INDEPENDENT SINCE 1880
The Corne¬ Daily Sun Vol. 141, No. 7
TUESDAY, MARCH 26, 2024 n ITHACA, NEW YORK
12 Pages — Free
News
Arts
Sports
Weather
Divestment Debate
A Boogie: Yay or Nay?
Conference Champs
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The S.A. votes to issue a referendum polling the student body about whether Cornell should divest from weapons manufacturers. | Page 3
Eric Han '26 laments the artist's outdatedness, while Sydney Levinton '27 celebrates the apt artist selection.
Men's hockey's win on Saturday broke a 14-year ECAC championship drought, marking Cornell's 13th title in program history.
HIGH: 57º LOW: 42º
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Inside S.A. Member's Plans to Shield Greek Life By SOFIA RUBINSON and KATE SANDERS Sun Senior Reporter and Sun News Editor
Conversations between the president of Cornell’s Interfraternity Council and the embattled ex-president of the Student Assembly reveal plans the two had to bar criticism of Greek life from the S.A. floor and block resolutions pertaining to women’s health and gender issues. Private text messages obtained by The Sun show how the IFC president and influential S.A. member George Rocco DeLorenzo ’24 — who was also running for executive vice president of the Student Assembly at the time — planned on wielding a Greek life “machine” in the Student Assembly to defend the interests of fraternities. The Sun has reviewed a host of texts between DeLorenzo and Pedro Da Silveira ’25 during last year’s campaign cycle in which the pair discussed their vision and goals for the Student Assembly. Da Silveira — who was elected president of the Assembly in May 2023 but was ousted moments after being sworn in due to a Title IX allegation which he was later found not responsible for — said the
two were campaigning together during a period in which DeLorenzo knew about the allegation. On Feb. 20, 2023, Da Silveira confided in DeLorenzo that a former sexual partner was creating a record of accusations against him and asked for advice. DeLorenzo responded by telling Da Silveira to report the accuser's behavior as harassment to the Office of Institutional Equity and Title IX to “get the first mover advantage.” The two continued to message about Da Silveira’s allegation over the next month. In February 2023, DeLorenzo messaged Da Silveira that a “machine greek life sweep” was coming that
would work to prevent changes to the Greek life system from being considered by the Assembly. When asked what the “mandate of the machine” would be for the upcoming year, DeLorenzo wrote: “Probably two rules - 1. Don’t do anything controversial 2. Leave greek life alone.” DeLorenzo seemed to be particularly upset about the S.A.’s Resolution 16: Condemning Greek Life. The resolution — written in the wake of the suspension of all Cornell fraternities over sexual assault and drugging allegations in November 2022 — called fraternities “misogynistic, racist and transphobic institutions that perpetuate sexual assault and harassment.” The day after the resolution was adopted in December 2022, DeLorenzo told Da Silveira that the “SA will definitely look different next semester” and that the resolution was targeted hate speech. DeLorenzo also appeared to take issue with certain women’s health-related resolutions. He told Da Silveira in February 2 0 2 3 that he “just can’t morally support a Plan B vending machine,” referring to a resolution that supported a pilot program to create a vending machine with emergency contraception.
MING DEMERS / SUN SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHER
See DeLORENZO page 5
A Boogie for Slope Day
By MARISA CEFOLA Sun News Editor
The Slope Day Programming Board revealed Saturday that this year’s headliner will be A Boogie Wit da Hoodie, joined by Flo Rida. The announcement comes after the Student Assembly voted to increase the Slope Day budget by $400,000 after last year’s announcement generated mixed reactions from students. SDPB considered students’ feedback and decided to incorporate two surveys in their artist selection process. One survey asked students to suggest genres and artists, while the second asked them to rank potential artists within SDPB’s budget. “We made these changes to amplify the student voice in our selection process,” wrote SDPB Executive Director Margot Baker in an email to The Sun. “Rather than inferring who students would like to see, we wanted their
direct input, which is why, in our first survey, we asked for the genres they would like to see represented at Slope Day in addition to the name of a potential headliner.” Both A Boogie Wit da Hoodie and Flo Rida fell within the top five rankings obtained from the second survey. SDPB also based their decision based on artist availability and costs. The Slope Day budget also accounts for logistical costs, such as staging and emergency service expenses. “There was definitely a lot of public misunderstanding of how the Board and Campus Activities allocated our funds,” Baker wrote. “People generally assume that our entire budget goes toward talent, … but less than half of our budget is allocated to artist selection.” Slope Day will be held on May 8, 2024. Marisa Cefola can be reached at mcefola@cornellsun.com.
MING DEMERS / SUN SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHER
Internal investigation | Kuehl asked the Office of Ethics to investigate himself and other Assembly members connected to IFC or Cornell Dems.
Kuehl Asks Office of Ethics to Investigate Misconduct By KATE SANDERS Sun News Editor
JOSEPH REYES / SUN CONTRIBUTOR
Getting low | Flo Rida and A Boogie Wit da Hoodie will perform during Slope Day on May 8.
Amid extensive political controversy, Student Assembly President Patrick Kuehl ’24 directed the S.A. Office of Ethics to investigate himself and several other Assembly members currently or formerly connected to either the Interfraternity Council or the Cornell Democrats. In a March 22 letter to the editor, Kuehl explained that the investigation was prompted by The Sun’s recent reporting on alliances within the Student Assembly, which seem to implicate current Vice President of Finance George Rocco DeLorenzo ’24, ex-president Pedro Da Silveira ’25 and representative Clyde Lederman ’26 in scheming to utilize the voting power of a Greek life “machine.” Text messages between then-IFC president DeLorenzo, Da Silveira and
Lederman show several agreements to block legislation pertaining to fraternities in exchange for the IFC’s galvanizing political support in both Student Assembly and Common Council elections. In the letter, Kuehl also condemned DeLorenzo’s stances on gender-related policies, as several messages obtained by The Sun demonstrate his efforts to block or mock resolutions about women’s health. The Sun recently reported that DeLorenzo told Da Silveira not to campaign on providing free date rape drug testing kits to fraternities through Cornell Health, explaining that there were “other ways to get the female vote.” To continue reading this article, please visit www.cornellsun.com. Kate Sanders can be reached at ksanders@cornellsun.com.