3-28-24 entire issue hi res

MEET THE PLAYING FIELD

ELI FASTIFF & JANE McNALLY Sun Staff Writer and Sun Sports Editor

East Regional: Providence, RI

Headlining the east regional is the tournament favorite and top overall seed Boston College. The Eagles enter the tournament after a 6-2 drubbing of No. 2 overall –– and formidable rival –– Boston University in the Hockey East Championship and have looked nothing short of perfect throughout the season.

Boston College is headlined by its dominant freshman line of Will Smith (fourth overall 2023 draft pick by San Jose), Gabe Perreault (23rd overall 2023 draft pick by New York) and Ryan Leonard (eighth overall 2023 draft pick by Washington), who have combined for 68 goals and 178 points.

The Eagles’ opponent, Michigan Tech, enters the playing field after its CCHA title with the lowest Pairwise ranking (32nd in the nation) and fewest goals scored per game (2.77, 42nd in the nation) of any qualifying team.

The only other ECAC team to qualify is Cornell’s heated conference rival, Quinnipiac, which slots into the east regional despite its loss to St. Lawrence in the ECAC semifinals. The Bobcats will face Big 10 powerhouse Wisconsin, which is led by senior and Big 10 Goaltender of the Year Kyle McClellen, who leads the nation in save percentage and is second in goals against average. McClellen will be tasked with stopping the nation’s fourth-best offense.

Both Quinnipiac and Wisconsin were upset in their conference tournaments and head into the tournament with mediocre recent play. Since Jan. 13, Quinnipiac has losses to Colgate, Cornell, St. Lawrence (twice) and Clarkson, while Wisconsin is 7-7-2 over that stretch.

Eli’s Predictions:

Boston College over Michigan Tech

Wisconsin Over Quinnipiac

Boston College over Wisconsin

Jane’s Predictions:

Boston College over Michigan Tech

Quinnipiac over Wisconsin

Boston College over Quinnipiac

West Regional: Sioux Falls, SD

Boston University, the No. 2 team in the country, is seeking revenge after its Hockey East championship game loss to Boston College. The Terriers boast the third-highest power play percentage in the nation but just the 35th-best penalty kill percentage.

Its opponent, Rochester Institute of Technology, has an opposite split, with the 13th-best power play and fourth best penalty kill. RIT earned a tournament auto-bid by winning the Atlantic Hockey championship and heads to Sioux Falls on a seven-game win streak. Cornell’s regional opponent, Maine, is the only NCAA tournament team that the Tigers have faced.

Minnesota, though defeated in the Big 10 tournament semifinal, slots in as the No. 2 seed in the west regional.

The Mavericks emerged late in the season in the Pairwise, climbing all the way to 11th to secure the at-large bid. After a sour 3-6-1 stretch in the middle of its season, Omaha has gone 12-3-2 since and enters the tournament scorching hot.

Eli’s Predictions:

Boston University over RIT

Omaha over Minnesota

Boston University over Omaha

Jane’s Predictions:

Boston University over RIT

Omaha over Minnesota

Omaha over Boston University

2024 NCAA TOURNAMENT

Northeast Regional: Springfield, MA

Denver may be the one seed, but Massachusetts gets the location advantage. The Minutemen took the last at-large bid to the tournament, squeaking past Colorado College by just .0004 in the RPI — the mathematical tie-breaking factor for NCAA tournament qualification that calculates head-to-head results.

Massachusetts, which Cornell defeated in a shootout on Dec. 29, will look to upend the 2022 national champions that average a nation-leading 4.85 goals per game. Denver’s only weakness may be their defense, which has allowed the fifth most goals nationally. Denver may also be looking ahead to the regional final for revenge, as the Red upset the Pioneers in last year’s tournament.

See pg. 3 of the supplement for the Cornell vs. Maine Preview.

Eli’s Predictions:

Denver over Massachusetts

Cornell over Maine

“I refuse to make this pick.”

Jane’s Predictions:

Denver over Massachusetts

Cornell over Maine

“I am an impartial reporter.”

Midwest Regional: Maryland Heights, MO

The question for this region will be: Can North Dakota or Western Michigan stop a rematch of the Big 10 championship game? Michigan State, the fourth overall team in the NCAA tournament, beat its archrival Michigan 5-4 in overtime to take home the conference title.

Michigan State is a top regional seed because of its seventh-best offense. If there is a Michigan vs. Michigan State regional final, keep an eye on Spartan goaltender Trey Augustine. Augustine was originally a University of Michigan

commit, but decided to follow his Under18 National Development Team head coach Adam Nightingale to Michigan State. That move shifted the balance of power in the conference from Ann Arbor towards East Lansing.

On the other end of the ice, Western Michigan is a solid, well-rounded team but has been streaky throughout the year. The Broncos were upended in the tournament quarterfinals of the NCHC, a conference that accounts for four teams in this year’s national tournament. Mike McMahon, senior writer at College Hockey News, tapped the Broncos as the most likely four seed to upset a one seed in the field.

North Dakota –– the only non-Michigan team at this regional –– has been solid but has shown weaknesses in overtime games. Additionally, the dedicated North Dakota fanbase will likely be hindered by the limited capacity of 2,500, nearly a fifth of the size of its home rink. The Fighting Hawks boast the nation’s eighth-best offense but will face a tough test in a talented, star-studded Michigan team.

The Wolverines counteracted early-season struggles with a strong second-half campaign. Michigan’s roster is loaded with NHL talent, evidenced by the team’s 11 draft picks. Despite its professional power, the Wolverines have displayed a worrying tendency to blow leads late in hockey games, but Michigan will likely be aided by its passionate fanbase, the Children of Yost, which –– like the Lynah Faithful –– always packs the arena.

Eli’s Predictions: Michigan State over Western Michigan Michigan over North Dakota Michigan over Michigan State

Jane’s Predictions: Michigan State over Western Michigan North Dakota over Michigan North Dakota over Michigan State

Schafer Won Five ECAC Titles in 15 Years — It Took Him 14 to Get the Next One

JANE McNALLY Sun Sports Editor

This article was previously published in College Hockey News.

