11 14 14 entire issue lo res

The Corne¬ Daily Sun

Students Push For Review of Quarter System

Concerned about drinking being pushed ‘behind closed doors’

By CHRIS BYRNS Sun Staff Writer

Students on campus are continuing to call for the examination of the quarter system, a set of controversial changes made to the Greek system in 2011 controlling formal contact between freshmen and chapters

Citing concerns over the limited contact between freshmen and those involve in Greek life, as well as the perceived pushing of drinking “behind closed doors,” Cornellians pushing for change saw a victor y Thursday

S.A. Calls for Study Space on North

By ANDREW LORD Sun Staff Writer

The Student Assembly, addressing some concerns over the absence of an accessible, public study space on North Campus, unanimously passed a resolution Thursday calling for the trial run of a quiet study area on the third floor of Appel Commons

The resolution, which calls for a two-week trial run of the plan, will be revisited in Januar y when Assembly members will examine its success based on participation and student sur veys, according to Erinn Liu ’18, co-sponsor of the resolution and freshman at-large representative

for the S A Liu said she created the resolution following conversations with North Campus residents who are concerned that the closest quiet study space requires a “lengthy walk to Central Campus ”

“During the night, people want to study near their dorm,” she said “ They don’t want to have to walk all the way back to North if they go to a librar y [on Central] especially in the winter It’s going to be dangerous for people to walk such a long distance in [bad] weather ”

Juliana Batista ’16, executive vice president of the S A and co-sponsor of the resolution, said

New Measures Underway

In Faculty Hiring Process

By ZOE FERGUSON Sun Senior Writer

i n c l u d e i n c r e a s e d e f f o r t s t o i n c l u d e m o re w o m e n a n d u n d e rre p re s e n t e d m i n o r i t i e s a m o n g f a cu l t y a c r o s s t h e Un i ve r s i t y T h e p r o t oc o l s re q u i re t h a t e a c h c o l l e g e p u t i n p l a c e “f o r m a l s e a rc h a c c o u n ta b i l i t y m e a s u re s t h a t a c t i v e l y e n g a g e t h e d e a n ’ s o f f i c e o r a n e q u i va l e n t c o l l e g e - l e v e l ove r s i g h t f u n c t i o n a t k e y j u n ct u r e s i n t h e f a c u l t y s e a r c h p r o c e s s , ” a c c o r d i n g t o Ya e l L e v i t t e , a s s o c i a t e v i c e p rovo s t f o r f a c u l t y d e ve l o p m e n t a n d d i ve r s it y E a c h c o l l e g e m u s t g i ve a u t h o ri t y t o t h i s ove r s i g h t f u n c t i o n t o p a u s e o r m o d i f y f a c u l t y s e a rc h e f f o r t s , L e v i t t e a d d e d Cr i t i c a l p o i n t s a t w h i c h t h e c o l l e g e m u s t e n g a g e t h e d e a n o r o t h e r ove r s i g h t a u t h o r i t y i n c l u d e t h e t i m e o f s e a rc h i n i t i a t i o n , t h e p o i n t b e f o re a c a n d i d a t e i s i n v i t e d t o i n t e r v i e w a n d t h e p o i n t b e f o re a n o f f e r i s m a d e , a c c o rd i n g t o L e v i t t e “ [ We ] a i m e d t o s t re n g t h e n t h e a c c

“These new measures are but the latest feature in our ... strategy of enhancing faculty diversity through training

weather FORECAST

Engaged Cornell Speaker Series: Opportunities and Challenges for Collective Innovation 12:15 - 1:30 p m , 102 Mann Library

Global Technology Outlook 2014: Transforming Industries With Systems of Insight 12:15 p m , 253 Frank H T Rhodes Hall

Is Sharia Law Compatible With Democracy? 5:30 - 7 p m , 132 Goldwin Smith Hall

Häxan: Witchcraft Through the Ages 7 - 9 p m , Sage Chapel

Q u o t e s o f t h e W e e k

News, Cornell Refuses to Investigate Employee Implicated in UNC Scandal, Monday

Speaking about Cynthia Reynolds, a Cornell employee implicated in an academic scandal at UNC She s working in a kind of different position here, and I must say that I believe that an allegation is an allegation and so the processes we have here for overseeing employee hiring and monitoring are robust processes

Sports, “Cornell Men’s Coach Suspended for Post-Game Comments” Tuesday

Speaking about comments he made about the opposing team’s coach

I d like to apologize for using profane language in my post-game comments on Saturday evening following our contest against Quinnipiac My language was unnecessary and I did not represent Cornell and our hockey program in a first-class manner

News, “Vietnam Protestors Return to the Hill,” Tuesday

Speaking about student activism at Cornell during the Vietnam Era

“If we have guilt, at least the anti-war movement had a constraining power on the ability of the government to wage that war Although we didn t end the war we changed the culture about it

News, “Cornell Tech Partners With AOL to Create New Innovation Lab” Thursday

Speaking about the functions of the University’s new innovation lab

“The lab will not only do research but will also build prototype online services and applications that help support engagement of small groups such as family and close friends with the goal of improving their health and well being

Dan Huttenlocher, Cornell Tech dean and vice provost

To Visit University

Ólafur Grímsson, the president of Iceland, will visit Cornell next Friday to deliver a lecture as part of the Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies Foreign Policy Distinguished Speaker Series

Grímsson’s lecture, which will be open to the public, will be about Iceland’s innovative sustainable energy and economic policies, according to the University Grímsson will also be presented with the first-ever Atkinson Center Aw a rd f o r G l o b a l L e a d e r s h i p i n Su s t a i n a b l e

Development

During his visit, Grímsson will meet with President David Skorton as well as with faculty in the College of Engineering and the Cornell Energy Institute, according to a University press release

Grímsson will tour the Fiske Icelandic Collection, one of the three largest collections on Icelandic literature and civilization, according to Prof Jeff Tester ’66 M S ’67, chemical engineering He will also tour the Veterinar y College, which is currently involved in a study of Icelandic horses

Kerr y Mullins ’18 said she heard President Grímsson speak last year at the World Food Prize in Des Moines, Iowa, where she said he spoke about how “sustainability and energy conser vation were top priorities for the countr y ” but also “recognized the challenges associated with them ”

“In Iceland and globally, while great progress is being made in terms of creating a more sustainable planet, there’s still a lot of work to be done,” Mullins said “A lot of the newest innovations are not ver y efficient, but

o c a l

[Grímsson] seemed hopeful that they will be eventually ” Tester said Cornell students and faculty are already committed to sustainability, showcasing that there are “ a lot of connections between what Cornell is tr ying to do” and what Iceland has “ put into practical use ” “ We are dealing with a real climate action plan,” said Tester, who is also the director of the Cornell Energy Institute “ What we can learn is how people were actually

able to do it ”

The lecture will be held next Friday at 4 p m in Schwartz Auditorium in Rockefeller Hall Admission is free, but tickets, available at 170 Uris Hall, will be required to attend

com

Students Celebrate 40th Anniversary of EMS Week

”

This week, volunteers from Cornell University Emergency Me d

Se

health-related activities in honor of the 40th anniversar y of Na

C

E M S Week

The events hosted during EMS Week, celebrating the ser vices provided by colleg i a t e E M Ts

t h e w o r l d My r i c k i s c re d i t e d w i t h “ s p u r r i n g e c on o m i c g row t h” i n t h e C i t y o f

It h a c a , T h e Jo u r n a l re p o r t e d

P o l i c e I n c r e a s e P a t r o l s F o r C o r t a c a J u g G a m e

Po l i c e f ro m b o t h t h e C i t y o f It h a c a a n d It h a c a C o l l e g e w i l l i n c re a s e p a t ro l s o n So u t h Hi l l d u e t o t h e C o r t a c a Ju g g a m e t h i s we e k e n d , T h e It h a c a Ti m e s re p o r t e d T h u r s d a y T h e i n c re a s e i n s t a f f f ro m b o t h a g e n c i e s w i l l h e l p t o a d d re s s “ p u b l i c s a f e t y c o n c e r n s a s s o c i a t e d w i t h t h e a n n u a l f o o tb a l l g a m e ” N a t i o n a l

D r o p i n G a s o l i n e P r i c e s W i l l B o o s t N a t i o n a l E c o n o m y T h e s t e e p d ro p i n g a s o l i n e p r i c e

h e United States, are intended to promote healthful behavior throughout the Cornell

Maggie Davis ’16, commu-

CUEMS

“A

we have hosted this week are aimed at increasing the health of the

Davis said

EMS Week kicked off on National CPR Day on Monday, according to Davis To mark the occasion, CUEMS offered free hands-only CPR training classes

“I have been very impressed by how many students ... have so far come out to support our events ”

across campus throughout the day

Hands-only CPR is an easy two-step technique which can be performed by anyone at the

scene of an emergency, according to a training video produced b y C U E M S T h e v i d e o which was produced this year was played by many professors at the beginning of their lectures, Davis said

