03 04 16 entire issue hi res

The Corne¬ Daily Sun

Student Assembly Considers Creation

The Student Assembly debated a new resolution to create a First Generation Student Representative position at its meeting Thursday

First generation students should have a position of formal representation on campus, according to Saim Chaudhary ’17, S A minority liaison at large

Fourteen percent of undergraduate students are first generation students

“The first generation students on cam-

pus feel they are underrepresented not only on the S A but on many forums on campus, ” Chaudhary said “They feel that the administration does not listen to their concerns they feel they should have a representative that is concerned solely with their interests ”

Travis Ghirdharie ’17, a first generation student and co-sponsor of the resolution, argued that the proposed position would help first generation students feel united and heard

C.U. Signs Brief Opposing Grad Unionization

By TALIA JUBAS Sun Senior Writer

C o r n e l l Gr a d u a t e St u d e n t s United, the graduate student union,

s a i d t h e y a r e “d i s a p p o i n t e d ” b y Cornell’s suppor t of an amicus brief that argues against the unionization of graduate employees

In an ongoing case before the National Labor Relations Board, the Graduate Workers of Columbia graduate labor

u n i o n a t t h e C o l u m b i a University argues that grad-

u a t e e m p l o y e e s s h o u l d b e afforded the same labor rights and legal protections granted all university workers

A r uling in favor of GWC would reverse a 2004 NLRB decision at Brown University which held that the re l a t i o n s h i p b e t we e n g r a d u a t e s t udents and their universities is only

educational

“ Gr

h their employment as teaching and r e s e a r c h a

m

b o r vital to Cornell’s mission and deser ve to be recognized as workers,” a statement from CGSU said

The statement pointed out that graduate students teach and staff a majority of the classes and labs on C o r n e l l , p e r f o r m i n g e q u i v

l e n t duties to other educators on campus

“ The core educational functions of the University are based, to a large extent, on the labor of the graduate

employees, and their work thus has a real and measurable value,” the statement said

However, the recently filed amicus brief contends that “there is no compelling reason ” to grant the same status to university employees and graduate student workers

The brief authored by lawyers at Har vard University and signed by nine other priv a t e i n s t i t u t i o n s , i n c l u d i n g Cornell argues that graduate research and teaching positions are par t of “ a fully integ r a t e d e d u c a t i o n a l e x p e

ence, ” and that “the market value of a

i c e s p rov i d e d by doctoral candidates is not taken into c

i d

n

o n w h e n d e t e r m i n i n g stipends provided to students teaching during their graduate programs ”

Piazza’16 Pleads Not Guilty to Drug Dealing Charge

Wyatt Piazza ’16 pled not guilty to selling prescription drugs in Collegetown on Monday, according to Prof Luke Fenchel, legal studies, Ithaca College, Piazza’s attorney Piazza appeared before Judge John Rowley at the Tompkins County Court, where he entered his plea Piazza was then released on a $3,500 bail, according to the attorney

The Cornell University Police Department and Ithaca police arrested Piazza Monday, charging him with criminal sale of a controlled substance in the fourth degree a Class C felony, according to a CUPD press release

Piazza is a senior in the School of Hotel Administration and the student executive chef at the Statler Hotel

Compiled by Stephanie Yan

Candidates Present Platforms

For S.A. Presidential Election

By JUSTIN PARK

Student Assembly presi-

Mi

c h McBride ’17 debated their varying visions for the student body Wednesday in Ives Hall

Be

n g h e r t h

ye a r a s S A Parliamentarian, citing her experience of working on t h re e St

and University administra-

tions led by two different

hopes to improve communic

organizations and their representatives by bringing conversation out of the classroom and into the S A “[Moving conversations to the floor of the S A ] really gets students to talk about the different issues that they are facing and about how we c

ve change on campus, ” Berger said Be

between the student body and administration “A lot of the time students are left out of the conversation [we should] figure out how to get a student on each and every one of

whether it’s a voting seat or not, ” she said McBride, currently the S

Friday, March 4, 2016

Passive Versus Active CO2

Concentrating Mechanisms in Higher Plants: Rowan Sage 11:15 a m , 404 Plant Science Building

Speaker Series: Stor ytelling for Change 12:00 - 1:30 p m , 102 Mann Librar y

Feel Good Fridays

12:20 - 1:10 p m , Willard Straight International Lounge

C U Music: Keyboard Networks Session I 2:00 - 5:30 p m , B20 Lincoln Hall

Café Con Leché

6:30 p m , Latino Living Center, Comstock Hall

Speaking about concerns of

Lead poisoning is an irreversible

Speaking

their voters could lead to great domestic conflict ”

Speaking about a Cornell athlete juggling school, sports and religion

“It was always like a balancing act With trying to figure out how to keep the religious aspects but also understanding that athletics was a very important part of my

By PHOEBE KELLER Sun Assistant News Ed tor

A group of anonymous students titling themselves the “Union of White Students at Cornell” penned an open letter to the Cornell community, saying the group aims to “ preserve and advance their race ”

In the letter, the group claims it is comprised of over 100 undergraduate, graduate and doctoral students who have been meeting covertly to “avoid character assassinations of the press and the Black Lives Matter extremist groups ”

“The rhetoric in mainstream media and even our own higher academia has proven to be toxic and divisive attempting to undermine the efforts of the white race and even promote shaming and self-guilt,” the letter proclaims “We are a community that attempts to recognize the many accomplishments of the white race and preserve our heritage ”

The group says it takes issues with the administration’s consideration of demands made by black student groups at

Cornell, citing Black Student United’s request that the name of Cornell Plantations be amended as an example of a “puerile demand” from a minority group

“We have observed this here at Cornell and are ashamed at the response of the University to placate these delusional minority groups on-campus honoring their demands,” the letter says

The writers of the letter also found fault with the protests and proposals on college campuses beyond Ithaca; singling out the actions of Melissa Click, a former professor at the University of Missouri who was fired after an altercation with a student journalist; incidents of “black activists calling for the murder of white people” and “extremists” at Dartmouth “harassing students in the library ”

Speaking on their goals in creating the group, the Union of White Cornell Students said they plan to unite white students at Cornell and act to counter the “ nonsensical” demands of minority groups on campus

“We will seek to strengthen our university with fellow

Prof Explores Race Through Literature

He compared the message of these two literar y works to that of the contemporar y Black Lives Matter movement

white students and reverse the nonsensical demands of extremist organizations on our campus, ” the letter said “We will continue to meet in secrecy and going forward will open our group to new members in an agreed upon manner to maintain the safety and identities of our members ”

The group declined to name any member of their group when approached for comment on Thursday The group ’ s Facebook page features a profile picture captioned with “#MakeAmericaGreatAgain #Trump2016” and has received 15 likes since being created Wednesday night

Similar Facebook groups were also created in November last year at other universities across the country, including New York University, University of Missouri and Swarthmore College However, according to The Daily Beast, many of these groups were exposed as fake It has yet to be confirmed whether Cornell's iteration of the group is legitimate

com

C.U.Women’s Council To Host Symposium

Fo

c u s e d o n A r t s

By JEANETTE

The President’s Council of Cornell Women’s 26th annual symposium will bring together female faculty, alumnae and students for talks, mentoring and networking events this weekend

This year, event organizers chose “ The Arts” as the theme, after the inauguration of Klarman Hall, according to Erin O’Connor ’85, chair of PCCW ’ s annual meeting committee

