplement. However, Mays noted that Cornell has requested signiﬁcant amendments to the code which would exempt them from fossil fuel phaseout and allow them to continue building new buildings that rely on heat sourced by natural gas.

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

Catherine Zhu can be reached at czhu@cornellsun.com.

Vibrant voices | Members of local climate change coalition Cornell on Fire stage a demonstration to speak up about Cornell’s climate action during the Class of 2024 graduation.

JIM WILSON / THE NEW YORK TIMES

COURTESTY OF CORNELL ON FIRE

The

Finding Healing In Chinese Medicine

Jasmine’s Lifestyle Guest Takes

Jasmine Li is a sophomore in the College of Arts and Sciences. She can be reached at jxl9@cornell.edu.

Two weeks ago, I lay face down, arms limp, seven needles in my neck. Fear not, I hadn’t fallen victim to an unfortunate attack; I was actually receiving acupuncture at a local traditional medicine clinic in China. My visit was meant to treat a stubborn headache – a souvenir from a summer sports concussion – but I left with a sense of relief beyond the physical.

As a child of Chinese immigrants, traditional Chinese medicine, or TCM, has been sunk into my roots and upbringing. My mom, who formerly worked at an apothecary, fed me herbal concoctions for every ache and pain. And every night at home, my living room is thick with the scent of herbs from my grandmother’s moxibustion seat – a therapy using the smoke from burning sticks of traditional mugwort. I was raised on goji berries, for good qi circulation; warm water for wei health; and mung beans to clear heat.

But as much as my childhood diet may beg to differ, I am a veritable banana. Growing up in Houston, I asserted my American identity from middle school by rejecting the conservative Chinese remedies of my upbringing. I deﬁnite

ly crunched ice cubes and inhaled Texas-sized meal portions. I outright refused to take the herbal capsules and tonics that filled our home medicine cabinet: Tylenol and Tums reigned supreme. And as I grew older and began to love biology, my skepticism of TCM grew beyond a rejection of my cultural roots, justified by my commitment to scientific rigor.

This summer, I returned to China after a year away. Stepping off the plane in Xi’an after 30 hours of travel, I was greeted by my grandfather’s brewed goji berry tea; my aunt’s familiar suggestions to try cupping; and my parents. Being away from home for so long, I began to see my family’s care in a new light – that their love shows in the traditions they grew up with. I drank my grandfather’s tea, and a few days later, I accepted my grandmother’s suggestion to visit the acupuncturist – which, to my surprise, worked wonders for my gnarly head symptoms.

I don’t wish to legitimize the aspects of Chinese medicine that are pseudoscientiﬁc or politicized. I don’t believe that wood ear fungus nourishes my yin, or that qi ﬂows through meridians in my body. I will con tinue to advocate for evi

dence-based treatment and rigorous research into the efﬁcacy of TCM practices.

But I’m committing to no longer blanket dismissing traditional treatments, both as a patient and a human. TCM has yielded great medical discoveries – most notably artemisinin, an anti-malaria drug derived from ancient herbal therapy. And alternative therapies like acupuncture have shown beneﬁts for some, including me. More signiﬁcantly for me, I’m connecting with my family, and accepting my Chinese identity and tradition. Through acupuncture, I began healing in a double capacity: physically, yes, but more importantly, engaging with and my relationship with China and my family members in the process. So, a plea and lesson to the Cornell community – one I am still learning myself. Be kinder towards alternative worldviews and traditional beliefs. Hold progress in high importance, but do so with compassion. Building a better future, I’m realizing, doesn’t require ridiculing the past – and, perhaps surprisingly, a kindness towards tradition can reveal wisdom that can guide us into the future as well.

Lifestyle Editor

The reality we’ve been denying is finally on the precipice: as summer comes to a close, so does the 2024 season at Sweet Melissa’s. Running from April to September annually, this Ithaca ice cream staple is shutting windows and heading into soft-serve hibernation. Consistently praised for award-winning flavors and innovative creations, Owner Melissa Donahue plans for the off-season while orchestrating a grand finale at the corner of West Seneca and North Geneva Street. The official closing date has been announced for Sunday, September 29th, but signature best-sellers Two Berry Twist and Orange Vanilla will stop being served after the 22nd. In the last week of opening,

New Of-Campus Joints & Gems

By Eirian Huang

Eirian Huang is a junior in the College of Arts and Sciences. They can be reached at ehh56@cornell.edu.

This summer, several Collegetown restaurants and establishments closed down, including Jack’s Grill, Ithaca Beer Company and The Embassy. Such follows the closure of Mango Mango last January. Nonetheless, with restaurants walking out the door, several new businesses are moving in to take their place, catering to the stomachs of hangry Cornelians. Between college town openings and eateries out of sight, Ithaca is riddled with secret town gems and new joints. If you dare to venture beyond the meal plan, there are endless meal options right next to campus.

DE Mohka Coffee

Another business making waves in the c-town food industry is DE Mohka Coffee, focusing speciﬁcally in Yemeni coffee. At 210 Dryden Road, students can stop by for a signature Yemen Latte or a Lavender Mocha with aesthetic seats and lighting. Sandwiched between college town court and a bright blue house, this coffee shop is hard to miss! It offers perhaps the best new study venue for college town residents from 7:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. on weekdays, opening a little later at 8:30 a.m. on Saturdays and 9:00 a.m. on Sundays.