Although students who comp l e t e d t h e c o u r s e s w e r e n o t awarded free CPR certification like they were last year, Davis said she believes the turnout was still impressive

“Hands-only CPR is a simple, yet life-saving skill that can double or triple a heart attack victim’s chance of sur vival,” she said On Tuesday, CUEMS partnered with Bangs Ambulance a n d C o r n e l l E n v i r o n m e n t a l Health and Safety for the annual EMS Week emergency vehicle exposé on Ho Plaza, where stu-

dents learned more about emerg

rd i n g t o Davis Wednesday marked the return of the “Got Soap?” campaign, an annual flu prevention program that was initiated by CUEMS in 2009, she added Vo l u n t e e r s o n Ho P l a z a

We d n e s d a y p a s s e d o u t t h o usands of bars of free soap and bottles of hand sanitizer, and CUEMS also held information sessions at Willard Straight Hall, Noyes Community Recreation C e n t e r a n d R o b e r t Pu r c e l l Community Center to promote h a n d w a s h i n g , a c c o rd i n g t o Davis

“Students were enthusiastic t o r e c e i v e [ t h e s o a p ] a n d CUEMS had a lot of fun distributing them,” Davis said On Friday, EMS Week will end with the distribution of free reusable cups at Willard Straight as part of the CUEMS “Mine Not Yours!” campaign, according to Davis The campaign which was added to EMS Week this year to prevent the spread of infectious diseases will also aim to promote awareness of a l c o h o l s

drugs

Overall, Davis said she was “impressed” by the turnout of t h e e v e n t s c o m p r i s i n g E M S Week

“I have been ver y impressed b y h o w m a n y s t u d e n t s a n d members of the Cornell community have so far come out to support our events, ” she said All EMS Week events were administered with the help of Gannett Health Ser vices and the Department of Environmental Health and Safety, according to CUEMS

Melvin Li can be reached at mzl7@cornell edu

Quarter System Criticized

QUARTER

Continued from page 1

when the Student Assembly unanimously called for the investigation of the system

Sponsored by Blake Brown ’17, S A undesignated-at large representative, and William Bitsky ’16, S A College of Arts and Sciences representative, the resolution seeks to examine all consequences of the quarter system, which separates the recruitment timeline into four quarters and places restrictions on freshman contact with fraternities and sororities

The system divides the academic year into four quarters: In the first quarter, chapter-wide contact between the freshmen and greek chapters is limited to programmings events hosted by the chapters and by the IFC The second quarter allows for informal recruitment of freshmen by fraternities and sororities but without alcohol

Order of Omega, said he believes it is “ very important ” for venues to be provided to curtail unsupervised drinking “I think the most important thing is that Greeks provide a safe and secure environment for all freshmen, ” he said “It is very important that Greeks do not give off the Animal House impression ”

Panhellenic Council President Erika Whitestone ’15 added that the quarter system makes it difficult for freshmen to learn about fraternities and sororities Additionally, she said parties in Collegetown can be “extremely unsafe since no event management guidelines are followed ”

“I believe that a review of the four quarter system is timely ”

The third quarter, which begins at the start of the spring semester, consists of formal recruitment and pledging Alcohol remains prohibited at all events throughout the third quarter Freshmen who complete the pledging process become full members of the fraternities and sororities in the fourth quarter

Dean of Students Kent Hubbell said he thinks an evaluation of the quarter system would be appropriate particularly if the discussion involved all undergraduates

“I believe that a review of the four quarter system is timely, especially if it results in a thorough discussion that includes broad participation by undergraduates, both Greek and non-Greek,” Hubbell said

‘Behind Closed Doors’

A “large portion of social activity has moved both behind closed doors and off campus entirely” to places such as Collegetown, according to the Cameron Pritchett ’15, president of the Interfraternity Council These environments, according to Pritchett, tend to be of a higher risk because “ event management guidelines are not necessarily followed ”

“When events take place on campus, in fraternity houses, bodies such as the IFC can regulate to ensure sober monitors are in place, no hard alcohol is present, etc The same is not possible off campus events, ” Pritchett said Steven Henick ’15, former president of the Alpha Epsilon Pi fraternity and current president of the

“It is important for freshman to experience Cornell and have time to decide if Greek life is for them, which is why we have deferred recruitment But the quarter system isolates the Greek System,” Whitestone said All chapter-wide contact with freshmen was previously prohibited, but earlier this semester, fraternities and sororities were permitted to host late night programming events for freshmen, including the IFC-hosted “Go Greek!” dodgeball tournament

According to Pritchett, the high turnout at the event shows enthusiasm from freshmen to participate in Greek life at an earlier time than the quarter system allows

“Hundreds of freshmen and fraternity members attended,” Pritchett said “This demonstrates a desire from freshmen to have more engagement with the Greek system earlier in the school year ”

Ben Bacharach ’18, a freshman-at-large representative for the S A , said he expressed a concern for the safety of the freshmen

“I feel that an investigation of the quarter system is very important because it is vital for freshman to have the opportunity to meet upperclassmen in the safest way possible,” Bacharach said

Pritchett echoed the emphasis that the quarter system affects the community as a whole and not just the Greek community

“The quarter system ’ s impact is not felt exclusively by the Greek community,” Pritchett said “Any unintended consequences of the policy are felt by the entire student body, with a special focus on freshmen ”

cbyrns@cornellsun com

New Faculty Hiring Initiative Underway

FACULTY

Continued from page 1

l e g e , w h i c h h a v e a l r e a d y h a d a c c o u n t a b i l i t y s t r u c t u r e s i n p l a c e , “ h a v e m a d e g r e a t p r o g r e s s i n t h e i r h i r i n g o f u n d e r r e p r e s e n t e d f a c u l t y b y g e n d e r a n d r a c e , ” L e v i t t e s a i d I n c r e a s i n g D i v e r s i t y A m o n g F a c u l t y T h e C o l l e g e o f E n g i n e e r i n g r e c e i v e d a $ 3 3 m i l l i o n g r a n t f r o m t h e N a t i o n a l S c i e n c e Fo u n d a t i o n ’ s A DVA N C E p r og r a m i n 2 0 0 6 , a c c o rd i n g t o t h e N S F w e b s i t e W i t h t h a t m o n e y, C o r n e l l c r e a t e d a p r og r a m c a l l e d C U - A DVA N C E , w h i c h a i m s t o h a v e o n e t h i rd

o f a l l s c i e n c e a n d e n g i n e e r i n g f a c u l t y b e w o m e n b y 2 0 1 5 P r e s i d e n t D a v i d S k o r t o n a d d r e s s e d C U - A DVA N C E i n t h e D i v e r s i t y a n d I n c l u s i o n R e p o r t p u b l i s h e d i n O c t o b e r b y t h e O f f i c e o f D i v e r s i t y a n d Wo r k f o r c e I n c l u s i o n “ T h e p r o c e s s e s d e v e l o p e d t h r o u g h C U - A D VA N C E

h a v e n o w b e e n i n s t i t u t i o n a li z e d t o a d d r e s s g e n d e r a n d r a c i a l d i v e r s i t y t h r o u g h t h e O f f i c e o f Fa c u l t y D e v e l o p m e n t a n d D i v e r s i t y, ” S k o r t o n w r o t e A c r o s s t h e Un i v e r s i t y, w o m e n d o n o t r e p r e s e n t e v e n o n e t h i rd o f t h e f a c u l t y : I n 2 0 1 3 , o n l y 2 9 2 p e r c e n t o f f a c u l t y m e m b e r s w e r e f e m a l e a n d 7 2 p e r c e n t w e r e u n d e rr e p r e s e n t e d m i n o r i t i e s , a c c o rd i n g t o t h e r e p o r t T h e s e n u m b e r s r e p r e s e n t a n i n c r e a s e f r o m 2 0 1 0 , w h e n o n l y 2 6 7 p e r c e n t o f f a c u l t y w e r e w o m e n a n d 6 3 p e r c e n t w e r e u n d e rr e p r e s e n t e d m i n o r i t i e s Pr e s i d e n t S k o r t o n w r o t e i n t h e r e p o r t t h a t a l t h o u g h t h e s e i n c r e a s e s s h o w “ p r o g r e s s , ” C o r n e l l “ m u s t c o n t i n u e o u r e f f o r t s ” t o d i v e r s i f y f a c u l t y I n a d d i t i o n t o s u c c e s s f u l i n i t i a t i v e s i n t h e S c h o o l o f Ve t e r i n a r y Me d i c i n e a n d t h e e n g i n e e r i n g c

Assembly Calls For Trial of Study Space on North

Continued from page 1

she believes the creation of a quiet study area would benefit North Campus residents

“I think this is a great example of a change on campus, ” she said “I think this would be a great space for a lot of students from different [North Campus] dorms to study in ”