LAKE PLACID, NY — In 1996, Cornell hockey threw its hands in the air in jubilation.

Sticks went flying, as did gloves, as players swarmed its goaltender, Jason Elliott ’98.

It was newly-minted head coach Mike Schafer ’86’s first title in his first year of coaching his alma mater, staring into the bright lights of Herb Brooks Arena in Lake Placid.

Schafer’s first title as Cornell’s head coach was undoubtedly special. The Red did it again in 1997. But little did 35-year-old Schafer know how grueling it is to endure a run to the ECAC title game, much less hoisting the Whiteclaw Cup at the end of it all.

“I was young and foolish back then,” Schafer said. “That was only the first one in the first two years, and I thought, ‘Man, [I] keep getting good recruits and keep going back out [to the championship game]. It’s not that hard.’ And then I hit 2010 [and] it was like, ‘Man … I was foolish, and it’s so hard to get here.’ Things got to go right.”

In 2024, Cornell hockey threw its hands in the air in jubilation.

Sticks went flying, as did gloves, as players swarmed its goaltender, junior Ian Shane.

It was the long-tenured coach’s sixth ECAC Tournament championship in his 29th year of coaching his alma mater, staring into the bright lights of Herb Brooks Arena in Lake Placid. But after also winning in 2003 and 2005, this was the first — as a coach — since 2010. It was also Cornell’s 13th ECAC tournament title as a program, the most of any ECAC team.

“I’m on the back nine here,” Schafer said. “And I look at tonight [and] there’s a comfort. … The only people that are going to really, truly believe in us all –– at all times –– will be in the locker room. The belief within the locker never, ever wavered once throughout the course of the year.”

This season has been tumultuous for Schafer’s young squad, just as Schafer’s tenure has been. The blips along the road to Cornell’s 13th Whitelaw Cup — which it clinched on Saturday after a 3-1 defeat of St. Lawrence — are emblematic of bumps along the long road of Schafer’s career.

Cornell’s early defeat of Boston University at Madison Square Garden on Nov. 25 perhaps mirrors Schafer’s first ECAC title in 1996, a season that didn’t start so well before the Red made a huge second-half run and nearly won an NCAA tournament game against then-mighty Laker Superior State.

Cornell’s crushing loss to Union on March 1 at Lynah Rink perhaps

symbolizes the COVID-19 pandemic shutting down then-No. 1 Cornell’s history-making team that was poised to beat everyone in its path, in 2020.

It’s taken 27 years to get another at Lake Placid, and 14 years to get another ECAC championship, and Schafer has learned some things.

“My first couple years [were] a blur. I mean, [I had] three young kids, and I don’t even think I got a chance to celebrate with them,” Schafer said. “To be here and be with a family — with my wife — and be able to celebrate, actually celebrate, … I enjoyed it.”

The world has in turn learned much about Schafer over the years.

“The announcer [in 1997] called me Ric Schafer. [I was] long ways away from establishing a career here,” Schafer said.

The hockey world has also learned much about the 2023-24 Cornell squad, which will now contend for a national championship after an at-large tournament bid was out of the cards. The hockey world saw freshman Jonathan Castagna pot two goals on the biggest of stages, including the game-winner.

“A true freshman — how many times do you see that nowadays in college hockey, an ’05 walk in and contribute?” Schafer said.

St. Lawrence made a push in the final 20 minutes and halved the game, 2-1, but Shane stood tall down the stretch to deter all the Saints threw

his way. The hockey world is still learning about Shane, whose goals against average has led the country nearly all season but who still fights for national recognition. The 2024 ECAC Goaltender of the Year batted away 31 pucks on Saturday night to clinch the title, a mere few days after being omitted from the Mike Richter Award top-three.

“[I don’t know] how he doesn’t get to be one of the top-three goaltenders in the country for the Mike Richter [Award]. I just don’t think that people have enough respect for him,” Schafer said. “And I don’t think he really cares, and he keeps plugging away. He’s been there for us all year. He was there again tonight and made big saves.”

Junior forward Jack O’Leary

notched the empty-netter for Cornell to seal the game, and as the final buzzer sounded, Schafer embraced his staff, and they stayed just like that for a long moment.

The little things are far more noticeable after 29 years of coaching, and far more precious.

“I really enjoyed watch[ing] [junior defenseman] Michael Suda say a little prayer at the end of the game at center ice — really special,” Schafer said.

Next, Schafer’s rag-tag group will skate on to the NCAA Tournament, where it will face Maine in the regional semifinal in Springfield, MA.

“We’ve got to catch our breath. It’s a little bit of a sprint here, … but we’ll be ready. It’ll take a little bit, but it’ll be fun,” Schafer said.

Six is sweet | Saturday's win marked the sixth ECAC title under Schafer.

ANTHONY CORRALES / SUN STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

The Corne¬ Daily Sun

Glee Club Members Say Director Abuses Power

By MATTHEW KIVIAT and BEN LEYNSE Sun News Editor and Sun Contributor

“They turned the Glee Club into a culture of fear,” Brian Rappaport M.Eng. ’23, a former member, said of Glee Club Director Prof. Joe Lerangís, music.

Rappaport is one of eight current and former Glee Club singers The Sun interviewed in recent weeks who expressed overwhelming disapproval of the leadership of Lerangís, the club’s director since 2022.

Together, the members said Lerangís, who is untenured, has consistently displayed a lack of care for student wellbeing, created a toxic work culture and established an arbitrary grading system.

Founded in 1868, the Glee Club is one of Cornell’s oldest student organizations and has a storied history. The organization has long served as an emblem of Cornell’s bustling student life, performing at University events, including commencement and convocation ceremonies, and concerts across the world.

But, according to students, Lerangís is reversing that positive legacy.

“[Lerangís is] starting to really have deleterious effects on what the future [of the Glee Club] is,” Glee Club President Jason Gordon ’24 said, “especially because this is the second year in a row that we’ve had half the group drop from the start toward the end of the year.”