“ We have changed the format some what this year while we have always had a theme to organize speakers around, this year as a tie-in to the Ar ts theme, we have added several events including a tour of the Johnson Museum and a film festival at Cornell Cinema,” she said

In addition to member-specific events, O’Connor mentioned that this year effor ts were made to include more events that were open to the general Cornell community

Prof Gerard Aching, Africana and romance studies, stressed the ongoing need for racial consciousness by connecting two literar y pieces, written 60 years apart, in a lecture Wednesday

Aching discussed Frantz Fanon’s Black Skin, White Masks and Ta-Nehisi Coates’ Between the World and Me related the themes of these two works with a quote from Fanon

“Oh my body, always make me a man who questions,” Aching quoted

He commented on the strength of the apostrophe a literar y device used to address the body as an autonomous character in calling the reader to participate in self-interrogation and “ to feel with us the openness of ever y consciousness ”

Aching related the use of apostrophe to the topic of race, which he said Fanon described as “ our deadliest abstraction ”

“ What relationship with one ’ s body could there be if it was assigned to states of abstraction?” he asked the audience

Aching proceeded to connect the negative connotation of this abstraction to the Western oppression of Native Americans

“Even though the indigenous communities in the Americas preexisted Columbus’ arrival, their bodies were subjected to legal, political, and cultural definitions at the start of the 16th centur y in order to rationalize the extension of European sovereignty,” he said “Humanists in favor of declaring war against these communities invented an Indian that satisfied the needs of empire so that the appropriation of their lands could be justified ”

The lecturer said that the African slaves were deprived of all bodily significance, contrasting the appropriation of Native Americans to the suffering of African slaves

“ The African slave enters the Western hemisphere in the 16th centur y as commodified labor, as dispossessed body,” Aching said

The commoditization of African Americans is ongoing, and the “ acceptance of black bodies as currency ” is a theme explored in Coates’ book, Aching said

“ The ability to look upon the body, affirmatively, must counter the historical dispossession of the black body, and in particular, the devastating combination of under valued life and valuable body that Coates’ describes and the founding of the local chapter of the Black Lives Matter movement in Ithaca seeks to address,” Aching said

To affirm and strengthen these movements, Arching emphasized the ongoing need for self-interrogation

“ There will be no curative sociogenic approach to the black subject unless he possesses the psychic space for self-interrogation,” he said

Aching also stressed the distinction between the individual and “the one ” a concept he said was

by

Vanderbilt University to define the role of African Americans in present society

C

r a c e “ The one ’ is a structure, ” he said, quoting Spillers “It is the small integrity of the now that accumulates the tense of the present as proofs of the past and as experience that would warrant or might even earn the future ”

Finally, Aching applied the concept of “the one ” to what he said are the current challenges of being black in America

“ The Black Lives Movement is not motivated by abstractions of blackness,” he said “It speaks for the movement of black lives, but it consists of many ‘ ones ’”

Concluding with a quote from Coates, Professor Aching issued a final call to action to all attendees

“You are a bearer of a body more fragile than any in this countr y, he quoted What I want you to know is that it is not your fault, even if it is ultimately your responsibility ”

“[ We] opened up more of our talks to the Cornell community including a film event, the undergrad PCCWNe w Agenda event and the Saturday afternoon ‘Issues in the Ar ts ’ talk,” she said “Our diversity event Friday evening is also usually well attended by students broadening our reach into the student community ”

The weekend will also feature targeted toward recognizing the effor ts of Cornell faculty, said Jeannette Pére zRosselló ’91, president of PCCW

“One of my personal favorite events is the dinner we have with faculty Ever y year we award seed grants AffinitoSte war t Grants to junior faculty in the tenure track,” Pére z-Rosselló said “An outcome of the projects funded by our grants is the preliminar y data or paper that the faculty then can use to obtain larger grant awards This directly impacts their research and potential for promotion and academic success ”

According to O’Connor and Pére z-Rosselló, some of the most eagerly anticipated events hosted by the PCCW community this weekend are the keynote address by Prof Jenny Sabin, architecture, and the reception dinner with guest speaker Joanne M DeStefano MBA ’98, the University’s chief financial officer

Over the course of the weekend, the symposium will aid current students in building strong relationships with alumnae and encourage them to gain confidence in their abilities, Pére z-Rosselló said

“It is a priority of PCCW to mentor students and let them know they have a network of alumnae that are behind them suppor ting them,” she said “ We provide mentor-

Networking is also impor tant for the faculty and for our own members ”

O’Connor attested to the power of bonds built through networking events at the symposium, referencing her own experiences with the event

“Last year I met two undergrads at [our] lunch event, ” she said “I wound up hiring both of them as summer interns and one of them joined us as a full time associate this Januar y [It was a] ver y practical outcome from networking ”

Pére z-Rosselló urged the female community to join the weekend events

“[ We] encourage women from the University student, faculty and staff [alike] to par ticipate,” she said

Candidates promise to better refect students’ current needs

Internal Operations, said he is working with the Knight Institute to add diversity requirements to the Freshman Writing Seminar He said he hopes to establish mandator y two to three week discussions on diversity issues related to course subjects

“ If we t a l k a b o u t t h e s e internal biases that we have in a small group discussion if you were required to talk then we would hopefully see an end to some of the [injustice] that we experience, ” McBride said McBride also emphasized

shift and to make you feel that your voice is heard from the administration and to the student assembly representatives,” she said “I will not make promises that these changes will happen, but will continue to work with administration ”

McBride stressed out that with the suppor t of the student body, his proposed reforms could become a reality

“I feel that I’ve been working on many issues

“I feel that if I have students behind me we would be able to accomplish some of these goals.”

medical amnesty for organizations in order to promote emergency calls and cultivate a safer campus environment

“ The current Medical Amnesty policy reads that individuals are protected, but if you call from a fraternity or sorority house, you don’t get protection for the organization,” he explained Both candidates emphasized that the S A needs to transform to better and more accurately reflect the needs of students

Be

advance “better representation, better policies and better outreach ” “ We are tr ying to make this representative

l

financial aid,” he said “I’ve been actually making progress and I feel that if I have students behind me we would be able to accomplish some of these goals ”

B

hopes the two candidates will work together in the future, regardless of the outcome of the election

“Both of us will hopefully be on the S A next year, ” she said “ We can both work together to move our platforms to become a reality regardless of whether or not we are elected ”

The debate hosted by the Cornell Speech and Debate Society featured almost 30 cosponsoring student organizations and questions created by the Debate Society with submissions from student groups and the audience

Voting for the S A elections will begin March 14 and close at 2:00 p m on March 15

C.U. Graduate Students Contend For Equal Employment Rights

e d u c a t i o n “ Gr a d u a t e c o l l e a g u e s a t p u bl i c u n i ve r s i t i e s a c ro s s t h e n a t i o n h a v e b e e n u n i o n i z e d f o r d e c a d e s , ” t h e C G S U s t a t e m e n t s a i d “ Ev i d e n c e h a s s h ow n t h a t c o l l e c t i ve b a r g a i n i n g h a s b e e n a h e l p f u l re s o u rc e f o r s t re n g t h e ni n g t h e r e l a t i o n s h i p b e t w e e n t h o s e c o l l e a g u e s a n d t h e i r a d v is o r s ”

t e

i o n i n t h i s c o u n t r y a n d w i l l r e p r e s e n t a n i n a p p r o p r i a t e i n t r u s i o n i n t o l o n g p ro t e c t e d a re a s o f a c a d e m i c f r e e d o m a n d a u t o n o m y, ” t h e b r i e f s a i d C o r n e l l Gr a d u a t e St u d e n t s Un i t e d c o n t e s t s t h e s e s c h o o l s ’ s t a n c e o n t h e c l a s s i f i c a t i o n o f g r a d u a t e s t u d e n t s , s t re s s i n g t h a t t h e re i s “ c o n v i n c i n g e v i d e n c e t o t h e c o n t r a r y ” t o t h e v i e w t h a t r e v e r s i n g t h e 2 0 0 4 d e c i s i o n w o u l d d a m a g e p r i v a t e s e c t o r

