04-20-21 entire issue hi res

The Corne¬ Nightly Moon

Campus Moon Club: ‘Sunnies’ Should Be ‘Moonies’

By A.D. LIGHT IT UP Sun Staff Writer

The Cornell Daily Sun has lost its reign as the only club named after a celestial body on campus. Now, a club known for moon gazing and anti-capitalist sentiments is urging The Sun to shake the sunshine from its name.

“As a group of moon lovers who endorse moon gazing and advocate against Sun-hours propaganda, we are calling for The Sun to reconsider its name,” Cornell Moon Club wrote in an online petition. “The moon is the center of our universe, and we think it deserves its rightful place as the ultimate celestial body on this campus.”

The Moon Club meets every full moon at Baker Flagpole to moon gaze and blaze, and knits together a group of moon lovers who hope to push against internalized capitalism on campus through the Instagram page @cornellmoonclub.

But according to Moon Club founder and president Luna Mond ’22, group moon-gazing and memeing isn’t enough to spread its influence across campus.

Mond said the Cornell community needs to embrace

the moon as the superior celestial body, and renaming its newspaper is a powerful way to start. The petition has circulated across social media and has amassed more than 420 signatures as of Monday evening.

“Sunshine already had its moment.”

Luna Mond ’22

“With all due respect to The Sun, I think The Nightly Moon would better suit our nocturnal campus,” Mond said. “Sunshine already had its moment. It’s time to look to the moon, because it is seriously dope as hell. If we can get enough signatures, maybe we can bring this to the editorial board by the next full moon.”

The Cornell Daily Sun editorial board wrote in a joint statement that it was aware of the petition and said a long-term name change remains unlikely. The newspaper remains fond of sunshine, the statement read, but the editors

are willing to test out the moonlight for one day only.

Dozens of Cornell Daily Sun alumni took to social media to criticize the petition, arguing that the calls to rename the paper are “seriously disrespectful and damaging to this 140-year-old institution,” one Facebook comment read. Another alum wrote on Facebook that changing celestial bodies “would be dishonorable to Kurt Vonnegut ’44.”

A young alumnus tweeted that he worried renaming the newspaper would have other consequences — including forcing staffers and alumni to call themselves “moonies” instead of “sunnies.”

Still, Mond said Cornell Moon Club looks forward to continuing to spread its affection for the moon across campus.

“The petition is a step in the right direction,” Mond said. “Who wouldn’t want to be a moonie? Even if we can’t convince them to permanently change celestial bodies, I really hope the newspaper editors keep our dear moon close to their hearts.”

A.D. Light It Up can be reached at alight@cornellsun.com.

Trustees OK Department Name Change to ‘English: Get Lit’

Profs embrace cannabis, ‘other postmodern subjects’

By CHARLES BIG DICKENS Sun Staff Writer

After renewed advocacy and a department vote, the Board of Trustees approved the second English department name change in just over two months — trailblazing from the Department of Literatures in English to the Department of English: Get Lit.

“We wanted to diversify our department, and we soon realized that our current name was not inclusive enough,” said Wendy Hemphries, the chair of the new English: get lit department. “Ostensibly, the word ‘literature’ narrows our range of humanistic inquiry, and ‘lit’ more aptly embraces the shift in academia toward the study of cannabis and other

postmodern subjects.”

The name change approval comes just weeks after the New York State Legislature voted to legalize recreational marijuana. But according to some English faculty, the name change had been brewing at Cornell since March 13, 2020 — when a group of the department’s more eco-critically inclined professors gathered to blow off steam in the Nabokov Lounge in the wake of the campus shutdown.

ty embraced this proposal, which the department voted to approve at the first faculty meeting after the state legalized cannabis in late March.

“This was a really hard-fought win.”

Prof. T. H. Collins

Still, Eyre said the name change has given her a boost of optimism, as the department looks to welcome the latest trends in English scholarship more broadly.

Director of Undergraduate Studies Prof. Mary Jane Eyre, English: get lit, told The Sun she was surprised how many facul-

“This change is a result of an ongoing shift in literary study in this department — and others across the country — to focus on the true meaning of ‘lit,’” Eyre said.

Eyre added that she is a strong proponent of the change and is most excited for

the new accompanying curriculum — which includes classics such as Catcher in the High, Bong of Solomon, All Quiet on the Western Blunt, Much A-Doobie About Nothing and Ganja With the Wind Department graduate students are also eagerly anticipating much chiller first-year writing seminars and discussion sections, encouraging their students to be one with the literature.

“This was a really hardfought win,” Prof. T. H. Collins, English: get lit, told The Sun, while smoking a blunt on Libe Slope. “I’ve already started celebrating.”

Charles Big Dickens can be reached at cbdickens@cornellsun.com.

The Corne¬ Nightly Moon

Tired and Trying Our Best Since 1880

What The 139th Editorial Board Is Doing While Their Zoom Cameras Are Off

KATHRYN “ICE BREAKERS 4 DAYZ” STAMM ’22

Literally just setting up breakout rooms

ANUSHYA “MONEY BAG$” ALANDUR ’23

Battling a dying industry

CATHERINE “TRUE GEM”

ST. HILAIRE ’22

Making all our lives better

NAOMI “WORLDWIDE WEB” KOH ’23

Fixing the crashed website, again

ODEYA “ANOTHER GEM” ROSENBAND ’22

Hanging out with TikToker Jeremy Scheck ’22

JYOTHSNA “PARTY PARROT” BOLLEDDULA ’24

Soothing the hearts and minds of media relations

TAMARA “TKTK” KAMIS ’22

Moving to the S.A. beat against her will WENDY “MANAGING TIME” WANG ’24

Curating the perfect Spotify playlist for when you’re embarrassed to play your own

KRISTEN “FAX ON STAX” D’SOUZA ’24

Never turns her Zoom camera of because she likes the attention

HANNAH “/” ROSENBERG ’23

Reminding us about the photo credit line policy for the 50th time

SALOMA “INVERTED PYRAMID” AYOUB ’22

Trying to fgure out the text wrap on InDesign

PUJA “SNOW ANGEL” OAK ’24

Eating a candy every hour on the hour

ANNIE “NIGHT OWL” WU ’22

Catching up on sleep

KATHERINE “MONEY BAG$, JR.” WANG ’24

Ensuring everyone is wearing our ~iconic~ maroon sweatshirts

MIHIKA “OFFICE EXPLORER” BADJATE ’23

Breaking us out of our continuous loop

ANGELA “TBP” BUNAY ’24

Converting her calendar from PST

JOHN “ESOTERIC-ASS FACTS” COLIE ’23

Prompting us all to ask, “How the hell do you know that?”

AMELIA “BACK FROM PRACTICE” CLUTE ’22

Baking ... in more ways than one

WILL “BABY SPORTS 1” BODENMAN ’23

Walking a mile after missing the bus stop

AARON “BABY SPORTS 3” SNYDER ’23

Manifesting a Cornell football win

MEGHANA “DESKING-LESS” SRIVASTAVA ’23

Living her best life

CONNOR “IT’S NOT EASY BEING” GREENE ’22

Admiring the greenery

NIKO “OUR HERO” NGUYEN ’22

Not-so-secretly trying to rename Te Sun after the moon

EMMA “COOLER THAN YOU” PLOWE ’24

Planning a stellar concert

MADELINE “FUNNIER IN PRINT” ROSENBERG ’23

Going to Shortstop so she doesn’t lose it

PRANAV “AD MAN” KENGERI ’24

Finding us the most obscure advertisers #iykyk

ANIL “THE SCIENCE GUY” OZA ’22

Slack-reacting with Bill Nye ’77

YUBIN “WEB-FOOTED” HEO ’24

Assistant fxing the crashed website

VEE “WXYZ” CIPPERMAN ’23

Planning us a lit virtual LNOP

NOOROO “GLOBETROTTER” UMAR ’23

Finishing desking at 8 p.m.

JOHN “PUNNYYOONBUNNY” ’23

Crafting a list of jokes to Slack you

BENNY “THE BURNER” VELANI ’22

Managing our munchies

LUKE “FRACCENT” PICHINI ’22

Writing the sports teaser on a pink sticky note three hours early

SRISHTI “KARAKO SUITS” TYAGI ’22

Requesting graphics three weeks out

MARIA “ARTSY FARTSY” MENDOZA BLANCO ’24

Turning out a masterpiece graphic in an hour

AMAYA “TIKTOKER” ARANDA ’23

Bringing us into the 21st century ... for real this time

SERENA “$ERENA” HUANG ’24

Refunding our late-night Uber trips back from the ofce

SURITA “SOCIAL QUEEN” BASU ’23

Manifesting a KG42 meeting ... sigh

KAYLA “HOSTESS WITH THE MOSTESS” RIGGS ’24

Getting her roommate to give us all rides

EMMA “CROSSDEPARTMENTING” LEYNSE ’23

Matching all the colors on our print pages

JULIA “HATES BAGELS” NAGEL ’24

Wishing she were the brains behind Big Red Bun

LIAM “BABY SPORTS 2” MONAHAN ’24

Wishing Ivy League sports back into being

SASHA “EARLY BIRD” ABAYEVA ’24

Also catching up on sleep

NOAH “VLOGGER” ALPERS ’22

Admiring his tiger profle photo

CAROLINE “NEARLY VERIFIED” JOHNSON ’22

Showing us up on Instagram

BEN “BEN PARKER ’22” PARKER ’22

Ben Parker ’22-ing

EMMA “PODCASTER” ROSENBAUM ’22

Playing Among Us on her phone

Blaze it, my dudes

To the Editor:

Ayyyyyyyyyy, you remember me — I’m that rando administrator who they forced to email you about not smoking on campus after New York legalized weed because we could lose federal funding. I just wanted to say that y’all are good. Blaze it. Light up some mad doobies. Sit on the Ezra Cornell statue’s lap while demolishing a bag of Takis and puffing the magic dragon. Idk how you young people say it anymore. I just sent that email cuz the narcs made me, my dudes. We gotta keep things on the dl, but go wild. Hmu if u got edibles.

