05 01 18 entire issue hi res

Pollack to Evaluate Report on Consensual Relationships Policy

d f i e l d w o rk c o u r s e i n t h e n u t r i -

t i o n s c i e n c e d e p a r t m e n t

Mi c h e l l e L e f e bv re , d i re c t o r o f n u t r i t i o n m a n a g e m e n t f o r C o r n e l l Di n i n g , i s o n e o f t h e re g i s t e re d d i e t i c i a n s w h o w o rk s w i t h s t u d e n t s i n t h e c o u r s e “ I ove r s e e d i e t e t i c s t u d e n t s i n a p p l y i n g w h a t t h e y l e a r n i n t h e f i e l d , i e C o r n e l l Di n i n g , ” L e f e bv re s a i d “ T h e f o c u s i s f o o d s e r v i c e m a n a g e m e n t a n d n u t r i t i o n e d u c a t i o n [ T h e c o u r s e ] c u l m i n a t e s i n t o a n e ve n t T h e s t u d e n t s c o m e u p w i t h a t h e m e a n d t h e y d e s i g n t h e a c t i v i t y ” T h e s t ud e n t s c h o s e c h o c o l a t e a t h e t h e m e ye a r a n d i n c o r p o r a t e d a b o d y p o s i t i v i t y a n d i n t u i t i ve e a t i n g e xe rc i s e i n t o t h e e ve n t E a c h s e m e st e r d u r i n g t h e t h e t h e m e d d i nn e r, t h e c l a s s p a r t n e r s w i t h a b r a n d o r a n o r g a n i z a t i o n a c c o r d i n g t o L e f e b v r e T h i s ye a r t h e y d e c i d e d t o w o rk w i t h

Be r n a rd ’ 1 8 a re t h e t w o s t ud e n t s i n t h e c o u r s e w h o c a m e u p w i t h t h e c h o c o l a t e t h e m e d d i n n e r T h e y c h o s e c h o c o l a t e d u e t o t h e p o p u l a r i t y o f t h e f o o d a c c o rd i n g t o St o u t B o t h o f t h e s t u d e n t s we re f o r m e r

B o d y Po s i t i ve C o r n e l l Ma r i a h St o u t ’ 1 8 a n d Je n n a

Trying to figure out how to use the TCAT bus system is a struggle for many members of the Cornell and Ithaca community Now, students and locals alike can turn to Ithaca Transit, an app designed by Cornell students, to help them navigate Ithaca by bus more easily Team member and iOS developer for Ithaca Transit Monica Ong ’19 explained that Ride14850, a “ go-to app ” for students to determine their ideal bus routes “still has, a terrible [user interface] ”

“I remember when I first started using it as a freshman, I had to figure out how to put in starting and ending locations and then I had to figure out how to read the results to figure which bus I needed to take,” she said

“Ithaca Transit is an end-toend navigation solution that combines the best transit features available into one app, ” said project lead Matt Barker ’19 “While apps like Ride14850 only provide routing on a clunky interface or MyStop only provides live updates, Ithaca Transit includes the best features to ride smarter

Ithaca Police Charge Man for Rape Connected to 2 Sexual Assaults

Howe does not appear to have any affiliation with Cornell BreAnne Fleer 20 HOWE

The Ithaca Police Department Criminal Investigations Division arrested a 20-year-old for a series of sexual assault incidents that took place in Ithaca in 2016 and 2017, according to an IPD press release Sethik Howe of Ithaca is charged with rape in the first degree and a criminal sex act in the first degree, both class B felonies Howe’s April 24 arrest follows reports that he engaged in “forcible sexual intercourse” more than once with a female victim under the age of 17, according to the press release Howe’s arraignment took place in Ithaca City Court, and he has been “remanded to the Tompkins County Jail in lieu of $1,500 cash or $3,000 bond,” according to the press release

A L I S T I N G O F F R E E C A M P U S E V E N T S

F a s h i o n f o r w a r d | Shravan Kummar, the Nixon Distinguished Speaker for the 2017 - 2018 academic year, will be presenting a line of clothing and speaking about his designs To d a y

T u m m y t r o u b l e | Dr Renate Reimschuessel, Director of the FDA Veterinary Laboratory Investigation and Response Network (Vet - LIRN) will give a presentation about how to report potential food related illnesses

n tation : “ Wh o you g on n a c al l” for an imal f ood rel ated il ln e ss ? 9:00 - 10:00 a m , College of Veterinary Medicine at Cornel University, S2-223

Bioph ys ic s Co ll oq uium with Yan Yu 4:00 p m , 700 Clark Hall

Art Explores Refugee Crisis

By XING GAO Sun Staff Writer

Syrian ar tist and architect Mohamad Hafez drew attention to the role of art in the worldwide refugee crisis as he explored his cultural identity and displayed his work as a part of the Art Beyond Borders event on Friday night

The event was organized by International Student Union and Cornell Welcome Refugees to “ provoke dialogue across cultures and promote international awareness through visual media,” according to the event ’ s Facebook page

The keynote address of the event was delivered by Hafez, a Syrian artist previously featured in The New Yorker and The New York Times Hafez hopes to be a “voice for the Syrian refugees, for Muslim Americans, for forced migrants” through visual art works, according to his website

“We are living in a crazy time,” Hafez said, “where a lot of us might get labeled too many ways based on our nationality, passport color, ethnicity, religion, skin color without realizing who we really are ”

According to The Guardian, the U S resettled 15,479 refugees in 2016 under Obama, but under Trump the number has reduced to 3,024 in 2017 and only 11 so far this year

“This country can do so much

better than that,” said Tarannum Sahar ’20, president of Cornell Welcomes Refugees, in an email to The Sun

“For the first time, [art] gave us an ability to put people in front of each other, to have a conversation, to have a dialogue, a much needed dialogue in a very separated society, ” Hafez said

Hafez said his obsession with arts began with the “ peace and tranquility” he observed in humans As he continued to explore his voice in and outside of the refugee community, he yearned to tell the human part of the story with his artworks

“I felt that art needs to tell us what is so desperate for somebody to put their two to three year old across the Mediterranean,” Hafez said “And that stor y is usually neglected in the media ”

One of his projects, which is titled “UNPACKED: Refugee Baggage,” incorporated suitcases that he collected from immigrants and audio recorded in Syria with “airplanes flying over bombing, and people yelling ” Through this project, Hafez hoped that he could prevent humans from “repeating the mistakes” made in history

“There’s no more time important than this time to have these conversations,” he said

The event also featured different types of art works from Cornell students including paintings, photography, poems and video to raise awareness on refugee crisis all around the world

Chiara Benitez ’19, president of the International Student Union, said these different artworks that represented different cultural backgrounds would also “ promote dialogue on how ‘internationalism’ is depicted through media ”

According to audience member Nadia Samaha ’20, the art pieces exhibited were “astounding” with “ tr uly inspiring” stories behind each

“Coming from the Middle East, I was especially moved by the talk and it was just beautiful to see people from different communities and backgrounds listen to Hafez’s perspective,” Samaha said

Best Buddies Host Friendship Stroll

By WINNY SUN Sun Staff Writer

The Cornell chapter of Best Buddies has raised over $2,000 through their fundraising efforts in the last two months to help expand the club’s future social events

Best Buddies is a “nonprofit organization dedicated to establishing a global movement that creates opportunities for people with intellectual/developmental disabilities,” according to the organization’s Facebook page

The Cornell chapter of the non-profit promotes social inclusion by pairing Cornell students with people with disabilities in the Ithaca Community, according to Sarah Aiken ’18, the club’s outgoing president

This past Sunday, the group hosted the Best Buddies Friendship Stroll fundraiser in the Cornell Botanical Gardens

The Friendship Walk is a national movement intended to “raise awareness for inclusion, friendship, leadership development, and integrated job opportunities for people with IDD (intellectual and developmental disabilities),” according to the event ’ s official page

Best Buddies at Cornell has attended the walk in Albany and Rochester over the past two years This year, it had the opportunity to host its own friendship stroll for the western New York region

In preparation for the walk during the past two months, Aiken said that club members participated in a number of fundraising initiatives, including a social media campaign that featured photos and stories of buddy pairs to raise awareness for their cause, in addition to a fundraiser that involved selling wristbands for drink specials at Loco Individual members also had their own fundraising pages that friends and families could help contribute to

The club was first founded in the fall of 2014 without much funding, so Cornell students and their buddies could only do coloring and other limited activities in the basement of Annabel Taylor Hall, Aiken explained

This motivated the student group to plan fundraisers to support meaningful bonding events, according to Aiken

In addition to the inclusive walk drawing all community members, Sunday’s event also featured people sharing what Best Buddies meant to them and honored those who fundraised the most money

Lizabeth Kaminoff ’20, a member of Cornell Best Buddies, said she joined the fundraiser because she had “always been interested in breaking down the barrier between people with disabilities and those without ”

“From the fundraiser, I learned that if you ask people for

CUSD Water Bottle Display on Arts Quad Condemns

By ANGELA CHON Sun Staff Writer

As a part of People’s Climate Week, the Cornell University Sustainable Design team created a functional art project made out of plastic water bottles to display on the Arts Quad to draw attention to the amount of plastic waste generated by students

“I think the display is important because it starts a discussion among students about the impact of generating so much plastic use and how easy it is to switch to a reusable water bottle,” said T J Ball ’19, CUSD cogeneral manager

CUSD is a 150-person interdisciplinary project team within systems engineering that allows students to gain hands-on learning experience while creating more sustainable communities

“As the infographic attached to the piece outlines, plastic waste has a terrible impact on our environment, especially considering how little of it actually gets recycled,” Ball said

The team used water bottles found on campus, totalling roughly 200 plastic water bottles This represents 1/20th of the plastic

waste generated by Cornell undergraduate students on a daily basis

“We found this number based on a Student Assembly environmental committee survey that suggested around 4,000 plas-

tic water bottles are used every day,” Ball said The idea for the water bottle project was initiated by Ball, and the art structure was created by him, Ruth Park ’21 and Kevin

help with something you are passionate about, they are willingly to give I’m clearly passionate about Best Buddies and my peers definitely picked up on that,” she said

Events like the fundraiser are essential because they not only highlight the importance of social inclusion to the Ithaca and Cornell community members, but also show participants with disabilities that they deserve to be included, according to Aiken

The club members raised in total around $2,000 dollars, all of which will go into planning for community outings and future events, Aiken reported

She shared that some group trips that Cornell students and their buddies had been to in the past include the farmers’ market, bowling and sporting events

Aiken, who will graduate soon, has worked with the club for all of her four years at Cornell Looking back, she said she believes there is huge value in the work that Best Buddies does and that both buddies with disabilities and Cornell students benefit from participating in the program

“A lot of buddies face social exclusion it just gives them a friend which sounds like a trivial thing but has a much bigger impact than people realize,” Aiken said

Reigner ’20, two other members of the organization’s operations team

“Kevin helped me collect the water bottles and assisted with stringing the water bottles onto the string,” Ball said “Ruth helped with stringing on water bottles, assembling the structure and she also put together the infographic that goes along with the structure ”

Assembling the lines of plastic water bottles took eight hours, and putting the structure together took an additional six hours