“Graduate assistants are workers and poses collective bargaining as the appropriate intermediary between graduate workers and their university ”

C G S U h a s c o n t r i b u t e d t o a n o p p o s i n g a m i c u s b r i e f, s u b m i tt e d by t h e A m e r i c a n Fe d e r a t i o n o f Te a c h e r s , a c c o rd i n g t o t h e g ro u p ’ s s t a t e m e n t “ We c o n c u r w i t h a n d s u pp o r t A F T ’ s b r i e f, w h i c h a f f i r m s t h a t g r a d u a t e a s s i s t a n t s a r e w o r k e r s a n d p o s e s c o l l e c t i v e b a r g a i n i n g a s t h e a p p ro p r i a t e i n t e r m e d i a r y b e t we e n g r a d u a t e w o rk e r s a n d t h e i r u n i ve r s i t y a n d f a c u l t y m a n a g e m e n t , ” t h e C G S U s t a t e m e n t s a i d A c c o r d i n g t o t h e C G S U s t a t e m e n t , l e g a l e x p e r t s o b s e r vi n g t h e

Talia Jubas can be reached at tjubas@cornellsun com

S.A. Proposes New First Generation

New added position would show frst gen students they are not alone, says resolution co-sponsor

“ Ev e r y f i r s t g e n e r a t i o n s t u d e n t f e l t l i k e t h e i r i s s u e

w a s t h e i r ow n i s s u e , ” h e s a i d “ T h e re p re s e n t a t i v e

w o u l d re p re s e n t t h o s e s t u d e n t s ”

Fi r s t g e n e r a t i o n s t u d e n t s f a c e m a n y i s s u e s t h a t

s t e m f r o m h a v i n g p a re n t s w h o h a v e n o t e x p e r i e n c e d

c o l l e g e l i f e , a c c o rd i n g t o Ni c h o l a s K a r a v o l i a s ’ 1 8 , o n e

o f t h e c o - s p o n s o r s o f t h e re s o l u t i o n “ T h e re a re a l o t o f f i r s t g e n e r a t i o n i s s u e s s u r r o u n di n g s o c i a l c a p i t a l t h a t c o m e s f r o m p a re n t s w h o a t t e n de d c o l l e g e , ” h e s a i d “ E i g h t y p e r c e n t o f f i r s t g e n s t u -

d e n t s d o n ’ t a t t e n d o f f i c e h o u r s We w a n t t o f i n d w a y s t o d e b u n k t h o s e s t i g m a s ”

E d u a rd o Me d i n a ’ 1 8 v o i c e d h i s s u p p o r t f o r t h e re so l u t i o n , d r a w i n g o n t h e s p e c i f i c i s s u e s t h a t h e s a i d h e

h a s f a c e d a s t h e f i r s t i n h i s f a m i l y t o a t t e n d c o l l e g e “ E s s e n t i a l l y, t h e re a re v e r y s p e c i f i c a d v e r s i t i e s a n d

“Every first generation student felt like their issue was their own issue. The representative would represent those

students.”

p r o b l e m s t h a t f i r s t g e n e r a t i o n c o l l e g e s t u d e n t s f a c e ,

o n e o f t h e s e i s o f t e n l ow s o c i o e c o n o m i c s t a t u s a s w e l l a s f i r s t g e n e r a t i o n s t a t u s , ” h e s a i d

Ad d i t i o n a l l y, s e c u r i n g f i n a n c i a l a i d i s o f t e n e s p e -

c i a l l y d i f f i c u l t f o r f i r s t g e n e r a t i o n s t u d e n t s , a c c o rd i n g

t o Me d i n a “ I h a d t o h a v e m y g r a n d m o t h e r c o s i g n a l o a n Sh e d o e s n ’ t e v e n s p e a k E n g l i s h We l l s Fa r g o c a l l e d m e a n d

t o l d m e ‘ Yo u r c o s i g n e r d o e s n ’ t s p e a k E n g l i s h Yo u

n e e d t o f i n d a t r a n s l a t o r, ’ ” h e s a i d “ I re a l l y d i d n ’ t w a n t t o t a k e o u t t h e l o a n s f o r t h i s s e m e s t e r I w a s q u e s t i o n

Tom Schreffler can be reached at tschreffler@cornellsun com

High School Teacher Loses Job

After Leak of Her Nude Photo

COLUMBIA, S C (AP) A high school teacher lost her job after a teenager went through her cellphone between classes, found a nude picture of her and shared it on social media

No students have been disciplined, pending a police investigation

Union County School District Superintendent David Eubanks, who forced Leigh Anne Arthur to resign or be fired, said Thursday that it's her fault for leaving students unattended during a four-minute break between classes

"She has tried to make this out as though it was strictly related to the photos," Eubanks told The Associated Press "I could care less what her pictures are on the cellphone "

More than 8,000 people signed a petition by Thursday afternoon urging that the teacher get her job back Nearly 3,000 commented as well, many expressing shock that the victim is being blamed

Arthur, 33, told police on Feb 18 that while she stepped out of her classroom, a 16-year-old boy took her unlocked smartphone from her desk, opened the photos application and found a nude selfie she had taken for her husband as a Valentine’s present

Then, using his own phone, the boy took a picture of the image and shared it Soon, multiple students were sharing it on social media, and someone left copies, along with a harassing note, in Arthur's mailbox

State police have examined this evidence along with the student’s cellphone, State Law Enforcement Division spokesman Thom Berry said Thursday

School officials are unsure how many people saw the image None of the students involved have been suspended or expelled, although criminal charges are likely, Eubanks told The Associated Press Thursday in a phone interview

"The students are probably going to be charged by law enforcement," Eubanks said "When you start transmitting pictures of nude people, on cellphones, it’s probably against the law "

IDOMENI, Greece (AP) By the hundreds they come, trudging along the sides of highways and across fields, dragging tired toddlers and pushing the elderly and injured in wheelchairs a seemingly endless stream of humanity heading north for a better life

Only their path has been blocked by border restrictions set up by European leaders balking at the sheer magnitude of the problem they face: How to care for and integrate hundreds of thousands of refugees and migrants knocking at their door

The fields on the outskirts of this Greek border town have become the flashpoint in Europe's massive refugee crisis, the size of which the continent has not seen since World War II

More than a million people, mostly Syrians fleeing a vicious five-year civil war, fled to the European Union in 2015 The first two months of this year have seen no letup despite the winter and its rough seas, and governments across the continent are bracing for even more with improving weather in the spring

At the border, Macedonian authorities

have set up coils of razor wire, leaving a narrow passage through which they control the migration flow Over the past few weeks, the controls have grown increasingly stringent, and now only a trickle are allowed through

The first restrictions were applied late last year to those deemed to be economic migrants fleeing poverty in their homelands