Ninja Chicken & Friends!

One c-town newcomer gaining popularity this fall season is Ninja Chicken & Friends. This fried chicken and bubble tea joint celebrated their grand opening at 114 Dryden Road on June 10th, joining U-tea and Kung Fu Tea in the boba community. This Japanese-American fusion gives you the opportunity to order fried chicken with takoyaki as an appetizer (sometimes called “octopus balls” in English). Extensive beverage options include their strawberry matcha terrace, milk tea or a selection from their palmer drink menu. Impressive hours from 11:30 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. Monday through Saturday (10 p.m. closing on Sunday) mean this spot caters to late night cravings. Krispy fried chicken and refreshing tea is an online order away or quick c-town visit away.

Asempe Kitchen

A long time farmers market staple, Asempe Kitchen opened its brick-andmortar location this summer on August 2. Located in Press Bay Alley downtown, Asempe serves traditional Ghanaian food adapted for the western palate. Stews and entrees popular at Steamboat landing are now being cooked Thursday through Saturday from 5:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. Owner Kuukua Yomekpe plans

the Sweet Melissa’s team will offer “fun” soft serve ﬂavors undisclosed to the public. As baked goods and ice cream updates are actively posted, supporters can follow @ithacaicecream for more updates.

The Ithaca dessert community will mourn the disappearance of scoops and sundaes here, so a line at Sweet Melissa’s this cloudless weekend is highly anticipated. Open from 1:00 p..m. to 9:00 p.m. every day until the end, the cash-only ice cream favorite is destined to go out with a bang this month.

Kira Walter and Daniela Rojas are Lifestyle Editors for the Cornell Daily Sun. They can be reached at style@cornell.edu.

to expand these early hours throughout months to follow. Asempe also caters and has open cooking classes, where curious supporters can learn to cook West African cuisine with help from Yomekpe. All dishes served at Asempe are vegetarian and gluten-free, providing a welcoming food experience for all.

The Lotus

Moving into prime real estate on the commons, The Lotus is a thriving new Korean restaurant at the corner of North Aurora & East State Street. Owner Sungyoon Hwang also oversees well-known restaurants Koko and Le Cafe in college town. While concentrating on pick-up and fast casual dining near campus, The Lotus team prioritizes a more formal ﬁne dining experience for its customers. This new project emphasizes traditional Korean ﬂavor and a variety of fried chicken options while preparing familiar noodle and stew dishes. Open Wednesday through Monday from 11:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m., this destination introduces both townies and students to a love for Korean cuisine.

Komonz Grill

With openings forecasted for many months, the Komonz Grill opened officially on August 7. The restaurant moved into the former location of Waffle Frolic & Brgr Hub, a popular Sunday brunch spot that closed in October of 2022. This new eaterie features both Italian and Mediterranean dishes: its menu is decked out with pizza, burgers, waffles, gyros, falafel and more. The smorgasburg of different international cuisines is inspired by Sammi’s Pizzeria and Souvlaki House, where owner Sofiane Elmahen is a former employee. Elmahen’s first restaurant is opened from 10:30 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. Sunday through Wednesday, pushing hours to 2:00 a.m. Thursday through Saturday. As Komonz Grill joins the past-midnight club, it becomes an ideal location for bar hoppers and insomniacs to grab a wee-hour snack.

As on-campus dining options return post-strike, students rely less on eating out at places un-afﬁliated with the University. Despite the rush back to cafes and dining halls, a treasure trove of food choices still exists beyond the Cornell bubble. Ithaca is jam-packed with award winning food restaurants and if you get the chance, it’s certainly worth a few extra bucks to check them out.

BY KIRA WALTER AND DANIELA ROJAS Sun Lifestyle Editors

KIRA WALTER/ SUN LIFESTYLE EDITOR

DANIELA ROJAS SUN LIFESTYLE EDITOR

Scholars Discuss New Journal Tat Joins Israeli and Palestinian Studies

By CHRISTINE SAVINO Sun Staff Writer

Sept. 5 — The Palestine/Israel Review was created to challenge the typically separated approach to Israel and Palestine studies in academia, according to Tamir Sorek, an editor for the journal.

Sorek, along with co-editor Sonia Boulos, spoke in Goldwin Smith Hall on Tuesday as part of the Palestinian Studies Speaker Series hosted by the Department of Near Eastern Studies.

Boulos is an associate professor of international human rights law at Antonio de Nebrija University and Sorek is a professor of Middle East history at Pennsylvania State University. The talk was moderated by Deborah Starr, professor and chair of the Near Eastern Studies Department.

The Palestine/Israel Review is published by The Pennsylvania State University Press and includes Israeli as well as Palestinian scholarship.

“Let’s bulid a journal that will try to bring these two scholarly ﬁelds togethers.”

Tamir Sorek

“About three years ago, a group of scholars at Pennsylvania State University [and I] started thinking, why not?” Sorek said. “Let’s build a journal that will try to bring

these two scholarly ﬁelds together.”

Sorek explained that the journal’s “relational approach” emphasizes the intertwined conﬂicts and progress of Israeli and Palestinian societies.

He said that their study in academia has branched due to opposing political agendas.

Sorek argued that Israel studies has largely ignored the “settler colonial context [that is] crucial for understanding Zionism, Israeli society and any kind of interaction between Israelis and Palestinians.”

