INDEPENDENT SINCE 1880
The Corne¬ Daily Sun 8 Pages – Free
Vol. 140, No. 1
TUESDAY, AUGUST 22, 2023 ■ ITHACA, NEW YORK
News
Arts
Sports
Weather
Swim Test Guide
Oppenheimer
Last-minute Loss
Cloudy
Each year, Cornellians make a splash at the swim test, which is required for graduation. | Page 3
Eric Han '26 analyzes director Christopher Nolan's decisions within the recently-released "Oppenheimer." | Page 5
Cornell Lacrosse lost in overtime to Michigan in the first round of the NCAA tournament in May. | Page 8
HIGH: 74º LOW: 54º
Yohanes Kidane '23 Missing Cornell Kicks Off 2023-24 Theme By JULIA SENZON Sun News Editor
Yohanes Kidane ’23 has been missing since Monday, Aug. 14 at 7:15 p.m., in San Jose, California within the Bay Area. His last known location was entering a black Toyota Camry with an Uber sticker on 28 N 4th St., San Jose. Yohanes is a 22-year-old Black man described as weighing around 150 pounds and standing at 5 feet 8 inches. He was last seen wearing gray sweatpants, a black hoodie and black shoes. Yohanes’ phone, wallet and backpack were found south of the Golden Gate Bridge near the Welcome Center. His phone location was at the bridge through Monday night. Yohanes recently moved to California in late July to start his career as a software engineer for Netflix. He began the position on Monday, Aug. 7, a week before his disappearance. He graduated with a degree in computer science from the College of Engineering in May and is originally from Rochester. Anybody with information that could be used to help find Yohanes is instructed to contact the San Jose Police Department at 408-277-8900 and can reference case number 23-277-0531. His brother Yosief Kidane ’22 can be reached at 585-4894880 and his mother Hana Beyene can be reached at 585-500-5220. Yohanes’ friends are collecting donations through a GoFundMe page to cover
travel expenses for his family members as they continue the search. According to Yosief, Sara Kidane — the younger sister of Yohanes and Yosief — noticed that Yohanes’ phone location was at the Golden Gate Bridge on Monday night, about an hour away from where he lived in San Jose. When Sara noticed that the location did not change overnight, she called Yosief at approximately 4 or 5 a.m. Tuesday morning to see if he had spoken recently to Yohanes. Yosief had not, so for four or five hours throughout the morning, the family called Yohanes’ friends in the area, but they did not have information on his whereabouts. At around 8:30 a.m., the phone location moved, and a passerby who found Yohanes’ phone and wallet beside the Golden Gate Welcome Center answered a family member’s call. The citizen noticed the Yohanes’ belongings on his commute and was attempting to return them. Yohanes did not show up to work on Tuesday, and police did not find him in his home. By Tuesday evening, the family flew to San Francisco, and by Wednesday morning, Yosief and his parents were spreading posters in the area, exploring the bridge and contacting media, friends and officers. Lucas Achkarian ’23, who called Yohanes one of his closest friends and who has been actively involved in the efforts to locate Yohanes, said that there is still a lot of cloudiness surrounding what occurred.
By SOFIA RUBINSON Sun Managing Editor
This year, the University is following through on its commitment to host freedom of expression events on campus. As of Monday, Aug. 21, Cornell lists five events under the academic year theme of “The Indispensable Condition: Freedom of Expression at Cornell.” “The free exchange of ideas underpins everything we do as a university — educating new generations of global citizens, pursuing novel research and scholar-
ship and advancing the public good,” the University’s event website states. “We encourage Cornellians everywhere to challenge personal beliefs, to consider new ideas and unfamiliar perspectives and to foster discussion around core freedoms for democracy and higher education.” These events uphold the commitment by President Martha Pollack to host free expression-themed events this academic year. On Aug. 15, Pollack joined the Campus Call for Free Expression, a joint effort by 13 universities to model critical inquiry
and civil discourse on their campuses. “Throughout the academic year, Cornell University students, faculty and staff will come together and engage with topics of free expression and academic freedom through scholarly and creative events and activities, including debates among invited speakers who model civil discourse and exhibitions and performances,” the Campus Call website states. To continue reading this article, please visit www.cornellsun.com.
See KIDANE page 4 JULIA NAGEL / SUN PHOTOGRAPHY EDITOR
North Campus Residents Navigate Housing Modifications Approximately 130 students are assigned to rooms with more beds than the intended layout By JULIA SENZON Sun News Editor
When Gabriela Goncalves Vieira ’27 was told on July 13 that she would be placed in a double room converted to hold three students,
rather than the traditional two-person double she had requested, she felt discouraged about her first year of college, knowing that she would have to adapt to an issue that she viewed as preventable.
JULIA NAGEL / SUN PHOTOGRAPHY EDITOR
Home away from home | More than 100 students moving into North Campus this fall faced crowded living conditions in modified room arrangements.
“I cannot grasp the fact that [Cornell administration] did not organize themselves properly or well enough to fit and accommodate everybody in their housing system,” Goncalves Vieira said in an interview with The Sun that occurred prior to Cornell move-in. Goncalves Vieira said that she and the roommate she had originally chosen were worried about having enough space in their dorm room and about having a roommate that they had not previously met. Goncalves Vieira is not the only one impacted by on-campus housing adjustments. Approximately 130 students, mostly first-years, have been assigned rooms with more students than the intended layout — including student lounges converted into rooms, Karen Brown, senior director of campus life marketing and communications, said in an Aug. 4 email statement to The Sun. At the time of the email, Brown said that the number of impacted students
would decrease over the following few weeks as housing adjustments were made. “If, during the course of the academic year, space becomes available, we will ask the third student assigned to the room to relocate into a new assignment,” stated Kristen Loparco, director of Housing and Dining Contracts in a July 13 email obtained by The Sun from affected students. “We will be doing everything possible to reassign your third roommate to an available space prior to move-in.” An adjustment occurred early on for Rishi Shah ’27, who had also been placed in a forced triple, or a room meant for two students converted to a triple. On July 27, Shah was notified that he was switched from the temporary space back to a single, which was his original request. Shah told The Sun that when he was placed in a forced triple, it added “fuel to the fire” after receiving a lower financial aid package than he
expected and waiting over 60 days for a response to his appeal. He also said that the class registration website crashed throughout his pre-enroll process, which meant that many of the courses he planned to register for were full once he had the ability to complete class enrollment. “Obviously Cornell has a pretty bad reputation in terms of mental health, [and] people always attribute a lot of problems to the administration,” Shah said. “And I guess I got to see that firsthand before I even officially became a student or stepped foot on campus. William Rosenthal ’27, who was interviewed by The Sun after movein, said his friend was placed in a lounge space converted into a dorm room, shared with four other individuals. The day after his friend moved in, though, two members of the space were already switched out. To continue reading this article, please visit www.cornellsun.com.