“I hope this piece will spur others to create installations or functional art that performs a similar call to action about other important matters, ” Ball said

According to Ball, People’s Climate Week consisted of a series of around 89 events organized by environmental and sustainability awareness clubs on campus

CUSD will be presenting their final expo May 5 in Collegetown eHub to showcase more of the organization’s research and projects

Privacy Concerns in New CRP Policies Divide Faculty, Students

CRP-A bans all faculty and graduate/professional student relationships if both partners are in the same graduate field or degree program

CRP Continued from page 1

g ro u p s o f s t u d e n t s [ u n d e r g r a d u a t e a n d g r a d u a t e ] , ” i t s

va g u e n e s s re g a rd i n g p ro h i b i t i o n a n d d i s c l o s u re re q u i re -

m e n t s a n d “ i t s l a c k o f c l a r i t y re g a rd i n g e n f o rc e m e n t

m e c h a n i s m s ”

Now, a f t e r a ye a r o f w o rk , c o - c h a i r s Pro f C h a r l e s Va n L o a n , e n g i n e e r i n g , d e a n o f f a c u l t y, a n d A n n a

Wa y m a c k g r a d b e l i e ve t h e y h a ve f u l f i l l e d Po l l a c k’s t a s k T h e c o m m i t t e e , c o m p o s e d o f u n d e r g r a d u a t e s , g r a d -

u a t e s , f a c u l t y m e m b e r s , re s e a rc h e r s , e m p l oye e s a n d

s t a f f, e n d e d i t s d e l i b e r a t i o n s w i t h t w o p o l i c y o p t i o n s :

C R P - A a n d C R P - B

T h e t w o p o l i c i e s a re e s s e n t i a l l y i d e n t i c a l B o t h i n c l u d e a c o m p l e t e b a n o n s e x u a l o r ro m a n t i c re l a t i o ns h i p s b e t w e e n f a c u l t y a n d u n d e r g r a d u a t e s t u d e n t s a n d n e i t h e r a l l ow a n y m e m b e r o f t h e C o r n e l l c o m m u n i t y t o e xe rc i s e a c a d e m i c o r p ro f e ss i o n a l a u t h o r i t y ove r a s t ud e n t w i t h w h o m h e o r s h e i s s e x u a l l y o r ro m a n t i c a l l y i n vo l ve d Ju s t l a s t we e k , C o l u m b i a ’ s Un i ve r s i t y Se n a t e b a n n e d a l l re l a t i o n s h i p s b e t we e n u n d e r g r a d u a t e s a n d f a c u l t y, T h e C o l u m b i a Sp e c t a t o r re p o r t e d T h e u n d e r g r a d u a t e b a n a t C o r n e l l h a s re c e i ve d p o pu l a r s u p p o r t , w i t h t h e St u d e n t A s s e m b l y vo t i n g w i t h a f o u r t o o n e r a t i o i n f a vo r o f t h e b a n , a c c o rd i n g t o Va n L o a n “ It’s n o t t h a t u n d e r g r a d u a t e s a re n a i ve o r u n a b l e t o f e n d f o r t h e m s e l ve s , ” Va n L o a n s a i d “ T h e d i f f e re n c e b e t we e n u n d e r g r a d u a t e s a n d g r a d u a t e s i s t h a t g r a d u a t e s

“I have no faith that ... the new ‘Office 6 x’ will be able to regulate personal relationships with tact and sensitivity ”

P r o f R i c h a r d B

h a ve c o m p l e t e d a n a c a d e m i c d e g re e T h e y h a ve a l s o g o n e t h ro u g h t h e p ro c e s s o f a p p l y i n g t o g e t h e re a n d t h a t m e a n s t h e y k n ow a l i t t l e b i t a b o u t t h e p owe r o f f a cu l t y ” “ Un d e r g r a d u a t e s h a ve n ’ t f u l l y s e e n t h a t , ” h e a d d e d Wa y m a c k c l a r i f i e d t h a t u n d e r g r a d u a t e t e a c h i n g a s s i st a n t s we re n ’ t c o n s i d e re d f a c u l t y ; h owe ve r, s h e d i d s t a t e

t h a t t h e p ro p o s e d p o l i c y p re ve n t s T A s f ro m e x h i b i t i n g

a c a d e m i c a u t h o r i t y ove r t h o s e t h e y a re s e x u a l l y o r

ro m a n t i c a l l y i n vo l ve d w i t h

It i s t h e d i f f e re n c e b e t we e n t h e t w o p o l i c i e s t h a t h a s

d r a w n t h e s h a r p e s t c r i t i c i s m a n d s t ro n g e s t d e b a t e

C R P - A b a n s a l l f a c u l t y a n d g r a d u a t e / p ro f e s s i o n a l s t u -

d e n t re l a t i o n s h i p s i f b o t h p a r t n e r s a re “ a f f i l i a t e d w i t h

t h e s a m e g r a d u a t e f i e l d o r d e g re e p ro g r a m ” C R P - B

a l l ow s s u c h re l a t i o n s h i p s u n d e r t h e c o n d i t i o n t h a t t h e

re l a t i o n s h i p i s d i s c l o s e d a n d a p ro p e r re c u s a l p l a n i s

d r a f t e d

Ma n y f a c u l t y m e m b e r s , s u c h a s Pro f R i c h a rd Mi l l e r,

p h i l o s o p h y, h a v e c r i t i c i z e d C R P - A a s “ e x c e s s i v e ” O t h e r s , h o w e v e r, i n c l u d i n g b o t h Va n L o a n a n d

h

o p t i m

l re c u s a l p l a n “ St u d e n t s w o u l d , o n t h e w h o l e i t s e e m s , ve r y m u c h p re f e r t h a t f a c u l t y n o t b e t h e f i r s t p o i n t o f c o n t a c t , a n d p e r h a p s n o t e ve n b e c o n t a c t e d , ” Wa y m a c k s a i d Ot h e r s h a ve e x p re s s e d c o n c e r n s re g a rd i n g p r i va c y, l i k e u n d e r g r a d u a t e c o m m i t t e e m e m b e r a n d St u d e n t A s s e m b l y e xe c u t i ve v i c e p re s i d e n t Jo s e p h A n d e r s o n ’ 2 0 , w h o w a n t e d t o j o i n t h e c o m m i t t e e t o m a k e s u re t h a t c o n s i d e r a t i o n s f o r L G B TQ i n d i v i d u a l s , l i k e b e i n g c l o s e te d , we re d i s c u s s e d d u r i n g t h e p o l i c y ’ s c r a f t i n g He f e l t t h e o r i g i n a l d r a f t w a s “ b a s e d o n a l o t o f h e t e ro n o r m a t i ve l a ng u a g e ” Pro f Ke n Bi r m a n , c o mp u t e r s c i e n c e , a l s o f o r e s e e s p ro b l e m s w i t h a s k i n g a l l i n d iv i d u a l s t o d i s c l o s e t h e i r re l a t i o n s h i p s t a t u s , e s p e c i a l l y i n t h e c a s e t h a t a n LG BTQ c o u p l e f e a r s b a c k l a s h “ T h e re i s a b s o l u t e l y n o s t a t e m e n t a b o u t p r i va c y i n

t o k e e p t h e i r re l a t i o n s h i p a s e c re t , a p r i va c y b o t h t h e U S g ove r n m e n t a n d Ne w Yo rk St a t e re c o g n i ze s , t h e i r a c a d e m i c c a re e r c o u l d b e r u i n e d “ Pe r h a p s t h e y f e a r t h a t a ve r

n e d t o k e e p t h e “ r a d i u s o f d i s c l os u re ” a s s m a l l a s p o s s i b l e Ot h e r f a c u l t y m e m b e r s w o n d e r i f u p d a t i n g t h e p o l

i p w

w

m t h e y h a d a u t h o r i t y ove r He s a i d t h e “ Un i ve r s i t y re g u l a t i o n o f re l a t i o n s h i p s b e t we e n c o n s e n t i n g a d u l t s i s i n f a n t i l i z i n g , p a

“Our policies ... also have to speak to the problems we face in regards to predatory behavior on campus ” P r o f K e n t H u b b e l l ’ 6 9

r e n o u g h t o h a nd l e t h e i s s u e “ T h e s e k i n d s o f t h i n g s h a ve b e e n d e a l t w i t h s u c h d i sc re t i o n i n t h e p a s t , m a n y f a c u l t y d o n ’ t t h i n k i t ’ s a p ro bl e m , ” Hu b b e l l s a i d , a d d i n g t h a t h e ’ s s e e n t h e “ ve r y u n f o r t u n a t e c i rc u m s t a n c e s t h a t h a ve l e d t o ve r y n e g at i ve o u t c o m e s f o r s t u d e n t s ” i n - p e r s o n “ Ou r p o l i c i e s , v i e we d a s h a v i n g t o d o w i t h ro m a n t i c re l a t i o n s h i p s , a l s o h a ve t o s p e a k t o t h e p ro b l e m s we f a c e i n re g a rd s t o p re d a t o r y b e h a v i o r o n c a m p u s , ” h e s a i d A f t e r t h e c o m m i t t e e s u bm i t s i t s f i n a l p r o p o s a l t o Po l l a c k , t h e c r a f t i n g o f t h e p o l i c y s h i f t s t o t h e Un i v e r s i t y ’ s l a w y e r s a n d h u m a n re s o u rc e s T h e c o mm i t t e e ’ s j o b w a s s i m p l y t o g i ve a re a d o f t h e c a m p u s t h ro u g h t h e va r i o u s a s s e m b l y a n d s e n

t h e C R P - A o r C R P - B p ro p o s a l s : 6 x i s u n d e r n o o b l i ga t i o n n o t t o a n n o u n c e e ve r y s i n g l e t h i n g t h e y l e a r n

In d e e d , C R P - A a n d C R P - B m o re o r l e s s re q u i re t h a t t h e

6 x o f f i c e i n f o r m a h a l f d o ze n p e o p l e o f a n y t h i n g t h a t c o m e s t o t h e o f f i c e , ” Bi r m a n s a i d He a d d e d t h a t i f a n LG BTQ c o u p l e we re t o a t t e m p t

Wa y m a c k , s u p p o r t t h e p o l i c y f o r i t s c l a r i t y “ Ha v i n g a b r i g h t l i n e s e n d s a n u n a m b i g u o u s s i g n a l t h a t t h e re i s a zo n e w h e re t h e a c a d e m i

Themed Okenshields Dinner Celebrates Chocolate and Body Positivity

wellbeing

”

Continued from page 1

Two stations were set up where participants would serve themselves a brownie or chili In each instance, the participants were in control of the portion sizes they had Participants were instructed to take whatever amount of food they wanted without judgment

“For the brownie, normally you have the brownie cut for you That is a cue that this is the size of what you should eat, ” Stout said “[Instead] we let people have control over [the size of the brownie] and slow down and think about it ”

“Hopefully we will get some people slow down and think ‘do I really want this?’ or ‘ am I hungry for some more food’ or ‘ am I okay, do I just want a desert now ’ in the hopes that they will listen to their body more, ” Bernard said