He said that conversely, Palestine studies focuses on the historical injustices faced by Palestinians.

Buolos explained that one of the journal’s key goals is to increase awareness of how Israeli internal conﬂicts and policies impact Palestinian oppression.

The journal also addresses the structural challenges that Palestinian scholars face, such as language barriers, which hinder their participation in academic discourse, according to Buolos. The Palestine/Israel Review encourages writers to use literature in Arabic.

“There exists an entire academic world in Arabic,” Buolos explained. “We’re trying to ﬁght against this [lack of Western use of these materials to] give voice to the people writing about these things.”

This Palestinian Studies Speaker Series, alongside the Antisemitism and Islamophobia Examined speaker series, is being hosted amid high tensions on campus.

Since the start of the Israel-Hamas war in October 2023, the University has seen incidents of antisemitism and Islamophobia,

causing students of both groups to express fear for their safety on campus.

Pro-Palestine demonstrations have continued into the Fall 2024 semester, including the vandalism of Day Hall on the ﬁrst day of classes.

Christine Savino can be reached at csavino@cornellsun.com.

cornellsun.com

Seperated sides | New journal seeks to unite Israeli and Palestinian studies. JASON

Local Restaurant Owned by ‘White Supremacist

Cult’ Accepts City Bucks

The group denies accusations of racism and antisemitism, citing its embrace of several Jewish customs and inclusion of Black and Jewish members. The Twelve Tribes publicly disapproves of the LGBTQ+ community and “homosexual behavior.”

“We are just happy to be able to

take [City Bucks] and meet new people.”

Neeman

The Twelve Tribes has also been accused of labor law violations, child labor violations and child abuse, which has been investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The Twelve Tribes previously owned a café in Ithaca called the Maté Factor, which was shut down in 2018 over child labor law violations. Ex-members told the Denver Post in 2022 that new Twelve Tribes members were required to sign away their possessions to the group.

Although The Yellow Deli is not listed online alongside other participating

restaurants such as 7-Eleven and Texas Roadhouse, The Sun has independently confirmed that The Yellow Deli accepts City Bucks, and — like other restaurants that accept City Bucks — a card reader in the restaurant processes payments using Cornell Student IDs.

Neeman, a worker at The Yellow Deli who asked to be identified by only his first name, said the restaurant went through a “simple process” about five months ago to begin accepting City Bucks. Neeman said that he did not remember the details of this process.

According to Neeman, since the restaurant started accepting City Bucks and Bomber Bucks, a few people have used them to buy food at the restaurant.

“We are thankful to be able to take the City Bucks,” Neeman said. “We are just happy to be able to take them and meet new people.”

Lindsey Knewstub, a representative of Cornell University Media Relations, declined to comment on what process, if any, The Yellow Deli underwent to be approved to accept City Bucks or whether the University was aware of allegations against the Twelve Tribes.

Kate Sanders and Jonathan Brand can be reached at ksanders@cornellsun.com and jbrand@cornellsun.com.

From the Archive: Sept. 12, 2001

Airplanes Hit New York

NEW YORK (AP) — In the most devastating terrorist onslaught ever waged against the United States, knife-wielding hijackers crashed two airliners into the World Trade Center yesterday, toppling its twin 110-story towers. The deadly calamity was witnessed on televisions across the world as another plane slammed into the Pentagon, and a fourth crashed outside Pittsburgh.

“Today, our nation saw evil,” President Bush said in an address to the nation yesterday night. He said thousands of lives were “suddenly ended by evil, despicable acts of terror.”

Said Adm. Robert J. Natter, commander of the U.S. Atlantic Fleet: “We have been attacked like we haven’t since Pearl Harbor.”

Establishing the U.S. death toll could take weeks. The four airliners alone had 266 people aboard, and there were no known survivors. At the Pentagon, about 100 people were believed dead.

President Bush Responds

“To our military: be ready. The hour will come for you to act and you will make us proud.”

These are the words President George W. Bush told the Congress last night. He called the U.S. and other nations to service, he cited NATO’s charter to emphasis that “an attack on one is an attack on all,” and he urged Americans to avoid “singling out on the basis of religious background.”

But yesterday, Cornell joined over 140 colleges and universities across the country that had organized in solidarity for a “peaceful justice” removed from military action. The pro-peace events, which included various combinations of rallies, vigils, marches and teach-ins, all took place around noon and received national media attention.

Students at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Conn. began organizing the peace effort just after the attacks on the Pentagon and the World Trade Center last week. They enlisted the cooperation of other campuses nationwide to get the attention of the President to express opposition to “retaliatory violence.”

“We should work on a peaceful solution as opposed to continuing the global cycle of violence … we shouldn’t answer the deaths of thousands of innocent people with more deaths of innocent people,” Harvard University student Jessica Gould told ABC News. Gould, a sophomore, participated in Harvard’s rally, which involved a peace march in Boston, Mass.

Ho Plaza was the site of Cornell’s rally, which also involved a peace march of approximately 125 students throughout campus, according to Dana Brown ’02, one of the event organizers. Community members spoke to an estimated one hundred people who participated in the activities — some on their way to class, some skipping class to be part of the rally despite the rain.

“A substantial amount of students were present and it seemed like each person stayed for the entire time. We had a variety of powerful speakers and each one presented crucial insights and an emotive reaction to the present circumstances,” said Lindsay Kaplan ’02, who had addressed the crowd earlier.