Gordon noted that last year, the club started with 44 members and ended with just 22. This year, the starting number was 48. Now, membership has dropped to around 30.

Students in the Glee Club shared with The Sun a laundry list of grievances about Lerangís’ leadership style, often citing an indifference toward members’ welfare.

One former member of the Glee Club — who is a junior

and spoke on the condition of anonymity out of fear of retribution — said Lerangís often requires students to participate when sick.

The former member, who left the Glee Club this semester, said that Lerangís has forced sick students to show up to lengthy rehearsals. The practice is so common that members

PRES. MARTHA POLLACK, PROVOST MICHAEL KOTLIKOFF: CML’s Disruptive Protests Go Too Far

In light of ongoing protests by the Coalition of Mutual Liberation — a group that has stated its intention to repeatedly disrupt the activities of the University — The Cornell Daily Sun has published several letters from our faculty colleagues that support the rights of these students, staff and faculty to violate expressive activity policies at Cornell, both the Interim Expressive Activity Policy and pre-existing policies, particularly rules preventing the disruption of classroom teaching, studying in the library and other university activities. While we understand and respect the passion underlying this support, and deeply respect the faculty who have written, we feel compelled to publicly express a different position. By calling for the administration of Cornell to ignore disruptive protests and disregard enforcement of rules that govern expressive conduct, our colleagues neglect our collective responsibility to protect the rights of all community members to teach and learn in a non-disruptive environment. Protecting these rights is not just required by federal law: It is also our obligation, consistent with our core values, to foster a community that

is welcoming and caring, “where students, faculty and staff with different perspectives, abilities, and experiences can learn, innovate, and work in an environment of respect.” Disruptive protests by some trample on the rights of others to enjoy that environment of respectful learning and work.

We can and should have a robust campus discussion about what “disruptive” means: how much is tolerated in support of free expression and where the line is drawn. But the notion that some protestors can violate the rights of others because they “have disrupted business as usual to protest the University’s conduct amid the horrifying, ongoing assault on Palestinian populations,” or because “… the purpose of protest is precisely to disrupt” and “a non-disruptive protest is no protest at all,” is one that privileges some in our community with more rights than others. We would ask our colleagues: If the rules governing expressive activity are not content-neutral, who makes the decision about which causes are sufficient to accept disruption of the rights of others? And in all cases, how much

infringement on the rights of others is acceptable? As a scholar, a teacher, an activist and a father, I strive to uphold the values of human dignity, peace and justice. I want to make it clear that I unequivocally oppose and denounce racism, anti-semitism, Islamophobia, militarism, fundamentalism and all systems that dehumanize, divide and oppress people. If we are to foster a community of belonging, we need to respect and balance everyone’s rights. That is not always easy, and it does not mean that disruptive protests should be met with sanctions that are so severe that they chill free expression by subjecting protestors to draconian punishments. But it does mean that actions that infringe on the rights of others must have consequences. We have stated and are moving forward with our plan to convene a group of faculty, staff and students that includes members of our shared governance bodies, to consider how we can continue to evolve thoughtful principles of conduct that value and respect the rights of our community to freely and vigorously express their views, while also establishing the points at which that expressive activity infringes on the rights of others.

See PROF RICKFORD’S RESPONSE page 6

refer to the area where ill members are relegated to as “the sick bay.”

“People who are sick [go to the] sick bay, and the sick bay is just sitting in the pews in Sage Chapel, away from everyone else,” the former member said. “[People who are sick] are still expected to show up with a mask, looking at the music for the two and a half hours that everyone else is singing.”

Lerangís told The Sun that attendance for dress rehearsals and concerts is mandatory and requires extreme circumstances to warrant excusal.

One of the many grievances students shared is how Lerangís has built what they described as a toxic, intimidating work environment. Students said they were fearful of speaking out and having to talk to the professor one-on-one.

Another former member who quit the group this semester spoke to The Sun on the condition of anonymity, fearing retaliation. The ex-member, whom Lerangís reportedly called “disruptive,” detailed how they believed they received a C+ in the class because they frequently voiced their complaints about the director’s uncompromising approach during rehearsals.

Fearful of meeting with the director alone, the former member brought Glee Club Advocacy Chair PJ Brown ’25 with him when he took his complaints to Lerangís.

“I never felt comfortable speaking with [Lerangís] because they like to play into this power dynamic where they need to feel they are above the student, [so] I brought the advocacy chair with me,” the former member said. “[Brown] made me more comfortable, because I was afraid to talk to Lerangís alone.”

When the former member showed up with Brown to Lerangís’ office, Lerangís refused to meet with the two together, citing the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act — a law that protects the privacy of student education records. Lerangís continued to refuse to meet the two, despite the former member’s consenting to share grade information and expressing a fear of speaking alone to them.

“[Glee Club] used to mean a wonderful, inclusive, warm environment,” the former member said, “not one that’s hostile and exhausting to be a part of.”

To continue reading this story, please visit www.cornellsun.com.

Matthew Kiviat and Benjamin Leynse can be reached at mkiviat@cornellsun.com and bcl68@cornellsun.com.

COURTESY OF CORNELL UNIVERSITY AND THE CORNELL GLEE CLUB

Choral controversy | Glee Club members and alumni raised concerns about Lerangís’ leadership of the historic organization.

Ithaca Organizations Plan for Solar Eclipse Festivities

By DALTON MULLINS and JONATHAN BRAND Sun Senior Writers

For the first time since 1925, the Cornell and Ithaca communities eagerly await a near-total solar eclipse that will take place on April 8. Many local organizations both on and off campus have been preparing for this celestial spectacle through different activities and events.

The total solar eclipse path crosses through New York every 100 years, making it partially visible, but not total, to the Cornellian and Ithacan community. The last time this exact path of totality occurred was nearly 400 years ago, making this year’s event exceptionally rare.

Prof. James Lloyd, astronomy, explained that Ithaca’s close proximity to the line of totality means that the sun will be almost completely obstructed by the moon.