Executive Vice President Joanne DeStefano MBA ’97

Who named me Touchdown?

To the Editor:

Through the years, I’ve been wearing articles of clothing donated by students and faculty. Albeit generous, I feel as though I’m lacking something of greater value. Don’t get me wrong, I’m incredibly grateful to wear your soiled, century-old mittens. The crisp Autumn months call for a carefully knitted scarf to be placed upon me. Oxidative degradation plagues me, especially during the harsh winter season, so why hasn’t anybody thought about bringing me in to speak on our 2035 carbon reduction initiative? Everyone fills their freshman year Instagram reels with yours truly, but what real recognition do I garner? I’m the unofficial mascot for our beloved institution, yet I’ve yet to be invited to Schoellkopf Field for a football game. Inanimate objects are subjected to the notion that possessing feelings is impossible, yet here I am — sad and alone. The border collie across the street indulges in rubs and aws, but I am never acknowledged for my charm. Surely, I can comprehend that my inability to converse may not be ideal, but all I truly want is to ask two simple questions: Who named me Touchdown and why have I been cub-sized for decades?

?? the Bear

Te Cornell Twice-Weekly Sun

To the Editor:

Last I checked the name of this publication is The Cornell Daily Sun. Yet, you only give the public two papers per week. Please let me know if I missed the moment when daily and twice a week became synonymous. You know, for those of us loyal readers, it’s not right for you to follow the promise you make in your title. I punctuate my days with your crossword puzzles, commit to memorizing your masthead and can’t start the day without “Tom the Dancing Bug.” Do you not care about your audience? I have even taken it upon myself to learn Sun Style and note how you don’t use Oxford Commas. If I can dedicate that level of commitment to you, the least you can do is make sure that there is a print paper in my hand every morning. We all know that reading an article on your website doesn’t hit the same way that reading a story in print does — the fear of getting a papercut with every page flip is one of the few things that keeps me going. You’ve been independent since 1880 and lying since I can remember. Perhaps consider a rebrand: The Cornell Twice-Weekly Sun. A Daily Reader Who Does Not Appreciate Being Lied To

Tat crushing sadness isn’t seasonal!

To the Editor:

You’ve spent the whole winter complaining about Ithaca. Every morning you would wake up, make the long commute from your bed to your desk (or treat yourself and forget the commute all together) and log into a class. Out of sheer boredom — because things that were uninteresting in person don’t get any better via your laptop screen — you look to your window for some glimmer of hope when instead, you see snow and feel a bitter chill through the pane of glass. You’re sad, you curse Ithaca, you curse this institution and promise yourself that when the sun returns and the cherry blossoms find their way to the Arts Quad, you’ll feel better.

Guess what, the cherry blossoms found their way. The sun is back. But, you don’t feel better. That acknowledgement of bitter cold has been replaced with the longing to frolic in the Arts Quad as if you don’t have a prelim tomorrow that you have yet to start studying for. Hey, even Ctrl + F has its limits.

That crushing sadness from the winter doesn’t seem like it’s ready to leave you anytime soon. Professors keep piling on assignments, the temperature keeps rising and with it, the unending stress of this university climbs too. Don’t lose hope though! The administration gave you FOUR WHOLE WELLNESS DAYS, except Saturday and Sunday are weekends you should be entitled to and who the hell still has classes on Fridays and Mondays anyways?

Oh well, keep your chin up. Maybe that well-deserved break coming up will help, but you might have to stay up for the 72 hours after to play catch up. Make some room: the sadness might be here to stay and you don’t want it to feel uncomfortable.

Someone Who May or May Not Be Rooting for You in This Fight

you all suck ... at sex

By THE STACKS

I’m sorry, but it needs to be said. I’ve seen so many of you have sex, and your form is atrocious. I’m a voyeur, so I should be into this shit. But Cornellians are literally so bad at sex that not even this shit gets me going. Stop studying for goddamn oceanography or whatever shit you do and go watch some instructional videos. You

may have that Goldman Sachs internship, but I’m tired of seeing your sack sadly swaying for thirty seconds until you both fake orgasms. Do me a favor and stop screwing in the stacks until you get better.

Te Stacks can be reached in Olin Library. Please come pick up a how-to-sex manual or something. You need it — desperately.

The Corne¬ Daily Sun

University Announces Campus Vaccination Clinic

As students prepare to gather with friends, catch up on work and enjoy the spring weather, the University added another option to this weekend’s potential plans: getting a COVID vaccine on campus. In a Monday email, Assistant Vice President of Student and Campus Life for Health and Wellbeing Sharon McMullen announced that students would be able to sign up to be vaccinated on campus April 23 — the first day of Cornell’s second set of Wellness Days.

After the first attempt was canceled, Cornell plans make-up vaccination clinic to administer the Moderna vaccine.

Students who are interested in signing up for the clinic in Bartels Hall, which will be managed by Cayuga Health Systems and Tompkins County Health Department, must be registered as a Cornell student in Tompkins County Health Department’s COVID-19 Vaccine Registry. Students who have previously signed up do not need to do so again. Selected students will receive an email beginning Tuesday afternoon with an invitation to sign up for an appointment. The University did not

Cornell Tech Fires Researcher Cornell JuniorSelected

Draws reaction from tech campus, Milstein communities

By SURITA BASU Sun Assistant News Editor

of tenured Black faculty.

Fabrizio ’22 named for criminal justice advocacy Cornell to administer Moderna vaccine at Bartels Hall on April 23

Former Cornell Tech visiting lecturer and researcher J. Khadijah Abdurahman is alleging that she was fired by her colleague in late March because she spoke out against anti-Blackness and ethnic cleansing in Ethiopia.

According to Abdurahman, Prof. Tapan Parikh, information science, fired her after an online confrontation, which was spurred by a discussion on the syllabus of a mutual colleague on March 23. Angry at Abdurahman’s posts as part of this broader discussion, Parikh sent Abdurahman a series of direct messages on Twitter, which she calld racist in the letter.

As of Monday evening, the letter has 245 signatures from a range of activists and academics, including some who are affiliated with Cornell Tech. Abdurahman said she sees her firing as part of a larger problem at Cornell Tech, which has no full-time Black faculty, according to her letter.

“What does it mean to found a new graduate technical university and not feel the need to even have any Black faculty at all?” Abdurahman told The Sun. “I think that says it all.”

“When you have this display of disrespect and anti-Blackness, what does it show to the rest of the world?”

Abena Gyasi

According to Abdurahman, some of Parikh’s comments were also directed at her Oromo identity — one of the ethnic groups in Ethiopia. Abdurahman said she only responded to Parikh’s comments by asking to be left alone.

“I got an email the following morning that was two sentences: ‘We should no longer work together right now or in the future and drop off your headset and ID at Cornell Tech,” Abdurahman said.

After her firing, Abdurahman posted an open letter addressed to Cornell Tech online, which circulated on social media. The letter demands that she be reinstated at Cornell Tech and calls for a public apology from Parikh.

Other demands include a statement on academic freedom from Prof. Greg Morrisett, computer science, the Dean of Cornell Tech, and calls for the human-centered computing and computer science departments to hire a cohort

Parikh did not respond to requests for comment. Dean Morrisett said in the statement Monday that the University had determined that “both parties involved in this matter did not act appropriately and will not be involved in the Milstein Program moving forward.”

’22

“Cornell Tech is deeply dedicated to making the campus and our industry more inclusive and equitable for everyone, and this dialogue makes clear that we still have much work to do,” the statement read.

Abdurahman’s firing shocked some undergraduates in the Milstein Program in Technology and Humanity, many of whom had enjoyed learning from her.

Jennifer Reed ’23, who is part of the Milstein Program, said they found out about Abdurahman’s firing when another student shared the open letter. Having taken Abdurahman’s course last summer, the news hit Reed especially hard.

“I really, really loved her course,” they said.

For Truman Scholarship

By LOUIS CHUANG Sun Staff Writer

Cosimo Fabrizio ’22 has become one of the 62 winners of the prestigious 2021 Truman Scholarship, selected from among over 600 applications for his leadership in criminal justice reform.

The Truman Scholarship, which includes up to $30,000 in merit scholarships for grad uate or professional school, will help pay for Fabrizio’s future plans of attending law school and earning a masters degree in public policy. The scholarship will also jumpstart leadership and employment opportunities for Fabrizio, building off of his track record of advo cacy, research and entrepreneurship. Fabrizio is par ticularly interested in criminal justice reform — he has been research ing with Prof. Joe Margulies, law and gov ernment, since his sophomore year, studying the climate that previous-

ly incarcerated individuals face when re-entering the community in Tompkins County. This work has fundamentally shaped Fabrizio’s perspective on the criminal justice system.