Students also tabled on Ho Plaza to post contact information for their local political leaders. Brown also noted that the group provided stamped postcards for students to write messages to their representatives. During the course of the day, about 125 postcards were handwritten and the group plans to provide additional cards today in the lobby of Willard Straight Hall, according to Brown.

“People have responded so positively. I just hope Bush is listening,” Brown said of Cornell’s efforts.

Brown also noted that members of both the activist and non-activist communities were present, sitting in Ho Plaza, as another group sold flowers to benefit the relief effort.

“It was good because there were people that you don’t typically see — not everyone was necessarily part of the activist community. It was nice to see people coming out of the woodwork,” Brown said.

“I think it’s good to see a lot of people out here. It’s good to see all the different faces … it seems to be a pretty diverse crowd. I like the different creative approaches people are taking [with displays of peace],” said Kimberly Webster ’03, who attended the demonstration.

Members of the faculty as well as students presented their opinions at the rally.

“Most of the faculty has been really supportive of a peaceful solution,” said Lindsey Saunders ’03, one of the event planners. Saunders said she felt that faculty members at the University teach-in, which occurred at the beginning of the week, seemed to be “advocating justice rather than anger and revenge.”

“Non-violence must be the answer,” said Prof. Shawkat M. Toorawa, Near Eastern studies. “We have to resist the urge for military violence.”

Toorawa also presented a speech at the teach-in on Monday.

“As a nation we are more hurt and confused than we have ever been in our history. It is not a time for blind retaliation, this is far too dangerous a situation. It is a time for thought and evaluation, a time to contemplate what justice is … we simply cannot achieve justice while angry … if you want justice, work for peace,” Kaplan said in her speech yesterday.

YELLOW DELI Continued from page 4

Annual Reports Detail Upticks in Hate Crime, Arson

REPORT

Continued from page 1

2023’s uptick in ethnicity-based crime reports coincided with booming campus tensions after the start of the Israel-Hamas War. The “extraordinary stress” that followed antisemitic threats, an unfounded weapon sighting and near-daily demonstrations prompted former University President Martha Pollack to cancel classes in the name of a Community Day on Nov. 3, 2023.

One case of intimidation in 2023 came when former Cornell student Patrick Dai ’24 faced the federal charge of posting threats to kill or injure another using interstate communications. On Oct. 28, 2023 and Oct. 29, 2023, Dai posted anonymous threats targeting Cornell’s Jewish community. Following his sentencing in August, Dai now faces 21 months in federal prison, followed by three years of supervised release.

One notable Clery Act reportable hate crime offense listed within the last six years was a race-based aggravated assault charge in 2018, when a man physically assaulted three Cornell students and used racial epithets in a Collegetown altercation.

Earlier that same academic year, a Cornell student was charged with attempted assault in the third degree as a hate crime after allegedly punching a Black Cornell junior in the face in September 2017. After John Greenwood ’20 pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct and admitted to using an antiBlack slur, the hate crime charge was ultimately dropped in a case that made national headlines.

Arson and Unintentional Fires

Released in tandem with the Security Report was

the 2024 Annual Fire Safety Report, which details the University’s ﬁre safety policies and logs all ﬁres occurring in on-campus housing facilities over the last three years.

Of the 13 intentional on-campus housing facility fires recorded in 2023, nine occurred in Mary Donlon Hall, totaling $466 in damages. The incident that caused the greatest property damage was a May 20, 2023 fire on the fourth floor of Ruth Bader Ginsburg Hall, where a pile of clothes was found aflame. The incident resulted in $17,000 in damages.

A Nov. 17, 2022 fire on the same floor of Ruth Bader Ginsburg Hall during the same academic year is described as “stuffed animal placed in microwave.” This incident is listed as an unintentional fire.

The singular intentional ﬁre reported in 2022 is the infamous trash room blaze in Gan dag : Hall, which set off sprinklers at 4:42 a.m. on March 19, 2022. Damages, including burns in the trash room and water damage to adjacent rooms, totaled $14,000.

Several unintentional ﬁres were also listed, with two occurring in 2023 and four in both 2022 and 2021. One of

the unintentional ﬁres in 2023 — a small ﬂame in a trash compactor room in Flora Rose House — caused nearly $7,000 in damages.

Cornell is the ﬁrst of the Ivy League institutions to have published its 2024 Annual Security Report. The nationwide deadline for universities to release their Clery Act reports is Oct. 1.

Members of the Cornell community may consult with the Victim Advocate by calling 607-255-1212, and with Cornell Health by calling 607-255-5155. Employees may call the Faculty and Staff Assistance Program (FSAP) at 607-2552673. An Ithaca-based crisis line is available at 607-2721616. The Tompkins County-based Advocacy Center is available at 607-277-5000. To report non-emergency incidents, contact the Cornell University Police Department at (607) 255-1111. For additional resources, visit health.cornell.edu/ services/victim-advocacy.

Eric Reilly can be reached at ereilly@cornellsun.com.

Turf War: Environmental Advocates, Athletes Debate Project

Ithacans protested the construction of two turf felds at an Ithaca Planning Board meeting.

TURF

Continued from page 1

However, Cornell athletes see getting a new ﬁeld as necessary for their safety. As the protesters were getting ready to enter City Hall to comment on the Board meeting, a line of Cornell athletes, coaches and administrators ﬁlled the entranceway. The arrival of the athletes gave protesters a new audience for their demands, and tensions rose throughout the meeting.