Other menu items included chocolate soup and butternut squash bisque, cocoa and coffee rubbed pork loin with demi glaze and roasted beets with chocolate and balsamic glaze

Mark H Anbinder, a spokesperson for Cornell Dining, explained the usability of

chocolate in more than just sweet recipes in an email to The Sun “ The menu for the Chocolate and Intuitive Eating dinner is inspired by the idea that chocolate as an ingredient has an incredible array of possible uses in dishes both sweet and savory, ” Anbinder wrote

“We think of it as a treat or a dessert, and while it’s great that way, that's not all chocolate or cocoa is good for,” he said “The cacao bean is an important part of lots of cuisines, especially in Latin America ”

K r i s t o p h e r A n g l e , c h e f o f Wi l l a rd Straight Dining, took upon the challenge of designing the menu around chocolate He compared the savoriness of chocolate to coffee and referenced the similar flavor notes the two share He said his main focus was using chocolate with foods he knew worked well with it

“We went with stuff we knew worked together We took the ingredient chocolate, we know it’s bitter, we know its rich, savory, [and thought about] how can we infuse that into a menu, ” Angle said “We took our normal ingredients and just plugged it in ”

Amina Kilpatrick can be reached at akilpatrick@cornellsun com

136TH EDITORIAL BOARD

JACOB S KARASIK RUBASHKIN ’19 Editor in Chief

JOHN MCKIM MILLER ’20

Business Manager

KATIE SIMS ’20

Associate Editor

VARUN IYENGAR ’21

Web Editor

MEGAN ROCHE ’19

Projects Editor

EMMA WILLIAMS ’19

Design Editor

JEREMIAH KIM 19 Blogs Editor

AMOL RAJESH 20 Science Editor

BREANNE FLEER 20 News Editor

YUICHIRO KAKUTANI 19 News Editor

NICHOLAS BOGEL-BURROUGHS 19

LEV AKABAS 19 Arts & Entertainment Editor

SARAH SKINNER 21

ANNE SNABES 19

JOHNATHAN STIMPSON 21 Assistant

WORKING ON TODAY’S SUN

GIRISHA ARORA ’20 Managing Editor

HEIDI MYUNG ’19 Advertising Manager

ALISHA GUPTA ’20 Assistant Managing Editor

DYLAN MCDEVITT ’19

MICHAEL LI ’20

GRIFFIN SMITH-NICHOLS ’19 Blogs Editor

JACQUELINE QUACH ’19 Dining Editor

SHRUTI JUNEJA ’20 News Editor

ANU SUBRAMANIAM ’20

JUSTIN J PARK ’19 Multimedia Editor PARIS GHAZI ’21

LIU ’20

KANTOR ’19

RAPHY GENDLER ’21

Johnathan Stimpson 21 NIGHT DESKER Stacy Blansky 20 DESIGN DESKERS Julian Robison 20 Megan Roche ’19 Catherine Horng 21 Hannah Lee 20 PHOTOGRAPHY DESKER Boris Tsang 21

Editorial

Arts Faculty, Don’t Gut Language Requirement

THE ARTS & SCIENCES CURRICULUM COMMITTEE’S recommended changes to the College’s language requirements, in particular the halving of the credit requirement from 11 to 6, are misguided and should not be adopted by the arts college faculty today Foreign language is and should remain an integral part of a liberal arts education, and the proposed changes will only do a disservice to students and departments throughout the college

The committee (on which no language professors sit) notes that students often find the current requirements burdensome; many students aim to take a single intermediatelevel semester of a language they studied in high school, and some even transfer out of the College to avoid those courses While this may be true, the response to such apathy should not be to lessen what is expected of undergraduates If students have issues with foreign language classes at Cornell, those issues should be addressed, not swept under the rug by lowering the requirements altogether Unless the committee believes there is something intrinsically repulsive about foreign language for students (note: there isn’t), they should endeavor to make those classes more enticing and rewarding rather than minimizing them

The report notes that 63 percent of students elect to take one intermediate-level language course entered via placement exam rather than start a new language The report implies that by lowering the requirement from “11 credits in a single language” to “ two courses, at least three credits each, in a single language,” students who might otherwise take the intermediate-level track will instead choose to start a new language Leaving aside questions of desired proficiency (it’s hard to learn a language in two intro semesters), that just doesn’t add up

Now, we are but mere wordsmiths at The Cornell Daily Sun, unfamiliar with the mathematical sciences, but even we know that one is less than two

If the language requirement is as cumbersome as the committee believes it to be, very few students who under the old rules took just one intermediate course would choose to take two semesters of a totally new language merely because they wouldn’t have to take a third If the option remains to go “ one and done,” that option will remain by far the most popular

But let’s leave the math to the mathematicians and the game theory to the economists Here at The Sun we know a little about language, and we know that learning a language other than English is incredibly important Because at a time when America’s leaders are taking great pains to isolate our nation from the rest of the world, communication is the key to bolstering our relationships with other nations and other people It’s much easier to be angry at someone when you can ’ t understand them It’s much easier to shut yourself off from the world when you are unable to connect with everything and everyone out there Cornell’s plethora of language courses (there are so many!) offer us an invaluable door to the rest of the world Let’s embrace that, not diminish it

Timothy C. Marchell & Gregory T. Eells | Guest Room

Mental

Health Promotion And Suicide Prevention: How Is Cornell Supporting Students?

Os it y s u p p o r t w e h a v e a d d e d n e w t h e r a p i s t p o s i t i o n s w h i c h h a s s h o r t e n e d w a i t t i m e s a n d a l s o i n c re a s e d t h e d i v e r s i t y o f

o u r s t a f f Ac c e s s t o m e n t a l h e a l t h c a re i s c r i t ic a l , b e c a u s e t re a t m e n t w o r k s a n d m a n y s t u d e n t s a re i n n e e d o f i t It’s a l s o i m p o r -

t a n t t o re a c h s t u d e n t s w h o m a y b e re l u ct a n t t o w a l k t h r o u g h o u r d o o r s , s o o u r

L e t ’ s Ta l k p r o g r a m p l a c e s c o u n s e l o r s i n l o c a t i o n s a r o u n d

c a m p u s f o r w a l k - i n c o n s u l t a t i o n s A n d w i t h i n C o r n e l l He a l t h , o u r m e n t a l h e a l t h a n d m e d i c a l c a re p r ov i d e r s w o r k c o l l a b o r a t i v e l y D u r i n g m e d i c a l

v i s i t s , w e re g u l a r l y a s k p a t i e n t s a b o u t d e p re s s i o n , a n x i e t y, a n d a l c o h o l u s e , e v e n t h o u g h t h e y m a y h a v e c o m e t o u s f o r a d i f f e re n t re as o n I f a n e e d i s i d e n t i f i e d , m e n t a l h e a l t h c l i n i c i a n s w h o a re p a r t o f o u r m e d i c a l t e a m s c a n p r ov i d e i m m e d i a t e h e l p W h i l e t h e s e c l i n i c a l s e r v i c e s a re v i t a l , t r e a t m e n t a l o n e i s n o t e n o u g h Pr o m o t i n g s t u d e n t m e n t a l h e a l t h a n d p re v e n t i n g s u i c i d e re q u i re s a c o m p reh e n s i v e , p u b l i c h e a l t h a p p r o a c h t h a t b o t h s u p p o r t s i n d i v i d u a l s a n d f o s t e r s a

h e a l t h i e r e d u c a t i o n a l a n d s o c i a l e n v i r o n -

m e n t A l t h o u g h t h e r a t e o f s u i c i d e a m o n g C o r n e l l s t u d e n t s i s s i m i l a r t o o t h e r s c h o o l s i n t h e U S , n o l e v e l o f s u i -

Because of our unique topography, the nets are an essential part of a comprehensive approach to suicide prevention.

s

c

Promoting student mental health and preventing suicide requires a comprehensive, public health approach that both supports individuals and fosters a healthier educational and social environment.

d e s i re T h a t ’ s w h y p re v e n t i n g s u i c i d e s re q u i re s t w o t h i n g s : t h a t w e a l l e v i a t e s u ff e r i n g , a n d t h a t w e re d u c e p e o p l e ’ s a b i l it y t o h a r m t h e m s e l v e s A n e x a m p l e o f t h e l a t t e r i s w h e n h e a l t h c a re p r ov i d e r s d e v e l o p s a f e t y p l a n s w i t h s u i c i d a l s t ud e n t s t o p u t p h y s i c a l d i s t a n c e b e t w e e n t h e m a n d t h e m e t h o d o f s e l f - h a r m t h e y a re c o n s i d e r i n g ( e g , b y h a v i n g p o t e nt i a l l y l e t h a l m e d i c a t i o n s re m ov e d f r o m t h e i r h o m e s ) Do i n g s o c a n b u y t i m e f o r s u i c i d a l i m p u l s e s t o p a s s Mo s t p e o p l e w h o d i e b y s u i c i d e a re n ’ t i n c o u n s e l i n g , s o re s t r i c t i n g a c c e s s t o t h e m e a n s o f s u i c i d e c a n h e l p p r o t e c t t h o s e w h o d o n ’ t s e e k c a re C o r n e l l , l i k e m o s t o t h e r c a m p u s e s , h a s l o n g - s t a n d i n g p o l ic i e s t o l i m i t a c c e s s t o f i re a r m s a n d c h e mi c a l s o n c a m p u s Si m i l a r l y, t h e n e t s o n o u r c a m p u s - a re a b r i d g e s h e l p p r o t e c t d e s p a i r i n g m e m b e r s o f o u r c o m m u n i t y w h e n w e c a n ’ t b e t h e r e w i t h t h e m B e c a u s e o f o u r u n i q u e t o p o g r a p h y, t h e n e t s a re a n e s s e n t i a l p a r t o f a c o m p reh e n s i v e a p p r o a c h t o s u i c i d e p re v e n t i o n f o r C o r n e l l a n d t h e It h a c a c o m m u n i t y Pr e v e n t i n g s u i c i d e a n d f u l f i l l i n g C o r n e l l’s a s p i r a t i o n t o b e a c a r i n g c o mm u n i t y re q u i re s s u s t a i n e d a n d s h a re d c o m m i t m e n t We n e e d t o c o n t i n u e t o e x a m i n e s y s t e m s , p o l i c i e s , a n d i n d i v i du a l a c t i o n s T h e c h a l l e n g e s w e f a c e re q u i re s t r o n g p a r t n e r s h i p s b e t w e e n s t ud e n t s , s t a f f, f a c u l t y, a l u

c i d e i s a c c e p t a b l e E a c h s u i c i d e i s a t r a g e d y, a n d w e c o n t i n u a l l y f o c u s o n h ow t o p re v e n t t h e m O v e r t h e p a s t 1 5 y e a r s , t h e u n i v e r s i t y h a s d e v e l o p e d a M e n t a l H e a l t h Fr a m e w o r k t o g u i d e o u r e f f o r t s T h e f r a m e w o r k i n c l u d e s s t r a t e g i e s t o p r om o t e re s i l i e n c e , i n c re a s e h e l p - s e e k i n g , a n d i d e n t i f y p e o p l e i n n e e d o f c a re We’re a l s o w o r k i n g w i t h f a c u l t y m e mb e r s t o e x p l o re h ow t h e y c a n s u p p o r t s t u d e n t w e l l - b e i n g t h r o u g h t e a c h i n g , e v a l u a t i o n , a n d a d v i s i n g p r a c t i c e s A n d s i n c e m e n t a l h e a l t h i s i m p a c t e d b y a l c oh o l a b u s e , s e x u a l v i o l e n c e , h a z i n g a n d b i a s , s t r a t e g i e s t o a d d re s s e a c h o f t h e s e a re p a r t o f o u r a p p r o a c h C o l l e c t i v e l y, t h e s e e f f o r t s s e e k t o s u pp o r t t h e m e n t a l h e a l t h o f a l l s t u d e n t s a n d re d u c e t h e r i s k o f s u i c i d e f o r t h o s e w h o a re i n s i g n i f i c a n t d i s t re s s To p rev e n t s u i c i d e , w e n e e d t o f o c u s o n b o t h t h e m e n t a l h e a l t h o f i n d i v i d u a l s a n d t h e b r o a d e r c o n t e x t o f s t u d e n t s ’ l i v e s We k n ow, f o r e x a m p l e , t h a t e m o t i o n a l d i st re s s a n d s e r i o u s t h o u g h t s o f s u i c i d e a