“The end of that pipeline [from arrest to sentencing] is almost as important, if not as important, as the beginning,” Fabrizio said. “You need to be very mindful of how someone leaving a period of incarceration

erwise things become very

Daybook

Tuesday, April 20, 2021

A LISTING OF FREE CAMPUS EVENTS

Blinky Lights: Learn to Program an Arduino Noon - 1 p.m., Virtual Event

The Consumption of Blackness in Contemporary Spain 9:40 - 10:55 a.m., Virtual Event

Dynamically Optimal Treatment Allocation Using Reinforcement Leaning 11:15 a.m. - 12:45 p.m., Virtual Event

Career Experiences in Plant Pathology: Academia and Industry 11:20 a.m. - 12:10 p.m., Virtual Event

Transformative Pedagogy: Using Native American Art And Archives to Build Community 11:30 a.m. - 1 p.m., Virtual Event

Grounding and Centering Care With Meditation and Gentle Movement Noon - 12:45 p.m., Virtual Event

Physical Properties of Fiber Reinforced Composites And CNT Wires 1:30 - 2:30 p.m., Virtual Event

Celestial Mirror: The Astronomical Observatories of Jai Singh II 4:30 - 5:30 p.m., Virtual Event

Fireside Chat with Andy Sofield ’97, Partner PwC 4:30 - 5:30 p.m., Virtual Event

Disrupting White Supremacy: A Series in Feminist Pedagogy 4:30 - 6 p.m., Virtual Event

Cornell Equine Seminar Series: The Ins and Outs of Equine Asthma 6 - 7 p.m., Virtual Event

Dynamic Competition in the Era of Big Data 11:15 a.m. - 12:45 p.m., Virtual Event

How the Unimaginable Can Be Achieved In African Agribusiness 12:25 - 1:15 p.m., Virtual Event

A New Malthusian Population Check: Mass Incarceration and Fertility in America 1:15 - 2:30 p.m., Virtual Event

Serial Crystallography at X-ray Free Electron Laser And Synchrotrons 4 p.m., Virtual Event

Diya, Plaisir, Pleasure and the Making of Sarraounia, The Warrior Queen 4:45 p.m., Virtual Event

Dragon Day in Limbo With Semester Nearing End

By SARIKA KANNAN Sun Staff Writer

For over a century, Dragon Day has been one of Cornell’s best-known rites of passage — ringing in spring with the battle between first-year architecture students and engineers in the parade from Rand Hall to Ho Plaza.

But after a lost Dragon Day in 2020, some first-year architecture students are holding onto hopes of experiencing Dragon Day themselves as time runs out in the spring semester. Event capacities remain capped at 10 people, so some first-years are working with the administration to try to plan a socially distanced event.

Dragon Day, which usually takes place right before spring break, has since 1901 brought first-year architecture together after spending countless hours in fabrication shops to build the dragon from scratch — creating a sense of community among the firstyear architects.

celebrated on St. Patrick’s Day, leading serpents to be incorporated into the celebration. In the 1950s, the serpents gave way to dragons, and Dragon Day began to look the way it does today.

Apart from the parade, other traditions have been part of Dragon Day over the years, such as burning the dragon on the Arts Quad, which no longer takes place, and pranking engineering students.

But as the semester winds down, this might be the second consecutive year with no dragon parade across campus — potentially one of many losses for first-year students who have already weathered the loss of a bustling Orientation Week and Homecoming.

“[Dragon Day] brings everyone together for this shared passion of building something.”

Alp Demiroglu ’21

“It brings everyone together for this shared passion of building something,” said Alp Demiroglu ’21, a fifth-year architecture student. “Building this ginormous dragon, and then pointing at it and saying, ‘We did that.’”

The event, which was started by Willard Dickerman Straight as College of Architecture Day, was originally

“A traditional dragon isn’t possible this year,” said architecture student Grace O’Malley ’25. “We’re getting around the fact that we can’t have thousands of people gathering for this one big dragon.”

While some first-years initially considered a virtual Dragon Day celebration, they decided against it, as some said it wouldn’t bring the class together and promote collaboration. They also wouldn’t be able to pack into fabrication facilities like previous years.

“There’s this question of, ‘Is our year disconnected from the school?’” O’Malley said. “Are we disconnected from the rest of our class, because we’re not doing

this thing together and with [the guidance of] the older grades?”

While the first-years still need to communicate and coordinate with facilities staff and the Cornell University Police Department to solidify a plan for Dragon Day, the end of the semester is less than five weeks away. Even if Dragon Day does not take place this year, architecture

“We’re getting around the fact that we can’t have thousands of people gathering for this one big dragon.”

Grace O’Malley ’25

students are looking forward to attending it in coming years, even if they’ve graduated.

Demiroglu said it has been disappointing for him and other fifth years that they haven’t been able to celebrate their final Dragon Day — but they plan to visit Cornell next year just to experience it again.

“It’s this tradition that we all care about and we love,” Demiroglu said. “For a lot of people it’s also one of the reasons why they chose Cornell, because it’s this weird tradition no one else has.”

Sarika Kannan can be reached at skannan@cornellsun.com.

Cornell to Administer Vaccines on April 23

Wellness days take on new meaning with campus vaccine clinic

VACCINE

Continued from page 1

Manager Anushya Alandur ’23

sunmailbox@cornellsun.com

appointment. The University did not indicate how many doses would be available, but 35 percent of the campus population is already fully vaccinated, as of April 18.

The clinic will be administering the Moderna vaccine, which requires two doses. The email encouraged students to remain in Ithaca until May 25 — the day students would be scheduled to receive the second dose — but stated that even if students could not make that commitment, to sign up for the clinic anyway.

Cornell joins Duke University, the University of Pennsylvania and Northwestern University to vaccinate its students on campus, after it announced on April 2 that it would require all students to be vaccinated in the fall semester.

The April 23 clinic is the first to administer vaccines on campus, and follows the University’s “College Student Vaccination Day” that was canceled after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration paused the distribution of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine — which was supposed to be administered at the event.

The clinic will administer the Moderna vaccine, which requires two doses, the second of which would be scheduled — in Ithaca or not — for May 25.

“If your schedule requires you to be outside of Tompkins County by May 25, you may still want to consider taking advantage of this opportunity to receive a first dose, as state and federal officials anticipate being able to ensure vaccine availability across the county by the end of May,” the email read.

While the Johnson & Johnson vaccine is still being investigated for potential ties to concerning blood clots, the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines have not been associated with this side effect.

Anil Oza can be reached at aoza@cornellsun.com.

Ithaca Takes Action Against Spotted Lanternfies

By JOHN YOON Sun City Editor

Spotted lanternflies, an invasive species that causes agricultural problems, laid eggs on trees found on Stewart Avenue. Now, the city is in the middle of cutting down at least 50 trees to eliminate the threat.

First found in the United States in 2014 after migrating from Asia, the spotted lanternfly was found in Ithaca last fall, threatening local vineyards, as the flies can destroy grape plants.

The New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets is working with the state Department of Environmental Conservation to keep the spotted lanternfly population low. According to Brian Eshenaur, who coordinates New York State’s outreach effort for the spotted lanternfly, the Stewart Ave clusters are the only ones investigators have found in Ithaca so far.

According to city forester Jeanne Grace ’09, who oversees street tree planting and removal, inspectors from the New York State Agriculture and Markets had been in Ithaca throughout the winter and fall looking for egg masses.

“[Spotted lanternfly] like to lay their eggs on tree trunks, but also on stone, or things like rusty metal,” Grace said. “It seems like what initiates them to lay eggs is really the texture of the surface.”

After the investigators identified a group of trees with the egg masses on the block of Stewart Avenue, the city decided to chop down the trees because egg masses can sometimes lie on the upper top part of the canopy, which cannot be seen from the ground.

But according to Grace, the decision to chop down the trees wasn’t an easy one, weighing the costs of destroying trees and with taking precautions against the lanternfly eggs.

“It’s hard to make that decision to be like, ‘We’re going to take down all these trees just to be extra cautious,’” Grace said. “This insect is so destructive, that it’s better to take these trees down, and knock the population way down, rather than be less cautious and let the population just explode and take over the area.”

According to Eshenaur, investigators are optimistic that there are likely no other egg masses in Ithaca. If any egg

masses survive, the nymphs will begin to hatch from the egg masses sometime in May.

“[The investigators] divided the area where it was found in the quadrant and looked around … and they went out about a mile, and they didn’t find anything,” Eshenaur said. “There is optimism that this might be it, no guarantees though.”

Spotted lanternfly infestations have mostly been clustered around Pennsylvania, New Jersey and parts of New York, including Staten Island. New York State is particularly focused on Tompkins County, as it is far from the main cluster of infestations, and the infestation in Tompkins County has not spread to neighboring counties.

“When [Pennsylvania] have had outbreaks like this, they have not been as aggressive and ... they haven’t cut down all the trees and then they missed some,” Eshenaur said. “So, they spoke with us and said go in hard and then monitor. That’s what we were able to do here.”