“The coverage is about 99 percent,” Lloyd said. “In Ithaca, we were very close to what’s called the centerline of the eclipse, where there is complete totality. As you get closer to where there’s actually totality, it gets close to 100 percent. If you’re a little bit further north, it’ll be a little bit more common, if you’re further south, it’ll be a little bit less covered because the track is to the north of us.”

Because the sun in Ithaca will be nearly fully obscured by the moon, the New York Department of Conservation advised citizens not to view the eclipse without proper solar viewing glasses.

Those staying in Ithaca during the eclipse and days leading up to it can not only view the

eclipse with the prescribed precautions but also participate in local eclipse-related programming.

The Ithaca Sciencecenter is hosting a weekend of special programming for all ages from April 6 to April 7 to celebrate the eclipse. In partnership with the NISE Network, the Sciencecenter has developed hands-on activities for visitors to enjoy.

“We’ll have activities throughout the weekend,” said Ali Jackson, the director of programs and partnerships at the Sciencecenter. “One includes making a model of a solar eclipse using an earth ball and a moon, with a flashlight so that you can recreate the shadow that will traverse across the U.S. Another activity we will have out is something called ‘Bear Shadow’ for younger audiences. Together we read a storybook about a bear chasing his shadow, and then the kids can experiment with shadows using flashlights and objects.”

“It’s this wonderful phenomenon that people can experience with their loved ones [and] with their community,” Jackson said. “It’s a cool, real event that everyone can participate in.”

The Cayuga Museum of History and Art and Case Research Laboratory also has a full roster of events planned for the eclipse, including a 1920s-themed fundraiser on April 6 and an eclipse viewing party on April 8 on the roof of the Phoenix Building in Auburn, NY.

Geoffrey Starks, director of development and outreach of the Cayuga Museum and the Case Research Laboratory, explained the historical significance of the 1920s-themed fundraiser.

“The last time that a solar eclipse came over [Ithaca] in 1925, the Case Research Lab was

actually involved in recording that eclipse using some of their new sound film technology,” Starks said. “That evening [on April 6], we will have a 1920s-themed party here in the museum — that is a ticketed fundraising event — there’ll be a best-dressed competition, so make sure everybody is coming out in costume for that.”

On the day of the eclipse, the Cayuga Museum will host a now sold-out viewing party that will take place next to where researchers from the Case Research Laboratory recorded the eclipse in 1925.

Starks said that the Cayuga Museum’s programming for the eclipse aims to bring the community together over the deep relationship between art and science.

“Our mission is to really represent the interconnection between history, art and science,” Starks said. “We find that this is a perfect opportunity for people to recognize that connection and make their own connections to the history of the county and artwork and science”

Some local events leading up to the eclipse have already begun.

On March 25, the Tompkins County Public Library hosted a Native American storytelling event called “Raven Steals the Sun: Native American Stories.” The interactive and engaging program shined light on the many traditions and customs held by local Native American tribes regarding the solar eclipse.

Storyteller Perry Ground ‘91, a member of the Turtle Clan of Onondaga Nation, explained how an eclipse caused the once divided Native American tribes of New York to join together and form the Haudenosaunee confederacy, which still

stands today.

“The peacemaker is the man who joined us together about 1,000 years ago,” Ground said. “In the story, we talked about how the then-rival tribes gave him different tests to ensure that his peace-urging words were true and that he was truly bringing a message from the Creator to us. They wanted a signal for him to establish his credibility, and he told them to look to the sky. He said that they would see a signal in the sky. When he came to them later to impart his message of peace, the sun disappeared and there was an eclipse.”

Ground emphasized the importance of recognizing the eclipse as a human experience in addition to a scientific experience.

While many Ithaca organizations offer eclipse-related activities, Ithaca will not experience a total solar eclipse. The Astronomical Society at Cornell has chartered three buses that will take more than 400 undergraduate students to Rochester to witness the total solar eclipse. Lloyd encouraged interested students to travel to nearby locations that will experience totality.

“It’s really a completely different experience when you’re in totality,” Lloyd said. “If you travel to Geneva, Syracuse or somewhere nearby, it will basically turn into night for a couple of minutes, and you will be able to see the corona of the sun around the edge of the moon.”

Inside Dragon Day’s History and Transformation

By ANUSHKA SHOREWALA Sun Assistant News Editor

Dragon Day is a cherished tradition at Cornell University that students say fosters a sense of creativity, camaraderie and community. Every year on the day before spring break, first-year architecture students parade a dragon they built across campus, which battles a phoenix built by students in the College of Engineering.

The creation of Dragon Day is credited to Willard Dickerman Straight ’01, namesake of the Willard Straight Hall Student Union. Although the year of the first Dragon Day’s celebration is unknown, there is evidence that it started as early as 1902. As an architecture student, Straight wanted to create an event where architecture students could come together and enjoy building something amid their challenging course load.

“Straight was a senior architecture student at the time and was involved in various student leadership roles, and the story is that he just wanted to organize a celebration to bring together architecture students,” wrote Prof. Corey Earle ’07, American studies, in an email to The Sun.

Earle explained that initially, the day wasn’t wasn’t known as “Dragon Day.”

“The architects were calling their creation a dragon at least by the 1920s, but the name ‘Dragon Day’ doesn’t seem to become common usage until the 1980s,” Earle wrote. “That said, many aspects of the tradition [were] pretty solidified by the 1960s.”

Straight originally began Dragon Day as a St. Patrick’s Day celebration, with the event coinciding with the holiday.

“Details are a little murky on the origin, but the generally accepted story is that Willard Straight, Class of 1901, organized a St. Patrick’s Day-themed event for architecture students, which included a large snake to commemorate St. Patrick’s driving the snakes out of Ireland,” Earle wrote. “There’s evidence as early as 1905 of architects and engineers decorating campus with orange and green in honor of [St. Patrick’s day].”

In 2013, after spring break was moved later into the semester, the date for Dragon Day was moved to the day before the start of break. Earle explained that this change separated the festival from St. Patrick’s Day.

Since its inception, Dragon Day has been characterized by ruckus, chaos and disorderly conduct, Earle explained.