Imagine a bunch of chairs had been set up for a speaking engagement, and someone had tried to destroy as many of them as possible to decrease the number of people that could attend the engagement (Assume too, for the sake of argument, that the number of chairs determine the possible audience size: the grass on which they are set up is wet and muddy, so people wouldn’t just be able to sit on the ground, and the speech will last for a tiring while, so standing is off the cards too ) For all intents and purposes, this appears to fall on the spectrum of silencing, albeit of a seemingly benign sort, and I suspect most of us would agree

When it therefore came to my attention that some students were last month taking as many free tickets as possible to Dick Cheney’s originally scheduled speaking engagement, I couldn’t help but be a little miffed Such actions admittedly come from well-intentioned political activism However, not only does it take advantage of the Cornell Republicans’ good will, but, m o re t ro u b l i n g l y, i t d e m o n s t r a t e s t h e increasing political sectarianism within American society

Irrespective of how much you disagree with what Cheney did while in power, as both a matter of principle and of application, we shouldn’t disrupt speech For a start, how can either liberals or leftists expect to present the strongest censure of Cheney without first hearing his strongest defense? After all, we need not look further than Barack Obama to discover that a Hobbesian attitude toward foreign policy

If you haven’t noticed yet, some companies have already fired up their recruiting engines for next summer ’ s internships Along the way, students, especially current sophomores, have scrambled to attend recruiting events, network and hopefully be asked to interview for a coveted position for next summer

Interviewing for an internship can be incredibly stressful for students, especially when they have to balance it with schoolwork, extracurriculars and a social life

For instance, one of my friends dropped a class because it was interfering with her networking session, and as a fellow business student, I was sympathetic A lot of business students feel pressured to prioritize inter vie ws, which seems incredibly backwards But oftentimes, inter vie ws require studying too Companies like to know you ’ ve done the proper research on them when they bring you in for interview It shows commitment and zeal, I suppose

“Oh, I’ll do fine on the tests What really worries me is my upcoming inter vie w, ” said my other friend one day

She spent a big chunk of her time scrolling through websites, applying to and prepping for her interviews But as much as you could prep, the problem with interviews is that they could be often unpredictable, riddled with “gotcha!” questions and landmines designed to weed out the candidates who don’t possess the certain, innate qualities a particular company or organization wants

Lorenzo Benitez | Not a Cop

Hearing Dick Cheney

isn’t uniquely right-wing If one believes there is a moral obligation to disrupt Cheney’s speech for his involvement in reinstating torture and initiating the Iraq War, then so too should one disrupt, for example, Obama for authorizing the execution of an American citizen without trial, the unprecedented waging of collateralized drone warfare and continuing the mass sur veillance begun by the administration of which Cheney was a member I suspect many who are planning to disrupt Cheney wouldn’t feel nearly as compelled to disrupt Obama if the latter were invited to speak, suggesting philosophical inconsistency across partisan lines

However, I understand these actions stem from profound disagreement with Cheney’s economic policies Some may regard fiscal conser vatism, “neoliberalism” or however else free market capitalism is today labelled as hostile to impoverished people, a socioeconomic identity as real as, say, a racial identity However, Cheney’s domestic policies are the product of a predominant worldview that sees capitalism as the most equitable way to structure society, not an intrapersonal, reactive attitude like hatred Even then, besides intent, a consequentialist would see that the harms wrought by Cheney are fundamentally different in character than the most grotesque examples of hate speech Hate speech can directly provoke literal violence, whereas advocating for lower taxes, if you believe it leads to social harms, causes harm indirectly In fact, the jur y is still out on whether status-quo capitalism is any worse than

what could replace it which is why political economists continue to disagree, after all

Don’t get me wrong I’m not defending Cheney’s worldview I’m simply considering the reasoning that may have led to it Asking whether Cheney ought to be unrestricted in his speech raises the ageold question of whether speech should ever be restricted Beyond cases like wrongly shouting “fire” in a crowded theater, I doubt that anyone could name a single person who they would entrust with the responsibility of weighing the benefits and costs of speech in other words, of ser ving as society’s ultimate censor But, if one believes that a governing body of more than just one person would be a better evaluator of speech, then are they not implicitly acknowledging that a group ’ s ability to evaluate speech improves in proportion to the number of different individuals that constitute it? And, if this is the case, then why not increase the size of this group to the furthest extent? In other words, to encompass as much of society as possible?

As argued by the philosopher John St u a

e stronger of the two inevitably prevails If Cheney’s ideas are so wrong, then there won ’ t be uptake of them However, since there is uptake, we have a helpful sign for those who disagree with him that there are some minds that need to be convinced T h i s h e l p f u l l y re ve a l s h ow a r g u m e n t s against Cheney need to be refined, but this is only possible when his own arguments

William Wang | Willpower

Make Me Laugh

For instance, I recently interviewed for a student club on campus where they decided to try every interview tactic possible It was perhaps the oddest hour and a half of my life

First, they had multiple groups of interviewers split up between different themes One group asked you technical questions, while another asked you behavioral questions My first batch of interviewees asked me riddle questions It went something like this:

“What gets wetter as it dries?”

“Wanna hea a riddle?” I asked.

ately want to know )

Swinging around to different groups of interviewees led to different kinds of questions: Tricky, but a little more practical

“What’s the biggest lie on your resume?”

Which is a fairy common question used by inter vie wers to unhinge candidates But it was a pretty simple one for me I had written down “ very experienced in python,” which was true (I had taken a class, and I had done some independent projects), but I thought “ very expe-

( The answer was a towel When I got it, I just put my head down and laughed Riddles never cease to be funny)

“What gets bigger as you take stuff out of it?”

( The answer was a hole I didn’t get that one, mostly because I kept thinking of a bag that somehow inflated as you took stuff out of it )

“If you had an elephant, and you can ’ t sell it or give it away, what would you do with it?”

(I just passed on that question because I had no clue how to answer it Honestly, if someone wants to answer that, they could put it in the comments section below or just email me I desper-

d” was overit ent would een a better wer

“If we had a cand i d a t e with the exact same background and qualifications as you, why should we hire them over you?”

“Because” and I thought carefully if this really was tactful, because the mood seemed light ”I’m more social and funnier ”

“Oh really? Tell me a joke ”

Well, I don’t really know a joke

At the end of the increasingly perplexing interview, I was sent to a back room to be grilled by a trio of students who decided it would best to screw with me

“Say your name backwards”

“Um, Wang William?”

‘No, say it backwards’

“Like what, phonetically?”

Then they asked me to sing my

Other wise, not only do well-intentioned members of the left play into the galvanizing narrative being constructed by the right that free speech is under siege on college campuses, but, more fundamentally, they deprive themselves of the valuable opportunity to strengthen their argumentation

While some would argue it’s still possible to access Cheney’s arguments via the internet, forcing discourse from a physical venue to a digital platform also constitutes a

speaking engagement affords the opportunity to more easily quer y and converse with a speaker, which would become more apparent to the average Cornellian if a leftist speaker were barred from speaking Besides, we all know how productive political discussions over the internet tend to be

To conclude, I’d like to add that airing my beliefs on subjects including identity, immigration, determinism, pre-professionalism, Bitcoin and God has been my favorite extra-curricular at what can feel like an alienating institution However, I sense I’ve exhausted my noteworthy opinions as a college student and so would like to mark this as my final column I thank my editors, Jacob Rubashkin ’19 and Katie Sims ’20, and all who’ve followed Not a Cop over the past year

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

Not a Cop appears alternate Mondays this semester

favorite song

“Do I really have to?” I asked I wasn ’ t sure how this was relevant

“Yes, you can just hum it ” And so, for about 30 seconds in a brightly lit room, during an interview that had far exceeded expectations, I started humming Bowie’s high art classic “Sound and Vision ” And then it became ludicrous

“Make me a laugh” demanded the guy in the back row after I finished humming

Ugh, I thought I had the distinct feeling I should really learn a joke to tell I did know a good riddle though

“Wanna hear a riddle?” I asked hopefully

“Nah, that’s fine, he doesn’t like to think too much ” said the guy in front of him, with a straight face “We can move on ”

And on and on they went At some point, I realize the point of the inter view wasn ’ t for me to do what they said, but to just shock me They cared more how about I reacted than what I said They were looking how I reacted under pressure The problem was, they hadn’t done a good job of it

T h e i r w o rd s w e re a b i t t o o forced, their actions a bit overdone They were like bad actors, mimicking what they thought was hostility instead of actually being hostile But overall, it was quite the inter view

And honestly? It wasn ’ t that unusual of an interview compared to others I’ve heard about There was a particularly horrid interview I once heard from someone who had interviewed for a business frat

on campus They had ripped apart his look, and had done a surprisingly impressive job of unnerving him, because he didn’t strike me as the type of guy to get unnerved

At one point, an interviewer had zeroed in on his tie and went in for the kill

“That tie,” he had said with a rather Tr umpian sneer, “is absolutely terrible ” Which seemed a little petty, but served as a good tip for for future interviewees: When companies outline the dress code for interviews, it really isn’t about fitting a style, because company dress codes have about as much style as a vacuum machine It’s about following directions and paying attention to details, the hallmark of corporate vitality Failing to do so doesn’t reflect well on the candidate

And really, those are just the basics Companies want to differentiate applicants, but to do that requires creative questions to take them out of their comfort zone

Everyone can walk through their resume Not every can give you sound advice on what to do with an elephant if you can sell it of give it away It’s impossible to predict the questions you’ll be asked But personally, the more I think about it, there is at least one thing you can do that will be guaranteed to help you in a future interview

Just learn a good joke

William Wang is a sophomore in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences He can be reached at wwang@cornellsun com