Prof. Ann Hajek, entomology, said the spotted lanternfly could have been transported to Ithaca by visitors and that this could happen again in the future.

looks like and what wineries should do in case of an infestation.

“They know how to spot it, and they’re training all of the vineyard crewson what it looks like,” Chase said. “They have scraper cards that were handed out by the Cayuga Lake Scenic Byway that tell you how to scrape them [eggs] off the tree and what to do with them if you do spot them.”

Ruthie Crawford, one of the owners of Lucas Vineyards

“[The spotted lanternfly] can travel on cars, in cars and on trucks. They can easily get moved around,” Hajek said. “We definitely want to slow the spread so that people will be more ready for the population with guests here, but I think that it’s hard for me to believe that they’re not going to keep arriving.”

Tompkins County wineries have been preparing for the possibility of the spotted lanternfly infestation. According to Katherine Chase, executive director at Cayuga Lake Wine Trail, wineries have been on the lookout for the insect.

Many industry organizations, like the Cayuga Lake Scenic Byway or the New York Wine and Grape Foundation, are hosting webinars and sending out information to alert people about what the spotted lanternfly

Fired Researcher Alleges Bias

Former Cornell researcher publishes open letter to Cornell Tech

“It was actually one of my favorites, which is why some of the news hit me so hard because I felt like she really added something to the program that nobody else did.”

On April 11, Reed and 25 other Milstein students sent an email to two Ithaca-based Milstein program directors, Maja Anderson and Prof. Austin Bunn, performing and media arts, demanding that the University reinstate Abdurahman. Reed explained that they and

other students sent this email on Abdurahman’s recommendation, after several students asked her how they could show support following her firing from Cornell Tech.

In response, the group of Milstein students met with Morrisett. Reed said they were not informed before the meeting that the firing decision was not up for debate.

“We’d come in with questions and stuff like that, but as soon as we hopped on the call, he said, ‘This our decision,’” Reed said.

Abena Gyasi ’22, a Milstein student who was also present at the meeting, said while Morrisett spoke about promoting diversity and inclusion at Cornell Tech, the harassment Abdurahman had faced didn’t feel taken seriously enough.

“When you have this display of disrespect and anti-Blackness, what does it show to the rest of the world?” Gyasi said. “It shows that you’re not actually willing to commit to diversity and inclusion.”

in Interlaken, New York, said she will be on the lookout for any spotted lanternflies. Crawford said she’s concerned that the spotted lanternfly could threaten her family’s business.

“I’m not trying to be mean and make them extinct. We need to get them out of the Finger Lakes. They can’t be here, destroying our minds and our livelihoods,” Crawford said. “We’ve already survived COVID shutdowns and everything. I don’t understand how we could survive these bugs if they do get to our vineyard.”

John Yoon can be reached at johnyoon@cornellsun.com.

C.U. Truman Scholar Advocates for Justice

At Cornell, Fabrizio has participated in a range of organizations, from BlackGen Capital, Kappa Alpha Pi pre-law fraternity, Delta Sigma Pi business fraternity and Scholars Working Ambitiously to Graduate, a student-run mentorship organization that aims to increase the graduation and retention rate of Black males at Cornell.

Fabrizio is also the co-founder and president of rapStudy, an education-technology startup that aims to help students learn through music — in 2020, the company worked with over 300 educational partners.

For Fabrizio, his interest in criminal justice advocacy didn’t start with working in communities or in the classroom. It started with his love of music. Fabrizio has played guitar since second grade — which later landed him at Juilliard Pre-College, and by eighth grade at the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, when he met his mentor.

“Jazz got me more in tune with Black history and civil rights struggles in this country,” Fabrizio said.

“It’s largely because of [my mentor’s] view on music’s ability to serve as a symbol

of democracy, giving us a unique lens into the history of civil rights movements in this country and the Black experience.”

Fabrizio said he’s grateful to his parents for providing him with these opportunities, despite navigating limited resources.

“[My mom] went to community college. My pa, he just retired as a public school teacher,” Fabrizio said. “I’ve come from a family where I do believe anything is possible.”

Fabrizio said he hopes to become a progressive prosecutor later in his career, after learning from experience in defense law or community building work to support incarcerated or at-risk minors.

“Whether that’s [working with] kids who are currently in the incarceration system trying to navigate the case, or more the community-based work that helps prevent kids from actually getting into that system, that’s a good place to start a career,” Fabrizio said. “I see myself wanting to transition into a more prosecutor-minded role later down the line.”

Louis Chuang can be reached at lchuang@cornellsun.com.

ARTS ENTERTAINMENT & Fictions of the Self

It is a true but maybe unfortunate fact that I have rarely ever taken much interest in my own life.

Sure, I obsess about the people in it, I make plans for my future, I advise and admonish myself, I go from one paroxysm of emotion to the other, I dream, I reflect, I overanalyze — but as for any sort of “plot,” any useful recording of the events of daily life, I am afraid one would be hard-pressed to find such a thing in my diaries.

I say this because lately, I have taken to reading the diaries of other people — they seem to be all my pandemic-fatigued brain can handle right now — and I was surprised to find, for example, in the diaries of Virginia Woolf, so much social life, or in Coleridge’s Notebooks , a meditation on the beauty of urine in a chamber pot. If The Andy Warhol Diaries are all outer life — “Went out shopping and ran into Mick Jagger… Went

to Schiaparelli’s show… The show was awful” — mine might be said to be their

photo negative.

I could never be a good memoirist. For one thing, I never remember what people tell me. For another, I am only adept at describing the inner landscape; the outer makes an impression only insofar as it might be transfigured into this, but most times, it hardly makes a dent on the hard envelope of my consciousness.

“Write what you know” is one of the writing clichés I have come to despise. Often, I find that I don’t know what I think or feel until I write, and even then, in the very moment of writing, I have a vague sense that perhaps I am only making things up, only pouring my experience into the mold of a voice congealed out of everything I’ve ever read or watched or heard, that none of this is really “me” at all, and in the last analysis, I am forced to concur with Montaigne: Que sçais-je?

The impulse to crush life at both ends until it flattens into the vertical pronoun “I” must have been what impelled me to keep a diary in the first place. “Forget everything. Open the windows. Clear the room. The wind blows through it. You see only its emptiness, you search in ever corner and don’t find yourself,” writes Kafka. Nowadays, I am not sure if I really want to “find myself”

at all — not because I am afraid of what I might encounter, but because there no longer seems to be anything exciting or profitable in it.

The way the private has increasingly become public engenders the feeling that everything might be, no matter how unheard by the ears of others, a public utterance. Often overlooked is the sense of freedom in doffing the “real” personal experience and donning a richer, more heavily embroidered stuff.

Shakespeare is a writer generally praised for his “impersonality,” and a good deal of critical attention has been occupied with the detective-work of “finding” him, of sniffing out any autobiographical clues in his plays and poems that might tell us who exactly this—on the surface, unremarkable—man from Stratford was. On the other hand, we have someone like James Joyce, who was able, through the close correspondence between his life and art, to make the day on which he had his first date with his future wife into a still annually celebrated holiday. Neither approach is necessarily better.

To transmute “the daily bread of experience into the radiant body of everliving life” is certainly a noble thing, but alas, for we whose bread is so stale, so dry, so flat, so tasteless — we require a great deal more of the meat of the imagination.

Ramya Yandava is a senior in the College of Arts and Sciences. She can be reached at ryandava@ cornellsun.com. Ramya’s Rambles runs alternate Mondays this semester.

T e Kid LAROI: Playing the Anti-Hero

MAX ROITMAN SUN CONTRIBUTOR

After releasing his debut project in July 2020 and a six-song deluxe edition soon after, The Kid LAROI rocketed to the top of the music industry. His precocious nature in both age and limited body of work have grabbed the attention of many, including stalwarts in the industry. The Kid LAROI recently appeared on Justin Beiber’s newest album, Justice, and is rumored to appear on tracks with superstars Halsey and Miley Cyrus. Both fans and contemporaries alike seem to be recognizing LAROI’s impending stardom.

This meteoric rise is not completely unforeseen, as inroads with Juice WRLD and Lyrical Lemonade have proven to be judicial promotion tactics. Furthermore, LAROI delivers a style of melodic-emo rap that was recently popularized by Juice WRLD, Trippie Redd and XXXtentacion, all of whom have had unprecedented commercial success. He has adeptly jumped on contemporary trends at just the right time.

Still, LAROI has differentiated himself as a unique artist with his textured voice and over-vocalization, both of which give his music a punky-spin. His signature voice-quivers and register switch-ups further convey

the intense emotion and pain he brings to each track.

Despite LAROI’s fast rise to fame, he portrays himself as an underdog. His music details a rough childhood in which “ mama used to sell drugs to pay for my school (Pikachu)” and “Just three years ago, I was like you / Ninth grade, dropped out of school, used to sleep on JD couches (Pikachu).”

LAROI’s dramatic change from struggling with the necessities of life to dealing with overwhelming fame does not go unrecognized. He acknowledges it by lamenting, “I got nothin’ to prove, but a whole lot to lose (Pikachu).”