However, Yamini Bhandari ’17, vice president for outreach and women ’ s representative for the S A , said she was concerned about the necessity of the initiative after reaching out to representatives from the Residential Student Congress, a student organization that consists of representatives from each residence hall on campus

“[The representatives] were questioning the need of the program seeing that there are some other study spaces [on North Campus] already existing,” she said

Ariana Korman ’18 said she had similar reservations

“If I’m going to study on North, I might as well find a quiet area in my dorm,” she said “And if I do end up deciding to study outside of the dorm, I’d still rather go to a library on Central since I prefer its atmosphere to a multipurpose room in Appel ”

Liu reminded Assembly members that the purpose of the initiative is to give North Campus residents a “quiet” study area, placing emphasis on the fact that there are no other public quiet places to study on North

“You can study at [Robert Purcell Community Center] but there are no rules that you have to be quiet,” she said “Also, in the dorms there are study lounges, but no one is going to tell others to stop talking ”

In order to collect feedback over the course of the trial run, students who use the new study area will be encouraged to fill out a survey when they leave, according to Liu

“[The S A ] always talks about building a freshmen community, but at the same time [freshmen] spend a lot of time on Central Campus,” Batista said “Bringing together a study space is really important to bring back North Campus culture ”

Andrew Lord be reached dlord@cornellsun com

Ex-CEO Indicted After Disaster

C H A R L E S TO N , W Va (AP) Don Blankenship, the

s t e e l y - e ye d e xe c u t i ve o n c e dubbed “ The Dark Lord of

C o a l C o u n t r y, ” i s f a c i n g decades in federal prison in connection with the nation’s deadliest mine disaster in 40 years

A federal grand jury indicted

t h e f o r m e r Ma s s e y En e r g y CEO Thursday on numerous counts of conspiracy, making him the highest-ranking executive charged in the April 2010

u n d e r g ro u n d e x p l o s i o n t h a t killed 29 men at the Upper Big

Br a n c h Mi n e i n Mo n t c o a l , West Virginia

T h e 4 3 - p a g e i n d i c t m e n t said Blankenship “knew that U B B w a s c o m m i t t i n g h u ndreds of safety-law violations every year and that he had the ability to prevent most of the violations that UBB was committing Yet he fostered and participated in an understandi n g t h a t p e r p e t u a t e d U B B ’ s practice of routine safety violations, in order to produce more coal, avoid the costs of following safety laws, and make more money ”

NEW YORK (AP)

Those low gas prices on station signs aren ’ t going away soon, the government says

In a dramatic shift from previ-

o u s f o r e c a s t s , t h e E n e r g y

D e p a r t m e n t p r e d i c t e d

Wednesday that the average price of gasoline in the U S will be $2 94 a gallon in 2015 That is a 44-cent drop from an outlook issued just a month ago

If the sharply lower estimate holds true, U S consumers will save $61 billion on gas compared with this year

Rising oil production, particularly in the U S , and weak spots in the global economy have led to a sharp reduction in oil prices over the past four months

Not seeing much of a change ahead, the government cut its forecast for global oil prices next year by $18 a barrel to $83

As a result, U S drivers will pay on average 45 cents less for a gallon of gas next year compared to this year Based on expected gasoline consumption, that’s a savings of $60 9 billion

That may not seem like a lot in the context of a $17 5 trillion

U S economy, but economists say it matters because it immedi-

a t e l y g i v e s c o n s u m e r s m o r e money to spend on other things

Consumer spending accounts for 70 percent of the U S economy

“It would be a reversal of the trend over the last fe w years where consumers can ’ t stretch a d o l l a r f a r e n o u g h , ”

Quinlan, an economist at Wells Fargo

gasoline is one of the three big drivers of consumer confidence, along with stock prices and the unemployment rate “Lately all three are moving in the right direction,” he says

After falling for 49 straight days, the average gasoline price in the U S Thursday is $2 92, the lowest since December of 2010, according to AAA That was also the last full year when the average came in below $3 a gallon

While it’s not unusual for gas to hit its low for the year in late fall, the government is now saying that these prices aren ’ t just a low point, but instead will be the norm next year

Adam Sieminski, administrator of the Energy Information

A d m i n i s t

m , attributed the lower pump prices to lower prices for crude oil and weak fuel demand The EIA did hedge its bet on lower oil prices

OPEC could cut production in order to push prices higher

The global price of crude has fallen by $37 a barrel, or 32 percent, since late June and closed at $77 92 Thursday Oil production around the world has been strong in recent years A boom in the U S has pushed domestic production up 70 percent since 2008 At the same time, demand for fuels is g r

growth

The U S economy is faring relatively well, but more fuelefficient cars and changing driving habits are keeping domestic gasoline demand low The EIA expects demand to fall slightly next year despite the lower pump prices

The EIA also slightly lowered its prediction for growth in U S o i l p r o d u c t i o n b e c a u s

prices will force some drillers to cut back Production is expected to reach 9 4 million barrels a day in 2015, down from a previous estimate of 9 5 million barrels per day Still, that would be an increase of 4 percent over this year and the highest domestic crude production since 1972

CATHERINE CHEN ’15

Business Manager

CAROLINE FLAX 15

Associate Editor

NICK DE TULLIO 15 Web Editor

RACHEL ELLICOTT 15

Blogs Editor

ELIZABETH SOWERS ’15

Design Editor

CONNOR ARCHARD ’15

Sports Photography Editor

ANNIE BUI ’16

News Editor

KAITLYN TIFFANY 15

Arts & Entertainment Editor

KATHLEEN BITTER 15

Editor

CHARDAE VARLACK 15 Associate Multimedia Editor

EMILY BERMAN 16 Assistant Sports Editor

NICOLE HAMILTON ’16

Design Editor

EMMA LICHTENSTEIN ’16 Marketing Manager

LUISE YANG ’15 Human Resources Manager

ARIELLE CRUZ ’15 Senior Editor

MICHELLE FELDMAN ’15 Senior Editor

Independent Since 1880

HALEY VELASCO 15 Editor in Chief

WORKING ON TODAY’S SUN 132ND EDITORIAL BOARD

JAYNE ZUREK 16 Senior Editor

TYLER ALICEA ’16

STEELE 15

CHIUSANO 15

REHBERG 16

YANG ’15

RANKIN ’16

ANUSHKA MEHROTRA ’16

DOOLITTLE 16

XIAO 16 Dining

SYDNEY ALTSCHULER 16

FASMAN 16

RATHORE ’15

Coordinator KATHLEEN SHIM ’15

15

DAVIS 16

LEVY 16

EJevan Hutson, Joseph Fridman & Arthur Peterson | Guest Room

Fratman

Ends

arlier this week, this nation’s oldest, continuously independent college daily published a eulogy to the word “faggot” in the form of an opinion piece by David Zha ’15 Framed as a satirical letter from “A Good Person” to the word in question, the piece laments the loss of what seemed to be the perfect verbal attack “Faggot” “packed a punch that ‘dweeb’ just never could” alas, its “unfortunate connections to the homophobic underbelly means this has to be the end” of Zha’s chara c t e r ’ s re l a t i o n s h i p w i t h t h e w o rd

Unfortunately, A Good Person just “ can ’ t be seen in public” using this word anymore, the end of a “good run ” We don’t doubt that Zha and others in his position would condemn publicly the use of “faggot,” even though we have to play fast and loose with his tone and writing style to do so What we do doubt are the ethics of the rhetorical style that Zha a n d h i s s a t i re

e m b o d y, o n e t h a t “educates” by mocking sensitivity despite

PHOTO EDITORS Alexander Hernandez 16

ARTS EDITORS Sean Doolittle ’16 Kaitlyn Tiffany ’15 NEWS DESKER Anushka Mehrotra 16

SPORTS EDITOR Scott Chiusano 15

DESKER Elizabeth Sowers 15

isn’t cool, it isn’t satire and it sure isn’t funny

Nobody needs to see a racist, sexist, homophobic, violent viewpoint exaggerated to the point of absurdity to understand it, especially since the absurd exaggeration is not actually so impossible and is encount e re d o n o u r c a m p u s e ve r y d a y

We don’t try to create safe spaces so that they will spread magically through the rest of society We do it to make people safe.

a d a n g e ro u s w o r l d full of banal oppression To explain his column, Zha wrote o n Fa c e b o o k t h a t “[t]he world is not a n i c e , s a f e p l a c e Cornell is part of the world Cornell is not a nice, safe place ” In response to yesterday’s column by Teresa Kim ’15, Zha snarkily thanks her for the “spread,” noting again that his reason for writing is to illuminate the false sense of shelter that language policing presumably provides in spaces like Cornell He goes on to offer a bastardized argument for civility: “In language, some words are okay and others just aren ’ t That’s why they exist To never be said You shouldn’t even think them, or Jesus is going to wash your brain with lye before sending you on a one-way trip to the basement ” And that’s about it Presumably, to drive this point home, Zha sloppily typed out this disaster to make the world even less nice or safe for his community, because that’s the right thing to do Zha, then, is taking on the valiant task of breaking the pernicious and misleading sense of safety that the queer community feels on campus After reviewing the facts for about three seconds (the Hur tado Report on Climate Diversity, the LGBT Resource Center’s historic lack of proper funding and the public record regarding and our own experience with bias incidents on campus) we can assure him that this is unnecessary