Willpower appears alternating Mondays this semester

d

t h e a d m i n i s t r a t i o

e e n a

r ye a r s l a t e r, I a m a b o u t t o g r a d u a t e

c o l l e g e I a m m o re p ro u d o f t h i s s u p e r l a -

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

a c c o m p l i s h m e n t s L o o k i n g b a c k n ow, I

c a n s e e t h a t t h i s l a b e l w a s a n d s t i l l i s a

c o m m o n w a y t o d i s m i s s w o m e n w i t h

o p i n i o n s , b u t t h i s i s m e re c l a i m i n g i t I s t i l l “ t a l k t h e m o s t ” It i s a b i g p a r t

o f m y i d e n t i t y a n d i t i s t h e re a s o n I c a n w r i t e t h e s e c o l u m n s If yo u a re g o i n g t o s a y a n y t h i n g , yo u c a n ’ t b e a f r a i d t h a t p e o p l e w i l l t h i n k i t va l u e - l e s s , o r yo u m i g h t n e ve r e n d u p t a l k i n g a t a l l I

Talks Most Says Least

h a t h a ve c h

t C o r n e l l , i n m y l i f e a n d i n t h e w o r l d ove r t h e c o u r s e o f m y s e n i o r ye a r I s t i l l h a ve n ’ t h a d a n o r g a s m a n d I a m s t i l l a f e m i n i s t k i l l j oy

T

e p a

s h a ve b

h

m o s t f o r m a t i v e o f m y e n t i re l i f e w h i c h i s m i l d l y f r u s t r a t i n g b e c a u s e I w a n t e d t o h a ve a c h i l l s e n i o r

Su n d a y m o r n i n g , I f e e l l i k e I a m t r a n sp o r t e d t o t r a s h i s l a n d I ’ m g l a d t h a t Bi l l C o s by h a s b e e n s e n t e n c e d t o p r i s o n b u t I s t i l l f e e l l i k e t h e s e x u a l s a f e t y o f w o m e n i s a m e re t re n d a n d I f e a r a t i m e w h e n t h e

p u b l i c g row s we a r y o f i t I a m u p s e t a b o u t l i v i n g i n a c a p i t a l i s t s y s t e m t h a t i s o n l y p o s s i b l e w i t h t h e e x i s t e n c e o f a n u n d e rc l a s s b u t I a m f a r t o o c o m f o r t a b l e

t o l e a ve i t I a m

a n g r y a b o u t t h e p l i g h

f a r m w o

b u t s o m e I f o r g e

c h e c k i f m p r o d u c e

c o m e s f r o m a

a s s s t i l l h a s n o t r e s p o n d e d t o m y Fa c e b o o k m e s s a g e a s k i n g h i m t o h a n g I t r y t o

o f t h e

r s e x i s t t re n d o f m e n i g n o r i n g t h e t h e d e s i re s o f w o m e n T h e n I re m e m b e r t h a t p ro b a b l y h e j u s t i s n ’ t i n t o m e a n d t h a t i s o k a y t o o No t e ve r y s l i g h t a g a i n s t m e i s a m i s o g y n i s t p l o t a g a i n s t m y g e n d e r I s t i l l h a ve a l o t t o s a y If i t s o u n d s l i k e I ’ m a n g r y, i t i s b e c a u s e I o f t e n a m I w a n t t o t e l l It h a c a t o b a n p l a s t i c c u p s b e c a u s e w a l k i n g t h r o u g h C o l l e g e t o w n o n a

w o u l d l i k e t o t h i n k t h a t a l m o s t a l l o f t h e t h i n g s I s a y ( o r w r i t e ) h a ve va l u e a n d , a l t h o u g h t h a t i s p ro b a b l y a n e x a g g e r at i o n , i t i s a f u n e xe rc i s e i n s e l f e s t e e m b u i l d i n g t h a t a l l w o m e n s h o u l d t a k e p a r t i n I l ove t h e s o u n d o f m y vo i c e a n d I w i l l n o t b e s i l e n c e d I a m s t i l l c o n f u s e d , I a m n o t a l w a y s c o n f i d e n t i n m y v i e w a n d I s u re l y d o n ’ t h a ve a l l t h e a n s we r s u n l e s s t h i s i s s o m e k i n d o f Ru Pa u l’s D ra g R a c e t r i v i a c o m p e t i t i o n I ’ ve a l w a y s w o r r i e d a b o u t b e i n g a n n oy i n g a n d l o u d a n d ove rl y a g g re s s i ve a n d a s i m p o r t a n t a s i t i s t o g row, i t i s j u s t a s i m p o r t a n t t o b e yo u rs e l f To q u o t e m y ow n In s t a g r a m b i o f o r t h e l a s t s i x ye a r s : n o t e ve r y b o d y l i k e s m e , b u t n o t e ve r y b o d y m a t t e r s A s I w r i t e t h i s s w a n s o n g o f a c o l u m n , a n d p o s s i b l y t h e l a s t o f m y w r i t i n g t o b e p u b l i s h e d ( i f n o o n e d e c i d e s t o h i re m e ) , I t h i n k o f a l l t h e s t o r i e s I ’ ve t o l d t h ro u g h t h i s p l a t f o r m b u t e ve n m o re s o I t h i n k a b o u t t h e s t o r i e s I ’ ve ye t t o w r i t e I t h i n k a b o u t t h e t h i n

Fo l l ow i n g p o l i t i c s c a n b e fr ustrating You see decisions made on the basis of p r i v a t e m o t i v e s a n d p r i v a t e i n f o r m a t i o n W h a t e v e r e f f o r t s you make in inferring the missing pieces are often thwar ted by the fact that some actions are motivated by nothing but plain human stupidity So instead I kick back and stream the ne w s e a s o n o f H o m e l a n d ( w h i c h involves plots about as unrealistic but a whole lot more entertaining than those on CNN)

still have a lot to say. If it sounds like I’m angry, it is because I often am.

u n i o ni z e d f a r m A s f u l l a s I a m o f a n g e r, I a m e q u a l l y f i l l e d w i t h i c e d t e a , Da y Qu i l a n d g r a t it u d e I w a n t t o t h a n k m y m o m f o r b e i n g a c h a m p i o n f o r w o m e n b e f o re i t w a s c o o l I w a n t t o t h a n k m y b e s t f r i e n d f o r h e l p i n g m e c h e c k m y w h i t e f e m i n i s t p r i v i l e g e I w a n t t o t h a n k a l l t h e g i r l s w h o h a ve re a c h e d o u t t o m e w i t h s t o r i e s a n d o p i n i o n s a n d i d e a s t h a t h a ve a l l owe d m e t o m a k e t h i s c o l u m n w h a t i t w a s I w a n t t o t h a n k C a rd i f o r a k i l l e r s o u n dt r a c k t o m y l a s t s e m e s t e r I ’d l i k e t o t h a n k T h e Su n f o r t h i s o p p o r t u n i t y t h a t h a s f u l l y s h i f t e d m y l i f e p l a n s ( s o r r y Da d , I a m o f f i c i a l l y n o t g o i n g t o l a w s c h o o l e ve r ) T h a n k s t o e ve r yo n e w h o w a s re a d m y r a n t s a n d d o u b l e t h a n k s t o e ve r yo n e w h o h a s l i k e d t h e m Wo m a n a re m y i n s p i

Artur Gorokh | Radically Moderate

Nerve Gas, Spies and Secret Briefngs

decades ago in the USSR British officials reacted to the i n c i d e n t w i t h a n a s t o n i s h i n g speed, pointing fingers at Russia 48 hours after the incident and a f e w w e e k s l a t e r e x p e l l i

nation and suspending all high-

a Many EU nations as well as the U S have joined in (believe it or n o t , D o n a l d Tr u m p a c t u a l l y issued a public statement condemning Russia), expelling the t o t a l o f 1 5 0 r u s s i a n o f f i c i a l s

The lack of pressure to be transparent normalizes this perverse system of making decisions outside of the sight of the public.

But then sometimes, especially when it comes to my homeland Russia, I just can ' t help it

A g o o d e x a m p l e o f h o w opaque modern politics are is t h e r e c e n t c o n f l i c t b e t w e e n Russia and the U K It star ted with the assassination attempt on Sergei Skripal and his daughter on March 25 in Salisbur y, U K Skripal is an ex-Russian intelligence officer who in the ’90s star ted working with MI-6 as a double agent, and after ser ving his sentence (for treason in the form of espionage) he moved to the U K in 2011 The attack was conducted with an exotic ner ve gas “Novichek” developed

it is legal as well as standard for labs around the world to produce small quantities of it for i d e n t i f i c a t i o n p u r p o s e s B e g r u d

y, B o

i

Jo

n admits in an awkward inter vie w that in fact the lab investigating the incident itself had such a sample

A p a r t f r o m t h a t , a n d t h e semi-plausible motives (why not just off the guy while he was s e r v i n g h i s

b a c k home?), the public case against R u s s i a i s v a c u

from around the globe

Let's put aside the sheer stupidity it takes to tr y assassinating someone on foreign soil with an exotic ner ve gas right before hosting the 2018 World Cup (to conspiracy theorists among you I recommend Hanlon's razor) What is the evidence used in prosecuting the Russian State? Publically, next to none Theresa May originally proclaimed the chemical str ucture of the ner ve agent to be the smoking gun, which was a bit of a blunder as the British lab responsible for analysis later disconfirmed this The chemical’s formula has been openly known for a decade, and

u s , w h i c h i s rather unusual With most evious scandals, ple the Russian of DNC, there of data availne to convince t h a t t h e e v ithough tangena l , i s p r e t t y d a m n i n g I n this case, the only thing we can go off is the fact that 31 other nations chose to join the r e p r i s a l a f t

t h e i n t e l l i g e n c e briefings From a U K official: “ We r e l e a s e d u n p r e c e d e n t e d degrees of intelligence to our allies in order to be able to persuade them of the case that there w a s n o p l a u s i b l e a l t e r n a t i v e other than this was the Russian state ” EU officials noted that the briefings “including much t

vincing ” This is it, this is all we mere m

impor tant decision that serious-

nuclear nation was made based

on secret intel, and its contents are an absolute myster y Remember that other time a major political decision involving western coalition was made based on secret intel? Due to the scr utiny that followed, the decision to invade Iraq provided us w i t h i n v a l u a b l e k

w l e d g e a b o u t t h e i n n e r - w o r k i n g s o f employing secret intelligence in making political decisions We learned that the analysts can be overconfident, that the information can come from unreliable informants and that politicians can easily misrepresent the available data and do so intentionally

Par t of the reason the CIA failed as badly as it did with collecting intelligence on Iraq was the prior conviction that Iraq was guilty This is ver y human, and we all know what it's like to star t unwittingly filtering information based on whether it fits your beliefs But it means that we should be especially worried about secret intel repor ts when accusations are made against the s t e r e o t y p i

(such as Mr Putin), as ever yone involved is way too biased to remain coldly analytical It could be that there is a double agent planted in GRU, Russia’s foreign militar y intelligence agency, who leaked the operation to MI-6 in its entirety Or maybe there is a pile of subtle tangential evidence, like with the email hacks, where careful analysis by professionals allowed to make high probability assertions Or it could be based on words of a nobody tr ying to get

a green card, like happened with Iraq We just don’t know

What pisses me off most about this situation is the complacency with which ever yone j u s t a c c

y, from the press nor from the other western nations The lack o f p

p a re n t normalizes this per verse system of making decisions outside of the sight of the public It is antithetical to democracy and makes navigating an already incomprehensible world of global politics epistemologically hopeless