Only Syrians, Iraqis and Afghans were permitted to pass Then last month, Afghans were stopped too Now, Macedonia says it will only let as many refugees in as Serbia to the north will allow to cross its frontier sometimes as few as 30 a day Sometimes none

“We ran from no life, thinking we might have one, and now we’re stuck in no life again ”

It didn't take more than a day or two for the refugee camp on the Greek side of the border, with a capacity of about 2,000, to overflow Now, hundreds of tents are pitched around it, spilling out across a railway line into the nearby fields An estimated

“She has tried to make this out as though it was strictly related to the photos ”

D a v i d E u b a n k s

Arthur told local media that it’s part of her job to monitor the hallway between classes But Eubanks said some students said she was in an adjoining room at the time, and that’s why her director told her to resign or be fired for failing to supervise her class

Arthur, a 13-year veteran, quit her job teaching mechanical and electrical engineering and computer programming at the school’s vocational center She did not immediately return messages left Thursday by the AP

In a local television interview, she said she forgives the student, but believes he should be held responsible

“We all make stupid decisions when we ’ re 16,” Arthur told WYFF-TV Still, “he had the ultimate decision to take pictures of my pictures and he had the ultimate decision to send them out ”

10,000 people are camped here, hoping against hope that the border will open and they will be let through

For some, arriving after days or weeks of a journey that nearly cost them their lives as they fled across the sea to Greek islands from Turkey, the sight is almost unbearable: They fear this field is where their dreams have come to die

H a l a H a d d a d

“I would love to have hope, but after you see all of this hope can ’ t stay in places like this,” said Hala Haddad, a 19year-old English literature student from Syria’s now pulverized city of Homs “The only thing that's here is desperation and misery ” Haddad fled Syria along with her sister Insaf, four brothers and their parents two years ago, with the family trying to make a life in neighboring Jordan They hoped they would be away only a month or two, and

wanted to stay close to home so they could easily go back But the war only intensified, and the cost of college there was soon prohibitive They decided to head for Germany to rebuild their lives

“We ran from no life, thinking we might have one, and now we ' re stuck in no life again,” Haddad said

The perilous sea journey, in a flimsy rubber boat that started sinking from the sheer weight of its overloaded human cargo, was supposed to be the worst of it A Greek coast guard vessel plucked the panicked passengers from the sea just in time Haddad was trampled in the melee and received a blow on the side of her head and says she can no longer hear from her left ear

“I thought that it will be an easy trip after the sea The sea was a terrifying trip, a nightmare actually I thought that I will lose a member of my family there,” said 25-yearold Insaf Haddad “Then when we got to Greece, I thought that the trip would go easily But the reality hit us that the Macedonian borders are closed We cannot do anything about this ”

EMMA LICHTENSTEIN 16

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From the Editor

Goodbye to Sunny Nights

t u re Wi t h yo u , we s a w s i g n i f i c a n t c h a n g e o c c u r a t t h e Un i ve r s i t y, f ro m o u r s e s q u i c e n t e n n i a l a n d Pre s i d e n t El i z a b e t h Ga r re t t ’ s i n a u g u r a t i o n t o t h e c re a t i o n o f a n e w c o l l e g e a n d d o ze n s o f o t h e r n o t a b l e e ve n t s Wi t h t h e l a u n c h o f o u r n e w we b s i t e , T h e Su n t o o k t h e n e x t s t e p t ow a rd s d e l i ve r i n g n e w s i n a w a y t h a t w i l l re s o n a t e w i t h C o r n e l l i a n s a n d It h a c a n s f o r ye a r s t o c o m e T h e m e m b e r s o f t h e 1 3 3 rd Ed i t o r i a l B o a rd o f t h i s i n s t i t u t i o n a re s o m e o f t h e m o s t a c c o m p l i s h e d , d e d i c a t e d p e o p l e a t C o r n e l l , a n d w o rk i n g w i t h t h e m h a s b e e n a n a b s o l u t e p r i v i l e g e f o r m e A n d t o t h e m e m b e r s w h o w i l l e ve n t u a l l y m a k e u p t h e 1 3 4 t h : I a m s o p ro u d o f t h e w o rk yo u h a ve d o n e ove r t h e p a s t s i x we e k s , w h i c h h a ve b e e n o n e o f T h e Su n ’ s m o s t t r a n s f o r m a t i ve p e r i o d s d u r i n g m y t i m e o n t h e Hi l l I c a n n o t w a i t t o s i t b a c k a s a p ro u d a l u m n u s a n d a d m i re yo u r w o rk O ve r t h e p a s t f o u r ye a r s , I h a ve b e e n f o r t u n a t e t o m e e t h u n d re d s o f a m a z i n g C o r n e l l i a n s f ro m a c ro s s c a m p u s a n d a l l w a l k s o f l i f e My

e x p e r i e n c e a t T h e Su n h a s a f f o rd e d m e o p p o r t u n i t i e s t h a t I w o u l d n o t h a ve i m a g i n e d , a n d I a m f o re ve r g r a t e f u l f o r t h e m Ou r o r g a n i z a t i o n h a s a l o t o f w o rk t o d o m ov i n g f o r w a rd , b u t I a m c e r t a i n t h i s ve n e r a b l e i n s t i t u t i o n w i l l c o n t i n u e t o re i n ve n t i t s e l f f o r t h e b e n e f i t o f a l l T O T H E H I L L ! T R A

Letter to the Editor

Goodbye to a world of picas

Dearest TAlicea:

We never thought we’d have the opportunity to ink our words in this esteemed paper of yours that we ’ ve been designing all these years I guess it is only fitting and bitterly ironic that when you finally give us the chance, it’s to write a piece lauding you for all your achievements at the end of your reign here at The Sun Yes, yes, you ’ ve done well To remind ever yone, you were a sophomore yes, sophomore underlined and bolded for emphasis managing editor, and somehow you later became editor in chief Little did our freshman selves know that it was fruitless to make a bet on which position you’d end up in Apparently, you wanted to spite us and do both ( We’re pretty sure that’s the reason you chose to run for both)

But let’s not forget where you started: as a little designer with us, plebeians, in a world of picas, misspelled mastheads, empty snack drawers and endless debates over fonts (By the way, we would like this to be published in Helvetica if Schroeder permits?) So, we couldn’t be more proud of how far you ’ ve come, and we ’ re glad to have been there with you ever y step of the way to Shortstop, to our Wednesday lunches, to fishbowls and to the occasional impromptu office dance party Good times

While The Sun is now finally setting on us, as well as your aspirations for a career in journalism to our disappointment, we know good things lie ahead in our retirement But we also know that we’ll always look back and cherish the times we had together Here’s to you, to the squad, the braintrust and to The Sun and the Hill!

Your friends, J.Z. and Z.P.

Rudolf Efremov | Barely Legal

Sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, not sorry

Dearest Papa T, Your friends, whom you randomly became friends with only a year ago, decided to come together to write you this letter It’s more of an apology to The Sun, actually Good luck getting through it (especially since you ’ re not a Scholar, by any means)

We’re sorry for certain Tri-Council leaders saying “That’s Zika” every two seconds And we ’ re sorry for repeating it in print now

We’re sorry you had to endure four days with us in a cabin, with -124 degree temperatures, frozen water pipes and copious amounts of Waka (FLOCKA)!