Zha’s interpretation of the ethics and functions of speech acts misses the point: We don’t try to create safe spaces so that they will spread magically through the rest of society We do it to make people safe It’s not that we avoid using words like “faggot” or the litany of other epithets screamed at and burned into the bodies and memories of minorities because using those words makes us lose street cred when we ’ re beating on a kid in middle school We don’t use those words because they carry etymologies o f v i o l e n c e , b e c a u s e t h e y a re j a g g e d weapons in the arsenal of oppression or because people use them every day against disadvantaged groups Zha’s is a deflated response to a very simple phenomenon: We tr y not to use words that have been screamed at minorities while they are burned to death or lynched or have the shit kicked out of them in the schoolyard This

Categorizing columns like Zha’s as “educated humor” is exploiting a position of privilege in two ways: It shows the privilege some folks wield when they make the choice to consider as humorous horrific things they don’t have to endure and highlights the privilege the author has had in publishing their portfolio of defensively hedged, insincere and uninteresting “opinion” pieces while meaningful and important opinions are silenced Moreover, it implies something absolutely horrid It is more awful to be called “bigot” than it is to be called “faggot,” betraying the ultimate evidence of privilege: demanding that mass i ve p owe r i m b a lances remain unaddressed for the sake of comfort

Mocking sensitivity often has been an invaluable weapon of the oppressed Biting s a t i re s o f l a n g u a g e control have a welldeserved place in our cultural consciousness the modern world’s Orwells and Bulgakovs have shown us what horrifying injustices are possible when thought and word policing runs amok We share this view and are fervently in favor of forums that promote satirical (or straightforward) dialogue, noxious opinions and a diversity of views Our celebrated college daily should be a lively, biting debate full of humor and passion and arguments that have teeth, which this campus surely has the intelligence, passion, wit and diversity of perspective to produce Zha’s column is decidedly none of these things We call not for censorship, but for better editorial decisions The Daily Sun has been running Zha’s column for months, columns which all deploy this same insincere and undirected satirical tone to justify Zha’s incessant referencing of women as objects (“chubby” if they are feminist, “ targets ” if they’re at a frat party), or his brilliant theory of race relations: “If we want to live in a truly raceless society, it’s on minorities to be bigger and forgive the crimes of the past ” At the same time that Zha’s characters takes up space, other voice s a re s y s t e m a t i c a l l y m a r g i n a l i ze d , demeaned and shut out of the forum that defines this campus ’ news culture We urge The Daily Sun to take a serious look at this choice in the future We urge those who want to call out tropes of oppression to satirize and tear them apart without becoming them, without needlessly invoking violence against members of our community Being asked to “watch one ’ s language” seems like a big ask, almost an imposition We assure Zha that being asked to endure attacks on one ’ s identity is an even bigger one

The Daily Sun deserves better, and so do all of us

Jevan Hutson is a junior, Joseph Fridman is a sophomore and Ar thur Peterson is a senior at Cornell Responses may be sent to associate-editor@cornellsun com Gu e s t Ro o m appears periodically this semester

LThe Virtue Of Sacri ce

g t o u n d e r s t a n d w h a t i t w i l l m e a n t o l i ve a s s o m e t h i n g

o t h e r t h a n a c o l l e g i a t e a t h l e t e

Be i n g a n a t h l e t e a t Ya l e i s d i f f i c u l t Ya l e h a s b e e n f o r m e , i n m a n y w a y s , a c i rc u m s c r i b e d e x p e r i e n c e T h e t r a c k , t h e s h u t t l e o u t t o t h e f i e l d h o u s e a n d t h e t r a i n i n g ro o m a re t h e p l a c e s I k n ow

b e s t h e re I s p e n t ove r f o u r h o u r s t r a i n i n g a l m o s t e ve r y d a y A

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

e n o u g h f o o d , m a k i n g s u re m y s t u d i e s d o n o t ove r w h e l m m e s o t h a t I c a n p r a c t i c e a t t h e h i g h e s t l e ve l

So m e o f t h e s a c r i f i c e s I h a d t o m a k e h a ve s i g n i f i c a n t l y h a m -

p e re d m y t i m e h e re Un l i k e a t s o m e o t h e r s c h o o l s i n t h e Iv y

L e a g u e , m a n y h i g h - l e ve l s e m i n a r s h a p p e n d u r i n g t h e a f t e r n o o n s , o u r p r a c t i c e t i m e T h e i n a b i l i t y t o e n ro l l i n t h e c o u r s e s I a m m o s t i n t e re s t e d i n a t Ya l e b e c a u s e I a m a n a t h l e t e re p re s e n t i n g Ya l e s t i l l a n g e r s m e T h e n t h e re we re t h e s p e a k e r s , d i s c u s s i o n s a n d e ve n t s I

w a n t e d t o g o t o t h ro u g h o u t t h e ye a r s t h a t I h a ve h a d t o m i s s

b e c a u s e p r a c t i c e w a s a l w a y s t h e re L o s i n g t o u c h w i t h f r i e n d s b e c a u s e t h e i r l i f e s t y l e w a s n o t c o m p a t i b l e w i t h m y t r a i n i n g h a s b e e n a d i f f i c u l t e x p e r i e n c e

T h e l i f e o f a Ya l e a t h l e t e i s a c r a m p e d o n e Bu t i t i s o n l y w i t h i n re s t r i c t i o n s t h a t t h e b e a u t i f u l c a n d e ve l o p T h e m u t u a l s e l f - d e n i a l t h a t t h e l i f e o f a s t u d e n t - a t h l e t e i m p o s e s h a s a l l owe d m y t e a m -

m a t e s a n d m e t o b o n d i n a w a y t h a t w o u l d n o t b e p o s s i b l e o t h e r -

Our extracurricular activities make incredible demands upon us, to a degree not found on may other college campuses

My peers have devoted semesters or years of their life to a single organization, making it far and away their top priority above school, friends or sanity

w i s e T h e s h a re d t o i l o f p r a c t i c e a n d t h e m o n o t o n y o f p h y s i c a l

t h e r a p y h a ve g i ve n u s a c o m m o n l a n g u a g e A n d t h e a t h l e t i c b l i s s

o f a r a c e we l l - r u n h a s g i ve n u s a c o m m o n p u r p o s e T h e s a c r i f i c e s a re re a l , a n d c a n f e e l u n j u s t , b u t i n s o m e w a y, t h e y a re n e c e s s a r y

t o re a p t h e b e n e f i t s In t h i s s e n s e , a t h l e t i c s a t Ya l e a re e x t re m e e x a m p l e s o f t h e i n t e n s i t y Ya l e s t u d e n t s d e vo t e t o t h e i r e x t r a c u r r i c u l a r a c t i v i t i e s Ou r e x t r a c u r r i c u l a r a c t i v i t i e s m a k e i n c re d i b l e d e m a n d s u p o n u s ,

t o a d e g re e n o t f o u n d o n m a n y o t h e r c o l l e g e c a m p u s e s My p e e r s h a ve d e vo t e d s e m e s t e r s o r ye a r s o f t h e i r l i f e t o a s i n g l e o r g a n i z a -

t i o n , m a k i n g i t f a r a n d a w a y t h e i r t o p p r i o r i t y a b ove s c h o o l , f r i e n d s o r s a n i t y Fo r m y f r i e n d s a t o t h e r s c h o o l s , t h e i r c l u b s e x i s t f o r t h e i r b e n e f i t ; a t Ya l e , i t s e e m s a s i f we e x i s t f o r t h e b e n e f i t o f o u r c l u b s T h e d ow n s i d e s o f t h i s a p p ro a c h a re m a n y, b u t t h e b e n -

e f i t s a re ve r y re a l In l i f e , we a re g i ve n f e w c h a n c e s t o c a re p a s s i o na t e l y a b o u t a g ro u p, a n d p r a c t i c i n g d o i n g s o i s i m p o r t a n t ; i t s e r ve s a s a b u l w a rk a g a i n s t t h e c y n i c i s m t h a t s e e m s w a i t i n g t o e n g u l f u s