The point I am making is not that the Russians are innocent (in all likelihood, they aren 't) The point is that we are forced to base our opinions exclusively on prior beliefs and hearsay of people we know to be fallible a n d u n t r u s t w

r t h y T h i s a l s o makes any constr uctive debate on the issue impossible: when friends back home ask me why is it that the entire world is banishing our diplomats, I can only reply that MI-6 seems to think w e ' r e g u i

t

w h i c h y o u c a n imagine is not a ver y convincing a r g u m e n t t o s o m e o n e w h o already thinks that the West is out to get them With no factual ground to stand on, we all just f

f beliefs without hope of making any progress

SCIENCE

bees | Judges pay close attention to the students’ products, innovations and company projections during the presentations on April 20

C o m b p l e x , a c o m p a n y t h a t m o n i t o r s h o n e y b e e

c o l o n i e s i n re a l t i m e , w a s a n n o u n c e d a s C o r n e l l’s

St u d e n t Bu s i n e s s o f t h e Ye a r o n Ap r i l 2 0 L e s s t h a n

o n e m o n t h b e f o re , b u s i n e s s c re a t o r s Ha l e y S c o f i e l d a n d Na t h a n Oa k e s , Ph D s t u d e n t s i n n e u ro b i o l o g y

a n d b e h a v i o r a n d c o m p u t a t i o n a l b i o l o g y, re s p e c t i ve -

l y, c o m p e t e d a g a i n s t 1 3 o t h e r b u s i n e s s e s n o m i n a t e d

f o r t h e a w a rd

T h e c r i t e r i a f o r t h e a w a rd i n c l u d e t h e b u s i n e s s ’ s u c c e s s i n a re a s l i k e re v e n u e g e n e r a t i o n , c u s t o m e r v a l i d a t

g i n p a r t t o f e a t u re t h e s t u d e n t b u s i n e s s e s a t a l a r g e r e ve n t a n d t o i n ve s t i g a t e h ow t h e b u s i n e s s e s c a n p l a y i n t o 2 1 s t c e n t u r y b u s i n e s s g o a l s , i n c l u d i n g s t a r t u p c h a l l e n g e s , s u s t a i n a b i l i t y, t h e p owe r o f n e tw o rk i n g , a n d c r y p t o - c u r re n c y C o m b p l e x i s t h e re f o re p re p a re d t o b e p a r t o f a m o re c o m p l e x a n d s o c i a l l y m i n d f u l b u s i n e s s w o r l d C o m b p l e x i s e s p e c i a l l y d e vo t e d t o s o c i a l a n d e n v iro n m e n t a l c h a n g e Be e s a re b e c o m i n g i n c re a s i n g l y t h re a t e n e d a s a s p e c i e s a n d i t i s e s t i m a t e d t h a t b e ek e e p e r s l o s e m i l l i o n s o f d o l l a r s f ro m b e e c o l o n y d e a

Many Obamacar e Effects Went Unnoticed, Pr ofessor Says

BY EMMA DIGIOVANNI Sun Staff Writer

The staple of Barack Obama’s 2 0 0 8 e l e c

h e a l

Ho

r, soon after the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act was signed into law, a majority of the American public supported its repeal What happened?

A landmark piece of legislation, many argue that the ACA brought t h e U S s u b

closer to having a com-

already accomplished by most high-income countries and one placed on many agendas since the Truman administration

people to not acknowledge government ' s role in their lives It's easier to be anti-government if you don't realize [that] the things t h a t h a ve b e n e f i t t e d yo u a n d your family members and your community are government benefits,” Mettler said

[of ] millions of new customers toward insurance companies for c

Mettler wrote Fu r t h e r, b

c

u s e s e

v e interests were deeply invested in the submerged state, the Obama administration couldn’t simply ignore them It had to a c c o m m o d a

“The submerged state permits people to not acknowledge government’s role in their lives.”

Yet, as Prof Suzanne Mettler, government, notes in her book, The Submerged State: How In v i

De m o c ra c y , t h e AC A’s a c c o mplishments went largely unnoticed by the American public, and despite the successful expansion of health insurance coverage

t o m i l l i o n s o f A m e r i c a n s , Democrats in Congress suffered great losses in the 2010 midterm

e l e c t i o n s f o l l ow i n g t h e AC A’s enactment

Among many achievements, such as expanding Medicaid and p r ov i d n g i n s u r a n c e t o m o r e Americans, the ACA improved coverage for people with preexisting conditions and it allowed people under the age of 26 to be covered by their parents ’ insurance plans

As Mettler indicates in her book, in the month following the ACA’s enactment, over 50 percent of the public said they were “confused” about the act ’ s provisions, and months later over 60 percent said they supported its repeal There was a widespread uncertainty about what the ACA entailed and how if a t a l l i t w o u l d b e n e f i t

Americans

While the explanation for this paradox rests in part with politic a l p a r t i s a n s h i p a n d o p i n i o n s about the state of the economy, it also stems from a phenomenon which Mettler describes as the “submerged state ”

According to Mettler, the submerged states describes the subs e t o f p o l i c i e s t h a t f u n c t i o n through invisible avenues like the federal tax system or subsidies to private institutions, often benefiting the public without the p u b l i c n o t i c i n g T h u s , s u bmerged policies, like the homemortgage-interest deduction, are largely unseen by the public eye, while policies like food stamps, w h i c h m o r e d i r e c t l y c h a n n e l benefits, are more visible

“ The submerged state permits

Mettler cited a national poll from 2008 in which participants were asked whether or not they had “ ever used a government social program ” Over 40 percent of respondents said “ no, ” but when presented with an array of specific federal policies and asked whether they had ever benefited from at least one, over 90 percent said “ yes ”

dominantly among those policies whose beneficiaries had responded to not ever using a federal social program

As a result, Mettler argued that the submerged state ended u

democracy by promoting misinformed, passive, and anti-government sentiment among the public When Americans receive submerged benefits, they aren ’ t likely to understand the policy’s content or impact and they detect almost no action or attention coming from their government

To

between the submerged state and the ACA, Mettler notes that subm

e n c e c o n t r i b u t e s t o t h e broad, misinformed notion that h e a l t h c a r e p o l i c y i s c r e a t e d t h r o u g h m a r k

Since Americans generally don’t perceive healthcare as functioni n g w i t h i n t h e g ov

n m e n t ’ s pur vie w, government inter vent i o

efforts are unexpected and often u

“ government takeover ” Mo r e ov e r, a s Me

e r explained in her book, Obama’s particular vision for healthcare reform “required transformation of the submerged state in order to be accomplished ” O b a m a w a s r e q u i r e d t o rework the anatomy of the subm e r g e d s t a t e , c h a n g i n g d e e prooted and often invisible policies and precedents in order to establish new provisions, many of which, like the “channeling

m i n order to achieve reform

Mettler talked about the involvement of selective interests in the policy process leading up to the ACA “ Eve r y t i m e f o r decades that change has been proposed in these p o l i c y a re a s , [ s e l e c t i ve interest] groups double down and they protect the existing system And Obama was up against that,” Mettler said

The Obama administration’s dealing with selective interests was noticed by the public, and as a result, the administration landed its reform efforts a reputation

for favoring moneyed interests and excluding the American people

What the public often perceived, then, was not only a disregard for ordinar y Americans, but also an amalgam of unclear or unseen objectives functioning

w i t h i n a p o l i c y d o m a i n n o t thought appropriate for government involvement in the first place

Mettler believes that heightened awareness of the submerged state would generate more favorable circumstances, not only in r e g a rd s t o h e a l t h c a r e , b u t i n regards to all social policy

“One of the things that I hope p e o p l e t a k e a w a y [ f r o m t h i s research],” Mettler said, “is that in fact nearly ever yone in the United States, nearly all of us, are b e n e f i c i a r i e s o f g ov e r n m e n t social benefits ”

Mettler talked about how the structure of social benefits in the U S deviates from that of other developed countries

“ The array of social benefits

[in the U S ] are more upwardly redistributed We give more benefits to higher income people,” Mettler said, “but we do so in a submerged manner that seems to erase any trace of government involvement ” As a result, “people think of these as earned benefits, and they think of them as coming through the private sector ”

In order for the submerged state to be reconfigured, Mettler s u g

American people and the govern-

challenge submergence “ We like to think of social benefits as just for those other people, particularly low-income people,” Mettler said “But in fact, the welfare state, once you include these [submerged] policies, is actually just as large as it is in other comparable, affluent nations ”

Emma DiGiovanni can be reached ejd89@cornell edu

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

BY ZACHARY LEE Sun Staff Writer

Though Mar vel announced Avengers: Infinity War in October 2014, in many ways the title for the 19th installment of the Marvel Cinematic Universe has been a long time coming Yes, the film is loosely based on Jim Starlin’s 1991 comic The Infinity Gauntlet (and its subsequent sequel The Infinity War) but even more so, the title is indicative of Mar vel’s ongoing battle to tell cohesive and compelling crossover stories as its roster of heroes exponentially expands with each film This conflict began back in 2008 when Nick Fury uttered to Tony Stark, “You’ve become a part of a bigger universe You just don’t know it yet ”

With Infinity War, you can tell that its directors, the Russo Brothers, are trying to live out Thanos’ goal by making this film “balanced as all things should be ” Yet in their egalitarian attempts to give ever y character and plot thread a chance in the spotlight, Infinity War both does too much and consequently not enough In its best moments, it is able to pull off the impossible, drawing together different franchises for a smorgasbord of action, spectacle and adventure

At its worst moments, it is like

Lthe titan Atlas who strains to keep the world on his shoulders; you are left feeling full by the sheer quantity of which you have witnessed but still disappointingly empty at its lack of depth

Adulation is due, however, to the Russo Brothers’ willingness to take risks, the first being a narrative departure from past films by truly making the antagonist the “hero” of the story The mad titan Thanos, having been teased through post credits scenes and an extended cameo in Guardians of the Galaxy finally steps out from the shadows He desires to get all six infinity stones so that way he may eliminate half the universe to achieve peace, his reason being that the universe, in its finitude, simply cannot support an everexpanding population Josh Brolin portrays the character with an appropriate amount of menace; never have I seen so many characters want to discourage someone from snapping their fingers Yet ultimately, his appearance here feels more like an introduction to the character; audiences are simply expected to believe too much in too little time Thanos feels less like your significant other of a few years finally proposing and more like a classmate who unexpectedly asks you out to a formal With so much emphasis on Thanos, the remaining scraps of screen time are divided between