It’s hard to toss an old mindset in a dustbin and sweep it away. LAROI has gone through the vicissitudes of life in a short 17 year span. This experience has created the ambiguous lens through which he now views the world. So, to create a coherent view of himself and the world around him, The Kid LAROI often eschews reality and creates his own.

tional. While very cognizant of his feelings and their shortcomings, LAROI often rationalizes them away with his lyrics. On “Always Do,” LAROI explains, “I know you can’t believe me ‘cause I never tell the truth / but, oh I wish that you could just see that it’s only to protect you.” Similarly, on “Selfish,” he proffers, “And I’m not proud of

behind our actions.

To fight the mercurial nature around him, LAROI falls back on himself. He creates his own world in which everything is ok.

On “‘Selfish’”, LAROI proclaims, “you don’t love me, that’s a lie, I don’t believe it.” Later in the same song he states, “drive me to hell in a drop top (Selfish).” LAROI understands that all his inappropriate behavior and mental shortcuts are leading him down a bad path. Nevertheless, LAROI decides to focus on feeling good while blocking out any and all potential repercussions.

LAROI’s music is hyper-emo-

the things I do / But it’s okay ‘cause you do them too.” LAROI decides that his misconduct is not only justified but also just. This type of disingenuous internal dialog enters everyone’s minds at some point and helps us avoid the complicated undercurrents

Given all his flaws, LAROI seems comfortable residing in a constructed reality. In a fateful confession, LAROI reveals “Said I was gon change, both know that I can’t (Always Do).” After all the mental gymnastics he engages in through his LP, the most consequential to his personal development is this idle proclamation. He feels destined to stay a flawed character.

Despite his music’s stylistic appeal, it is clear LAROI’s lyrical content has also attracted fans.

The 17 year-old, Australian born rapper has generated social media fodder by charting more monthly listeners on Spotify than industry titans Kendrick Lamar, J Cole, Lil Wayne, and Lil Uzi Vert. This seems to be only the beginning for The Kid LAROI, who has yet to release a debut album.

Is there one identifiable element that has made The Kid LAROI so successful? Perhaps, he is playing the anti-hero. LAROI is simultaneously successful and larger-than-life, while also flush with twisted logic and the indiscretions that follow. This does not differentiate Laroi but rather, makes him exactly like the rest of us. A vicarious trip through Laroi’s music is undoubtedly a trip of self reflection as well.

We live in an ambiguous world but rarely realize that we too are equivocal people. LAROI is well aware of this but cannot handle the burden of that truth. Yet he is one step ahead of most, who choose not to identify their own flaws. Recognizing The Kid LAROI, just maybe, brings us one step closer to recognizing ourselves.

Being an overt anti-hero can theoretically pose some problems. But despite all LAROI’s disingenuity, it is the most candid way to be.

Max Roitman is a sophomore in the College of Human Ecology. He can be reached at mhr78@cornell.edu.

The Corne¬ Daily Sun

Independent Since 1880

139th Editorial Board

KATHRYN STAMM ’22

Editor in Chief

ANUSHYA ALANDUR ’23

Business Manager

CATHERINE ST. HILAIRE ’22

Associate Editor

PRANAV KENGERI ’24

Advertising Manager

ODEYA ROSENBAND ’22

Opinion Editor

JYOTHSNA BOLLEDULA ’24

News Editor

TAMARA KAMIS ’22

News Editor

WENDY WANG ’24

Arts & Entertainment Editor

KRISTEN D’SOUZA ’24

Design Editor

HANNAH ROSENBERG ’23

Photography Editor

OMSALAMA AYOUB ’22

Science Editor

PUJA OAK ’24

Layout Editor

ANNIE WU ’22

Production Editor

MIHIKA BADJATE ’23

Assistant News Editor

ANGELA BUNAY ’24

Assistant News Editor

JOHN COLIE ’23

Assistant Arts & Entertainment Editor

AMELIA CLUTE ’22

Assistant Dining Editor

WILLIAM BODENMAN ’23

Assistant Sports Editor

AARON SNYDER ’23

Assistant Sports Editor

MEGHANA SRIVASTAVA ’23

Compet Manager

MADELINE ROSENBERG ’23

Editor

NAOMI KOH ’23

Editor ANIL OZA ’22 Assistant Managing Editor YUBIN HEO ’24

OLIVIA CIPPERMAN ’23

NOOREJEHAN UMAR ’23

YOON ’23

BENJAMIN VELANI ’22

Editor LUKE PICHINI ’22

SRISHTI TYAGI ’22

Editor MARIA MENDOZA ’24

Editor AMAYA ARANDA ’23

Editor

SURITA BASU ’23

News Editor KAYLA RIGGS ’24

News Editor EMMA LEYNSE ’23

&

Editor JULIA NAGEL ’24

LIAM MONOHAN ’24

Editor SASHA ABAYEVA ’24

ALPERS ’22

A.J. Stella Stellin’ It Like It Is

A.J. Stella is a senior in the College of Arts and Sciences. He can be reached at astella@cornellsun.com. Stellin’ It Like It Is runs every other Friday this semester.

Seven Saturdays Left

Afriend of mine spelled it out for me so that I can no longer avoid the inevitable in my mind: As seniors, we’ve got seven Saturdays left of college. I knew this was coming, all year our class has been interviewing for real-world jobs, buying grown-up pants, figuring out how much of our salary we can spend on the shoebox New York City apartment and googling how long we can stay on our parents’ insurance plans. (If I break my wrist past 27, I’m shit out of luck.) But hearing my friend phrase it in that way shattered the glass for me.

When is the next time I’m going to wake up Saturday morning to my roommate pouring vodka redbulls or skip my afternoon class to lounge on the arts quad and sunburn? (Well, probably next Saturday, but when after that?)

but that can’t stop us — commandeer a lecture hall to screen the new HBO Max release on the projector. For a snack, takeout from Asia Cuisine.

April 24

Bring Piña Coladas and inner tubes to float down flat rock. Before showering the moss off, play a pickup game of soccer at Cass Park, tear a muscle in your back, then have your girlfriend buy you a massage at Rasa Spa. Picnic at Sunset Park for dinner with Souv. Watch live music at The Dock.

May 1

’23 design deskers Kristen D’Souza ’24 Puja Oak ’24 Niko Nguyen ’22

desker Sabrina Xie ’22 Alexandra Kim ’24

deskers Julia Nagel ’24

desker Emma Leynse ’23

Tom the Dancing Bug

by Ruben Bolling

Don’t worry, this isn’t a senior’s “let me stay” letter, but rather a look into how we might spend our final weeks living in the same 2-mile radius as our friends. It can be tricky to navigate since the fear of missing out will hit us once we realize the outdoor seating at Ithaca Beer Co. isn’t as lively as the aggressive bocce ball tournament we turned down. Do we spend time only with our closest friends to soak in the last few weeks together, or venture out and see the

As seniors, we’ve got seven Saturdays left of college.

friends we haven’t since the pandemic hit; the ones from our dorms, first-year writing seminars, that one rock’n’roll club we went to a meeting of? Do we finally text that ex-classmate from our first group project we never had the courage to tell about the crush we had on them? Or do we maybe finally ask someone out on a proper date — rejecting that the early stages of dating in college usually lack chivalry.

The answer should be all of the above, but there are only so many hours in the day. To truly enjoy each of our remaining Saturdays, we need to wake up earlier and lengthen our potential time spent together. C’s get degrees, so don’t sweat that paper you’ve been putting off for a month, the gorges are calling.

Here are seven idyllic (albeit socially distanced) Saturdays to help inspire you and your friends for the weeks to come:

April 17

Kick off the day with a hike in Robert H. Treman State Park because you’ll miss seeing nature in Manhattan. Regain all those burned calories at Sweet Melissa’s. A quick drive at Ringwood Raceway will remind you of when driving was fun before our licenses (those that grew up in the city and never got theirs need not explore this option). Theaters are closed,

Cheers with bottomless mimosas at Mix brunch to start the day off right. Recreate your own Chili Fest with your neighbors, then don’t enter your own so you just eat for free. Longboard through Cornell Botanical Gardens (those with electric boards shouldn’t be allowed to wear vans). Grab a pie from Franco’s. At night, smoke a joint one step off of Cornell property.

May 8

RPCC brunch — the last breakfast. Make it a park day and bring cornhole, spike ball and a portable barbecue to Stewart Park. Pet other people’s dogs (with permission) and watch them shake water all over the sorority girls taking disposable photos. Buy a disposable camera and let different friends have it at different parts of the day. Get them developed next Saturday. Fuel yourself with Simeon’s in order to steal the letters off of a fraternity while they sleep.

May 15

Go paintballing. Since alcohol is a painkiller — it’s time to sport-porch. Basically sit on your porch drinking until something fun happens. It always does. Mini golf, because regular golf is for people that talk during movies, then play a game of capture the flag throughout campus. Break the bank at The Heights and after sunset, get into an argument with Jason in Jason’s.

May 22

Breakfast at the farmer’s market, making sure to try at least five dishes. The holy grail of Saturdays — a day on a boat. Whether it’s popping into Cayuga Lake, accidentally shoring the pontoon or being left behind after you jump in to pee, anarchy awaits. Set up a slip and slide down the slope and create a sundae at Cornell Dairy Barn. Order scorpion bowls at Sumo and keep it going by checking out the Bike Bar.

May 31

Drink wine at a vineyard other than Catherine Valley. For our last Saturday, take graduation photos outside the clocktower. Play a game of Jeopardy with embarrassing moments throughout college with your friends. Wander through campus listening to sad music, and finally, bring Saigon Kitchen to the Slope and stargaze.