“[The athletes’] concerns are only thinking about their own situation and their own convenience. [They are not thinking about the natural world and the toxic global threat that nanoplastics present.”

Anne Rhodes

Caitlin, a women’s lacrosse team member who asked to be referred to by only her ﬁrst name, described feeling unsafe playing on the current turf in ice and sleet during the winter season.

“We’ve had at least ﬁve people on our team tear ACLs on that ﬁeld,” Caitlin said in an interview with The Sun.

Having heard about the project from

Cornell Athletics, Caitlin and her teammates decided to come to the planning board meeting in support of the artiﬁcial turf.

Caitlin said she was optimistic that the planning board could address environmental concerns and still move forward on building the ﬁelds.

Men’s lacrosse team head coach Connor Buczek ’15, MBA ’17 argued in a public comment that synthetic turf was the only option that would

allow his team sufﬁcient practice time throughout winter weather.

However, Anne Rhodes, a community energy educator for Cornell Cooperative Extension, addressed the planning board by arguing that the athletes were selﬁsh in advocating for the project.

“[The athletes’] concerns are only thinking about their own situation and their own convenience,” Rhodes said.

“[They are] not thinking about the nat-

ural world and the toxic global threat that nanoplastics present.”

Regardless of the future of the project, protesters insisted that the ﬁght against plastic pollution will continue.

“[If] we want to stop the climate crisis, we have to start somewhere, with things like this,” Koizumi said.

Silochanie Miller can be reached at smiller@cornellsun.com.

&

‘Wicked’: It Will Be Popular — Or Not

By JENNA LEDLEY

Arts & Culture Writer

I am a major Broadway buff, the sort who can and will tell you with great enthusiasm about shows from creatives spanning the likes of Rodgers and Hammerstein to Sondheim, Andrew Lloyd Webber and Lin-Manuel Miranda, to the lyricist whose musical we shall discuss today: Steven Schwartz. Of all the many Broadway shows I adore, the one I have perhaps loved the dearest and longest is Wicked . And yet — or perhaps because of — my little obsession, I have a few qualms about the Wicked movie, whose ﬁrst half is set to release this November.

For those new to the Broadway world, Wicked is the story before The Wizard of Oz . This is the story of Elphaba, who will become the “Wicked Witch of the West” and her school-girl friendship with Glinda –or Galinda or “Glinda the Good.”

The musical follows their lives all the way up to Dorothy’s arrival in Oz, and also reveals the origins of other beloved characters. Though Wicked opened on Broadway in 2003, it is only becoming a movie 21 years later. Why now? I can answer this question only by order of elimination. Wicked is certainly not hitting the big screen due to high demand, as shown by most recent movie musical releases ( In the Heights , Dear Evan Hansen , and West Side Story ) not defying gravity, and instead plummeting towards the ground at the box office. While some of these releases had confounding variables such as opening at the same time as bigger name movies, shortly after the pandemic, and showcasing underrepresented groups, in my opinion this did not lead to their failures despite most having high critical success — the true problem is that the average audience member does not like musicals. This leads to my second question: If Wicked is being made by demand from a niche group of people, why are they not the target audience? Arguably, the Wicked film is pointedly not targeted to Broadway fans, for two reasons: type of film and casting. By type of film I mean that most Broadway fans do not want movies like Wicked — filmed on a typical set with animation and CGI added later. What Broadway fans want is simple: to watch a movie musical and feel like you are in the theater (with the best seats in the house). This change is thanks largely to Hamilton , which revolutionized (pun intended) the Broadway movie game with the 2020 movie that was simply a filmed version of the stage production. This was when I, and many others, realized that if the musical is good enough, there is no need for anything more than what is given onstage. The Hamilton movie is real, it captures the musical exactly as it was: original cast, original choreography, the actual stage. It is immortalizing a piece of theater history so that it still feels like theater, and this has started a trend. For example, Merrily We Roll Along is

being ﬁlmed similarly, capturing the Tony Award winning beauty that is Jonathon Groff, Daniel Radcliff, and Lyndsey Mendez together on stage. Over 180 other musicals/plays have also been ﬁlmed on stage, most in recent years.

Wicked especially does not need anything more than what is already given — it is a visually stunning spectacle of a musical. To list a few examples, Wicked has a fire-breathing dragon, a cage wall covered in flying monkeys, a giant moving and speaking wizard’s head, and a bubble that lowers Galinda from the ceiling. Compared to musicals like Merrily , whose set is a single room (which works for Merrily specifically), Wicked has ample visual stimulation — there is no need for animation, CGI, or AI. However, Wicked is not aimed at satisfying Broadway fans.

The second reason I say this is because of the casting, which is made up of big Hollywood names who are starkly not big Broadway names. Only Cynthia Erivo can call herself ﬁrst and foremost a Broadway star, as she won a Tony Award for Best Actress for the revival of The Color Purple which she starred in from 2015 to 2017 and in which she, shocker, actually sang. The casting of Erivo I fully support and look forward to seeing on my screen. On the other hand, Ariana Grande is only known as a pop music artist. Though Jonathan Bailey won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role in a Musical for Company in 2019, the world knows him primarily from Bridgerton . Michelle Yeoh has never been on Broadway, and Jeff Goldblum has only been in a Broadway play (meaning no singing). Sure, Ethan Slater was in SpongeBob SquarePants the musical but I simply cannot bring myself to count this.

