INDEPENDENT SINCE 1880
The Corne¬ Daily Sun 8 Pages – Free
Vol. 139, No. 28
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2022 n ITHACA, NEW YORK
News
Arts
Sports
Weather
Plan B Vending Machine
‘Our Last Words’
Big Red Apple
Cloudy
Planned Parenthood Generation Action is advocating for a plan B vending machine on campus. | Page 3
Isabella Hackett '26 writes about third-year law student Stanley Michael Kaminsky's new song. | Page 5
Cornell hockey defeated UConn 6-0 in its Frozen Apple game at Madison Square Garden. | Page 8
HIGH: 43º LOW: 30º
English Dept. Welcomes Professor
Chelsea Frazier brings expertise on Black feminism and ecology By CAMDEN WEHRLE Sun Staff Writer
HANNAH ROSENBERG / SUN SENIOR EDITOR
Law Dean's disclosure | Cornell Law School Dean Jens Ohlin announced that the school will not withdraw from the U.S. News and World Report rankings.
Cornell Law School Will Not Withdraw From U.S. News Rankings
By ANGELA BUNAY Sun Managing Editor
Cornell Law School Dean Jens Ohlin released a statement on Wednesday, Nov. 23 addressing the trend of top law schools withdrawing from the U.S. News and World Report rankings. Cornell will not withdraw from the rankings at this time, according to the statement. Cornell Law refrained from issuing a statement when peer institutions began withdrawing
“We should move to a world where all of us — faculty, administrators, students and applicants — focus on academic quality instead of numerical rankings.” Dean Jens Ohlin from the rankings last week. Ohlin said in the statement that while he believes the rankings distort academic decision-making, do not capture the institutional quality and create incentives adverse to the interests of the legal profession, withdrawal from the rankings is not the solution. “Withdrawal from the rankings process will not have the desired impact that many assume that it will have,” Ohlin wrote in his statement. Ohlin cited reasons for the decision to not withdraw in his statement as well. He noted that U.S. News said that it will continue
to rank the law schools, regardless of their withdrawal. Additionally, he mentioned that all law schools are required to report the same data used in the rankings to the American Bar Association, which is publicly made available. “The reality is that [the] U.S. News & World Report is a journalistic enterprise, and they don’t need anyone’s permission, including mine, to publish a ranking,” Ohlin wrote in his statement, “and they have ready access to information from the ABA and other public sources to construct their rankings.” Ohlin said that regardless of whether Cornell Law withdraws from the rankings, he believes a deeper conversation needs to be had on the role of rankings in legal education, professional practice and in higher education overall. “We should move to a world where all of us — faculty, administrators, students and applicants — focus on academic quality instead of numerical rankings that are, at best, a crude proxy for the reality on the ground, and at worst, a fundamental distraction from academic progress,” Ohline wrote. “I pledge myself to this effort.” Last week, Georgetown Law, Stanford Law and Columbia Law — Ohlin’s alma mater — also joined Yale, Harvard and Berkeley in withdrawing from the rankings. The University of Michigan Law School, ranked 10th, announced its withdrawal last week as well. Angela Bunay can be reached at abunay@cornellsun.com.
Prof. Chelsea M. Frazier, Literatures in English, understands the power of a well crafted narrative. As one of the newest faculty members in the Department of Literatures in English, Frazier teaches her undergraduate and graduate students how art and literature show Black women’s conceptions of the world and ecological problems — and provides them with the tools to tell stories of their own. Frazier, who received her Ph.D. in African American Studies from Northwestern University in 2019, is a prolific writer and speaker in her field. Her work centers around the intersection between Black feminist theory and environmental thought. Frazier has authored several papers concerning environmentalism and Black feminism, and has had numerous speaking engagements in recent years. Currently, Frazier serves as an assistant professor in the
Department of Literatures in English and the Feminist, Gender and Sexuality Studies Program. Despite being a newer faculty member, Frazier has already made an impact in the department. “Chelsea is a marvelous addition to our department, bringing intersecting concerns with ecocriticism, feminism and Black studies — and, to top it off, aesthetics, in a wide frame of literature and visual art, involving circulations between global and U.S. settings,” Prof. Andrew Galloway, literatures in English, wrote in a statement to The Sun. “She has hit the ground running with energetic teaching, advising and critical writing, constituting a very welcome new member of a department whose range and depth continue to be among the most impressive in the world.” While looking for employment in academia, Frazier was attracted to a call from Cornell for a professorship in African American literature and culture, citing the department’s strong ties to visual culture, American
studies and creative writing. “I was really drawn to the way that there was so much creative synergy in Cornell’s English department,” Frazier said. “I was also really drawn to the fact that so many of my colleagues had a sustained interest in environmental thought.” Prof. Caroline Levine, literatures in English, served on the committee responsible for hiring Frazier out of a pool of 150 applicants for the position. According to Levine, in recent years the English department has lost several scholars in the field, leading to a gap that the search committee was created to fill. “Professor Frazier has very impressive credentials for both teaching and research,” Levine said. “[Out of the candidates] some people really rise to the top and it’s because their research is very innovative and we know they’ll also be filling an important role in the classroom.” See FRAZIER page 2
Students Gear Up for Finals Period By AIMÉE EICHER Sun Assistant News Editor
As the fall semester comes to a close, students are preparing for the upcoming finals period, facing stress and navigating study resources for the exam-filled week. With classes ending on Dec. 5, the three-day study period allows students to dedicate their time to studying and working on final projects, without the obligation of classes. Finals will begin on Dec. 9 and end on Dec. 17. Students largely expressed feeling overwhelmed about their upcoming final exams, saying that they feel they have little time to prepare before the finals period begins. “I have one [exam] the first Saturday and then also Sunday. It’s very front loaded this year,” said Emily Crites ’25. “ I feel like I’m still catching up, making sure I know all the material the first time around.” Anjali Kulkarni grad echoed this sentiment, though she also appreciated the respite from work that Thanksgiving break provided. “I think it gave me some time to take a step back, regroup and be more mentally prepared for what’s coming,” Kulkarni said, noting the additional stress of her upcoming graduation from her Masters of Engineering program this semester. Kristen Moon ’25 also said she enjoyed taking time off from schoolwork, but she
felt that the University-designated days for Thanksgiving break did not provide enough time for her to travel home. “I did skip the Monday and Tuesday
JULIA NAGEL / SUN PHOTOGRAPHY EDITOR
Study season | As Cornellians return from Thanksgiving break, they are beginning to prepare for final exams and projects. last week, so, with skipping, [the break] was enough, but I feel like if I had gone to classes on Monday and Tuesday, it wouldn’t have been,” Moon said. “I live in Oregon, so if I didn’t skip, there wouldn’t have been enough time to get home.” As they begin to study for final exams, students said that additional office hours were a helpful resource. See FINALS page 3