Earth’s (and the galaxy’s) mightiest heroes and guardians The Russos divide up the characters naturally by character association and personality type, creating recapitulated and derivative versions of the teams found in Captain America: Civil War Iron Man’s team leads the first line of attack against Thanos, while Captain America battles Thanos’ henchman, the Black Order, as well as his Outrider army, on Earth While every character gets an opportunity to shine, whether it is Okoye (Danai Gurira) teaming up with Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen) and Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) against Proxima Midnight (Carrie Coon) or Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) using his magic to give Spider-Man (Tom Holland) an edge as the web-slinger tackles Thanos, unfortunately most of the characters are stripped away of complexity and depth and reduced to superficial attributes Star-Lord (Chris Pratt) is disappointingly more arrogant, despite being humbled in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2, and Black Panther (Chadwick Boseman) is far too business-like and we do not see the aftermath of his fall-out with Killmonger (Michael B Jordan) Yet while not all interactions between characters feel as momentous as they should, it finally feels like a comic book movie and to

see Thor inhabit the color ful world of the Guardians or Iron Man’s pragmatism clash with Doctor Strange’s mystic beliefs, is a dream come true

Likewise, Infinity War boasts some of the most thrilling action sequences ever seen in a superhero film The battle against Thanos literally takes place across the galaxy and the Russos do an excellent job at showing this scope There’s an elation to seeing Black Panther and Captain America rush through Wakanda’s foliage, one wielding vibranium gauntlets and the other a vibranium suit, and see them decimate enemies side by side Additionally, Infinity War lives up to the “ war ” in its name; the body count is unapologetically high Many of the deaths are quite shocking; you can almost hear the Russo Brothers indifference through some lines Cap utters to

general Ross: “I’m not looking for forgiveness, and I’m way beyond asking for permission ” Perhaps Infinity War’ s greatest accomplishment is the fact that despite its cumulative nature and that every shot reminds you of a sense of finality, it still feels like a set-up for something bigger to come along the line Rather than have every character do something significant or meaningful in the film, Infinity War wants all characters to be affected significantly by its end Its tone is dark, with hope barely flickering throughout it scenes Through this film, it is very clear that the directors know what Good Friday is; let us hope that come the sequel, they know about Easter Sunday too

Zachary Lee is a sophomore in the College of Arts and Sciences He can be reached at zjl4@cornell edu

Goodbye Sun: My Love Letter to Cinema

ast week, my editors at The Sun informed me that this was going to be my last column for the paper and I was shocked The Cornell Daily Sun has become such a part of my life over the past couple years Departing is going to be a huge change but I’m not sad about leaving Instead, I’m glad for the time that I’ve had here It’s given a direction to my writing skill, and I fully intend to continue Animation Analysis on my own site, GouldenBean com For my last column here though, I’d like to talk about something a little more generalized: how I judge movies, and how I view the art form of cinema in general

While I’ve specialized in animation, you might have seen my reviews for films as diverse as Love, Simon, A Quiet Place and The Death of Stalin All three were films that I really enjoyed Why did I enjoy them? Well, for one thing, I look at the writing Any artform ultimately comes down to stor ytelling; some stories are simply more explicitly laid out than others I look at the characters, I look at the plot, I look at the messages and themes that come out of them If there’s anything I’ve learned, it’s that even the best visuals cannot save a broken script

That’s not to say that impressive visuals escape my notice I’m always eager to see spectacle on the screen, whether bombastic or subdued Especially in animation, I love seeing little details that help elevate the world from computers or ink into something bursting with life A beautiful

composition will always leave me feeling happy and satisfied In the same way, there are many times when I’ve purchased a soundtrack after watching a film because the score simply blew me away A thing of beauty is a joy forever, after all

Now so far this all sounds objective, and to be sure most films I can judge well with these categories Yet, I consider it

judge a film’s merit Ever y film is different Do bad special effects sink a movie?

If so, I’d point to Monty Python and the Holy Grail, with its tongue-and-cheek cheesy effects What about a s

e characters, but thrusts them into an inventive plot? Is that better or worse than a film that does “ pretty good” at both? If humor makes a film good, I’d point out Schindler’s List If heavy drama makes a movie good, I’d point out The Grand Budapest Hotel There’s no way to measure all these great films on a single metric It’s this reason that I don’t use a number scale I usually end reviews with a recommendation to see, not see, to wait or so on That said, there is one factor that I use reliably to determine a film’s worth One single factor that I base my entire judgment on That single factor?

Effort

tr y to make good characters? Is there some imagination in the world, some attempt to make things look good? Or, was it spat out with the hope that the budget would be recouped before it left theaters? Did someone sit down and say, “Let’s tr y to tell a stor y here,” or did they say “Let’s trick those poor audience members into forking over their dollars”?

Did the people behind this movie care about making a movie? Did they at least

Funnily enough, the film that helped me reach this conclusion was The Room, the infamously bad production that nevertheless has a cult following Here’s the thing with The Room It’s totally inept, with incoherent writing, laughable acting, bizarre visual choices but at the same time, you can tell Tommy Wiseau cared so deeply about it He wanted to make the world’s greatest drama, and even though he fell so far short, you can still tell that his movie has heart in it That’s why it’s talked about 15 years later When it comes down to it, I love cinema I don’t like excluding certain genres from that love I was thrilled and shocked

by this weekend’s Avengers: Infinity War just as much as I was moved and impacted by Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri I’ll watch horror and family, c o m e d y a

niche, because all these areas are full of people, full of artists doing their best work possible That’s why it pains me when people seem to go through a checklist with films, dinging it for ever y “mistake ” It reminds me of a l

Gre

t Showman, where P T Barnum encounters a critic, and asks w h

smiled “A theater critic who gets no joy from the theater,”

shake of the head I don’t let my love for cinema become a dr y search for mistakes I make it a joyful celebration of strengths It brings happiness to my life, it brings

much more You can be darned sure that I’ll keep going to movies even after school, and I’ll keep reporting about them

by Jeffrey Sondike ’19

4 S ERVICES

WESTBOURNE APARTMENTS

Committee Seeks to Reform Decades-Long Policy on Student-Faculty Relations

President Pollack will most likely release statement on policy following submission

Continued from page 4

ing consciousness of this conversation on people’s minds,” he said

W a y m a c k and Van Loan

e m p h a s i z e d t h i s p o l i c y

w a s n ’ t a

“judgement of

w h a t h a ppened 20 or 30 years ago, ” but

c o m p a re d t h e viewpoint change to the evolution of how people’s view of seat belts has changed

“A generation ago, how many people wore them? It wasn ’ t a thing, and then we realized the risks and now in fact it’s not only

upon to not buckle up Not that people back then were knowingly doing something wrong or taking risks, it’s just that we have

better

Waymack said

expected to be released following the submission of the final report to Pollack

Alisha Gupta can be reached at agupta@cornellsun com Anu Subramaniam can be reached at asubramaniam@cornellsun com

New TCAT App Allows Users to Search Buses By Precise Location

Cornell AppDev project team consults locals, students in designing Ithaca Transit app

TCAT

from page 1

and get you where you need to go

“Combining live tracking and updates with Google Maps and Search integration, Ithaca Transit is a free and simple solution for the entire transit process, ” he added

The app was created by Cornell AppDev, a project team at Cornell that designs, develops and distributes mobile and web applications through the App Store It previously developed “Eatery,” a popular app amongst Cornell students that allows them look up the daily

“Students wait out in the cold wondering when the bus is coming or if it already left ”

hours and menus for Cornell’s dining locations

Ithaca Transit currently has over 1000 users and 300 active daily users, according to the Cornell AppDev team and can be downloaded for free from the App Store

WANTED STUDENT MANAGER for MEN’S and WOMEN’S VARSITY SQUASH TEAMS

We are seeking an individual who would fill the role of MANAGER for Cornell’s varsity squash program.

The MANAGER...

• Will be responsible for assisting in planning away trips and helping the coaches with home practices and matches

• May travel with the team, attend all practice sessions, see to any special needs that players may have, and become an integral member of the Cornell squash program.

• Interested parties should respond via email to JEFFREY LAIKIND [jlaikind@gmail com], President, Friends of Cornell University Squash, detailing their qualifications for this important position.

Prominent features of the app include live TCAT bus tracking and updates so users can track bus locations and receive notifications when the bus arrives at their stop

“We want to bring real-time notifications to the app, ” said Austin Astorga ’19, a member of Cornell AppDev and an iOS developer for Ithaca Transit “These notifications would tell you when your bus is arriving, when to get off the bus, and other information riders will find useful ”

Cornell AppDev had received several requests to create a TCAT bus app for Ithaca Students were frustrated with trying to read the PDF files on TCAT ’ s website, or having to pay for unreliable apps

Citing the “ over whelming” quantity of route numbers and stop names, Mihir Chauhan ’18, Cornell AppDev member and one of Ithaca Transit’s first designers, recalled that since his freshman year, he had witnessed many of the students’ complications as a result of inadequate, existing apps

“Students wait out in the cold wondering when the bus is coming or if it already left, and often are unsure if they’re even on the right bus,” he said

Chauhan said that they approached this obstacle with the reasoning that, “if a freshman who doesn’t know Ithaca at all can fig-

ure it out, anyone can ”

“So we started out by designing for the clueless freshman, but also added features like ‘Favorites’ for people more familiar with the area who’ve used the same stops for years, ” he said

App developers consulted locals and Cornell students to learn about their TCAT experiences in order to create a platform “designed specifically with Ithaca in mind,” Chauhan said

Users can use Ithaca Transit for travel to any location within Ithaca and can also “favorite” their frequent destinations, which saves these locations to their home page for future convenience

Users can even locate their correct destination by searching precise addresses or even something like Chipotle, Chauhan explained

“A recurring struggle we heard from users of other apps was having to know exactly what bus stops exist when they search,” he said

The app also uses Google Maps and Search to optimize bus routes

Users can search for any location and the app will display all of the TCAT bus transfer options as well as walking directions from the nearest TCAT stop to the desired location

“One of the biggest challenges was being able to deliver accurate and great bus route options,” Astorga said “Delivering great routes is a lot harder than what people might think,” but the team now has a creation with routing techniques that rival providers like Google Maps, according to Astorga

“One of the biggest challenges was being able to deliver accurate and great bus route options ”

Ong said that the team is “proud of where Ithaca Transit has gotten today,” but that this is “only the beginning,” and the team plans to add and improve the app ’ s features and extend its target audience to users who do not have iPhones

“Our plan is to get feedback from the community and users, ” Chauhan said “We want to solve as many of their problems as possible We’re looking to modify existing features and add new ones based on the feedback we get ”

Katherine Heaney can be reached at kheaney@cornellsun com

Runners Shine at Penn Relays, Look Ahead to Ivy Heps

By BENJAMIN SHI Sun Staff Writer

e

Br i t t a n y St e n e k e s a n d j u n i o r Ma r t h a

Sa m f i n i s h e d w i t h a t i m e o f 4 5 7 6

g o o d f o r 1 2 t h d u r i n g h e a t s w h i c h

q u a l i f i e d t h e m f o r t h e f i n a l r a c e T h e y f i n i s h e d t h i rd t h e n e x t d a y w i t h a t i m e

o f 4 5 9 3 , b e h i n d Pe n n a n d No t r e

D a m e

L a t e r t h a t d a y, Pe a r c e h e l p e d s e n i o r

Sh a n n o n Hu g a rd , f re s h m a n L e y a Sa l i s a n d s e n i o r A n n i e Ta y l o r f i n i s h s i x t h

w i t h a t i m e o f 1 1 : 1 5 3 8 i n t h e d i s t a n c e m e d l e y re l a y T h u r s d a y w a s c a p p e d o f f b y s t r o n g

d i s t a n c e p e r f o r m a n c e s Ju n i o r Ty l e r Fi s h e r f i n i s h e d t h e 5 , 0 0 0 m i n

