INDEPENDENT SINCE 1880
The Corne¬ Daily Sun 16 Pages – Free
Vol. 141, No. 6
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 2, 2024 n ITHACA, NEW YORK
News
Arts
Science
Weather
Movement for Momodou
Megolopolis’ ‘Mess’
Mini-Moon
Rain
Student groups have rallied behind the international grad student as he appeals his second suspension. | Page 5
Nicholas York ’27 discusses Francis Ford Coppola’s Megolopolis, a ‘borderline-incomprehensible mess.’ | Page 13
From Sept. 29 to Nov. 25, Earth will adopt a second moon. Will it be visible? Nope. :( | Page 8
HIGH: 61º LOW: 52º
20 Pro-Palestine Activists Admin Divulges Face Disciplinary Action Security Plans in By JULIA SENZON Sun Managing Editor
Sept. 30 — Nearly 20 pro-Palestinian protesters who helped shut down a career fair attended by defense contractors earlier this month have been identified through video and photographic evidence and have been referred for disciplinary action, according to a Monday afternoon email from Interim President Michael Kotlikoff to the Cornell community. On Sept. 18, more than 100 pro-Palestinian protesters confronted recruiters for defense contractors L3Harris and Boeing — a company students overwhelmingly voted that the University divest from last April — at the School of Industrial and Labor Relations’s Human Capital and Human Relations Career Fair. At around 2 p.m., protesters banged drums, pots and pans and chanted “Free Palestine” as they entered Statler Hall, where the career fair was taking place. Recruiters for most companies there took down their tables about 20 minutes after protesters arrived, ahead of the event’s 3 p.m. scheduled end time. Kotlikoff wrote that the disruption “was not a peaceful or harmless rally, as some have described it.” According to the Monday afternoon statement, protesters were explicitly told that they were not permitted to enter Statler Hotel by Cornell University Police Department officers. They pushed through police at the ground-floor and second-floor entrances, according to Kotlikoff. Sun reporters on the scene did not witness violence against law enforcement. The Office of Student Conduct and Community Standards assesses whether interim measures are “immediately necessary to protect the community” when students
are referred for an alleged Student Code of Conduct violation, Kotlikoff wrote. The most significant interim measure is a full temporary suspension until the case is resolved. Under the Code of Conduct, students placed under interim measures such as suspension are provided information about the charges and the appeal process, with full temporary suspension allowing for “two independent levels of appeal, the final being to the provost of the University.” To continue reading this article, please visit www.cornellsun.com.
Julia Senzon can be reached at jsenzon@cornellsun.com.
KARLIE MCGANN / SUN STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Statler stampede | Over 100 activists enter The
Statler Hotel during the career fair protest on Sept. 18
Hillel Parent Zoom By ERIC REILLY
Sun Assistant Managing Editor
Oct. 2 — Two high-level administrators outlined how the University monitors and disciplines pro-Palestinian activists, including by boosting security and surveillance around campus and “scrutinizing” faculty members’ in-class behavior, in a private Zoom meeting with more than 220 Jewish parents Monday night. The event, moderated by Rabbi Ari Weiss — Cornell Hillel’s executive director — was a rare opportunity for concerned Jewish parents to probe Vice President of University Relations Joel Malina and Vice President of Student Life Ryan Lombardi about how Cornell is preparing for another semester of campus tumult. Parents sent questions to Weiss, who posed as many of them as he could to Malina and Lombardi throughout the hourlong, town hall-style meeting. The meeting was open to parents in Hillel’s network who registered via an invitation form.
Monitoring Academics When Weiss asked about how the University would handle a newly hired professor who in the past “might have said antisemitic things,” Malina used a specific example of a junior faculty member in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences who after being hired was found to have retweeted “some troubling posts.” That professor, whom The Sun identified as Prof. Wunpini Mohammed, communication, has reposted what Malina called “some troubling posts.” The University became aware of these reposts — which include several anti-Zionist messages — only after a formal hiring offer was made this summer. “There was no reason to withdraw the offer of employment based on that activity,” Malina said, “but her in-class activities will be scrutinized, as will all in-class activities of our faculty.” See HILLEL page 4
Cornell Releases 2028 Demographic Data
Black, Hispanic and Native American First-Year Enrollment at Cornell Drops After Affirmative Action By MATTHEW KIVIAT Sun News Editor
Sept. 25 — Black, Native American and Hispanic student enrollment dropped markedly between the classes of 2027 and 2028, while the proportion of Asian first-years rose slightly, according to data released by the University on Wednesday. This year’s class of firstyears is the first to be admitted after the Supreme Court banned race-conscious affirmative action in higher education last year. Black first-year undergraduate student enrollment saw a decrease from 11.7 percent last year to 7.7 percent. The share of first-years who identify as Hispanic dipped from 16.7 percent to 10.5 percent. Native American and Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander first-year student enrollment both saw sharp declines. White enrollment decreased less than a percentage point, from 48.5 percent to 47.7 percent. The only racial group in the data to see an increase from last year’s figures were Asian students, with firstyear enrollment rising only marginally, from 36.3 percent last year to 36.5 percent. The racial data is based on self-identification. Because students can select multiple categories, the sum of the demographic percentages is above 100 percent. See DATA page 10