We’re sorry for coming to Sun parties and constantly breaking things, making messes all over the place and making you take on the intense leadership position of “Janitor-in-Chief ” But in all honesty, you did ask us to “steal Solo cups from our frats and bring it to The Sun ” Get your own cups, geed!

We’re not sorry for asking you to put all of our

random stuff in The Sun (or keeping a few important things out) and not expecting to have to pay for ads

We’re sorry for making you drive us to the glorious dive bar that is the Creeker every week, and then being belligerent as you soberly drive us to Sammy’s Pizza

We’re sorry to Sammy’s Pizza for the legacy that your stallion of a girlfriend left them after yet another lovely evening at Dunbar’s (may it rest in peace)

We’re sorry for how bad you are at inner tube water polo

We’re sorry you ’ re not allowed in Weenie Hut Juniors, because where you really belong is SUPER Weenie Hut Juniors

Finally, we hope you ’ re sorry For losing an ID at Subway on the way to the Big Apple and ruining all the fun We hope you enjoyed going to bed early while all your friends stayed out and raged That’s your bad Love, your once-a-week friends

Ethan Berkowitz | Views From the 14853

Objectivity at the Oscars

Leo won, Lady Gaga lost and Michael B Jordan wasn ’ t nominated Is that an accurate summary of the Academy Awards? It’s certainly subjective and not all-inclusive sound familiar?

In the coming years, the changes announced by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to “[double] the number of women and diverse members of the Academy by 2020” will hopefully make a meaningful impact on the diversity debate that reached a tipping point this year But is it too much to hope that bringing a more diverse set of views will also reduce so-called “Oscar snubs” in general and improve the academy ’ s ability to give credit where credit is due?

Historically, the Academy has a very so-so track record of a w a r d i n g movies and i n d i v i d u a l s who have been remembered as classics Take

A l f r e d Hitchcock for e x a m p l e , whose works such as Psycho, North by Northwest and Vertigo, have influenced fellow directors Steven Spielberg and Christopher Nolan Hitchcock never won an Oscar Take Tom Cruise, who was one of the biggest movie stars since the 1980s, with roles in Jerry Maguire, Rain Man, Top Gun, just to name a few Cruise has never won either Lastly look at It’s A Wonderful Life, the perennial Christmas-time favorite about a suicidal man who needs an angel to help him recognize that his life has meaning While the American Film Institute considers this film as the most inspiring film of all time, the Frank Capra-directed fantasy drama won zero Academy Awards

Leonardo DiCaprio, who was perhaps the biggest winner of Sunday night with his Best Actor nod for The Revenant Having already fallen short of winning after being nominated four times in the past 20 years, Leo’s prolonged quest for an Oscar became so comical that a computer game, “Leo’s Red Carpet Rampage,” was created in honor of his quest In fact, many critics have spoken of his win as ‘long overdue,’ rather than ‘finally deserving ’

All of these snubs raise the broader question: how is the winner decided? Unfortunately, a lot of specific information about the nominating process isn’t made available The voting page on the Oscars website is very nondescript about the process In summary, one can ascertain that any voting

Hollywood Reporter published a piece based on a poll it conducted amongst Academy members voting for the awards in 2015 Their results found that almost six percent of Academy voters didn’t view all the best picture nominees Even worse, the movie Selma, which many viewed to be snubbed in light of its disappointing takeaway at the awards, went unseen by ten percent of the Academy’s voters, which was eight percent higher than the 2015 winner, Birdman How is it that voters can be expected to objectively vote for the unsurpassed, greatest film of the year when they haven’t seen each nominated film?

Unlike in a marathon, in which the winner can be clearly identified as the individual who crosses the finish line first, the Oscars have no purely objective standard to determine its winners.

Mystery Of the Ghost Voter

Ever y countr y has a portion of elected officials who do not consider it necessar y to go to work The absence of a public official is important in principle, because they represent the public and the public interest They are granted significant power that should require extreme care or, at least, presence in the workplace Some are absent only for the discussions, others skip votes During the discussion period, the absentees risk missing important amendments and contributing to the discussion Missing voting, however, is much worse, not only because those representatives avoid responsibility, but also because that creates the opportunity for somebody else to vote in their place, a practice called “ghost voting ”

To be fair, this practice is almost omnipresent and the U S federal government has a decent record The French version of Donald Trump, Marine Le Pen, is a good example of the practice across the Atlantic She was accused of fraud when her vote was recorded 10 minutes after she left the European Parliament For the French parliamentar y session in 2012, studies have shown a median absence for 10 to 15 percent of the votes depending on the party An article published in the Guardian revealed that a U K member of parliament had been absent 67 percent of the

When the people elect an official and decide to pay him through taxes a significant salary, they should expect him or her to at least show up to work, both to discuss the issues and to vote on them.

time

In comparison, although a Senate-sponsored report claims that “typically only a handful of Senators are present during floor debates,” which is certainly questionable, the statistics for voting are significantly better According to Govtrack, the median for missed votes by officials in Congress is about two percent That being said, the issue persists for two reasons First, there are individuals who are frequently absent, such as some presidential candidates, which is understandable during election year (30 to 45 percent of absences), but less so for the year before (10 to 15 percent)

Mostly though, attendance and ghost voting remain a problem in state legislative bodies For instance, elected officials in Tennessee pass out bizarre voting sticks that allow them to vote in lieu of an absentee from a distance In Texas, two votes killed a tax bill, despite the fact that the voters were not even in Austin The most remarkable event, however, is that of a representative voting for weeks after his death When confronted with this, some representatives feign ignorance, while others say outright that they don’t see a problem with it

Of course, the problem is that ghost voting is against the rules: representatives are required to attend and vote in person without delegating, both in Congress, as well as most of the state legislative bodies The second issue is a lack of transparency, as we do not know who actually voted Moreover, if we do not know who voted, we cannot hold that person accountable for his actions Finally, when the people elect an official and decide to pay him a significant salar y through taxes, they should expect him or her to at least show up to work, both to discuss the issues and to vote on them

To be fair, it’s a lot easier to look back on movies and specific roles from decades ago to declare who ‘should have’ been the winner (and who shouldn’t have been, Cruise), but snubs have become commonplace in recent years as well

Let’s consider

members can choose a Best Picture nominee and that the voting process begins in late December Digging a little deeper into the website, you can find the “Rules & Eligibility” Page Rule Two of the awards, eligibility, lists specific criteria for film eligibility, but not voters In the Balloting and Nominations section of the Academy’s complete rulebook, most of the rules guide nominations and procedures Interestingly enough, there is no explicit rule mandating the viewing of the final nominations While the Academy has a provision to provide screenings to “insure a full and fair consideration of the merits of all eligible achievements,” this only goes so far as helping voters who ‘desire’ a specific screening, without requiring all voters who haven’t seen a particular nomination to do so In light of no explicit rule mandating viewings, one would hope that perhaps there has been an unwritten rule Last year, The

Declaring a winner for an Academy Award is different than determining who a marathon Unlike in a marathon, in which the winner can be clearly identified as the individual who crosses the finish line first, the Oscars have no purely objective standard to determine its winners Like with most competitions in the filmmaking, there is inevitably going to be a degree of subjectivity, and deciding who should win is always going to be based at least somewhat on factors beyond the performances and productions themselves For many people involved in this industry, even just getting an Oscar nomination is nearly as much of an honor and a career goal as actually winning the award The changes announced this year to increase diversity was a meaningful and symbolic step towards capturing a broader view on what individuals and films are worthy of these nominations However, the Academy can and should do more to strive towards a more fair and objective voting scheme that most objectively identifies the best of the best, or else its credibility for recognizing the best of the best will continue to diminish