“The event has been somewhat chaotic since the start, with some early iterations devolving into fierce snowball fights between architects and engineers,” Earle wrote. “The sense of chaos was embraced by organizers by the 1970s and 1980s, [when] a tradition of pranks and vandalism became somewhat more common, with green paint decorating campus landmarks.”

In response to this chaos, the University at one point decided to cancel the event altogether.

“In 1990, the Department of Architecture officially canceled the event due to ‘danger and cost,’ but it returned as a somewhat more organized and regulated holiday,” wrote Earle.

“In 1990, the Department of Architecture officially canceled the event due to ‘danger and cost,’ but it returned as a somewhat more organized and regulated holiday.”

Prof. Corey Earle ’07

Despite its disorganized past, Dragon Day has always been a day when students come together to celebrate in a creative way.

A Sun article published in 1985 describes the collective spirit of the architecture students in preparation of Dragon Day, a time when students came together to share their creativity and camaraderie.

“Running on adrenaline and coffee, the human powered, freshman architect class’s dragon lurched forward on the Friday after St. Patrick’s Day Dragon Day. The structure’s debut was the climax of a week of intense preparation and notorious all-nighters at Rand Hall,”

the article states. “As soon as the green light for dragon construction was given, the class abandoned their current studio projects to plunge into the College of Architecture, Art, and Planning’s traditional dragon-making.”

Current students in the College of Architecture continue to echo similar sentiments shared by students over 100 years ago.

Victoria Zhao ’28, a first year architecture student, explained that the collaborative spirit that Straight hoped to foster during Dragon Day is still present.

“[Dragon Day] encourages a lot of collaboration through architects. In architecture classes we mostly do architecture stuff. It’s really fun to venture into something different,” Zhao said. “You get to make this cool dragon with your peers. It’s really interesting to collaborate on a design with your peers.”

Jason Hwang ’28, another first year architecture student, explained that Dragon Day has given his classmates and him a chance to have fun and escape their tedious studies.

“I’m really having fun — making posters, advertising it, designing the dragon,” Hwang said. “Architecture has a really rigorous schedule — there is a lot to do and not a lot of time. [Dragon Day] really takes you out of the studio culture.”

Dalton Mullins and Jonathan Brand can be reached at dmullins@cornellsun.com and jbrand@cornellsun.com

Anushka Shorewala can be reached at ashorewala@cornellsun.com.

Dragon Day | Students in the College of Architecture parade their dragon around campus at the annual Dragon Day festival.

ANTHONY CORRALES / SUN STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

&

Paragon Just Wants to Rock!

By Eric Han Sun Arts Editor

I was in Atlantic City for a weekend with Kyle Wolf ’25. It was there, in the Bally’s hotel somewhere above the casinos, that I asked if he wanted to make some music. We both brought MIDI keyboards when we met at his car before the trip, pointing at each other like that Spider-Man meme.

He hadn’t made afrobeats before, but I was curious about his limits. We listened to Tyla’s “Water” for reference, and Kyle replicated the drums. I envied that he could do it without any serious effort — it was just a matter of listening to the first 30 seconds of the song and tapping the pattern on the piano. But he couldn’t let the song contain him; he let go of the reference and it became some sort of jazz fusion. I watched him make three more songs that are still in the vault.

The Kyle Matthews Band

That story happens to sound a lot like one that Kyle told me about meeting Matthew Baum ’25, who would become the other founding member of Paragon. In the fall of last year, Matt had seen Kyle play drums for After Six, the reigning champions of Big Red Icon’s Battle of the Bands. He recalls: “When I saw After Six, I didn’t even know what the band was. But when Kyle played, I heard something that I thought was special. I watched him the entire time.” He went straight to After Six’s Instagram to find Kyle.

Kyle rejected Matt’s follow request. “I didn’t know he went to Cornell,” Kyle says. “I

sync with my guitar. It pumped the air in an insane way in the room. You could just feel it.”

Kyle remembers this moment: “We came in, I set up the drum set, and he started the opening riff. The great thing about working with Matt is that he has all of these great ideas and a lot of my job is just trying to make something workable. A lot of the fun was, he would have an idea in mind but didn’t know how to say it in drum terms so I would have to translate his ideas. Our first session together, we made like two songs. There was an immediate musical connection there.”

Kyle recounts that Matt had asked him, after Thanksgiving break, if he had heard of the Battle of the Bands. “I said, ‘Yeah, I won it last year.’” They agreed to enter the competition together, despite Kyle already being set to play drums again for After Six. He planned to play for both groups, but didn’t think much of what they called the Kyle Matthews Band. They lacked a vocalist and bassist. “We were good, but we weren’t a band at that point.”

The First Attempt

Kyle was surprised that their two-man group was given a spot at the Battle of the Bands. One problem: Kyle broke his collarbone skiing over February break. “I thought, ‘Oh my god, how am I supposed to perform?’” The new plan was to sit out of that year’s After Six performance but continue the Kyle Matthews band on keys. They enlisted two postdocs to play drums and

thought he was just some random music guy.” But he still followed him: “The music was good,” he admits. It took a couple of weeks for Kyle to notice that Matt had sent him a message asking to play together. He agreed, and it was in the Hans Bethe House music room that they realized what they could accomplish.

“When I was playing with him,” Matt says of Kyle, “there was this weird thing in the air: the way that his kick drum hit in

bass: Shuming Zhang and Ben Grodner, respectively. To complete the puzzle, Matt invited a vocalist, Amara Lin, to fly in from San Francisco for the Battle of the Bands performance.

Kyle suggested the name Paragon, meaning a bastion of excellence. They played as a group of five for the Battle of the Bands and took third place that year. That won them a gig at Slope Fest, which was the band’s main ambition at the time.

Paragon, As We Know It

Kyle’s promotion for Paragon had strained his relationship with After Six. They parted ways at the end of the summer, and Kyle found himself musically stranded. He had been with After Six for two years, and they won the Battle of the Bands both of those times. Paragon, which now had his full attention, was largely untested and still in its infancy. He and Matt were now the only remaining members on campus.

