INDEPENDENT SINCE 1880
The Corne¬ Daily Sun Vol. 139 No. 48
8 Pages – Free
TUESDAY, MARCH 28, 2023 n ITHACA, NEW YORK
News
Arts
Sports
Weather
Cinema on Campus
Good as Gold
Season's Goodbyes
Partly Cloudy
Producers Scott Ferguson '82 producer Michael Kantor '83 will visit campus this week. | Page 3
Jackson Feldman '25 reviews Lana Del Rey's new album.
The Red fell to Boston University 2-0 on Saturday and was eliminated from the NCAA tournament. | Page 8
| Page 5
HIGH: 46º LOW: 29º
'161 Things' Spans 24 Hours Competition challenges students to complete iconic list By ISKANDER KHAN Sun Contributor
JULIA NAGEL / SUN PHOTOGRAPHY EDITOR
Campaign wages on | As the Board of Trustees met on Friday, graduate students demanded employment benefits, such as pay for 12 months.
Graduate Students Protest Low Wages By JONATHAN MONG, GABRIELLA PACITTO and GABRIEL MUÑOZ Sun News Editors and Sun Assistant News Editor
Cornell graduate students protested outside the College of Veterinary Medicine building on Friday to demand higher wages and other work benefits, following an announcement that the University would increase stipends for its doctoral students by eight percent. Although this is the largest stipend increase since 2006, it falls short of the cumulative inflation of 45 percent over the same time period. The protest was timed to coincide with a University Board of Trustees event that was occurring inside the building. Jessica Ness grad, a third-year Ph.D. student, voiced that graduate students are advocating for a raise that matches inflation. “In Tompkins County, rents have gone up 12.4 percent in the last three years, and the 8 percent raise is the first significant raise in 17 years. So first and foremost, we want fair
pay,” Ness said. “Also, things that aren’t included in this raise are better access to transportation for graduate students, like bus passes covered by the University — subsidized parking passes would be great. And better access to health insurance like vision and dental included in our packages.” Cornell Graduate Students United coordinated the demonstration that started as multiple marches from various points on campus such as the Arts Quad, Gates Hall and Kennedy Hall. These marches congregated outside of the Veterinary School, chanting slogans such as “Eight percent is not the way, grad workers deserve their pay” and “What do we want? Fair wages! When do we want them? Now!” Protesters carried signs with other slogans, including “12 Months Work = 12 Months Pay,” “More Money, Fewer Problems” and “I’d Rather Bargain Than Beg.” See PROTEST page 3
Outdoor Education
Flirting with a professor, driving up and down Libe Slope and having sex in the stacks were among the daring challenges that over 60 participants faced in the “161athon,” a challenge to complete all the items on The Sun’s “161 Things Every Cornellian Should Do” list, which began at 8 a.m. on Friday and ended at 8 a.m. on Saturday. The competition was established by Cornell Students for Outdoor Unsupervised Playtime — an independent, informal collective that facilitates outdoor adventures. SOUP has organized similar competitions in the past, from scavenger hunts to zombie tag on the Arts Quad and even a 24-hour game of capture the flag. The “161 Things” list, on which the challenge was based, was first compiled by The Sun from a 2005 email survey to students. While the original list was framed as inspiration for Cornellians across their entire time on the Hill, SOUP c h a l lenged students to complete as many of these tasks as possible within a 24-hour period. Hannah Robins ’23, a 161athon organizer, described coming up with the idea after talking to a professor who had never heard of the 161 list. Robins explained
that she is always brainstorming extreme SOUP activities and that the 161athon felt like an exciting but accomplishable event. Robins noted her satisfaction seeing students across campus participating in what started out as just a few students with an idea. But this growth was no accident. Coby Sontag ’24 recalls advertising through various online group chats and social media platforms. “On Sidechat, I would make posts tearing down the idea. So people would upvote it and be like, ‘Oh, what's that?’” Sontag said. Sontag noted that his reach wasn’t only digital — he also promoted the challenge at Saint Patrick’s Day parties, spreading the word to anyone who would listen. Participants were split between 21 different teams, and the competition’s rules instituted a point system that offered bonus ‘synergy points’ for activities done by the entire team. “We wanted to encourage people to do stuff together.” Sontag wrote in a statement to The Sun, explaining the point system. Organizers modified the original list to make it feasible for a 24-hour competition. Organizer Isabel Dawson ’24 described having to decipher between the precise wording and the spirit of items on the original list. For instance, instead of challenge number 23 being to go to AppleFest, which occurs annually in the fall, competitors were challenged to eat an apple on the Commons. See 161 THINGS page 4
JULIA NAGEL / SUN PHOTOGRAPHY EDITOR
Trustees Convene for Meeting
By JULIA SENZON and GABRIELLA PACITTO Sun News Editors
MING DEMERS / SUN ASSISTANT PHOTOGRAPHY EDITOR
A professor teaches class outside on the Arts Quad in order to take advantage of last week's nice weather and spend time out in the sun.
Several committees from Cornell University’s Board of Trustees met from Thursday, March 23 to Friday, March 24 for their annual spring semester meetings in Ithaca. On Thursday, the Committee on University Relations met in the Yale/Princeton Room in The Statler Hotel to discuss the relationship between Cornell University and New York State. Cornell’s Office of State Relations operates out of Albany and represents the University before the
state government and other stakeholders. Charlie Kruzansky, associate vice president of state relations, and Zo Nelson ’04, associate director of state relations, presented to the rest of the committee. Kruzansky first thanked the trustees for their work supporting a positive relationship between the University and both New York State and the State University of New York. According to Kruzansky, Cornell currently has the strongest relationship with the state and SUNY that he has seen in his 32 years of work in the field.
“We have a strong relationship with the state of New York, obviously going back to the founding of the Earth,” Kruzansky said. “We also have this financial and programmatic relationship with SUNY. … So we have these two relationships, both critically important.” Kruzansky explained that the Executive Budget is $800 million greater than expected, this year, because of factors including the state’s receiving federal money due to the COVID-19 pandemic and a revitalized economy bringing in tax revenue. See TRUSTEE page 4