Now, i n o u r s e n i o r ye a r, m y f r i e n d s a n d I a re s t e p p i n g a w a y f ro m t h e t h i n g s we c a re d s o m u c h a b o u t I a m l u c k y e n o u g h t o b e a b l e t o c o n t i n u e r u n n i n g , b u t m a n y o r g a n i z a t i o n s o n c a m p u s s e e m t o h a ve n o ro o m f o r s e n i o r s We a re l e f t w i t h a m p l e t i m e t o re f l e c t u p o n o u r c o l l e g i a t e e x p e r i e n c e T h e d a y b e f o re m y s o p h o m o re He p s , I w a s r u n n i n g w i t h a s e n i o r o n t h e t e a m He s e e m e d d ow n s o I a s k e d h i m w h a t w a s w ro n g He s a i d t h a t h e w a s n o t s u re t h a t r u n n i n g i n c o l l e g e w a s w o r t h a l l t h e s a c r i f i c e s h e h a d t o m a k e f o r i t I h a d n e ve r c o n s i de re d t h e q u e s t i o n b e f o re , b u t I a m g r a t e f u l h e a s k e d i t I h a ve c a r -

r i e d i t w i t h m e e ve r s i n c e T h e re i s n o o n e a n s we r t o t h a t q u e s t i o n , b u t i t ’ s w o r t h k e e p i n g i n m i n d Fo r t h e u n d e rc l a s s m e n , i t c a n h e l p p re ve n t t u n n e l v i s i o n a n d k e e p yo u a w a re o f t h e m u l t i t u d e o f o p p o r t u n i t i e s t o b e f o u n d h e re Fo r t h e s e n i o r s , i t i s a re m i n d e r o f t h e c o n s e q u e n c e s o f o u r c h o i c e s a n d a l e s s o n f o r t h e f u t u re In o rd e r t o a c h i e ve a n y t h i n g i m p o r t a n t yo u h a ve t o g i ve u p a l

Comment of the day

“What I will say is that our justice systems errs on the side of too much caution for the accused, and not enough for the victims You are correct that it protects the falsely accused immensely, and I would say that is a good thing, but what rights are given to the victims?”

Sarah Paez

Re: “As Cornell Officials Revisit Policy 6 4, Students Recount, Criticize Process,” News, published November 12, 2014

Jake Forken | My Forken Opinion

A Political Strategy Guide Leading to 2016

On November 4, the Republican Par ty emphatically regained control of the Senate In the 2014 midterms, the GOP emerged victorious in practically ever y swing state and nearly pulled a historic upset with Republican Ed Gillespie coming up a mere 16,000 votes ( 8 percent of the vote) short of unsetting Democratic Senator Mark Warner in Virginia Turnout was abysmally low, setting a 72-year low of 36 3 percent, indicating that voter trends observed last week may not hold come the 2016 elections Nonetheless, it’s worth examining the governing strategies each party may pursue as President Obama manages his last two years in office

Now that Republicans control both chambers of Congress, many political pundits have stated that the time has come for the GOP to prove to the American people that they are capable of not just obstructionist rhetoric, but actual governing However, with the evident end being a Republican president come 2016, actual governing may not prove to be the most effective means

For whatever

r e a s o n , Democrats campaigning in 2014 were deathly afraid of the president, claiming that his presence on the campaign trail would be toxic to their electoral chances While that approach clearly failed, it may have succeeded in creating a self-fulfilling prophecy of the president’s national image, directly impacting Democratic candidates naturally associated with Obama

growth rate and presidential vote share, but no relationship between the nation’s growth rate and Senate (or House) seat loss in midterm years ”

So, while economic growth didn’t give the Democrats any help last week, come 2016, Democrats may actually be safe if the economy continues to grow

Moving forward, Democratic Congresspersons have two obvious options: continue to separate themselves from the president or resume the bitter partisan politics in Washington Either route may prove detrimental to Democratic chances in 2016

If Democrats elect to avoid association with Obama, any passed legislation will be credited to the Republicans, as the moderate Democratic Senators would have either voted with the Republicans or chosen not to filibuster GOP bills The next step in this process likely involves President Obama vetoing any explicit Republican legislation that lacks compromise Now, in 2016, Republican strategists can place the blame on the president

If the Democrats decide to ba the president the next two ye then the partisan gridlock wil almost certainly continue.

Funny thing is, the president has given his party much to run on The unemployment rate stands at 5 8 percent and the current string of continued job growth month after month is the longest on record This lack of credit may because growing GDP hasn’t necessarily yet translated in to a better-middle class economy but this was also true in the 2012 midterms, in which the Democrats proved victorious Perhaps the more likely reason is, according to UCLA’s Lynn Vavreck, “there is a strong relationship between the nation’s

and hurting the country While the 2014 midterms demonstrate that the GOP clearly wasn ’ t negatively affected by their six years of blockading legislation, that’s because all politics are local Congress has an approval rating that hovers around a remarkable 15 percent, yet incumbents are consistently re-elected because citizens don’t believe their representative is the issue but, in fact, on the aggregate, they are! Voters didn’t place the blame on individual GOP Congresspersons, but instead on the president, quite simply because at the end of they day the president is the face of the nation

On the contrary, if the tables turn and the president becomes the obstructionist, no matter the content of bills he may be rejecting, he will be blamed, because, well, he is the face of the nation

and paint him as an obstructionist who prevented the GOP from advancing a substantial agenda Obviously, President Obama cannot run again in 2016, but this caricature of the party will undoubtedly damage the Democratic nominee

On the other hand, if the Democrats decide to back the president the next two years, then the partisan gridlock will almost certainly continue and the blame will again be placed on the Democrats for impeding legislation It’s basically a lose-lose for the Democrats

In other words, the GOP may benefit from churning out partisan bill after partisan bill; very well knowing that Obama will veto the bill Even if the bills are objectively bad legislation, the vast majority of the American people will simply see the president acting on his own behalf

The only potential saving grace for the Democrats is the impending Establishment v Ultra-Conser vative showdowns almost sure to play out in Congress With Ted Cruz possibly vying for a presidential campaign in 2016, along with his already established TeaPar ty base in Congress as well as ne wcomers such as Joni Ernst and G l e n n Grothman, the conservative wing of the GOP may be unwilling to compromise even with their own Establishment leaders, much less the Democrats If this happens, although gridlock will certainly continue as the GOP bickers amongst themselves, the Democrats will be able to campaign on the mantra that a GOP majority clearly can ’ t function

While engaging in bipartisan legislation may aid individual Democrats in their reelection campaigns, there is little reason for either party to cede major ground with 2016 in mind Expect the gridlock in Washington to continue

I S I N G for the Monday, Dec 1st & Tuesday, Dec. 2nd issues and C L

for the Monday, Dec 1st issue of The Corne¬ Daily Sun is due

The Cornell Dail y S un • 139 W S tate S t Ithaca, New York • 273-3606

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

It’s odd, hearing Matthew McConaughey talk in space His is a voice of the earth, American earth the kind of slow, colloquial drawl to pass the time watching baseball games, driving past cornfields or losing your mind on HBO

In Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar, McConaughey’s hero Cooper leaves these icons of Americana (well, two out of three) behind in order to save them Naturally, Cooper takes that star-spangled sensibility with him through the cosmos, and it’s that from-the-gut-ness, as Stephen Colbert might say, that wins the day, or something like that Throwing McConaughey and all he stands for into a sci-fi retelling of The Odyssey is a simple but potent concept, one this clumsy and often visually pedestrian movie works hard to undermine Yet Interstellar drops its sentimental payload with such aplomb that it’s futile to resist it, which makes it, intentionally or not, a pretty thoroughly American movie

On a remote, dust-ravaged farmhouse in the near future, Cooper lives with his family, or what remains of it: daughter Murph (Mackenzie Foy), son Tom (Timothée Chalamet) and the father of his deceased wife, Donald ( John Lithgow) The days of Homo sapiens are numbered due to a disease called “blight” that destroys crops, but the timbre of the earthbound first act is quiet, even calm, as the adults adapt to or just ignore the intensifying hostility of their surroundings in order to provide for their children a comfortable existence

Murph is daddy’s girl, a restless, red-haired intelligence nurtured by Cooper’s attention and playful humor The rapport between father and daughter is sweet and just strong enough that their estrangement, once Professor Brand (Michael Caine) recruits Cooper, a former pilot, to lead an expedition through a wormhole adjacent to Saturn in search for hospitable planets, sets the emotional stakes for the rest of the film With Amelia Brand (Anne Hathaway), the professor’s daughter, Doyle (Wes Bentley), Romilly (David Gyasi) and a sarcastic A I system named TARS (Bill Irwin) that uploads the comic relief of HAL 9000 into the shape of The Monolith from 2001: A Space Odyssey, Cooper sets off, determined, of course, to find a new home and return to his own Interstellar is as flawed as Hollywood tent-poles come It’s worth noting that Nolan’s style has long been one of the most

compromised in the business, eschewing narrative concision for verbosity at every turn yet resorting to flat, recycled compositions to constrain actors hired to talk and talk and once in awhile act That he and his brother Jonathan, who co-wrote the screenplay, so waste John Lithgow by sitting him down on a porch to listen to McConaughey spoon-feed purple prose (“We used to look up at the sky and wonder at our place in the stars Now we just look down and worry about our place in the dirt ”) in static medium shots not once but twice should mandate a budget cut of 90 percent for their next film, with Lithgow and, I don’t know Sigourney Weaver as leads