This cast serves a purpose: Grande is beloved by pop music fans, Bailey is a recently discovered heartthrob, and Yeoh and Goldblum are icons of the ﬁlm industry. I love the idea of bringing in different audiences to see a musical. However, Michelle Yeoh and Jeff Goldblum have never sung professionally, and Grande is by no means a Broadway singer. If you really wanted to please the Broadway fans, who are, as aforementioned, the people most likely to actually see the ﬁlm, the cast would be vastly different. While we would die for the original cast of Idina Menzel and Kristin Chenoweth, Idina has said she couldn’t do the movie because of aging. Then again, if we cared about aging we would not have a 31 year old (Grande), 37 year old (Erivo), and 36 year old (Bailey) playing university students, so I don’t really see this point. However, if younger than Idina is the goal, Broadway fans would also have enjoyed the Wicked cast of the National Tour or the cast presently on Broadway. These stars do this show 8 times a week, were painstakingly chosen for their roles, and know it better than anyone.

I know this sounds like no good deed goes unpunished, people are making my favorite musical into a

movie I can eventually watch any time I want and I’m harping on every detail, but there are still questions that need answering. How are they splitting the movie into two sections? In the playbill, Wicked has 21 songs, 11 in the first half and 10 in the second, with the intermission making this pretty even split after “Defying Gravity.” This makes sense usually, when people bought their tickets already and will return from the bathroom right to their seats. But for a movie where they want people to buy tickets and return to theaters again, cutting the show here does not leave fans wanting much more — no offense to the second half of Wicked This split gives the first half most of the musical’s best-known songs: “Dancing Through Life,” “Popular,” “One Short Day,” and “Defying Gravity,” leaving only “For Good” as a notable song for the second half. If I was simply someone going to see a much-talked-about movie, I would leave the first half feeling I had seen all I needed. Somehow, they need to keep people coming back for more. So what is the game plan? Is the plan that the first half is going to be so unbelievably fantastic that everyone will return no matter what, or is the plan that diehard Broadway fans will always see more (then maybe

you should have thought about us earlier!). All this being said, I could deal with these decisions. I could get behind the type of movie, cast of non-Broadway names, and whichever split they choose. But there is something I cannot abide under any circumstance: changing the music. Much like a book lover hoping the screen adaptation will remain loyal to the original, I am completely terriﬁed that the movie will decide to play around with or take their own spin on the music of Wicked . My opinion is simple: the songs cannot be made better. Wicked is objectively a masterpiece. There is a reason why Wicked is Broadway’s second highest-grossing musical ever and fourth longest running show, which has been performed over 8,000 times and been on two national tours. I already have my qualms about this movie succeeding in the box ofﬁces and satisfying the audiences, but this is my biggest fear. Please, Wicked , defy gravity and my expectations; seek good instead of just seeking attention.

COURTESY

ARTS & CULTURE

Kinds of Kindness: Lanthimos at His Weirdest

By RAPHAEL MAZHANDU Arts & Culture Writer

Yorgos Lanthimos has quickly arisen as one of the most important directors in recent memory, known for his surreal settings that place his characters in Kafkaesque scenarios. Prior to Kinds of Kindness, he saw critical success with The Lobster and The Killing of a Sacred Deer, both of which I had watched in high school and raved to friends about for the black comedy aspects that intertwine two entirely different stories but shared an element that tied them together: they were weird. Then Poor Things came out, and that seemed like a page had turned for Lanthimos. He used Emma Stone again as a leading character after she starred in The Favourite (his previous movie), but Poor Things was both more grandiose and more accessible, making it a hit with critics and scooped up four Oscars.

Then came Kinds of Kindness, fresh on the heels of Poor Things, and it is at once his most ambitious and disappointing ﬁlm for me. It is a three-part anthology where each piece is different from the

rest, but all have recurring themes about the lengths people will go to for the people they care about; hence the name, Kinds of Kindness. Each part also shares a minor character, R.M.F., who happens to be in the title of every short ﬁlm. The initials of R.M.F are never explained, nor is any of the pretext for any piece of the anthology.

For the entirety of the trilogy, the cast continues with some of the same ensemble that came together for Poor Things, with Emma Stone being a prominent character once again, and supported by fellow Poor Things cast members Willem Dafoe and Margaret Qualley. He also brings in new faces such as Jesse Plemons, Mamoudou Athie, Joe Alwyn and Hong Chau, who also recur in each part. With a cast this star-studded, it is difﬁcult to fail in whatever avenue this ﬁlm went. In particular, Plemons is the star, and he is fantastic here, as he plays his desperation and longing like it is second-nature.