What are the possible solutions? Mandator y presence is already introduced in most legislative bodies, sometimes sanctioned by disciplinar y proceedings However, enforcement is difficult for political reasons the politicians who raise the issue have no interest in doing so Quorum minimums that exist are mostly used as either a means to pause a discussion or to filibuster the vote, and not to verify actual presence

Another way to solve the problem would be to reform the voting procedure One could argue for the legalization of the process, allowing for proxies to be sent in advance That would solve the “ghost voting issue” and increase transparency and accountability Yet, it could concentrate power between the hands of certain individuals who could wield multiple votes and become “ more equal” than their peers in the assembly Perhaps this is the reason why delegating votes is banned in most places as a principle

Another measure could be electronic voting Since sessions could already be streamed live, senators could both vote for amendments and for the laws themselves from a distance They could even join the discussion via a live stream, in order to introduce amendments However, that holds the risk of cyber-attacks the Office of Personnel Management (the HR office of the White House) was recently hacked by two individuals Also, both China and Russia have recently demonstrated their willingness to use cyberattacks as weapons

Finally, one could simply hold representatives who do not go to their workplace accountable during reelection After all, a private individual would get fired if they are not present, regardless of the excuse, and that would apply both for the discussion and for the voting stage They would be held liable if they secretly asked somebody else to do their job and that somebody else went on to kill the bill, for example So why not apply the same for public officials?

The Corne¬ Daily Sun

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ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT What to Avoid Next

BY LORENZO BENITEZ Sun Contributor

When Michael Moore responded to the deaths of 12 innocent high school students with Bowling for Columbine, no one could have argued against the film’s political significance A fiery critique of congressional negligence to curb gun violence, Moore’s impassioned documentary was so charged with a palpable, collective anger that many still refer to it as one of the most compelling political statements made by any documentarian Even watching Bowling for Columbine nearly a decade after its initial release as an Australian high school student did little to weaken my appreciation of its persuasive fury And the fact that U S legislators have failed to account for the thousands of victims of gun violence and have written off their deaths as an acceptable cost for the preservation of a 200-year-old constitutional amendment has only strengthened the contemporary legacy of Moore’s most important work

Moore’s latest film, Where to Invade Next despite being deceptively titled to suggest a censure of American foreign policy focuses on social welfare offered by other countries that Moore believes America ought to imitate However, the two characteristics which animate Bowling with its renowned political zeal are sorely lacking in this mostly flaccid film Where to Invade Next has neither the aesthetic formality that ensured Bowling’s potency, nor the correct narratorial tone with which to dictate its pedagogy

For a start, Where to Invade Next wastes its opening moments with a serious lack of specificity As the opening title sequence unfolded after the opening scene, I initially feared that what was coming was another example of Moore at his worst: a cantankerous, disingenuous, self-aggrandizing polemic who persuasively advocates for leftist policies out of middle-class anger rather than rational justification (The Big One, released in 1997, is Moore at his absolute worst ) However, as the film proceeded, it gradually became apparent that its broad, overarching thesis presents a shopping list of favorable social policies America should consider imitating While no one can deny the nobility of Moore’s relentless efforts to better America and, indeed, Moore’s most commendable trait is his consistent desire to correct the myopia ingrained within American

BY LAURA KERN Sun Contributor

The concept alone is strange enough characters from the DC Universe band together to defeat an immortal mass murderer and save the future but the execution of DC’s Legends of Tomorrow is even worse First, it is clearly a show aimed solely at fans of the CW ’ s other DC programs

T h e c h a r a c t e r s minor figures in Arrow and The Flash receive virtually no background

i n D C ’ s L e g e n d s o f

To m o r r ow ’ s p i l o t episode Thus, the only way of knowing who they are or why they are of any importance is to w a t c h a h u n d re d episodes of previously aired television

Pe r h a p s v i e w e r s would be able to overcome this crippling flaw if the characters were interesting enough to s p a r k f u r t h e r re s e a r c h How e v e r, t h e “Legends” chosen for the show are truly the dullest possible contenders Captain Cold and Heatwave a campy pair of super villains from The Flash are some of the most irritating characters to resurface in DC’s Legends of Tomorrow Two other characters, Hawkgirl and Hawkman, have only previously appeared in a crossover episode of Arrow and The Flash, and therefore have almost no established fan base or founda-

exceptionalism it is precisely because he is unable to temper his all-encompassing wish to improve every facet of American society that severely undermines Where to Invade Next’ s immediate power Too many ideas are introduced to effectively galvanize not only a targeted political response, but any lasting response altogether

The film’s rudimentary structure akin to that of a televised travelogue through a series of mostly European countries and one token North African nation is about as exciting as it sounds Each country has one “lesson” to teach America whether it be Italy’s incredibly generous paid vacation schemes or Finland’s better education outcomes This episodic structure is problematic, because it does not allow the film the opportunity to mature a single idea or follow a clear arc The taut, methodical editing of Bowling for Columbine is substituted here by a televisual conceit unbecoming of a cinematic documentary In fact, Where to Invade Next feels like it would have been a lot more appropriate as an eight-episode TV series Then Moore would have been able to explore each country ’ s policies in greater detail, and audiences would have had greater time to digest his more detailed explanations

Inherent to the film’s structural problems is also a strange decision regarding the film’s timeline It honestly feels like the film peaks within its first hour, when Moore concludes his foray into the German classroom by proposing the immensely powerful thought experiment that America ought to similarly confront the shameful chapters of its past The film is then painfully elongated to the point that each successive “lesson” feels sorely anticlimactic and redundant

Moreover, it is in Moore’s narratorial voice that audiences can find one of the film’s most annoying characteristics The incredulity Moore feigns when he “learns” of these purportedly better policies is incredibly grating, especially when he asks pointed questions designed to solicit deliberate answers he already knows It is here that Moore’s sense of humor devolves into smug self-righteousness, which makes Where to Invade Next one of those films undermined rather than strengthened by Moore’s comic sensibilities It’s worth noting, however, that Where to Invade Next demonstrates some of Moore’s core strengths as a filmmaker among them his coy use of ironic juxtaposition to highlight perceived injustices For instance, a brutal montage of American prison life, accompanied by

the pop idealism of “We Are the World,” is reminiscent of how Moore’s pessimistic debut Roger & Me concludes with a rendition of “What A Wonderful World ”

In spite of Moore’s competencies, Where to Invade Next is ultimately burdened by its lack of specificity Instead of pushing for a specific policy change, Moore advocates for a whole swath of policy proposals that audiences retrospectively condense in their memory if not forget When one further accounts for the misguided directorial tone that steers the film, it seems as though Moore’s latest effort will inevitably assume an unremarkable place within his mostly mediocre oeuvre Most of Michael Moore’s films aren ’ t very good, but we recognize him as a filmmaker for his few films that are Where to Invade Next sadly lacks the dramatic urgency of these few important works, and instead shares more in common with the divisive histrionics of most of his other filmography

Lorenzo Benitez is a freshman in the College of Arts and Sciences He can be reached at lbenitez@cornellsun com

No Tomorrow for Legends

tional histor y As a result, they add no depth to the overall plot, and the audience remains unengaged by their stor yline Even the show’s main villain, Vandal Savage, is largely absent The only semi-interesting role is Ray Palmer (a k a The Atom) and our interest in him stems more from Brandon Routh’s dreamy brown eyes than from the complexity of his character