This visual and verbal blandness carries over into space, where the razzle-dazzle you ’ re paying for sits next to a lot of shots of astronauts sitting around espousing the themes or else questions of their movie Of the half-dozen people I have spoken to about this, not one has failed to mention Amelia’s speech about how love “transcends time and space, ” or mock vomit while doing so During one of the protracted sequences that cross-cuts between the astronauts quarreling and Cooper’s now grown-up children (more on that in a bit) back home for no purpose other than to remind you how little use the latter have in the plot, I wrote in my notes, “This is bad How bad?” Yet, since watching Interstellar to its completion and

Interstellar

Directed by Christopher Nolan

Starring

Matthew McConaughey, Jessica Chastain, Anne Hathaway

mulling over it quite a bit, I have taken a softer tone This is not cohesive or exemplary filmmaking, not at all, but a bunch of moments in it land, moments that define Cooper and present him to us without pretense In an atypically understated scene, we learn that Cooper walks around the cabin listening to sounds of rain, thunder and chirping birds, an ambience that calms Romilly and reminds us of the simple pleasures (and completely unique ecosystems) they are fighting to preserve

For the stakes here are devastating, are they not? Cooper not only faces the easy

possibility of never seeing his children again but also, by exploring planets where time elapses at a slower rate (the relativity physics of which the film attempts to explain many, many times), of seeing them die before him A parent ’ s worst nightmare, and Cooper grieves over those lost moments in one of the most affecting scenes in any blockbuster, ever It’s the rare full stop in a movie that runs for almost three hours and yet always seems to be in a rush, and it cuts through all the talk of multiple dimensions and “ quantum data” to get the heart of our heroes’ and Nolan’s endeavor

For while he has gained a devoted (I’d say too devoted) following for his so-called “heady” themes and tricky narrative structures, Nolan has always been a closet sentimentalist, obsessed with dead family members mainly wives) and wringing these clichés for all the male angst, guilt and mopey faces they are worth Here, at last, he has made an old-school tearjerker that starkly, painfully illustrates the new-school science of his plot through an intimate family drama that should resonate with just about anyone

The trouble with Interstellar, then, is that it does not know how simple it is The tension between inspiring awe and explaining that awe a tension no doubt enforced by studio executives and the loathsome bunch that judges fiction for its scientific veracity deflates a fascinating scene in the last act, where Cooper explores some Inception-like impossible architecture and refuses to stop postulating as to its origins Kubrick, the obvious precedent, let his mysteries just sit there, unnervingly silent, and the legacy of Interstellar will be a short one for wrapping up all its loose ends so neatly and anxiously

Yet as much as this film wears an unearned intelligence on its sleeve, it is still about a man who is not a thinker but a doer

No matter how much the directing or writing may saddle the purity of that man ’ s struggle, Cooper’s farm-grown charm carries him through a wormhole and pulls us in with him

Perhaps it’s only fitting that he comes face to face with the secrets of the universe and can hardly contain his excitement, for he holds the instinctive assumption that he must share these stories with his children, in due time

Zachar y Zahos is a senior in the College of Arts and Sciences She can be reached at zzahos@cornellsun com

BY SHAY COLLINS Sun Staff Writer

In a starkly minimalist manner, Uroosa Ijaz’s, B F A , ’15, exhibit Insatiable Desires transforms the Olive Tjaden Galler y Usually, photographs, paintings or videos decorate the walls of the galler y Usually, I enter and stand in front of a composition for a few minutes, occupying my small space by the wall I slowly circle from piece to piece, spending my perceived requisite amount of time in front of each work in the galler y

Insatiable Desires requires a different method of viewing The exhibit consists of a long, narrow white table, which holds seven sculptures arranged in a line Six of the sculptures adhere to the same general form: a concave bowl and a small silver shaft that presents a grey, seemingly painted-over on its upmost tip The bowls themselves appear to be translucent when viewed from above, but opaque when viewed from the side The seventh and central sculpture is a shallow grey dish that contains four grey rings Two lines of lights near the middle of ceiling illuminate the table and its contents and provide the only lighting source for the exhibit

Ijaz’s ar tist statement, too, is consciously simple Insatiable Desires inspects the innate desire to consume objects,” the statement reads, “Uroosa Ijaz addresses desire through design and the cyclical nature of desire and consumption ” Thus, Ijaz’s choice to foreground rings as the central image of the exhibit conveys the importance of both desire and consumption

Yet, Ijaz’s presentation of the ring-as-desired-object deviates from the luxurious, shining depictions in jewelr y advertisements and rom-coms Rather, the viewer sees rings slathered in matte grey paint and examined under direct lighting The rings retain their basic form even taken out of context and placed at the top of a sculpture but they lose their desirability, especially their desirability for consumption

However, Ijaz’s usage of lighting in the Olive Tjaden Galler y represents perhaps the most interesting and artistically striking part of the exhibit The selection of minimal, angled lights emphasizes the geometric forms of the

sculptures’ shadows I spent the majority of my time at Insatiable Desires slowly circling the table, watching the shadows shift, expand, contract and connect with the reflections of the lights I stared at a given shadow and closed one eye and then the other, watching as the shadow jumped from one location to another The role of shadows, however, contributed more to a sense of magic or other worldliness than to a dialogue about consumption and desire

Although I appreciated the boldness of Insatiable Desires minimalism, I did reach a point where I wished that the exhibit contained something more Consumerism and desire both promise a wealth of intense imager y, yet Insatiable Desires presents a series of small, abstract sculptures with little explanation On one hand, I expected an exploration of the “innate desire to consume objects,” and yet faced a series of artworks that failed to convey a sense of desire The exhibit, which examined “the cyclical nature of desire and consumption,” seemingly contained no representation of the consumption of the desired objects

When viewed apart from the artist statement, Ijaz’s sculptures interestingly interacted with the four-dimensional space of the galler y, especially through Ijaz’s focus

“Ton manipulating the shadows of the pieces The artist statement, however, conveyed an almost entirely different message than the pieces imparted on their own Either the sculptures or the artist statement could have benefitted from expansion; in its current state, the exhibit poses an interesting question, but largely leaves in unanswered by exposition in the artist statement or by clear, impactful symbolism from the sculptures themselves

Overall, Insatiable Desires is a simple, beautiful exhibit, but it is also far more conceptual than moving To borrow Roland Barthes’ terminology, Ijaz’s exhibit presents a fascinating studium, an interesting study of the ring as a desired object and of consumption as whole Conversely, the exhibit lacks a strong punctum, a detail through which the viewer can emotionally connect with the works With the exception of the ring, the exhibit is largely devoid of a human presence Although initially striking and markedly minimalist, Insatiable Desires does not clearly evidence the connection between the stated focus on consumption and desire and its constitutive works

Shay Collins is a freshman in the College of Arts and Sciences He can be reached at scollins@cornellsun com

Equality: It’s Only a Day Away

hat is bullshit,” I decided This was my official stance There was no stopping me now I was going to let people know at every opportunity, whether they wanted to hear it or not

As those of you who know me are probably aware, I am a very stubborn person Not unreasonably so, but when I take a well thought out stance I can be extremely difficult to sway I like to paint it as my passion taking over, but in all reality, I am probably just competitive to a fault

But really, it is hard for me to pull the “passion” card when I am getting into shouting matches about the upcoming Annie remake, when I am not even sure I ever saw the original

But there I was, spitting piss and vinegar over producers taking Annie a character trademarked by her bright orange hair and freckles and casting her as a young black girl This was the soapbox that I decided to stand on And it was a soapbox that I was too ignorant and stubborn to step down from until just a couple of months ago

To be clear, my original issue was not the introduction of more minority characters into the narrative section of the entertainment industry The underrepresentation of minorities and women is an issue I have addressed before

But now that I have done a turnaround on the issue, I would like to take the opportunity to explain both sides of the coin

In the past few months, the changing of race and/or gender of established characters has been a bit of a hot topic There has been outrageous attention paid to the announcement that the upcoming Ghostbusters reboot

will feature a female troop of ghost hunters In the world of comics, we currently have a black Captain America, a female Thor and a half-black, half-Hispanic Spider-man

And while these decisions have received a good share of supportive feedback from their concerned communities, there has been equal amount of negative responses Many people shared the same stance that I did, and were angered about the straying away from tradition

My personal argument in regard to Annie found its roots in three main points

First, there was my simple frustration over the number of reboots and sequels in today’s entertainment industry The lack of imagination and risk-taking in Hollywood in the past few years has been maddening

Second, there was the perceived travesty of taking a character that is so known for her physical attributes and washing all of that away If you are going to bring a character back, why are you changing one of their most significant characteristics? This was admittedly founded mostly in stubborn, traditionloving thinking

But the third issue was my home run swing and my biggest problem with the casting decision Why were producers going back

to white characters, and repackaging them as minorities? To me, it seemed as if Hollywood was admitting that it could not create new, enticing storylines around minorities, and producers were settling on trading in the good, old, white ones

I thought these three points to be fairly well reasoned and justifiable And I figured that most people who had issues with the trend of race and gender changing shared similar perspectives

While you cannot deny that there are countless people out there whose frustrations about these gender and race changes are rooted primarily in bigotry, I like to think that majority of people who have a problem with this trend are a bit more reasonable

However, my entire stance on the race and gender change issue was changed with one simple question from a friend I was making my standard argument against race change For all intents and purposes, the three points I outlined earlier My friend listens silently He then looks at me and simply asks, “Why should Annie be white?”

