INDEPENDENT SINCE 1880
The Corne¬ Daily Sun Vol. 140, No. 56
8 Pages – Free
TUESDAY, MAY 7, 2024 n ITHACA, NEW YORK
Sunset
Arts
Sports
Weather
With this issue, The Sun suspends print publication for the summer. Please visit cornellsun.com periodically until The Sun returns to print in the fall.
Solar Flare
Legacies
Partly Cloudy
Eric Han '25 discusses essential songs to listen to in preparation for Slope Day. | Page 5
The Sun announces its Male and Female Senior Athletes of the Year.
HIGH: 76ºF LOW: 58ºF
| Page 8
IC Student Struck by CUPD Officer By KATE SANDERS and BENJAMIN LEYNSE Sun News Editor and Sun Staff Writer
A Cornell University Police Officer allegedly struck a 19-year-old Ithaca College student while driving while intoxicated, shortly after 1:30 a.m. on Saturday, May 4. The student sustained serious injuries from the incident, which occurred near the 1500 block of Slaterville JULIA NAGEL / SUN SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHER
Festival fun | Cornellians gather for a Slope Day celebration.
Behind-the-Scenes of Slope Day Artist Selection By SHANNON LEE Sun Contributor
This year’s Slope Day lineup features artists with the third most star power in approximately two decades, according to American studies lecturer Corey Ryan Earle’s ’07 ranking of Billboard Hot 100 hits appearances. Crowding on Libe Slope, students will enjoy performances by Flo Rida and A Boogie Wit a Hoodie on Wednesday, May 8. To understand how this star-studded line-up came to be, The Sun interviewed Margot Baker ’25, executive director of the Slope Day Programming Board to get a behind-the-scenes look into the artist selection process. Slope Day is organized by the University in coordination with the SDPB, a student-run organization. Created and funded by the Student Assembly, SDPB plans and organizes performances while the University handles the logistical aspect of Slope Day, including catering and budgeting. Baker explained that this year’s artists were chosen based on two rounds of surveys completed by Cornell students and an assessment of SDPB’s allocated budget. The first survey asked students to rank their preferred music genres and to name desired headliners. Rap, pop and electronic dance music were the most voted for, so students were then asked to rank specific potential artists within those genres in the second survey. In previous years, SDPB only sent one survey asking students to rank artists, but this year, SDPB made the survey process more comprehensive to increase students’ ability to share direct input, according to Baker. SDPB also reviewed logistical and administrative funds — including security measures
and recreational vehicle dressing rooms for performers — before allocating the rest to the talent budget. For Slope Day 2024, the Student Assembly approved a $400,000 budget increase for SDPB, more than doubling the group’s funds from $315,000 to $715,000. The Assembly increased the SDPB budget due to a drastic price increase for talent after COVID-19 which left SDPB struggling to pay artists in high demand. With this increase, SDPB was able to allocate $350,000 of the budget towards talent. After survey results were taken, the artists selection and relations director selected performers to get price estimates from to determine realistic potential Slope Day lineups. As executive director, Baker had the final say in picking which artists SDPB sent offers to. Baker said adding the first survey helped SDPB determine which artists to reach out to for a quote. However, she hopes that more students will respond to the survey in the future so results are more representative of the Cornell population. Although all undergraduate students received both Slope Day surveys, not everyone filled it out. 4,818 students responded to the first survey and 7,302 responded to the second survey, which represents approximately 30 percent and 45 percent of the undergraduate student body, respectively. Still, this is the greatest number of responses the Slope Day Programming Board has received in several years, according to Baker. To continue reading this article, please visit www.cornellsun.com. Shannon Lee can be reached at ssl243@cornell.edu.
BORIS TSANG / SUN FILE PHOTO
Cornell police | Blake Curtis, a CUPD officer, was charged with vehicular assault and a DWI.
Road near Tudor Park, according to a New York State Police statement. The student was medivacked to Guthrie Robert Packer Hospital in Sayre, Pennsylvania. The officer was identified as Blake Curtis in the state police statement. Curtis has been charged with driving while intoxicated — a misdemeanor — and vehicular assault — a class E felony. The state police are conducting an ongoing investigation into the incident, according to the statement. New York State Police was dispatched after Curtis called 9-1-1 “immediately” after the incident. In a statement shared with The Sun, Lindsey Knewstub, deputy director for Cornell Media Relations, confirmed that Curtis is a CUPD officer and said he was off duty when the incident occurred and has been placed on administrative leave.
Kate Sanders can be reached at ksanders@cornellsun.com. Benjamin Leynse can be reached at bleynse@cornellsun.com.
THE CORNELL DAILY SUN GUIDE TO SLOPE DAY 2024 !appy " lope#ay $ve! As per recent tradition, Slope Day will be held the day after classes end to celebrate the end of the academic year. Free Breakfast
Free breakfast sandwiches and fruit will be served in front of Schwartz Center from 7:30 - 10:30 a.m. Wristbands
If you have not already obtained your Slope Day wristband, you must pick one up today with a Cornell ID.
Pick Up Your Wristband Willard Strait Hall Browsing Library: 11 a.m. - 10 p.m.
Music
Flo Rida will open the concert, followed by A Boogie Wit da Hoodie. Weather
Expect rain and warm temperatures.
RPCC: Noon 10 p.m.
History of Encampments at Cornell
Cornell students organized an anti-apartheid shantytown in 1985 By ANUSHKA SHOREWALA and MATTHEW KIVIAT Sun Assistant News Editor and Sun News Editor
From the Willard Straight Hall takeover in 1969 during parents' weekend to the Latino Students’ takeover of Day Hall in 1993, civil disobedience has been an integral part of Cornell’s past. On April 25, the Coalition for Mutual Liberation organized an encampment at Cornell on the Arts Quad with a list of eight demands for the University to consider, joining a nationwide movement of students organiz-
ing pro-Palestine encampment protests. In 1985, students created a “shantytown” encampment to urge the University to invest in companies that conducted business in apartheid South Africa — the government-sanctioned racial segregation and discrimination against nonwhites. Throughout the 1960s, advocates began to call to divest from South Africa to protest against the country’s discriminatory practices. Although the movement began in the 1960s, it did not gain popular attraction until the 1980s, when universities across the country — includ-
ing Columbia University and the University of California, Los Angeles — started to stage protests to advocate for divestment against South Africa. In April of 1985, students at Cornell organized a protest, setting up tents behind Day Hall in support of divestment from companies doing business in South Africa. To continue reading this article, please visit www.cornellsun. Anushka Shorewala can be reached at ashorewala@cornellsun.com. Matthew Kiviat can be reached at mkiviat@cornellsun.com