INDEPENDENT SINCE 1880
The Corne¬ Daily Sun Vol. 135, No. 16
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 2018
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16 Pages – Free
ITHACA, NEW YORK
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‘Border Angels’
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A.M. Rain P.M. Cloudy HIGH: 72º LOW: 66º
Enrique Morones will visit Cornell classrooms to share his experience advocating immigration reform. | Page 3
Viri Garcia ’20 found Cupcakke’s performance fun and unique. DNCE? Not so much. | Page 8
Sophomore Ben Darmstadt will miss the 2018-19 season as he recovers from a back injury. | Page 16
Grads React to Profs’ Support for Suspended NYU Colleague By AMINA KILPATRICK
of Nimrod Reitman, the graduate student involved in the case, pushed him to remove the course from his schedule. “Her decision to sign the letter definitely influenced my decision to an extent,” Shipman told The Sun. Graduate students are responding to three Cornell His biggest frustration comes with the amount of professors’ decisions to sign a letter supporting a New power that advisors hold over graduate York University professor suspended students. He advocates for unionizaof sexual harassment — and they are tion and increased parity in education. coming to different conclusions. “Tenured professors hold an Profs. Cathy Caruth, Cynthia immense power over grad students Chase and Jonathan Culler, all careers,” Shipman said. “Professors have English and comparative literature, the ability to use their power to basiwere among 51 scholars that signed a cally shape, manipulate, and ruin grad letter of support for NYU Prof. Avital students however they please because as Ronell, German studies and compargrad students we have no check.” ative literature, in May after she was One of the checks that Shipman found guilty of sexually harassing a PROF. CARUTH PROF. CHASE PROF. CULLER believes should be implemented is a graduate student by NYU. union for graduate students. Last semesIn a letter to the editor published in The Sun on Sept. 17, Caruth explained that the group letter of support disturbed some graduate students. Take ter after the vote for graduate assistant union recognition of scholars only wished to prod NYU to conduct a fair for example Peter Shipman grad, who dropped a class election were certified, the final decision was to not unioninvestigation rather than rule to protect their “bottom he had with Caruth in part because she signed the letter. ize, as previously reported in The Sun. CGSU will not be Although he said there were additional reasons that he able to file another unionization election petition for almost line,” adding that she never viewed the final version of dropped the class, including scheduling and the curricuthe letter, which she disproved of. “Upon reading the letter that appeared, many of us lum, Caruth’s apparent support of Ronell over the claims See GRAD STUDENTS page 14 Sun Staff Writer
felt that the letter was improper and that we certainly did not (and do not) wish to appear to condone any attempts to silence or defame accusers or to condone abuses of power by those who have it,” Caruth continued. Despite Caruth’s clarification, the decision to sign a
Economics Recertified Pollack Addresses New Mental Health Measures As STEM, Students Get Extended Work Visas By BREANNE FLEER Sun News Editor
By YUICHIRO KAKUTANI Sun News Editor
After months of lobbying by international students, the economics major has been reclassified as a STEM program, giving international students studying economics up to three years of U.S. work authorization post graduation. Prof. Wendy Wolford, vice provost for international affairs, confirmed to The Sun that the economics major was successfully re-classified without any changes to the curriculum on Sept. 18. Michael F. Lovenheim, chair of the economics department, added that the major was “Recertification reclassified in early September. of the economThere are 17 current students who have officialics [major] ... ly declared economics as a will truly benefit major and are international students with F1 visas. This a lot of does not include under-classinternational men who are pursuing the major but have yet to declare. students.” Christopher Schott ’18, former Akanksha S.A. international students Jain ’20 liaison, previously claimed that roughly 50 international students study economics. According to Dr.Uttiyo Raychaudhuri, executive director of the Office of Global Learning, any economics student who graduated in December 2017 or later is eligible for the work authorization extension, including the 17 currently enrolled international students who have declared the economics major. “The recertification of the economics [major] is something that will truly benefit a lot of international See RECERTIFICATION page 4
President Martha E. Pollack presented an overview of the University’s recent diversity and inclusion initiatives and efforts to address mental health concerns at Monday’s Graduate and Professional Student Assembly meeting. Cornell recently released a report outlining these initiatives, which have included the hiring of three new therapists, the implementation of an Intergroup Dialogue Project session during orientation for new students and a plan to spend $60 million over five years to increase hiring and retention of a diverse faculty, as The Sun previously reported. In regard to mental health, Pollack spoke about several substantive changes, including an increase of over
JING JIANG / SUN CONTRIBUTOR
‘Carefully vetted’ counseling | President Pollack on Monday evening said that the number of Cornell’s counselors will increase from 32 to 43 over two and a half years. two and a half years from 32 to 43 counselors and Cornell’s decision to contract with ProtoCall, a 24-hour by-phone mental health counseling service that Pollack said was “very carefully vetted” in the hope that it would be helpful.
In response to an audience question about calls for an external review of Cornell’s mental health services, Ryan Lombardi, vice president for student and campus life, said the See POLLACK page 4
Man Saved From Stewart Avenue Bridge By NICHOLAS BOGELBURROUGHS Sun City Editor
NICHOLAS BOGEL-BURROUGHS / SUN CITY EDITOR
Rescue effort | Firefighters work to rescue a man from a net below the Stewart Avenue Bridge near the edge of Collegetown.
Ithaca firefighters rescued a man from a net below the Stewart Avenue bridge next to Cornell’s campus on Monday evening, rappelling down and bringing the man to safety. The man, whose identity was not released, was taken to a local hospital with non-life-threatening injuries and is expected to fully recover, Cornell spokesperson John Carberry said. Emergency personnel arrived
at the bridge over Cascadilla Creek about 6:30 p.m. They connected a firefighter to a truck’s ladder and he rappelled off of the west end of the bridge as other firefighters peered over its metal edge. Police diverted vehicles and curious students away from the bridge as the sun set. The firefighter was pulled back up at about 7:24 p.m. and the man was placed into an ambulance. Walter Hartman said he See BRIDGE page 4