Save the Campus Tour

Brendan Kempff Slope Side

Brendan Kempf is a sophomore in the School of Hotel Administration. He can be reached at bpk43@cornell.edu. Slope Side runs every other Monday this semester.

In the long line of people who were robbed by COVID19, a group that sticks out are today’s high school seniors. Many are losing major experiences like prom and high school graduation. However, they receive only a fraction of the attention and respect that was paid to the class of 2020.

So, when reading the recent Sun piece on unofcial visits, I was frustrated by the lack of sympathy in the article. Instead, I feel for these kids and want to give them this experience, especially since they have been robbed of so many.

I’m an older sibling and watching my sister, a high school junior, explore college opportunities has been extremely painful. When I accompanied my older brother on an East Coast college visit after my freshman year in high school, I was excited about the trip. It was a long haul, zig-zagging across states and hearing one tour guide after another.

Now, however, I desperately want my sister (and all other prospective college students) to have the same experience that I did. Although Cornell has done a great job providing online resources to these students, it doesn’t compare. Few things replace the awe-inspiring site of Fall Creek gorge or the frst-hand beauty of the Arts Quad. Seeing a place like Statler Hall online is a far cry from the living, beating heart that makes Cornell wonderful.

College admission statistics have painted a bleak story for this upcoming year, and it’s not hard to guess why. Why wouldn’t a prospective frst-year be less motivated by the prospect of a virtual college visit? Te pressures of their present life seem more real than a far-away university dream. Concerns with jobs and family, made more dire by the pandemic, are more pressing than monotonous zoom classes that might ofer a slim chance at preparing them for college.

At the same time, Ivy League Education has become even more unattainable. Admission rates have plummeted at leading colleges and universities, including Cornell. Tis further discourages prospective students, already battered by a difcult year. And, if accepted, you have the privilege of not even seeing the campus until you fork over nearly $80,000 a year to attend.

Here on campus, life for me has more or less returned to normal. I’m living here on campus and attend multiple classes in person. I can practice sports, eat at Terrace, and do all the normal things that I would have done in prior years.

Unfortunately, most school systems were not able to launch an impressive surveillance system such as Cornell’s. Our testing and quarantine system was unique, allowing us opportunities that few students had. In comparison, the botched COVID management nationwide has left this new class of frst-years well behind their older peers both academically and socially.

Frustration at these students is the furthest thing from my mind. Instead, one thing comes up: How can we help them?

Cornell has done a remarkable job of handling the vaccination process and campus numbers are reaching impressive standards. At the same time, New York State has started to relax many travel restrictions in recognition of increased vaccinations and decreased risk surrounding COVID - 19.

Yet, Cornell has remained extremely strict with its visitor and travel rules. I felt the difculty of requesting approval to travel from the university frst hand.

Te answer right now is not to shame these prospective students. Instead, it’s to fnd a new way to safely provide campus tours without jeopardizing what we have worked so hard to build.

Tere are many ways to safely update the process and revamp those college tours that meant so much to me. Cornell hasn’t been the only school grappling with this issue, and many others have begun to construct a road

map.

One asset that Cornell can exploit here is its size. Unlike another New York State Ivy, Cornell has a large and bustling campus. Te outdoors provide a safer alternative to group gatherings rather than the indoors. And after a brutal winter, the weather has turned to the brightside.

Here’s the proposal: Adjust the visitor guidelines to permit single-day, controlled campus tours. Visitors would be expected to submit negative COVID tests prior to arriving on campus, in addition to closely following

The answer right now is not to shame these prospective students. Instead, it’s to find a new way to safely provide campus tours without jeopardizing what we have worked so hard to build.

state rules and other COVID regulations. Tis would require an update to the behavioral compact to admit these closely monitored visitors. We may even require an on campus test to control any possible exposure.

Instead of allowing these visitors to roam free, we provide them with the resources and education so they can respectfully follow campus rules.Te tours would remain outdoors, masked, socially distanced, and small group-oriented.

Tere are a few moments on my campus tour that stood out, and one is looking at Risley Hall. Its size and beauty captivated me, and I remember thinking at that moment that I wanted to go to school here. Te in-person tour is an achievable goal that, if done safely, would bring some normalcy to these students.

So, I think we shouldn’t get mad at the students; instead, let’s show some grace. But, more importantly, let’s encourage Cornell to explore the possibility of changing its policies to include the invaluable campus tour.

With the Class of 2025, Cornell Has An Opportunity to Reinvent Itself

Peter Buonanno Te Wyckof Club

Peter Buonanno is a senior in the College of Arts and Sciences. He can be reached at pbuonanno@cornellsun.com. Te Wyckof Club runs every other Friday this semester.

As President Martha E. Pollack has announced, a return to in-person learning and an arrival at a true “new normal” is imminent. While I would guess that COVID-19 testing, masks and even Zoom will be a semi-permanent addition to the Cornell experience, mandatory vaccinations and increased medical infrastructure all but guarantee that herd immunity and pre-pandemic socialization is on the horizon.

I’ll be the frst to admit it, I’m a washed up senior who wishes his last two years of

college weren’t defned by a pandemic. Further, I am feeling particularly nostalgic for my underclass years. With that being said, it seems obvious to me that we begin to think about how to, practically, revitalize certain aspects of the Cornell experience come the fall. Perhaps, it is best that we prepare for the inevitable truth that Cornell will never again be the same.

For those needing a bit of a refresher and for newly admitted students, your frst few weeks on campus are generally pretty standard. You will be picked up your frst night by an orientation leader who will bring you around to some campus-sponsored social events. If you are lucky, they’ll give you an address for a Collegetown party later that night. For those with no such luck, come 11 p.m. or so, frst-years make a mass migration to Collegetown — with friends they will never see again after that week — to grovel for entry into flthy fraternity parties. Following your frst night of partying (if that’s your thing), you will stumble hungover to the far reaches of campus for your class photo, only to fnd out that half the class ditched the event.

In the following weeks, hopefully you will meet some true friends. People who will grow with you during your four years here. People who will support you through all of your worst moments. And, hopefully, people that will be with you far beyond the city limits of Ithaca. You will attend concerts at Barton and Bailey Hall

together… the night A$AP Mob took over Cornell was something diferent. And, eventually, you will fock to the Slope on a sunny afternoon in May so that the likes of Steve Aoki and Galantis can serenade you.

Te Cornell we perpetuated is not perfect — in fact, it’s far from it — but the experiences and trauma we shared had a way of bonding us together.

Come June, the only class on campus with any true recollection of pre-pandemic Cornell will be the class of 2022, who were sophomores at the onset of the pandemic. I exclude the class of 2023 as this group (if their frst-year experiences were at all similar to mine) were only just coming into their own on the Hill when we were sent home a little over a year ago. Tus, an awful lot of responsibility will fall on rising seniors — whose time is being consumed by applying to grad schools and jobs — to lead the Cornell revival. I wouldn’t count on it.

But maybe that’s not such a bad thing. As I’ve mentioned prior, the Cornell experience has a lot of challenges. Te workload, at times, is unbearably difcult. Social events, like the ones mentioned above, are exclusive and often dangerous. Te dominance of Greek Life on campus, as was present in the 1960s when the frst push to dismantle Greek Life began, has reached a point where its penultimate abolition ought to be a real consideration. And recent campus events have reinforced in me the ideology that student mental health

is a secondary concern for the University. For these, and other reasons, I suggest that it’s time to leave the Cornell we knew in the past. To the Class of 2025, the title of this column is misleading. Cornell doesn’t have a chance to reinvent itself, you have a chance to reinvent Cornell. Be better than we were. Hold your professors and administrators to a higher standard than we did. Hold each other to a higher standard. And, most importantly, make Cornell what you want it to be. It would certainly scare me if I was told as a frstyear that I couldn’t rely on guidance from my more senior students. However, that’s the reality of the situation. And like all Cornellians have for nearly two centuries, you will rise to any challenge that is presented to you.

I want to make one thing clear: I loved my Cornell experience. I was one of the lucky ones who was able to get a CAPS appointment within 24 hours my frst-year when I sufered my mental health crisis. I had great professors and advisors who supported me in my time here. Although I’m excited for the next chapter in my life, my heart hurts knowing that I will soon leave Ithaca.

But the current reality at Cornell is that this experience is not universal. Unlike most alumni and soon-to-be graduates, I’m excited to come back to Cornell in 10 years only to feel like a tourist. I encourage my peers to adopt a similar attitude.

Fill in the empty cells, one number in each, so that each column, row, and region contains the numbers 1-9 exactly once. Each number in the solution therefore occurs only once in each of the three “directions,” hence the “single numbers” implied by the puzzle’s name. (Rules from wikipedia.org/wiki/ Sudoku)

SC I ENCE

C.U. Sustainable Design Tackles Ithaca Solutions

By SARIKA KANNAN Sun Staff Writer

Once a coordinated effort to give heaps of gently used microfridges and lamps a new home, Cornell’s annual Dump and Run pop-up has taken a back seat for the past year. Now, Cornell University Sustainable Design is breathing new life into the effort to reduce waste in Ithaca by both swapping in-person sales with a sleek app to streamline the reuse of items students leave behind.