“The Death of R.M.F.” is the ﬁrst part, following Plemons as the lead character Robert, whose entire life is about being controlled by his boss Raymond (Dafoe), but once he loses that connec-

TEST SPINS

By SYDNEY LEVINTON Arts & Culture Editor

In the summer of 2023, just a few weeks before arriving at school, I watched the (then-new) rom-com Your Place or Mine starring Reese Witherspoon and Ashton Kutcher. Was the movie the most highbrow, intellectually stimulating piece of cinema I’d ever seen? Deﬁnitely not. Do I remember much of the plot now, over a year later? Also deﬁnitely not. The movie was meant to be forgettable and escapist, and it achieved that goal.

tion he will do anything to get it back. The second piece, “R.M.F. is Flying,” involves Plemons as a detective named Daniel and Emma Stone as his wife Liz; Liz starts lost on a trip gone awry, but after she is ﬁnally rescued, Daniel has doubts about if his wife is the same person. The third piece, “R.M.F. Eats a Sandwich,” is the piece based the least in reality, as it follows Stone and Plemons again on the hunt to ﬁnd a girl who can bring back people from the dead. All of this is, of course, for the leader of their sex cult, Omi, who is played by a cruel yet charming Dafoe.

I like to go into new movies without much knowledge of the plot or concept so I can keep an open mind and was very thrown for a loop when less than an hour passed and the credits rolled on The Death of R.M.F, although it did seem like there was a profound conclusion that was reached. I would have been happier if one of these stories was drawn deeper upon for an extra 45 minutes to make it a complete ﬁlm.

That is part of the magic of an anthology ﬁlm, as there is no time for context in any of these zany stories, but ultimately

the viewer can be left with more questions than answers. After I left the theater, I went to google several pieces of the movie that did not click for me, but there is no real answer to many. It is a nodback to some of his earlier works, as it is very absurdist, and the humor is always evident. The characters talk in a very matter-of-fact manner, which may turn off some viewers, but has some hilarious moments in typical Lanthimos fashion, as it can often come when least expected. I will note that this ﬁlm, like his previous works, contains lots of explicit moments and themes, so it might not be the best movie to watch with the family this summer. I did enjoy this movie altogether, but a 2-hour 45-minute runtime can make for a polarizing experience, triptych or not. However, if you are a fan of the strange and creepy atmosphere this will bring, this is a movie I recommend for its unique plot and style.

Raphael Mazhandu is a member of the class of 2026 in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. They can be reached at rdm272@cornell.edu.

| ‘The Cars’: Simple & Daring

In fact, the only detail from that movie that remains with me today is that Peter, Ashton Kutcher’s character, loved The Cars. I had listened to The Cars before watching this movie — “My Best Friend’s Girl,” “Drive” — but I hadn’t been particularly struck by the band. When it was revealed in the ﬁlm that The Cars were Peter’s favorite band, it seemed to me like an odd choice. I liked what I knew of their music, but it seemed unlikely that they would be someone’s absolute favorite band. With this ﬂoating around in the back of my mind, I decided one

Solar Flare: Sundown

By ERIC HAN Arts and Culture Editor

It’s not too cold yet to enjoy the slope at sundown! Here’s a cozy playlist to calm your post-class nerves when day turns to night:

feat. Caroline Polachek

4. Clairo: “Terrapin”

5. Real Bad Man, Lukah, & billy woods: “The Initiates Piece”

6. A$AP Rocky: “Tailor Swif”

7. Yung Lean: “Yoshi City”

8. Frank Ocean: “Futura Free”

day on my walk to class that I’d listen to their namesake debut album … and then I ﬁnally understood. Now, when I think of my fall 2023 semester, I think of The Cars, and what better way for me to ring in this new fall semester than to revisit the 1978 album?

The record kicks off with “Good Times Roll,” a lyrically simplistic track that’s easy to sing along to and features a satisfying instrumental build. Frontman Ric Ocasek said of the song: “That was my song about what the good times in rock ‘n’ roll really mean, instead of what they’re supposed to be. It was kind of a parody of good times, really. It was kinda like not about good times at all.” Next is “My Best Friend’s Girl,” which hit me with a whole new force when I listened to The Cars in full for the ﬁrst time. It’s one of the band’s more popular songs that retains that characteristic singability of most songs by The Cars, punctuated by the band’s signature layered vocals.

If it makes one cliché to say that their favorite Cars song is “Just What I Needed,” then I’m cliché and I’m proud of it. “Just What I Needed” was one of the band’s ﬁrst hits, and that’s the case for a reason. Sung by bassist Benjamin Orr, this song is New Wave rock at its absolute ﬁnest. It includes a fun repetition-style call and response, and the instrumentals during the chorus perfectly underscore Orr’s voice. I’ve been listening to this song nonstop since my rediscovery of The Cars, and I don’t foresee that coming to an end anytime soon.

“I’m in Touch with Your World” starts out slow and soft, and sounds like Ocasek is calling to the microphone from another room. Quirky sound effects come in during the chorus, making the song sound like a video game soundtrack. In “Don’t Cha Stop,” vocal layering again plays an important role during the chorus and almost sounds like something from

Queen, but the highlight of this song for me is Elliot Easton on lead guitar. “You’re All I’ve Got Tonight” is a crossover between grunge and New Wave and has a similar vibe to “Don’t Cha Stop.” There are two amazing guitar solos (also courtesy of Easton) and yet another call and response-type dynamic between Ocasek’s vocals and Easton’s guitar — the perfect storm.

“Bye Bye Love” is an additional example of what keyboardist Greg Hawkes calls Ocasek’s “knack for taking a common phrase like ‘You’re All I’ve Got Tonight’ and making a great song out of it.” Its simplicity, compounded with the fact that it’s catchy, is what makes it so effective. “Moving in Stereo” is a bit different — it’s trippy, light on the lyrics (sung by Orr) and more daring in its experimentation with the New Wave sound. “All Mixed Up” ﬁnishes off the album, again relying on the staples of a Cars song: repetition, call and response and vocal layering. The song picks up as it goes on, reaching its peak at the very end and making the listener disappointed that the song, and the album, are ending.