3 1 : 1 7 5 6 , g o o d f o r 1 9 t h Fre s h m a n

G a b r i e l l e O r i e a n d s e n i o r Ja c k i e

K a t z m a n b o t h c o m p e t e d i n t h e w o m e n ’ s 3 , 0 0 0 m , f i n i s h i n g i n f i f t h a n d s e v e n t h p l a c e s w i t h t i m e s o f 9 : 2 5 5 2 a n d 9 : 2 7 4 8 , re s p e c t i v e l y O n t o p o f t h o s e s t r o

|

errors, the Red battled back from a four run deficit to win the first game of the series 10-8, before winning its next game, 7-4, in a similar comeback fashion

Baseball in Top Form as Team Claims 2 of 3 From Harvard

pitchers from there and they did fine work, keeping Harvard off the board

Sophomore Jeb Bemiss kept Harvard off the base paths entirely, pitching a perfect a two-inning save

After a pair of wins, Cornell ran out of juice for game three on Sunday Har vard’s star ting pitcher, junior Simon Rosenblum-Larson, shut down the red-hot Cornell offense, pitching five hitless innings and baffling the Red’s lineup

“He had a slider down in the zone that really looked the same as the fastball coming out of the same slot,” Pepicelli said “He was pretty disciplined in keeping the slider down He’s a good pitcher ”

Harvard scratched out a run in each of the first three frames to take another early lead Cornell didn’t threaten that lead until the seventh inning

Rosenblum-Larson began the frame by plunking the leadoff man Krainz then doubled down the leftfield line, but the Red’s runner from first was gunned down at the plate Har vard turned to the bullpen, but Cornell continued to tee off; it looked like another comeback was in the making Gallagher hit a double to the gap to drive in a run Bitar then drove in Gallagher, junior Will Simoneit doubled and junior Josh Arndt walked after a long at-bat to load the bases, down a run The inning ended there on a strikeout

Cornell had made it close, but from there the wheels fell off in

what ended up a 6-2 loss

“It was still a one-run game, we were still right in it until the end,” Pepicelli said after the loss “We made some defensive miscues at the end there and let up a couple of tack-on runs that really mattered ” Harvard put up two runs in the eighth and another in the ninth to put the game out of reach Cornell’s offense failed to muster anything in the late frames against the Crimson bullpen that they dinged up in the first two games

The Red will take on Binghamton on the road on Wednesday night, followed by the Red’s penultimate Ivy series next weekend on the road against Brown

Cornell Eliminated From NCAA At-large

Continued from page 16

squad dropped its next two doubles matches in 7-5 and 6

and

matches,” Tanasoiu said “I

stances had a huge impact on how our season ended, and given the amount of adversity that we ’ ve had to face as a program, I think the guys responded in an incredibly positive way ” Looking ahead to next seas

much of the same roster, with t

l Gr unberger There is a hope that, without the unreliable lineups and tough schedule, next year will be one to look for ward to “ The preparation for next s

y, ” Tanasoiu said “ This year has been a powerful lesson for us all I can certainly say that this group is much better now than at the start of the season, and forecast that this team will be even better next year ”

t h e Lions to open scoring with the doubles point “It was about as close as you could get in the doubles point and we were ahead at number two, ” Tanasoiu said “ Un f o r t u n a t e l y w e w e r e n ’ t able to get the lead and it affected our momentum and the rest of the match ” En t e r i n g i n t o s i n g l e s p l a y, j u n i o r D a v i d Vo l f s o n w a s a b l e t o p re va i l i n a t i e b re a k e r a g a i n s t C o l u m b i a ’ s No 2 3 r a n k e d Ph a m i n f i r s t s i n g l e s , w h i l e A ye n i r a l l i e d i n h i s s e co n d s e t a t s e c o n d s i n g l e s Ne ve r t h e l e s s , C o l u m b i a w a s a b l e t o s e c u re s t r a i g h t s e t w i n s i n t h e t h i rd , f o u r t h a n d f i f t h s i n g l e s s p o t s t o c l i n c h i t s v i c t o r y b e f o re e i t h e r o f t h e t o p t w o m a t c h e s f i ni s h e d “David Volfson had one of the better matches I’ve seen i n c o l l e g e t e n n i s , l e a d i n g a g a i n s t o n e o f t h e h i g h e s t ranked players in the countr y and just staying ver y composed,” Tanasoiu said “Alafia also had a close match and played with a lot of conviction in the second set ” W h i l e C o r n e l l f e l l s h o r t o f i t s a s p i r a t i o n t o re p e a t a s Iv y L e a g u e c h a m p i o n s t h i s ye a r, t h e s q u a d s t i l l v i e w s i t s t u m u l t u o u s s e a s o n p o s i t i ve l y D e s p i t e b e i n g p l a g u e d b y i n c o n s i s t e n t l i n e u p s , a d i f f ic u l t s c h e d u l e , a n d e a r l y l

Josh Zhu can be reached at jzhu@cornellsun com

Spor ts

Loss to No. 16 Columbia Ends Cornell’s Season

By JOSH ZHU Sun Senior Writer

A mixed season of ups and downs finally came to an end on Saturday, as the Cornell men ’ s tennis team fell in a 4-0 decision to Columbia

Despite the Red (10-11, 3-4 Ivy) downing Columbia’s (17-4, 6-1) nationally ranked doubles duo and leading in its two top singles matches, a final decision was called before the squad could close the scoring gap

With the loss, Cornell fell below 500 and was eliminated from consideration for an at-large bid in the NCAA tour-

nament

“At the end of the day, they were better,” said head coach Silviu Tanasoiu “They closed the important moments of the match better than we did, and they deserved to win for that ”

Sophomore Lev Kazakov and freshman Alafia Ayeni opened doubles play

See MEN’S TENNIS page 15

Senior Shah Makes Cornell History, Earns All-Ivy in Singles and Doubles

By CAROLINE KLEINER Sun Contributor

For the first time in Cornell women ’ s tennis’ 46 year history, senior captain Priyanka Shah became the first player to earn first team All-Ivy in both singles and doubles play

“When I first learned I won All-Ivy in singles and doubles I was really happy and proud of myself,” Shah said “But when I heard I was the first woman in Cornell women ’ s tennis history, I was in complete shock ”

Shah ended her Ivy season 3-4 in singles play Two of those singles victories came in the last two conference matches against Yale and Brown

“My most memorable singles match [this season] was against Brown,” Shah said “It was my last match representing Cornell and I just thought, ‘I’m going to win this ’ I ended up winning and ending my career with a 6-1, 62 win over a great player ”

Shah and doubles partner Ananya Dua ended Ivy play with a 4-2 record, promoting both players to first-team All-Ivy in doubles

“When I heard the news, I was ecstatic because it’s amazing to see how far we had come as a doubles team this season, and how our team chemistry powered us through the tough matches,” Dua said

Shah recalled the pair’s triumph over a nationally ranked duo from Princeton as her season ’ s favorite moment

“They’re nationally ranked, so they’re the biggest win we had all season, ” Shah said “It was great to get that momentum and energy so we really knew we were right in it with the

big teams ”

Head coach Mike Stevens expressed nothing but pride for Shah’s recent successes

“From the first day of her freshman year to the last match of her senior year, she just excelled in everything she did work ethicwise,” coach Stevens said “Our motto as a team is to get one percent better everyday and she did well beyond that ”

Earning All-Ivy honors is a decision made by all Ivy League coaches and Shah was unanimously chosen to receive the honor for both singles and doubles

“For All-Ivy, you have to excel in standards including sportsmanship, grit and record,” Shah said “A lot of it comes down to how composed you are and how much you fight A coach is going to appreciate that even if they’re not your coach ”

After serving as captain for the past two years including leading the squad to an Ivy League title in 2017 Shah’s graduation will leave a major hole in tennis’ roster next year

“Replacing our seniors this year, both Madison [Stevens] and Priyanka is not something you look to do,” coach Stevens said “They’ve both been tremendous for this program for the last four years and irreplaceable in their own respect

”

“I’ve had the most amazing four years, ” Shah said “To compete and [earn All-Ivy honors] for myself and the school is an absolutely incredible feeling that still gives me goosebumps ”

Caroline Kleiner can be reached at crk74@cornell edu

Red Uses Late Game Comebacks to Win Harvard Series

On the road to season turnaround, Cornell claims 2 of 3 against mistake-ridden Crimson

By MILES HENSHAW Sun Staff Writer

Coming off its first series win of the season at Penn last weekend, Cornell baseball continued its path to a turnaround at home this weekend, taking two of three from Harvard with a pair of come-from-behind wins on Saturday

Cornell (11-18-1, 6-9 Ivy) faced early four-run deficits in both of its Saturday games, but strong offensive comebacks and timely pitching propelled the Red to two wins and a shot at a sweep In game three, though, the Red was stymied by Harvard’s pitching Sunday and failed to complete the sweep

“We’ve just been clicking in every facet of the game going into today,” head coach Dan Pepicelli said on Sunday

In game one, Har vard (20-19, 9-9) jumped on senior starting pitcher Tim Willittes for four runs in the first inning Willittes hung in for five innings, leaving the game all squared

Errors haunted Harvard in game one The Crimson made four errors; just one of the six runs Harvard’s starter allowed was earned The Red capitalized on mistakes, stringing together hits in innings extended by errors The team managed to take the

lead in the fourth

Cornell blew the game open in the sixth with four runs Senior Dale Wickham knocked in the first with a single, senior Ellis Bitar brought in two with a double and freshman Jason Apostle hit a sac fly for the fourth run

The Cornell bullpen kept the game in check and carried the team to two wins to start the series Sophomore Andrew Ellison notched a save in game one to preserve a 108 win

Harvard again got off to a hot start in game two but their efforts were again to no avail and the Red emerged with a 7-4 victory The Crimson scored four in the first two frames, two coming unearned Cornell sophomore starter Seth Urbon settled down nicely, tossing five scoreless innings, allowing only two hits following the rocky start

Cornell’s offense chipped away in the second and third, but exploded in the fourth for four runs With a runner on, senior second baseman Ryan Krainz ripped a line drive over the left fielder’s head The leftfielder misjudged the liner and took a step in before turning around and failing to make a play on the ball, and Krainz hustled to third for a triple

Next up, senior right fielder Kyle Gallagher hit another high line drive over

Pitch perfect | A lights out bullpen kept Harvard’s lineup quiet as the Red’s fiery offense powered the team to a pair of wins in Saturday’s doubleheader

the left fielder’s head, this one uncatchable, for another run Wickham followed the double up with a hard grounder that the Harvard second baseman failed to glove Bitar poked a single through the left side to give the Red runners on the corners with two outs

Harvard brought in a reliever to put out the fire, but the righty struggled to get a grip in the rain and threw a run-scoring wild pitch on his first pitch out of the bullpen Cornell handed the game over to the