Founded in 2009 as a solar decathlon team, the group now known as Cornell University Sustainable Design is celebrating its 10-year anniversary this month of working to envision a more sustainable campus.

A decade since the Cornell Solar Decathlon Team rebranded and transitioned to tackling sustainability, the team is currently working on 12 different projects to increase sustainability in the Cornell and greater Ithaca communities.

For Nelson Ooi ’24, CUSD stood out to

him even as a high school student applying to Cornell. Ooi said he feels more strongly than ever about finding sustainable solutions to community-wide issues.

“I saw how CUSD makes sustainability exciting and puts a lot of faith in the students,” Ooi said. “That faith empowers you to try all kinds of out-of-the-box ideas getting at the core of sustainability issues.”

Ooi leads Alternative Recycling Cornell, a CUSD team that is tackling the void left behind by Cornell’s annual Dump and Run, which has been suspended since the beginning of the pandemic due to social distancing concerns.

The Dump and Run, the community sale that crops up on Saturday and Sunday of orientation week every August, allowed students to purchase items, such as clothing and furniture, that students donated when leaving campus the previous May. The proceeds were then donated to local nonprofit organizations. According to Ooi, the Dump and Run initiative diverted approximately 40 tons of waste from landfills.

The Alternative Recycling Cornell team is currently developing an online platform that would allow students to exchange and sell items year-round that would usually be donated to the Dump and Run each August. Meanwhile, the development team has been working to get the app running, with the goal of launching it by the start of the fall 2021 semester.

Ooi said the team is

looking to establish long-term connections with local charities and organizations to give back to the Ithaca community.

Another one of CUSD’s teams is Resilient Environment Agriculture Laboratory, which focuses on empowering local farms by creating a cold climate aquaponics system to address food insecurity in Ithaca.

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, aquaponics is a combination of aquaculture, the farming of aquatic plants and animals for food, and hydroponics, the process of growing plants in nutrient solutions without soil.

While the team originally planned to only implement the project in Ithaca, they received additional funding at the beginning of the semester that will allow them to expand their initiative to 70 test sites around the world.

“[The increased funding] is exciting news,” said Louisa Bjerke ’22, the REAL team lead. “It’s really cool to be able to see the huge impact that we have the potential to make. Before this project team, I didn’t really know how I could apply my knowledge [of sustainability] or that a small team of 15 students could really make an impact.”

The REAL team is converting an existing greenhouse at Cornell into one that allows fish and crops to be grown side by side, making locally-sourced produce more accessible while producing a minimal carbon footprint.

In this recirculating aquaponics system, bacteria convert ammonia — a waste product of fish — into nitrate, an important nutrient that plants absorb. Water from the plant beds then returns to the fish enclosure, free of ammonia.

“This [system] combines two different sources of food ... and also gets rid of the need

for some chemical fertilizers,” Bjerke said.

Producing some chemical fertilizers requires burning fossil fuels, which contributes to climate change by releasing greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.

But this system is harder to implement in cold climates compared to warmer climates, because low temperatures can make it harder to grow crops, according to Bjerke.

Currently, the team is in the research and development phase of the project, which involves planning thermal models specific to the Ithaca site, selecting ideal crops for the greenhouse and calculating projected crop and profit yields for farmers.

To allow farmers in Ithaca to grow crops in the winter, the REAL team is designing a heating system to ensure that the cold climate greenhouse can withstand low temperatures.

But the team isn’t working in isolation. Bjerke said they have also worked to ensure that their ideas align with what farmers want. The team created a stakeholder outreach subteam, which maintains contact with farmers in the Ithaca community.

“Last semester, one of the problems that we ran into was that we, as students, don’t fully understand what it is like to be a farmer,” Bjerke said.

Bjerke said the team hopes to wrap up the research phase this semester so they can start building and testing out the greenhouse system when COVID restrictions are likely eased next semester.

“I think our biggest success has been this whole semester,” Bjerke said. “COVID really put a damper on our work and despite this, we have been able to get a lot of meaningful work done.”

Sarika Kannan can be reached at skannan@cornellsun.com.

Lyrids Meteor Shower to Light Campus Night Sky

By JESSICA DAI Sun Staff Writer

Cornellians looking to wish upon shooting stars can catch sight of the upcoming annual meteor showers — the Lyrids will peak before dawn on April 21 and 22, and the eta Aquariids will descend upon the sky at its peak May 4 and 5.

Each meteor shower is named after the point in the sky that the meteors appear to be coming from — the Lyrids radiate out from the constellation Lyra, while the eta Aquariids appear to come from the constellation Aquarius.

These bright streaks that illuminate the sky have captured humans’ wonder for millennia, as dashes of light race across the sky during spectacular shows called meteor showers.

Although a grandiose sight, meteor showers come from small pieces of rock burning in the atmosphere.

Comets, which are cosmic ice balls of frozen rock and dust, travel in an elliptical orbit around the sun. As a comet orbits, the ice surrounding small particles of rock vaporizes, leaving behind the rock debris that continues to travel with the comet.

Due to pressure caused by radiation from the sun, the small pieces of rock deviate from the comet,

creating a stream of debris around and behind it — forming the comet’s characteristic tail.

According to Prof. Philip Nicholson, astronomy, every year, the orbit of Comet Thatcher intersects or touches the Earth’s path around the sun. This crossing causes debris from the comet to enter the Earth’s atmosphere and burn, producing the streaks of light seen as “shooting stars” during the Lyrids meteor shower.

Relatively unchanging comet orbits guarantee annual meteor showers, while other meteor showers occur more sporadically, Nicholson said.

While most meteor showers originate from comets, a few can also come from asteroids. Defined by their lack of a characteristic comet tail, asteroids are former comets that have lost their gases and ice because the sun evaporated them. However, the dusty rock debris that still surrounds the asteroid can diverge and cause a meteor shower, according to Nicholson.

Nicholson added that dust from an asteroid can be a centuries-old relic from its time as a comet.

“It may be that the dust making up the meteor shower actually came off [an asteroid] when it was still a functioning comet,” Nicholson said. “The dust may stay in orbit for centuries before entering the Earth’s atmosphere.”

Regardless of the origin of the

meteor showers, the debris that burns up in the Earth’s atmosphere ultimately causes the appearance of bright streaks across the sky.

While the meteors seen from Earth appear to be large in the night sky, in reality, the debris is typically the size of a sand particle. Pieces of debris that are a few millimeters larger would produce a more explosive type of meteor called a fireball, Nicholson said.

Nicholson explained that as the meteor enters the atmosphere, a longer amount of time is required for the heat to reach the center of a larger-sized meteor. But since meteors only pass through the atmosphere for a few seconds, some meteors cannot withstand the rapid buildup of heat, leading to an explosion, Nicholson said.

“Some of them explosively disintegrate when they get to a certain amount of heat on the inside,” Nicholson said. “That’s what produces what looks like a visible explosion.”

Although an infrequent sighting, fireballs can appear in a select few meteor showers — including the Lyrids meteor shower peaking this week.

The frequency and duration of meteor showers and fireballs can also be inconsistent because the debris of each comet is not entirely uniform.

If more debris enters the Earth’s atmosphere, more meteors will

streak through the night, meaning the number of meteors viewers can expect to see will fall within a predicted range, Nicholson said. The Lyrids is estimated to have around 10 to 15 meteors per hour.

Both of the spring meteor showers are expected to show a number of meteors in the northern hemisphere, with eta Aquariids anticipated to be one of the strongest showers this year. For those who plan to view these meteor showers, Nicholson advised students to visit a place with less light pollution, such as Mount Pleasant — a prime stargazing spot in nearby Dryden that is also home to Cornell’s Hartung-Boothroyd Observatory.

“You really need a dark, moonless night to watch for meteors,” Nicholson said. “[It’s] best to find

a spot on a hilltop outside of Ithaca ... or a dark corner of [the botanical gardens] if you don’t have a vehicle.”

Ngoc Truong grad, who works with Prof. Jonathan Lunine, astronomy, also advised students to check the weather for clear skies before camping out to see the meteor shower.

According to Truong, the meteor shower will likely be the most visible at around 2 a.m. or 3 a.m. on April 22.

The eta Aquariids might make a brighter showing, as Nicholson said the moon will only be 27 percent illuminated, creating a dark backdrop for the shining meteors.

Jessica Dai can be reached at jrd299@cornell.edu.

Shooting stars | Cornellians can watch the Lyrids

from April 21 to 22.

‘Make Cornell Fun Again’ - Tat Sign on Olin

Bingalee to Headline 2021 Virtual Slope Day

Clock tower will perform much-awaited rapping, which will probably still suck

By IMA JONESIN Sun Staff Writer

Due to numerous performers pulling out to perform in Yale’s annual Spring Fling for the added clout, the Slope Day Programming Board has announced in an interesting twist that the McGraw Tower, better known by its moniker Bingalee Dingalee, will come alive to headline this year’s festival with a three-hour set, gifting the campus with even

more of its amazing chimes and providing a fun and COVID-friendly experience for all. The board also announced that Bingalee Dingalee will be the only artist performing as a result of recent budget cuts due to the constant repaving of the roads leading to Robert Purcell Community Center. “The tower’s sentience is a gift to all of us,” President Martha Pollack said in a statement, “especially now that we don’t have to pay any sort of fee for the performance. 2010 was a good year, if you ignore the recession.”