I’ll admit it: I grossly underestimated The Cars before watching Your Place or Mine. While the movie may not have been one of the most signiﬁcant developments of popular culture in the past decade, I do have it to thank for my newfound appreciation of The Cars. And, if you want to take away a bigger point from this article than I did from Your Place or Mine, let it be this: I get it now, Peter. I get it now.

Test Spins is a weekly throwback column reviewing and recommending classic and underrated albums from the past. It runs every Friday.

Sydney Levinton is a sophomore in the College of Arts and Sciences. She can be reached at slevinton@cornellsun.com.

Sun Exclusive: A Conversation With Football Head Coach Dan Swanstrom

On Feb. 15, 2024, Sun sports editor Jane McNally and writer Hamna Waseem sat down with newly minted football head coach Dan Swanstrom. The interview was intended to be released just ahead of Swanstrom’s inaugural season with the team.

This is Part Three, which details Swanstrom’s goals for the program in his inaugural season and beyond.

Jane McNally: So, you were talking about how this team has a lot more work to put in –– how did you know that you were the right person for this role and to coach this team together?

Dan Swanstrom: I’m glad the Director of Athletics, Nikki Moore, chose me. I’m really thankful for the opportunity. … There’s certainly a level of imposter syndrome. [I’m] you’re sitting here going, ‘okay, do I really have what it takes?’ The history here isn’t great, and it’s been a long time since Cornell football has been good. But the one thing I just kept looking at that I just couldn’t get out of my mind when this job opened was

“You have to ﬁgure out what the problems are ﬁrst before you start trying to solve them.”

Head coach Dan

Swanstrom

the success of the other sports.

There [are] world class athletes all over this campus. From wrestling, to hockey, to now men’s basketball. … Men’s lacrosse is tremendous. And you look at the soccer programs, and just everywhere I looked, I [thought] everyone’s having some success athletically. There’s something here in the bones that if I could maybe figure out or tap into, can I get football to be good? That was one of the things I really leaned into.

I think the other thing too was my conversations with Nikki Moore. I really had confidence in her vision. I had confidence in the way she articulated her vision for the sport of football and the confidence she had that

there was something here that could be successful, and that football, with her support, could be good. That was big for me.

I don’t know why I felt this way. I can’t explain it, nor can I really put it into words. But there’s something that I was very confident that I was the right person to do this. And I had no idea why. It was like an inner peace with the whole thing of like, just please give me the opportunity to do this. I want to do this. I don’t know why I want to do it, but I just wanted to do it. And sometimes you just don’t know. Sometimes you just want to [build] a fire and you want to run into that fire.

I had been in the mix for a lot of different jobs and had a lot of different opportunities, but … I don’t know, that’s just the way I felt. She couldn’t even finish her sentence when she offered me the job. You know, no negotiations, nothing. Like, I’m coming. Getting in the car and let’s go to work. I was ready to run in and start. I don’t know why I felt that way. I can’t even explain it.

Jane McNally: Yeah, you said when you were hired that you have a legitimate vision to have a great football program here at Cornell. What kind of vision do you see this program taking in the next couple of years?

Dan Swanstrom: Oh, we’ve got to crawl first. Then we’ve got to walk before we can run. In my mind, I’m trying to figure out what that looks like. But right now my big thing is let’s get the 87 men who are here for the offseason committed. Let’s get them really understanding what committed Division-1 student athletes look like at a high-end football program, and what that looks like day in and day out. Because I’m not sure we fully understand what that looks like. And I’m still not sure they fully understand because I’m very much in the infancy of teaching.

So right now, I’m just leaning into championship habits when I see them, and when I see them I’m celebrating. We’re working so micro right now. We can’t even fathom a macro situation with a vision at this point, right? Like you can’t have a vision for a finished product when you can’t do the basics of what a football program needs to do. So what we’re doing right now is we’re just celebrating the little victories or celebrating high-end effort. We’re celebrating what we define as committed behaviors from the players and trying to set

an example of what that looks like. And there’s so many little things that need to be celebrated and fixed and rectified to get us moving in the right direction.

It starts with buying commitment from those players, asking them for complete blind faith. I mean, they didn’t choose me. They didn’t choose this, they chose a completely different experience here. They chose the experience before. That’s what they wanted. That’s what they chose. And now all of a sudden you got me. And you know, I’m a pretty serious individual. I’m a pretty dedicated individual. And now they’ve walked into this completely different program. And so now we’re just figuring out if that fits what they want to do.

You know, obviously we’ve got to recruit well here to Cornell, we’ve got to bring in the best student athletes we can from around the country and get them to buy [in] and get them to be committed. And let’s see what that looks like. Let’s see what that product on the field looks like. My biggest thing right now, I’ll be very honest with you, you’re asking about this long term vision –– most people have a vision for the first 100 days. And my big thing right now in my first 100 days is I just need to learn as much as I can. You have to figure out what the problems are first before you start trying to solve them all.

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

FOOTBALL

By JANE McNALLY and HAMNA WASEEM Sun Sports Editor and Sun Staff Writer

COURTESY OF CORNELL ATHLETICS

Cornell @ Colgate

Football