Further, the introduction of Rip Hunter is a terrible and bafflingly avoidable

tions might be ignored had it not been for the terrible casting True, Dar vill is a passable actor probably the best in the show, in fact but it is impossible to separate him from his most famous role to date The producers should have taken this attachment into account before taking him onto the show

Eve n f o r t h e C W ’ s s t a n d a rd s , D C ’ s Legends of Tomorrow is extremely cheesy Certainly, Arrow and The Flash are far from quality televis i o n p rog r a m s , b u t they are susp e n s e f u l

failure Hunter is a “ Time Master” gone rogue, a hero in a long coat and stolen time machine attempting to save his family from dying in an apocalypse 150 years in the future The similarities to the plot of Doctor Who are already a little distracting, but Arthur Dar vill Ror y Williams from seasons five through seven of Doctor Who plays the part of Rip Hunter and consequently makes the show entirely ridiculous Though “ Time Master” bears a striking resemblance to “ Time Lord,” the connec-

t

c k i n e s s DC’s Legends o f To m o r row does not have t h e s a m e

effect The episodes provide absolutely no motivation to follow the series a judgment that remains true even in the fourth and fifth weeks of its run The show has too many main characters to provide a strong protagonist; Rip Hunter, likely the intended frontrunner, has not had any development beyond the story of his family’s deaths Flatness pervades the entire show The purp o s e o f b r i n g i n g s u c h s t a t i c c h a r a c t e r s together should have been to focus on them individually and cultivate their well-round-

ed, dynamic personalities Yet they remain as minor as they were in their original shows Because the characters are so unsatisfying, the audience seeks an interesting plot, but it proves equally as disappointing The circumstances surrounding Hawkgirl, Hawkman and Vandal Savaget are simply confusing, and the countless flashbacks to Ancient Egypt offer little explanation Rip Hunter barks constantly about the importance of maintaining the timeline, but does almost nothing to enforce it or fix the mistakes his team has made The years and locations the team visits seem like attempts to promote the costume department, but little more, as they have no discernable effect on the storyline Viewers of DC’s Legends of Tomorrow have nothing to hold onto; neither the characters nor the plot ever seems to progress Perhaps this progression will take place later in the season, but by then it may be too late Even viewers who keep watching out of dedication to Arrow or The Flash are quickl y l o s i n g i n t e re s t i n D C s L e g e n d s o f Tomorrow, thanks to its sore lack of interesting characters and plot points With more thorough development and a more well explained plot, the show could gain the same viewership as the CW ’ s other programs fans of DC’s Legends of Tomorrow’ s predecessors truly want it to be good On occasion, a riotous fight scene or sharp oneliner gives the show hope for a better fate, but then Captain Cold makes another icerelated pun and once more leaves dedicated fans out in the cold

Laura Kern is a freshman in the College of Arts and Sciences She can be reached at lkern@cornellsun com

T h e W i t c h C a s t s a D i s t u r b i n g S p e l l

BY MARK DISTEFANO Sun Staff Writer

Until it goes off the rails in its third act, The Witch maintains an unnerving, tense aura of creepiness and dread The dread comes not from gore or bloodshed, but from the overwhelming threat of violence that seems inevitable in a 1630s Puritan setting That is Puritan, not puritanical These folks in bonnets and heavy cloth seem like the real witches; they would be willing to sacrifice their children if commanded to do so The Witch occurs in an environment where religious devotion and the desire to avoid the hot place approach insanity The eerie themes of fanaticism are supported by scraping, screeching strings on the soundtrack reminiscent of the score from The Shining Like the Overlook Hotel, this world is cavernous and monstrous There is evil and danger lurking about, but no one knows when it may strike

The story is a claustrophobic family drama set on the farm of a newly immigrated clan from England The color palette is muted and bleak as ever scarcely a shred of orange or green on screen The Indian corn is withered and rotten, spooky woodlands surround the homestead and the local wildlife seems possessed of malevolent spirits Thomasin (the marvelous Anya Taylor-Joy) is keeping watch over her baby brother when he suddenly disappears With a name that includes “sin,” she is marked as an outsider similar to Hester Pryne from The Scarlet Letter from the outset of the movie Soon her demonic younger siblings Mercy and Jonas are accusing her of black magic and satanic bidding, and her petrified parents don’t know any better than to believe the children’s accusations Thomasin’s grief-stricken, manic-depressive mother Catherine (Kate Dickie) harbors an ill-conceived hatred for her after her brother’s disappearance Her father William (Ralph Ineson) a stoic, gravel-voiced rock who resembles Jesus with his flowing brown locks at the supper table does his best to quell her mother’s rantings, but can only remain unconvinced for so long

The only character who is sympathetic to Thomasin’s plight appears to be her brother Caleb (Har vey Scrimshaw), a noble little boy who is as terrified of sin and damnation as she is While hunting in the woods with William, Caleb asks his father if his baby brother has gone to hell, and William replies that he doesn’t know In response, Catherine insists that the baby has gone to hell

because he has not been baptized The tension between the parents builds and leaves the children feeling even more uneasy The foremost ghoul at play the one that casts looming shadows over the entire film and begets the gloomy setting is the grim tradition of Puritanism A strong promise of Jacobean tragedy hangs over the family’s little house What’s most frightening is the sense that Thomasin’s parents probably would not hesitate to kill her

The Witch was written and directed by first-timer

Robert Eggers He demonstrates an uncanny feel for period detail, a penchant for filling his frames with claustrophobic tension and a knack for staging and camera movement that escalates the discomfort palpably There is one particular shot of Caleb’s demonic possession that is a masterstroke of acting and composition The camera leers over the pallid, afflicted boy as he retches up words of prayer and at this moment, Eggers’ genius is apparent Eggers is less successful at the gorefest splatter stuff Shots of people being gored in the woods and of a gnarled old woman who lives deep in the forest lose their magnitude at the hands of Eggers That said, the movie loses its pressurecooker slow burn when it surrenders to unforeseen violence in the last twenty minutes and the movie becomes genuinely horrifying Eggers does elicit magnificent performances from his young actors and their onscreen parents Taylor-Joy has a wide-eyed face, a blank canvas with so much thought swimming behind her pupils that the audience can project multiple layers of intention and character onto her The actress carries the whole film on her shoulders with grace and ease Harvey Scrimshaw is a similarly marvelous young actor, Ralph Ineson makes a sympathetic yet unstable and threatening father and Kate Dickie is an appropriately mad old maid All cast members inhabit the epoch of 17th century New England with complete believability. Credit has to be given to the screenplay, which evokes Shakespearean verse and draws from historical accounts of witch-hunts and evil sorcery

Ultimately, The Witch transcends its genre roots to become more than a simple horror film It is also a haunting exercise in lugubrious period scenery, family drama and family tragedy, blind devotion and repression of free will By the end, it’s not clear who the culprit is, but it seems everyone in the Puritan milieu is marked for doom Considering the conditions of their culture and society, it is not so surprising

Mark DiStefano is a senior in the College of Arts and Sciences He can be reached at mdistefano@cornellsun com

