INDEPENDENT SINCE 1880
The Corne¬ Daily Sun Vol. 139, No. 17
8 Pages – Free
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2022 n ITHACA, NEW YORK
News
Arts
Sports
Weather
From Prison to Stanford
Poetry Reading
Comeback Cornell
Cloudy
Jodi Anderson Jr. shared his path from prison to becoming a Stanford graduate and business owner. | Page 3
Anna Ying '25 describes poet Solmaz Sharif's recent reading of selected poems from her books. | Page 5
Football scored nine unanswered in the second half to beat Lehigh on Saturday.
HIGH: 50º LOW: 35º
| Page 8
Sun Alumna Runs for Mayor By SOFIA RUBINSON Sun News Editor
JULIA NAGEL / SUN PHOTOGRAPHY EDITOR
Family Weekend fun | This weekend, visiting families can enjoy many activities across campus, such as climbing up McGraw Tower, with their students.
Cornellians Prepare For Family Weekend By MARISA CEFOLA Sun Contributor
With this year’s Family Weekend kicking off on Friday, first-year students are eager to show their families a piece of their Cornell experiences thus far. An expected 3,000 family members and guests will visit campus this weekend. Director of Parent and Family Programs Lindsey Bray noted that this year’s lack of COVID-19 restrictions allows for expanded programming compared to the past few years. “We are excited to bring back a more traditional and highly engaging experience for our families,” Bray wrote in an email to The Sun. “Families will have even more opportunities to connect with faculty and staff throughout the weekend this year.” Parents, siblings and grandparents are traveling from across the country to Ithaca, some for the first time since move-in day. The weekend provides families the opportunity to experience campus alongside their students. First-year students, who have spent the semester settling into their routines, can tour campus with their families without the added stress of orientation week events. “[I’m looking forward to] getting to show my parents the new life that I’ve been building for myself here and show them what it’s like to live here on a daily basis,” said Maya Weisberg ’26.
Popular events include climbing to the top of McGraw Tower to enjoy a Chimes Concert and view of West Campus, walking through the Botanic Gardens and watching the sunset on Libe Slope. Firstyear students expressed particular excitement at visiting the slope with their families. “Whenever I sit [on the slope], especially during the sunset, it makes me realize how grateful I am to be here, and I want to show my family that,” said Katie Conley ’26. In addition to showing their families around campus, firstyear students look forward to spending time with their families amidst the stress of prelims,
“Whenever I sit [on the slope], especially during the sunset, it makes me realize how grateful I am to be here, and I want to show my family that.”
When Katie Sims ’20 first started at Cornell, she was determined to uncover the mysteries related to environmental science. But instead, she discovered her passion for political advocacy that led to her campaign as an Independent for city mayor. Sims is running as a progressive candidate to the left of current Acting Mayor Laura Lewis, who is running on the Democratic ticket after being appointed when former Mayor Svante Myrick ’09 stepped down from the position in February. Local conservative Zachary Winn is running as a Republican, and the winner will only serve for one year, finishing off Myrick’s term. Sims dedicated much of her time at Cornell to The Sun, serving on the editorial board as the arts editor, associate editor and then senior editor. ”The Sun was really formative to me, putting down roots in Ithaca, coming downtown and working at the office covering stories in the art scene in town,” Sims said. “It introduced me to a lot of Ithaca, and was one of the main reasons why I decided I wanted to stay here long term.” Sims also was involved in Climate Justice Cornell and helped coordinate an ultimately successful campaign to stop the University’s investment in fossil fuels.
“That was really my first big political campaigning experience,” Sims said. “Cornell presents itself as a progressive, compassionate, supportive institution. But that doesn’t necessarily come across in all of its actions.” A little over a year after graduation, Sims campaigned to fill the Common Council seat for Ithaca’s fourth Ward after the seat became vacant in August 2021. See MAYOR page 3 JULIA NAGEL / SUN PHOTOGRAPHY EDITOR
From columnist to candidate | Katie Sims '20 is
running as an Independent in the Ithaca mayoral election.
Alumni Face Financial Conflicts of Interest By AIMÉE EICHER
Sun Assistant News Editor
A recent investigation by The New York Times disclosed that 97 current members of Congress reported that they, their spouses or their dependent children traded financial assets within companies directly impacted by their congressional work, including three Cornell alumni — Rep. Katherine M. Clark ’89 (D-Mass.), Rep. Dan Meuser ’88 (R-Pa.) and Rep. Kurt Schrader ’73 (D-Ore.). Clark, who serves as assistant speaker of the House, sits on the
Congressional Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies. The committee decides funding for the Department of Health and Human Services, which has negotiated contracts with several health care companies in which Clark’s husband traded stocks. The investigation noted the purchase of two shares of Hologic in 2020, about a week before the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and U.S. Department of Defense awarded the company a $119 million COVID-19 testing
contract. Several days after the contract’s announcement, the shares were sold. In a statement to The Times, Clark’s office said that she “supports strengthening current rules to ban individual stock trades directed by members of Congress during their tenure and measures to reduce even the appearance of a conflict of interest.” To continue reading this article, please visit cornellsun.com. Aimée Eicher can be reached at aeicher@cornellsun.com.
Katie Conley ’26 classes and adjusting to a college lifestyle. “It’s been, really, the first time where I’ve gone through long stretches of time without seeing [my family], so it’ll be nice to do some activities with them once they’re here,” Nick Paslar Bunemer ’26 said. See FAMILY page 3
SARAH SILBIGER / THE NEW YORK TIMES
Insider trading | Several Cornell alumni in Congress, including Katherine M. Clark '89, have been found by a Times investigation to have potentially traded in companies impacted by their Congressional work.