I began to answer, clearly frustrated about having to repeat myself But he quickly interrupts me

“No, I mean when they were originally creating the character, right? Why did she have to be white? Why does it even matter?”

I sat there for a few moments in silence I had no response And that was that

Does being white really bring any more depth to Spider-man? Is being a man essential to the character of any of the Ghostbusters?

Hell, given the against-all-odds, feel-good story behind Annie and the people she is meant to inspire, you could more strongly

argue that the last thing her character should be is white

It was so clearly a non-issue, but I was blinded by my own comfort in tradition and privilege And as somebody who has consistently advocated for the underrepresented in entertainment, it was really shocking for me to realize this I was embarrassed to realize that my argument was so petty and could so easily be reduced to a child pouting and answering “just because ”

In hindsight, a fourth motivation I had was a childish reaction to giving things up It is easy to say that everybody should have as much as I do It is more difficult to give up what you have in order to level off the playing field Like a stubborn child, I was a bit mad about giving up what I had, when I saw no reason why we could not just give others more

But in reality, sacrifice is necessary if we want equality And while this is a reality that is undeniable when it comes to more explicitly extreme issues such as pay inequality or political representation, it can be easy to forget this when considering the more peripheral ones

When it comes down to it, if we want to see white guys sharing their screentime with minorities and women, it very well may mean sharing old characters as well That means coming to terms with the fact that for a lot of these characters, being a white guy does not really matter

Evan Needell is a senior in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences He can be reached at eneedell@cornellsun com Ne e d e l l i n a Cr a p s t a c k r uns alternate Fridays this semester

Sun Sudoku

Red Looks to Improve Offense

M HOCKEY

Continued from page 16

shake line,” Bardreau said “It means a lot that your coach has your back, and he obviously proved that he has the best interest of us in the back of his mind Like he said, he probably could've gone about it in a better way, but it was huge for everyone in the locker room to know that he has everyone ' s best interest ”

Given the offensive struggles of the team so far t h i s s e a s o n , t h e Re d c a n n o t a f f o rd t o h a ve

Bardreau, one of the team ’ s most gifted players with the puck and around the net, out for an extended period of time Bardreau, who is listed as questionable for the weekend’s games, helps lead a Cornell offense that has scored 0 8 goals per game on 30 5 shots For context, the Red defense has allowed 30 5 shots per game, but opponents have scored 1 5 goals per game

While the team has created plenty of opportunities to score so far this season, the Red has failed to convert given such chances The loss of senior captain and defenseman Joakim Ryan to a reported broken finger will hurt the team ’ s p ow e r p l a y u n i t D e s p i t e Ry a n ’ s a b s e n c e , Schafer, Bardreau and McCarron all believe that the tables will turn at some point and the team will begin to hit the twine consistently sooner rather than later

“It's about everybody stepping up to the plate

and continuing to create good habits and work on and not let the fact that we ' re not scoring leak into any other part of our game, ” Schafer said “The fact that we ' re not scoring, you don't take your attention away from the back checking You don't take your attention away from being in the proper spot You don't start gambling and taking chances because it starts to leak the other way where, defensively, you start giving up Great defensive position is a catalyst to creating offense and our guys need to continue to do that and they will ”

At the moment, McCarron said that the team needs to continue to stick to its game plan While the results currently aren ’ t tallying up in the wins column, the trio of team leaders said that if the team continues to play well while zipping pucks past opposing goaltenders, the on-paper results will begin to match the level of performance the team has displayed so far this season

“The guys, they feed off us leaders and we ' ve got to stay positive and keep bringing the energy because if we keep getting down on ourselves for not scoring, they're going to look at us and think that if we ' re not going, it's going to be tough for them,” McCarron said “I've just [got] to make sure I keep the guys motivated and high energy, continuing [to play] like we are, but [the wins] are definitely going to come soon ”

Joon Lee can be reached at jlee@cornellsun com

Raptors Lead NBA; Spurs Still Relevant

ZAKOUR Continued from page 16

avoiding the hired gun persona that Shaq, Kareem and others are stuck with Lebron can be a winner twice over, in a way that’s never really been done before Toronto could stay around for awhile The Raptors were the three seed last year, winning the relatively sorry Atlantic division last year But they were eliminated in h

game seven by the Nets, a

guard was set to become a free agent So the Raptors locked up Kyle Lowry, and have a good young core with

“Brazilian Kevin Durant ” The Raptors also feature, by the way, the best record in the NBA at 7-1 (as of writing) and by far the best

point differential in the Eastern Conference The Raptors don’t, and probably will never have, the talent to dominate the East, but they’ll be an entertaining team that’s around for awhile Toronto fans should be happy with rooting for the Raptors now and in the future T

It’s so unabashed; when the Sixers come to town it’s a bit like a freak show come see the team with no talent!

good Sorry for the lack of eloquence, but the Kings are good! It’s been awhile since the Kings were noteworthy, and they are probably best remembered for being the victims of the NBA’s re f

robbed of a finals berth and possible title in 2002 So forgive me If

Kings are composed of a lot of send-offs from other rosters, with p

minutes Their star, Demarcus Cousins, is emerging as the player many hoped he’d be out of Kentucky, averaging over 22 and 11 per game If the Kings can continue their play, they could surprise a few teams in the brutal Western Conference Sp e a k i n g o f t h e We s t e r n Conference, the San Antonio Spurs reminded ever yone why they’re the defending champs and favorites by stomping Steph Curry’s upstart Warriors by 13 on the road Same old Spurs Never mind that 2-3 start The Spurs will be a top seed when all is said and done

A team that doesn’t seem to be on track for a top seed in the We s t i s t h e O KC T h u n d e r While absorbing the losses of Ke v i n Du r a n t * a n d * Ru s s e l l Westbrook, the Thunder are only 2-6 on the season And yes, both are coming back But the West is so tough, even with a few good months of the duo back, the Thunder could be scraping to get

d e c e n t

Which means some poor three seed in the West might have to deal with a loaded six or seven

Thunder again? I’ll take that

Just enjoy the Philadelphia 76ers Not so much the basketball they're playing Because it’s atrocious But because they’re an NBA team in name only, with no quality healthy players on their roster now It’s no given they’ll get to ten wins All in the name of getting lottery picks There’s no generational phenom in the draft, it's just kind of general tanking And it’s so unabashed; when the Sixers come to town it’s a bit like a basketball freak show come see the team with no talent! Just enjoy the Sixers, basketball fans

SCOTT CHIUSANO

CORNELL V COLUMBIA

PRINCETON V. YALE HARVARD V PENN

GEORGIA V AUBURN

NEBRASKA V WISCONSIN

SEAHAWKS V CHIEFS

FALCONS V PANTHERS EAGLES V. PACKERS TEXANS V BROWNS

C.U. Closes Out Season Against Lions on Road

By AMIR PATEL Sun Staff Writer

After losing 3-0 to Dartmouth in a disappointing finish to their home campaign, the Red (9-6-1, 2-4 Ivy League) will close out the 2014-15 season on Saturday when it travels to Manhattan to face the Columbia Lions (7-7-1, 2-3-1) With the loss to Dartmouth eliminating the Red from contention for the Ivy League crown, Saturday’s game against Columbia serves as a bookend to a solid season for Cornell, and finishing with a win is a top priority for the squad

The loss to Dartmouth ended the Red’s strong overall home campaign After maintaining a 6-1-0 record going into the final month of the season, the Red lost two straight to Princeton and Dartmouth to put the squad out of contention for the league title They were the Red’s first back-toback losses since it lost to Penn and Harvard to start the Ivy League Season

Cornell certainly had its chances in the match, registering 19 shots to Dartmouth’s 15 However, the difference was Dartmouth’s ability to capitalize on top opportunities when they were presented With goals coming in the 16th, 53rd and 74th minute, the Big Green was able to sustain its attack throughout the match, keeping the Red reeling for 90 minutes

It was a disappointing loss for the seniors, who will be donning their Cornell jerseys for the final time this weekend at Columbia Seven seniors said their goodbyes to Berman Field this past weekend including captains Zach Zagorski, Peter Chodas, Devin Morgan and Conor Goepel, who have

all been instrumental to the Red’s success over their respective careers in Ithaca