Racing Its Way to Mediocrity

BY TIM REHM Sun Staff Writer

No w t h a t t h i s y e a r ’ s A c a d e m y Awards have been doled out, we are feverishly weaseling out potential contenders for next year ’ s race In general, the biopic genre feeds on awards and r a re l y h a s d i f f i c u l t y g a i n i n g c r i t i c a l

a t t e n t i o n a n y t i m e o f t h e y e a r

However, the biopic R ace does not look like a promising contender for next year

R ace sheds light on sprinter Jesse Owens (Stephan James), who began his formidable r unning career as a track

a n d f i e l d r u n n e r f o r O h i o St a t e University before r unning in the 1936

O l y m p i c s , h e l d i n a c h a o t i c Na z i Germany on the brink of war Owens owes par t of his success to his college coach, Larr y Snyder ( Jason Sudeikis), who is por trayed as the stereotypical mentor leading his mentee down the

path of hardships to the awards podium The film juggles themes of race, injustice and determination as it tries to pull itself together into a hopeful Oscar selection In the end, the film falls shor t, merely becoming a respectful ode to the late track r unner

The film commences with Owens’ depar ture for college and his stoic and unemotional fare well with his family At the star t of Owens’ training at Ohio State, Coach Snyder vie ws Owens as the typical “diamond in the rough” and is excessively attentive to his progress

What strikes the vie wer as odd and misguided is the lack of pace the first half of the movie demonstrates In one scene, the intensity level skyrockets as Owens and Synder converse and the movie tries but fails to propel itself into a d r

Sudeikis does not help the histrionics when he simply opts for cheaply slamming his desk or a drinking from his bottle whenever tension arises rather than displaying sincere emotion.

political climate that saw Whites

Snyder, who was

and conceited at times, as if he has forgotten what time period he was in He s

Snyder At some points, James’ deliver y was witty and appealing, but overall it felt out of place with the given circumstances Additionally, the script itself falters in fleshing-out characters and succumbs to the predictable dialogue that functions merely to meet stereotypical film guidelines

Race ambitiously puts a lot on its plate The title of the film itself has dual meaning but is not a good depiction of what the film ultimately is tr ying to represent Instead of focusing clearly on Owens and his record-breaking strides as an African American, we are given an underdeveloped relationship between a coach and player At the same time, we are given an unnecessar y stor yline of the U S O l y m p i c C o m m i t t e e d e c i d i n g whether or not America should even par ticipate in the games

Many of the earlier scenes focus not o n O w e n s ’ t r a i n i n g , b u t r a t h e r o n

U S O C m e m b e r Av e r y B r u n d a g e ( Jeremy Irons) and his affairs in Berlin

During these scenes, he is seen per using t

Joseph Goebbels (Barnaby Metschurat) that in order for America to par ticipate in the Olympic Games, Germany must b

Semitic Nazi propaganda

The dichotomy of these two events are related but never find the right pacing amongst themselves, and as a result, n

i t h e r g e t s t h e f u l l a t t e n t i o n i t deser ves This leads to forced racist banter, excessive motivational monologues and an overdramatic cast all of which unfor tunately fails to be as

gripping as director Stephen Hopkins intended

Sudeikis, who has found comedic success from Saturday Night Live and Horrible Bosses, seems grossly miscast for the role as a fierce and unrelenting track coach I was never able to get comfor table seeing him bark and shout a t o f f i c i a l s a n d a t O w e n s , a s h i s demeanor felt forced and one-dimensional It’s an honest effor t, but doesn’t resonate well with the emotional undertone the film tries to por tray

Fur ther, Stephan James crafts a palpable Jesse Owens who is skilled at depicting external conflict, but lacks the depth and sincerity to depict grave internal conflict (especially when his ambivalence towards par ticipating at the Olympic Games only makes himself appear indecisive, rather than tr uly torn)

The film for tunately does pick up t o w a r d

n t h e Olympics begin and we witness Owens as a symbol of more than just track and f i e l d St i l l , n o t h

inspires this film It is

shame since Owens’ triumph was a staple not only

R ace never really reaches full sprint and seems to walk sheepishly over the finish line even though it addresses

Sun Sudoku

RAVENWOOD

GRAD,

GRAD

Baseball Travels to Florida, Kicks Off Season With New Coach

Ivy League title in history came four year ago in 2012, after completing 31win season

vious season, but are instead focused on the season in front of us, ” Wagner said

Iwas talking to my girlfriend the other day about our future kids (please God not anytime soon), and the topic of sports came up She said that she wouldn’t let our kids play football when they’re older and that she would rather they choose soccer This news was almost as outraging as whatever album Taylor Swift released beating out

To Pimp a Butterfly at the

A new chapter begins for Cornell baseball this weekend when the team travels to Florida The Red looks to build momentum in their first games of the season behind their new coach Dan Pepicelli when they square off against Northeastern in a three-game series

This season is truly a fresh start for the Red The team finished last season 13-27 (9-11 in the Ivy League), completing a second straight third place finish in the Lou Gehrig Division Thirteen of the Red’s 27 losses last season were by one run The team ’ s first

“We really view this season as a chance for a fresh start, ” said junior infielder Frankie Padulo “Coach Pep coming in has brought a new, rejuvenated attitude to the program, so we ’ re excited about the direction we ’ re headed We are definitely a different team than last year and are excited to write a script that's different from the past couple years ”

Junior infielder Tommy Wagner echoed Padulo’s sentiments, noting how the Red must not let the close games slip away this year

“We aren ’ t looking back to the pre-

Cornell has high aspirations and expectations for this season, with an Ivy League title in sight

“I certainly think we have a really good plan in place to be winners every night we go out, so I would be disappointed any night we go out and don’t win,” said head coach Dan Pepicelli

The Red’s road to the championship starts this weekend with the series against Northeastern

“Our goal for this weekend is to win all three games, ” Wagner said

Grammys for album of the year last week I could go on about why soccer is the most detrimental force in American culture, but I’ll leave that for a future column I’m a firm believer that participating in youth football can have a great positive impact on kids After all, I attribute all of my outstanding qualities to playing football throughout my youth (okay maybe football isn’t that beneficial) I know there’s a growing concern about the possible dangers of playing youth football, but let me outline the reasons why I think the benefits of football outweigh its risks, and why me and my girl will be getting into a few more arguments when our kids become old enough to put on pads First of all, football helps you develop many qualities that not only are beneficial on the field, but are also crucial to a successful life in general A football team is like a family, and there are many positive characteristics that come with embracing the team like a family First of all, coaches stress accountability, loyalty and trust After going through many battles with your team, you learn the importance of doing your part and playing your role to the best of your ability If you don’t, you hurt your

team This sense of accountability not only helps your team win football games, but helps you become a better person in life

Football is also very beneficial in developing leadership qualities In seventh grade (my glory years as a football player), I was thrust into the starting quarterback position Up to that point in my life, I had never really

assumed a major leadership position But that promotion to a key starting position made me learn on the fly how to be a good leader I had to rally the offense and motivate them when things weren ’ t going very well I learned how to manage the team during practices and how to get the best out of them I can honestly say that my quarterback experiences growing up shaped who I am today Admittedly, my middle school football team was awful, and we only won a handful of games, but I think that is beside the point Football thrusts people into situations where they are forced to be leaders, and this is undeniably helpful

I never really knew the value of hard work before football I was always the tallest guy in basketball, so dominating the paint was never hard for me

But when it came down to football, there was always someone who was bigger, stronger, or faster than me Football is the one sport where taking even a day off can give the opponent a greater advantage I learned to take things into my own hands and hit the weight room in my spare time I sought out a coaches outside of the field that could give me tips on