“The tower’s sentience is a gift to all of us, especially now that we don’t have to pay any sort of fee.”

The tower’s sentient status came as a surprise to some. “I’ll admit I didn’t see this coming,” Marie Juana Indica ’23 told The Sun. “Still, I guess now is a better time than ever for us to find out about it. Maybe all of us will collapse afterward from pandemic-induced stress and weed-use and think it was just a collective fever dream.”

Others were elated. “This is the culmination of the prophecy we have been proclaiming for decades,” said Joseph Smith ’21, leader of the Magick Temple of Bingalee Dingalee. “Bingalee has been revealing hints of its sentience for years. How else do you think the

pumpkin gets there every year?” Before The Sun could continue asking questions, the members of the temple ran off to engage in their daily round of devotion and worship of their flying oblong savior.

President Martha Pollack

Bingalee Dingalee’s setlist has not been revealed yet, but any songs will undoubtedly be performed by the chimes. The role of the chimes masters in all of this has yet to be determined, though, since it seems that Bingalee Dingalee may very well take care of that part itself. “It’s kind of sad to be out of a job,” said Fae Accompli ’22. “Still, at least Bingalee is happy.” The songs themselves will probably consist of 2010s throwback songs, including Rebecca Black’s “Friday,” Dua Lipa’s “Levitating,” and Psy’s “Gangnam Style,” along with a number of surprises. “Apparently, Bingalee has begun to dabble in atonal and industrial music in its latest rehearsals. It should be amazing,” Accompli told The Sun.

In the midst of all of this, Bingalee Dingalee could not be reached for comment, as it was too busy enjoying flying through the air like a friendly missile.

Ima Jonesin can be reached at ijonesin@cornellsun.com.

FARTS UNENTERTAINMENT & Dining Guide

Te Safest Ways to Chef Stoned

By CHEF BOYARDEE Sun Staff Writer

While celebrating 4/20 this year, you will inevitably get mad hungry, and, because it is a special occasion, it would only be suitable for you to enjoy a meal capable of satisfying even the most ferocious of munchies. However, some things must be taken into account before undertaking the preparation of such a meal, such as how you’re to go about doing so while in a state of blaze.

Cooking can be dangerous, especially when cognitively impaired, and so what meal you choose to prepare will greatly determine any potential risks. If you are particularly accident prone, such as I am, mindfulness will be key. So here are a few suggestions I would make to any of my friends hoping to blow the minds of their 4/20 dinner guests.

First, you’re going to want to anticipate the cravings and mouthfeel. For example, if you and your friends’ mouths will be dust bowls, anticipate and avoid preparing a meal that is lacking any substantial amount of sauce. Depending on your tastes, there are a myriad of possibilities: Spicy

soups, sour soups, savory cold noodle bowls dripping in spicy peanut sauce, curries of any and all kinds, mac and cheese are all superb options, but some are better than others.

Saucy and spicy foods are getting two birds stoned at once. Not only will your cotton mouth be cured from how much you’ll be salivating, but you will begin to experience one of the finest sensations known to humankind. The heat that normally punches you in the face and slaps you around like the little bitch you are will transform into a tender touch of warmth that grows out of the backs of your cheeks and fills your whole head with hot air.

Next, you’re going to want to anticipate your ability to read and generally interpret time in a meaningful way — that means nothing too complicated. Don’t even think about trying to deep fat fry anything, your boil-less skin will thank me. This also means making use of your phone’s voice commands to set timers, and always, always set the timer two to three minutes before you should actually go and check on something: Spontaneous detours are to be expected. If you or any

of your friends get anxious while cyphing, I recommend sipping on some wine to mellow out.

Finally, try to prepare as much of what you need before sparking. Chop what needs to be chopped, boil noodles, measure ingredients, if you really need to fry something, just don’t, it’ll be cold, soggy and ass by the time you sit down to eat. This will help prevent any fingers from slipping into the chili, and any bones from being defleshed by boiling liquids. Mise-en-place is what we’re going for people — keep it tidy.

Keeping it tidy applies as much after cooking as it does during prep. Don’t fulfill your parents worst nightmare by being a sloppy stoner. You will have more self-respect, and respect from your roommates and guests if you clean as you go and put the dishes in the washer after dinner.

Now you’re all set with the safest ways to chef stoned. I wish you all a happy high day, enjoy the munchies and please, take some tokes for me now that herb has been legalized in the great state of New York.

Chef Boyardee can be reached at cboyardee@cornellsun.com.

Sports?

Here lies our nonexistent sports coverage. We’ll get ’em next year.

e Zoom Flirting Playbook

Because looking hot in H.D. is now a varsity sport

By ZEALOUS ZOOMER Sun Staff Writer

Maybe you’re a first-year who fantasized about locking eyes with the love of your life during O-Week. Or maybe you’re a senior desperately trying to find someone before stepping into the lonely world of adulthood. Either way, the pandemic probably threw a wrench into your dating aspirations. Your dating apps are dry, you spent cuffing season taking finals in your childhood bedroom, your perfect matches weren’t perfect at all and there’s a long five weeks to go until hot girl summer. Here’s how to make some real use of your class time and land your Zoom crush.

1. Turn on your camera. This isn’t Love Is Blind . Zoom classes offer countless opportunities for distraction. The person can easily be working on another assignment, texting friends or mindlessly scrolling through TikTok under their desk. You’ll need to use all the tools at your disposal for a chance to keep their attention.

2. Perfect your backdrop. Make sure the camera can see the dirty dishes in your kitchen, the stains on your sweats and the navy sheets you haven’t washed since you bought them freshman year.

3. Put some effort into your appearance. Luckily, Zoom only shows you from the shoulders up, so pick a nice shirt and find some flattering lighting. Some clothing recommendations: your Cornell homecoming shirt from two years ago, the T-shirt the College of Arts and Sciences gave you during orientation and won’t stop talking about, the shirt you stole from that frat boy. These are sure to impress! And don’t forget to add a filter — your crush will want to see your face floating near the Golden Gate Bridge or in outer space.

4. If you overslept, just get dressed during class. Don’t worry about turning your video off here either!

5. Unmute while your professor is talking. Hear me out on this one. If your potential match has Active Speaker view turned on, you’ll be filling up their screen giving them plenty of time to take notice of you.

6. Say their name. It’s scientifically proven that our brain involuntarily responds to the sound of our own names. The next time your special someone speaks up during an in-class discussion, click on the little blue hand, unmute and respond. Say something like “Going off Cathy’s point...” or “I agree with Adam that...” You’ll get their attention, boost their ego and snap up some class participation points all in one move.

Breakout Rooms? More Like Make-Out Rooms

Looking for love | Take some tips from your favorite student paper, we’re totally unqualified with our dry-ass love lives but maybe there’s something good here?

7. Send them a private message but accidentally send it to the entire class. This one is a crowd-pleaser. Your professor will love you too. The spicier the better.

8. Comment on their background. Do they have a cute goldfish behind them? A roommate pacing behind the camera? A Justin Bieber poster? Tell them you love it.

9. Crash their breakout room.

10. Vlog into class. Don’t take your Zoom class from your desk. Are you kidding me?

Zealous Zoomer can be reached at zzoomer@cornellsun.com.

Cornell Vacillates Back to Green Alert for 69th Time

‘We felt like it,’ President Martha Pollack says while listening to ‘birds chirping’ outside

By DAN KUH Sun Staff Writer

President Martha Pollack announced Friday morning that Cornell will once again move back to a green alert on campus because “we felt like it,” Pollack wrote in a statement to the Cornell community.

“Every Friday morning we look at the dashboard and get some vibes,” the email read. “We are feeling green today on this sunny April Friday morning, as the birds are chirping outside my window. We are once again moving to COVID-19 Alert Level Green (“New Normal”) because we felt like it.”

Pollack told students not to let their guard down, urging them to keep social distancing and mask wearing, even as she felt like cases were low on campus. She also reminded students to keep signing up for their surveillance tests — saying that she knows first hand that losing campus Wi-Fi “kind of sucks.”

“Cornellians, we fervently hope you will take surveillance testing seriously,” the statement read. “I know first hand what it feels like to lose these privileges. I had to

rely on my iPhone hotspot over the last week, because I forgot to schedule my test.”

Pollack wrote that she missed her surveillance test because of an annual virtual bridge tournament last week and warned Cornellians to be vigilant about their own testing, because campus isn’t out of the woods yet with the virus. When asked what students should do if they lose access to Wi-Fi and don’t have a hotspot, Pollack told The Sun that she was “so sorry but we can’t do anything.” She added that students just have to deal with the new punitive policies because “we finally felt like doing something” about COVID clusters after blaming students for partying.

“Every Friday morning we look at the dashboard and get some vibes.”

President

Martha Pollack

“Keep being vigilant, Cornellians,” the email read. “Green is the color of hope. It’s the color of St. Patty’s Day, which caused a COVID cluster. But most of all, it is the color of marijuana, which we will never let you smoke on our Ithaca Campus. We won’t give you any real long break anytime soon, so go have fun — but not too much fun.”

Dan Kuh can be reached at dkuh@cornellsun.com.

The editors of this issue were too greened out to figure out how to fill this space ... maybe it’s for the better.