When they booked an o-week gig on a Catherine Street porch, Kyle and Matt expected to borrow equipment from the Bethe House that they used before. They discovered that half of it wasn’t there.

“We ended up using my electric drum kit to do a sort of karaoke performance,” Kyle says. That oversight would go on to redefine Paragon as a karaoke band for Greek Life. It was at Chi Psi that they met Sofia Egol ’26, and later, Lucas Mitchell ’27.

“I don’t really know how I ended up in this band,” Sofia says. “But I’m so happy that I did.” A friend at Chi Psi had asked her if she would be interested in singing for Paragon at a gig. “I just started texting with them and we met for the first time at Chi Psi. It kind of just started and we started doing those gigs a few times.”

While Kyle and I were in Atlantic City, Paragon had a performance booked again at Chi Psi. To replace Kyle, a fraternity member recommended a different drummer and a bassist named Lucas. “It might actually do more harm than good,” Matt thought. But then Lucas played. “Ok, we found a bassist.”

At this point, Kyle had already enlisted bassist Genu Lee ‘24 and guitarist Ben Lorence ‘24, his brothers in the Kappa Sigma fraternity. Kyle became convinced that Genu needn’t be redundant — he would still be a valuable member as an acoustic guitarist, switching off with Ben on rhythm guitar. They also had help from Francis Bahk ‘25, who Matt overheard playing piano in the Bethe practice room: “He was doing the most insane piece I had ever heard in my life.” Matt went, at first, to kick Francis out for practice. They ended up playing together, and at a later date, Matt would ask him to join the band. Together, these seven undergrads make up Paragon as we know it today.

The Battle of the Bands Paragon had about a month to prepare as a full group. The rehearsal was hectic: Kyle says, “Matt and I have always worked in small groups. Last year, there

were four people besides Amara at the end. This time it was seven people and we were all starting from scratch. It was kind of a lot, we felt the pressure a little bit.”

They rehearsed in Kappa Sigma’s colloquially named “rave room.” That room hap -

him get into the zone — as with the rest of the band.

There’s no flash. It’s a barebones set, with the minimum that they need to make music. An electric drum kit sits awkwardly beside the acoustic one; Kyle insists that “Sweeparoni” requires it. When Sofia enters

pens to be only a few doors down from my own — for a month, I would have to study through the aggressive rock music blasting out of their amps. For their final rehearsal, one day before the final performance, I asked to sit in.

The first thing that went wrong: “Don’t mind the mask,” Sofia told me. “I have the flu.” She had been feeling under the weather for about a week leading up to the event. They didn’t think anything of it, at first, but soon realized that she would still be sick on the day of the competition.

But they were committed to making the best of the situation. Sofia stood from a distance while they played, taking frequent breaks to preserve her voice. There was a hurriedness to their process that didn’t appear to come from nerves — they seemed more interested in efficiency. Kyle and Matt would argue, occasionally, over which songs needed more of their time. They communicated through music, playing parts of the songs to each other that clearly needed to be refined. At one point, Kyle walked over to the keyboard to suggest vocal ideas — he would play the chords and ask Sofia to try different vocal runs. It was crunch time, but they were focused on getting it right.

It was like Matt said: There was something in the air, something about the way that Kyle’s drums filled the space. We all felt it, and they all played to emphasize his hits. This is the air that overtook Bailey Hall the following night.

You could see him come in and out of consciousness: back and forth between blank expression and absolute glee. He kicks off the set with “Sweeparoni,” a Paragon original, in that state of bliss. But you can see, and hear,

for their cover of “You Oughta Know” by Alanis Morissette, she introduces the band concisely: “We’re Paragon. Let’s get loud.”

Matt’s solo on “You Oughta Know” floods the room with anticipation. He plays with a meticulous, but still lively, precision. You instantly recognize the dynamic: Kyle’s drums appear to bounce off of him. They play together as if in conversation. Matt does it again in the band’s Wild West interlude, a showcase of technical ability and dedicated practice. It’s in their final cover, “Everybody Wants to Rule the World” by Tears for Fears, that Francis and Ben prove essential to Paragon’s depth of sound.

They end the set with an original, “Harm,” a track seemingly built around the personality of Matt’s guitar. It sees Lucas and Genu find their pocket amidst the aggression of his riffs. And Sofia belts in the exact way that Kyle defines Paragon’s sound: “pop, with a kind of rock element.” Her voice evokes Paragon’s identity.

“We walked off and I said, ‘Jolly good show,’” Matt recounts. “Like Pops from Regular Show. Because that’s what it was, a good show.” Paragon is built, foremost, on a foundation of musical enthusiasm and mutual awe for each other’s talent. The Battle of the Bands has always been their way of sharing their potential, in its most authentic form, with new audiences. They had little to say about how they thought they did in the competition. All that was important to them, I think, was what Sophia tells me: “We rocked it.”

Eric Han is a sophomore in the College of Arts and Sciences. He can be reached at ehan@cornellsun.com.

The Corne¬ Daily Sun

Independent Since 1880

142nd Editorial Board

GABRIEL LEVIN ’26 Editor in Chief

MAX FATTAL ’25

Editor

HENRY SCHECHTER ’26

MARIAN CABALLO ’26

ERIC HAN ’26

& Culture Editor

SYDNEY LEVINTON ’27 Arts & Culture Editor

DANIELA ROJAS ’25

JADE DUBUCHE ’27

NINA DAVIS ’26

Editor

ISABELLE JUNG ’26

Editor

JOLIN LI ’27

Editor

PARIS CHAKRAVARTY ’27

CYNTHIA

Editor

JULIA SENZON ’26 Managing Editor

ERIC REILLY ’25

Managing Editor

MARISA CEFOLA ’26

Editor

MATTHEW KIVIAT ’27

Editor

CHRISTINA MacCORKLE ’26

Editor

KATE SANDERS ’27

Editor

JANE McNALLY ’26

Editor

KAITLIN CHUNG ’26

Editor

LAINE HAVENS ’25

Editor

ANUSHKA SHOREWALA ’26

News Editor

DINA SHLUFMAN ’27

News Editor

HAMNA WASEEM ’27 Assistant Sports Editor

ALLISON HECHT ’26 Newsletter Editor

Response to Pollack and Kotlikof

In claiming that pro-peace demonstrators have gone too far, President Pollack and Provost Kotlikoff present the Interim Policy on Expressive Activity as an attempt to protect the rights of students to study in peace, rather than what it actually is: the most restrictive clampdown on protest ever imposed by a Cornell administration.

