INDEPENDENT SINCE 1880
The Corne¬ Daily Sun Vol. 140, No. 9
8 Pages – Free
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 2023 n ITHACA, NEW YORK
News
Arts and Culture
Sports
Weather
First-Gen Mentors
Maynard's Story
Strong Start
Partly Cloudy
Cornell S.C. Johnson College kicked off its program aiding first-generation students with extra resources. | Page 3
Rafaela Uzan '25 shares the story of New York Times journalist Joyce Maynard.
Cornell football shines in season opener against Lehigh.
| Page 5
HIGH: 67º LOW: 51º
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Cornell Ranks 12th Best University, Ties Columbia JULIA NAGEL / SUN PHOTOGRAPHY EDITOR
By SOFIA RUBINSON Sun Managing Editor
Cornell University was named the 12th best university nationally, according to the 2024 Best National Universities rankings published Monday, Sept. 18 by the U.S. News and World Report. The University rose five places after being ranked the 17th best university in the nation by last year’s report. As of the last report, Cornell was ranked the best university in New York State after Columbia University fell from No. 2 to No. 18.
Cornell now ties Columbia and the University of Chicago for 12th best, with the two Ivy League universities ranking the best in New York State. The University appears to have benefited from the U.S. News and World Report’s new formula for calculating rankings, which places greater emphasis on graduation rates for students who received need-based Pell grants and retention. The rankings this year also added metrics tied to first-generation college students and to whether recent graduates were earning more than people who had completed only a high school degree. Cornell was also ranked the 20th best value college
— the highest ranking New York school in this category — which takes into account a school’s academic quality and the 2022-2023 net cost of attendance for out-of-state students who receive average levels of need-based financial aid. In more specific categories, Cornell was ranked the best college for veterans, the sixth best undergraduate computer science program, eighth in undergraduate business programs and 10th best in undergraduate engineering programs. Sofia Rubinson can be reached at srubinson@cornellsun.com.
Rally Targets Cornell's New Admissions Advice Released Contribution to Ithaca Cornell aims to admit more students in underserved communities By SOFIA RUBINSON
mentation on a wide range of actions. In terms of recruiting students to apply to the University, the report recommends identifying students who contain the following The University’s Presidential Task Force on attributes and life experiences “that have been identified Undergraduate Admissions released a set of recommenda- as enriching the educational experience in the classroom,” tions to improve Cornell’s admissions process on Sept. 14, according to the report. culminating the efforts of a task force that was convened Academic achievement, and achievement in other areas by President Martha Pollack in November 2022. The Inquiry: intellectual rigor, passion, curiosity, creativity, recommendations include increasing efforts to identify exploration prospective students from underserved communities and Distance traveled: overcoming obstacles or barriers; developing a team to research and implement machine experience working part time; overcoming feelings of isolalearning algorithms into the admissions process in a limited tion or disempowerment, headwinds, invisibility, struggles capacity. Persistence: grit, resilience, “It’s our responsibility, “It’s our responsibility, every few years, perseverance, focus every few years, to look at Community orientation: our admissions processes and to look at our admissions processes and demonstrating kindness, make sure that they’re working make sure that they’re working well.” compassion, teamwork focus, well and they’re achieving our impact, pride in culture or President Martha Pollack goals,” Pollack told The Sun heritage, situational awareness, in May 2023. “And our goals, service, engagement of course, are to admit a class Leadership: influential, that is extremely academically strong, that will thrive here, trend-setter, lights up room that will go out and carry our mission into the world. But Knowledge of and appreciation for Cornell’s unique we are also, of course, interested in diversity of all kinds.” history and mission The report was developed by the 15 members of the The task force also recommended the addition of an task force, composed of faculty with expertise in a range essay question that asks applicants about how they would of disciplines including behavioral research, household advance the University’s core mission and core values. finance, data science, mathematics and income inequality. Specifically, the task force drafted a prompt that asks appliThe task force consulted with experts from the University cants to describe how their life experiences, particularly of Southern California, the University of Florida, the within a community, will enrich Cornell’s “any person” University of Michigan, Harvard University and the ethos. Common App, in addition to Cornell’s admissions officers and financial aid office staff, to generate their findings. See ADMISSIONS page 3 The recommendations encourage immediate imple-
Sun Managing Editor
By SOFIA RUBINSON and GABRIEL MUÑOZ Sun Managing Editor and Sun News Editor
The Ithaca Democratic Socialists of America held a rally and march on Monday, Sept. 18 calling on Cornell to contribute higher payments in lieu of taxes to the City of Ithaca, following an informal agreement reached between Ithaca Mayor Laura Lewis and Cornell President Martha Pollack on Thursday for Cornell to pay $4 million annually to the City. “Only a week after leaving the negotiation tables, Cornell came back with an increased offer — which means our organizing is working,” said Kayla Matos, the Democratic candidate for Ithaca’s 1st Ward, in a speech at the rally. “Cornell needs [to pay more to] the City that we all, including them, call home. We need to see more than the $4 mil-
lion they are currently offering, and we need to see shorter-term contracts. Our city needs to be able to revisit these contracts more frequently and work as partners with Cornell University to uplift our city and support our residents.” Signed in 1995, Cornell has a Memorandum of Understanding with the City of Ithaca to pay $1.6 million annually in PILOT contributions. With this agreement expiring in June 2024, the City and Cornell had four negotiation sessions from April to August to discuss a future MOU. On Sept. 7, Lewis released a statement condemning the University for stalling the negotiation process after offering the City $3.15 million annually. “Despite a good faith effort to negotiate an amount compatible with the City’s needs, Cornell ultimately failed to offer a financial commitment See RALLY page 3