“My time as a part of this team has brought great memories, and I want to make sure the younger guys on the team understand that they have a chance to experience the same things, and hopefully have even more success throughout their careers, ” Chodas said

Both Columbia and Cornell are primarily defensively focused as both are inside the Top-three in the league for goals against average The game does not present any real value for either side, however the drive to finish strong is common to both

“We are determined to finish the season positively at

Red Heads to Salt Lake for Nationals

By SCOTT CHIUSANO Sun Sports Editor

For the third straight year, the men ’ s club water polo team has won the New York State Regional Tournament and is headed to Nationals The team will travel to Salt Lake City this weekend to participate in the National Tournament, where it placed 12th last season

“We were slightly unhappy with that outcome and are pushing to break the Top-10 barrier this year, ” said senior Gavin Taves “Given our level of competitiveness, I think we have a good chance of doing so ”

The Red has a long journey ahead of it in order to reach that goal, and senior captain Henry Frye said it all starts with winning the first game against Colorado State With an increased level of competi-

tion at the Tournament which includes some varsity squads Frye acknowledged that the team ’ s preparation has been different

“We have been practicing for the higher level of physicality at the national scale,” Frye said “Every goal will be hard fought and we cannot afford any unforced errors if we expect to perform well ”

For a club team, though, preparation for a tournament at the national level includes business outside of the pool as well

“On top of amping up our training schedule we are simultaneously involved in a huge fundraising effort in an attempt to pay for our travel expenses, ” Taves said

According to Taves, the team ’ s extensive recruiting effort at the beginning of the semester paid off this season and will likely show through at the National

Tournament

“While we usually have a balanced mix of players on the team, we pulled in a large, very talented group of freshmen this year, ” Taves said “This was a fortunate occurrence due to our loss of a few key players last year ” Because there is no varsity program at Cornell, the club water polo team is representing the school at an especially high level, and is recruiting new members every year

“Our entire team is extremely proud to represent Cornell in the regular and postseason, ” Taves said “Attending the National Tournament is of particular importance and we relish the opportunity to perform for the school ”

Scott Chiusano can be reached at

sports-editor@cornellsun com

Bittersweet goodbye | Goalkeeper Zach Zagorski and six other seniors will don their Cornell jerseys for the final time this weekend in a road matchup with Columbia

Columbia, and I certainly want to have my last game be a win,” Chodas said Saturday’s matchup will be the only league game that does not have title implications With Princeton, Dartmouth and Harvard as the only remaining teams with a shot at the crown, all other games will be significant in how the final standings ultimately end up If all goes well, the Red could end the season in fourth place, just behind three of the four teams who gave them losses in Ancient Eight play this season

Amir Patel can be reached at sports@cornellsun com

Winless Ivy Squads Match

Up as Season Winds Down

FOOTBALL

Continued from page 16

through the air Columbia also struggles to generate sacks and force turnovers, ranking near the bottom of the Ivy League in both categories If there was a game for the Red offense to have a field day, this would be it

C o l u m b i a ’ s offense is not much better than their defense, ranking near the bottom of FCS teams in total yardage Columbia has only averaged 8 6 points per game this year, the worst scoring rate in the nation One reason for the Lion’s struggles is their inability to take care of the football The Lions have turned the ball over an astounding 23 times, almost three times a game Last weekend, Columbia turned the ball over a staggering six times

and working hard during the week so that we’ll be ready come Saturday ”

The Red has a golden opportunity here to snag its first win and generate some

“Columbia has a young team and are able to do multiple things on offense, but we’ve been preparing ”

positivity heading into the offseason There have been few teams in the FCS that have struggled as much as Cornell has, and Columbia is one of them There is no reason that an improving Red offense should not be able to move the ball adequately

This all bodes well for a Cornell defense that has struggled as of late, giving up a combined 80 points over the last two weeks The Red is capable of forcing turnovers, ranking No 3 in the Ivy League, and has a great opportunity to do so this weekend Sophomore linebacker Miles Norris, who leads Cornell in tackles and sacks, said he is confident that the team will perform well

“Columbia has a young team and are able to do multiple things on offense,” Norris said “But we ’ ve been preparing

This will be a battle of two evenly matched teams and preparation will likely be the difference, according to Shapiro

“We just have to execute our reps in practice,” he said “If we can go out there and do the same thing on the field then we’ll be in good shape ”

The battle for a first win kicks off this Saturday at 12:30 at Robert K Kraft Field Cornell will close out its season next weekend with a home game against Penn, while Columbia will finish at Brown

Shane Lewis can be reached at sports@cornellsun com

Without Schafer ’86, Red Battles Clarkson at Home

By JOON LEE Sun Staff Writer

Cornell men ’ s hockey coach Mike Schafer ’86 would not stand for another coach accusing one of his players of flopping and embellishing an injury Senior alternate captain and forward Cole Bardreau, who suffered a broken neck just two short years ago after a check from behind, was down on the ice again after being blindsided by a hit against the boards in the team ’ s weekend contest against Quinnipiac

Schafer saw Quinnipiac coach Rand Pecknold raise his arms and gesture towards the officials, seemingly indicating his belief that Bardreau had embellished the impact of the hit His post-game comments did not hesitate to reveal how he felt about Pecknold’s actions

As a result of those comments, the ECAC handed Schafer a one-game suspension, which he will serve during the Red’s (0-3-1, 0-2 ECAC) Friday matchup against Clarkson (3-4-3, 1-0-1 ECAC), the first of two home games this upcoming weekend, which caps off against St Lawrence (6-3-1, 2-0 ECAC) on Saturday

While Schafer said he regrets how he made the comments, he does not take back the message made to Pecknold

“I really don't regret in regards to what I said I don't think there's any place for when players get hurt, there isn't a place for questioning them on the ice surface,” Schafer said “I've been suspended before, more than once, and every time, it's been about the safety of the student athletes with [the] exception of maybe once Doing the right things as coaches and officials and the league to the integrity and respect of the game and I've been outspoken against it and paid for it I don't really care I think to speak up for the

senior alternate captain and forward Cole Bardreau is questionable for this weekend He has 13 shots on goal so far this season

right things ”

The message sent by Schafer in his postgame conference clearly resonated with the team Both Bardreau and senior captain John McCarron appreciated that their coach stood up for his player when their integrity was brought into

Two Ivy Cellar Dwellers Duke It

Out for First Victory of Season

By SHANE LEWIS Sun Staff Writer

Two teams stuck in the cellar of the Ivy League will be fighting to earn their first win of the season when Cornell and Columbia square off this Saturday in New York City Both Cornell (0-8, 0-5 Ivy) falling to Dartmouth 42-7 and Columbia (0-8, 0-5 Ivy) losing to Harvard 45-0 This game will be played mainly for pride, with the loser likely to finish the season winless Cornell’s offense will look to get

back on track after a disappointing s h ow i n g a g a i n s t t h e Gre e n l a s t weekend The offense struggled to find its rhythm and barely surpassed 300 yards of total offense This was especially disappointing after the offense seemed to make

rejuvenate the o

senior co-captain and wide receiver Lucas

Sh

c k to the basics “ It’s

t about throwing in fancy plays or intro-

Sh a p i ro said “It’s all about being brilliant in the basics and executing our ‘layups ’” Shapiro and his fellow receiving corps should be salivating at the opportunity to go up against a Columbia defense that has been horrendous all season Through eight games, the Lions have given up an Ivy League worst 550 yards per game and almost 250 yards

question

“I liked that he stuck up for me and I texted him after and thanked him for doing the media and doing the hand-

D o n’t C o u n t O u t T h e C a v s J u s t Ye t

games

Join me and we’ll see The Cavaliers are going to be really good eventu-

Irving and the best player in the

in Mr James The Cavaliers are going to be special offensively once they click Love and Lebron can do things no other players in the NBA can Together

o f f e n s i ve j u g g e r n a u t It’s only a matter of time before Love throws a 70-foot assist p a s s t h a t L e b ro n s l a m s home with authority And it’s only a matter of time until the Cavaliers become a buzz saw

There’s a new Lebron James And I’m not just talking about the weight he’s lost Now he’s a mentor and a clear leader He’s the o n l y k e y p l a ye r o n h i s Cavaliers team that’s won a

t i t l e , a n d g u i d i n g a n d yelling at young guys like Ky r i e Ir v i n g a n d Di o n Waiters, a role he could n e ve r f u l l y a c c e p t w i t h D w y a n e Wa d e a l re a d y entrenched in Miami No one has a career arc quite l i k e L e Bro n Ja m e s He’s gone from the messiah in Cleveland, to the pariah, and now he’s the prodigal son savior Lebron might create a new archetype of a superstar leaving his native franchise for a short time to hunt rings before eventually re t u r n i n g C e m e n t yo u r legacy as a winner while