Cornell’s own policies say that genocide is cause for divestment, yet President Pollack refuses to call for a trustee vote or even discuss the matter. The activists have simply demanded that the institution fulfill its own stated values. They call for the substance of principle rather than the cynical minutia of procedure.

Cornell’s newfound anxiety about “expressive action” coincides with a crackdown on dissent by universities across the nation in a terrified response to threats from wealthy donors, the Israel lobby, the press and Congressional investigators, whose chief tactic is to repeatedly and falsely equate criticism of Israel with anti-semitism. Cornell is at this moment being interrogated by the House Ways and Means Committee, which has the power to rescind its tax-exempt status, demanding that the administration explain how it is punishing antisemitism. The McCarthyite assault from the establishment and the right extends to diversity, equity and inclusion, which one Congressperson has described as “a cancer that resides in the hearts of American academic institutions.”

It’s time to stop pretending that the “Interim Policy” is about anything other than criminalizing solidarity with Palestine. We are not having this debate because student activists disrupted study. We are having this debate because the ruling class has initiated a wave of repression. What is the end game of allowing outside forces — hostile to the best principles of critical thinking and enlightened learning — to dictate the mission of the University? Ultimately, kowtowing to elite special interests is a suicide mission for modern higher education.

This week the official tally of the deaths in Gaza – a clear undercount – approaches 32,000, which almost equals the entire population of Ithaca (32,870). People of conscience continue to speak out, to witness, to grieve and to build a nonviolent movement for peace and justice. Campus elites — like their peers in the U.S. political and financial establishment —are mobilizing all their sociopolitical/legal firepower against a handful of deeply principled students and staff. The latter are armed only with human compassion, love, solidarity and courage. History will vindicate those intrepid souls — operating outside the echo chambers of American plutocracy —who stood up and said “enough.”

— Prof. Russell Rickford, history Prof. Dan Hirschman, sociology Prof. Paul Sawyer, Literatures in English Emeritus Prof. Tracy McNulty, French, comparative literature

Aurora Weirens

Slimy Sludge: Cornell Student Assembly

Reading the most recent coverage of Student Assembly by Kate Sanders and Sofia Rubinson, I had a vivid vision of pigs rolling around in pits of muck. What a mess! I think within this dumpster fire there’s an important lesson for Cornellians: We need to actually vote in these student elections. Otherwise, we’ll end up with bumbling misogynists keen on returning to the middle ages.

For some light background, the Student Assembly’s Vice President of Finance and former Interfraternity Council President, Rocco DeLorenzo, derailed his former friend, Pedro Da Silveira’s presidency, by introducing the motion to remove him after a Title IX allegation. Previously, DeLorenzo, who takes issue with women accessing emergency contraception and rape kits, had allegedly been confided in by Da Silveira regarding this Title IX charge. When controversy over Da Silveira’s Title IX charge prompted his removal as Student Assembly president moments after being elected, presidential runner-up Patrick Kuehl, friends with DeLorenzo and Clyde Lederman ‘26 (another key conspirator and on the executive board of Cornell Democrats), replaced him.

DeLorenzo’s goal was to have a Greek life “machine,” which would conveniently represent the interests of fraternities and the men in them.

And so here we are. In a world of free will, I understand that people will have different ideas of how much autonomy and rights women should have. They will have their different reasons and justifications. Although I think there’s only one reason why someone would be afraid of rape kits. Fraternities aren’t losing their bad reputations anytime soon, given how skittish DeLorenzo was about having them around.

So sadly, because certain people exist who are so obsessed with women, and controlling them, normal people need to get out and vote. This is because within the fraternities, regardless of how the individuals feel about the actual issues at hand, the majority are going to vote for someone who represents the interests of their frats. They want their Greek life machine, but we want human rights.

It’s especially troubling that our generation is still generating this ideo-

logical crap. When I think of men trying to take away emergency contraception, I think of scaly old men in Congress. It’s so disturbing to think that men in our generation are still trying so hard to disenfranchise women. You’re 21, not 85. The fact that these young men not only hold these extremely antiquated beliefs but are jostling for power so eagerly that they’re turning to corruption is remarkable. There have been no leaked messages of women in the Student Assembly scheming to have urinals removed or condoms banned en-masse. It would be considered ludicrous.

Furthermore, from a scheming standpoint, I know politicians everywhere are notorious for corruption, but being so young, and so devious, is rather remarkable. Based on the evidence, these young men devoted an incredible amount of work behind the scenes to ensure their grip on power. Emperor Palpatine would be very proud.

I know the Student Assembly is merely a student government, but they have significant control over funding that has a direct impact on students’ lives. Furthermore, it’s their job to listen and respect all students at Cornell, regardless of gender, and allocate funds accordingly and fairly. Having a bunch of men who disrespect and strive to disenfranchise women in charge is not something most Cornell students, or at least most Cornell women, find ideal.

I believe it’s fair to say that the vast majority of Cornellians outside of DeLorenzo’s fraternal echo chamber don’t agree with these bums, or want to be represented by them anymore.

As members of a democracy, we don’t just have to complain about this degenerate behavior. We can end this nonsense in the polls.

So regarding the next round of elections, there are almost 16,000 undergraduate students at Cornell. We just need to pick someone somewhat normal. The bar is not on the floor anymore. It is in hell, tickling Satan’s ball sack. I think voters can raise the bar and elect, at the barest minimum, slightly better representatives and leaders than our current ones, ones who at least believe in gender equality. They don’t need to be superhuman — they just need to be decent.

Congress, Get Of Our Campus

Last Thursday, House Ways and Means Committee Chair Jason Smith (R-M.O.) sent President Martha Pollack a second letter challenging Cornell’s “generous tax-exempt status” over the University’s response to antisemitism. There are a slew of reasons why Cornell should pay a higher share to support the Ithaca community, but behind Smith’s threat lie dangerous and deceptive ulterior motives.

Smith is attempting to politicize higher learning, which should always be free from the push and pull of partisan influence. In his letter, the Chair writes that a culture of antisemitism at Cornell “grew beneath the surface for decades” but fails to acknowledge other manifestations of bigotry on campus.

And are Republican politicians only concerned when antisemitism strikes left-leaning colleges? If Smith and his GOP allies really are disturbed by the problem of Jew-hatred, they must condemn it in their own party and rethink their support for former President Donald Trump, who infamously hosted antisemites Ye and Nick Fuentes at his Mar-a-Lago home and said of a violent confrontation between white supremacists and counterprotesters that there were “very fine people on both sides.”

Smith’s thinly veiled political motivations for “serious institutional change” at Cornell also set a dangerous precedent for congressional overreach. Smith urges Cornell “to do more to help Jewish students feel safe, secure, and free from discrimination and harassment on campus.” But at a time of rising hate against both Jewish and Arab students, the Chair’s selective focus misses the point that college should be a place where everyone feels comfortable expressing themselves and voicing their pain.

Antisemitism and Islamophobia are dire issues at Cornell, and the University needs to more firmly combat rampant hatred. But Smith isn’t offering any lasting solutions. His letter goes beyond concerns surrounding on-campus antisemitism: The Chair clearly wants to indiscriminately police all pro-Palestinian speech. No, “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” is not an inherently antisemitic phrase, as Smith claims. Those who speak out in support of the Palestinian people’s legitimate aspiration to statehood should not be blacklisted.

Treating the University’s tax exemption as a privilege that can be switched on and off at any time would torch Cornell’s independence and permanently force it to bend to whichever party controls Congress.

Chair Smith, keep your nose out of our business and your deceptive politics off of our campus. And President Pollack, you shouldn’t take Smith’s bait, though your recent letter to the editor doubling down on the University’s undemocratic Interim Expressive Activity Policy, which has chilled speech across campus, suggests that you’re starting to.

— From the Editorial Board

CLASSIFIED AD RATES

Ads are accepted at The Sun’s office at 139 W. State Street downtown, by phone or e-mail.

Deadline: 2:30 p.m. at The Sun’s office on the day preceding publication.

Standard Rate: $3.95 per day for first 15 words, 39 cents per day per word thereafter. Five or more consecutive insertions, $3.70 perday for first 15 words, 37 cents per day per word thereafter.

Commercial Rate: $5.95 per day for first 15 words, 40 cents per day per word thereafter. Five or more consecutive insertions, $5.75 per day for first 15 words, 38 cents per day per word thereafter.

The Sun is responsible for only one day makegood on ads.

273-3606

classifieds@cornellsun.com

Wanted: Companion (male preferred) for professor's young-adult, autistic son.

Requires two, 3-hour shifts per week, (flexible) doing activities including: watching sports, going to a movie, getting a meal, tossing a football and generally, just supplying companionship. $20 per hour plus expenses. References required. If interested, please text or call 607-229-2943.

SC I ENCE

The Sun’s Guide to the Disappearing Sun: The 2024 Solar Eclipse

By LAINE HAVENS Sun Science Editor

On April 8, a total solar eclipse will travel across the Americas, moving from Mazatlan, Mexico to Houlton, Maine. The 2024 eclipse represents a rare opportunity to view a total eclipse within the US. In Ithaca, only a partial eclipse will be visible — meaning that it will never be safe to remove specialized eclipse glasses during viewing. However, a total eclipse will be visible to the northwest in cities like Rochester, Seneca Falls, NY and Canandaigua, NY.

A solar eclipse occurs when the moon is directly between the sun and earth, casting a shadow on the earth’s surface. This alignment — when the moon’s shadow hits the earth — is possible only when the moon is in the same plane as the earth’s rotation around the sun.

Because the moon is smaller than the earth, its shadow falls on only a small section of the planet. As the earth and moon continue their typical motions, the shadow traces a path across the earth.

Viewers watching the eclipse from the shadow’s center will experience totality — when the moon covers the sun completely. The path of totality refers to the trajectory of this central, dark part of the shadow as it moves across the earth. You must be within the path of totality to witness a total eclipse. Outside the path of totality, there are regions where observers can still see the sun peek out from behind the moon — known as a partial eclipse. A partial eclipse will be visible in Ithaca beginning at 2:08 p.m. and ending at 4:34 p.m. on April 8. The partial eclipse will reach its maximum at 3:23 p.m.

A total eclipse is a coincidence of nature — the sun happens to be 400 times larger than the moon and 400 times farther away from the earth than the moon. Therefore, the sun and moon appear the same size to us,

and the moon can block the sun completely. One way to think of this is if you were to hold your thumb in front of your face and see that it blocks larger objects in the distance.

Cornell Astronomical Society President Gillis Lowry ’24 witnessed the last total eclipse in 2017 as it passed through St. Louis, Missouri.

“It was one of the most amazing astronomical experiences you could ever see with your eyes,” Lowry said. “It was a 360-degree sunset around you. If you look up, there’s just a black spot in the sky as if there’s a hole in the sky, and the sun’s swirling atmosphere is just coming out of what looks like a hole in the sky.”

Statistically, witnessing a total eclipse is a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Solar eclipses occur multiple times a year, but because viewing a total eclipse is restricted to the thin path of totality, it is only visible in a small portion of the planet. For example, the 2024 solar eclipse’s path of totality will range between 108 and 122 miles wide and is approximately

9190 miles long. On average, this means that just 0.5 percent of the earth’s surface area will experience totality.

Additionally, not every solar eclipse is total. The moon’s orbit around the earth is not perfectly circular, so the moon is closer and farther from the earth at different points in its orbit. When the moon is farthest from the earth, it no longer appears big enough to entirely block the sun. This type of eclipse is called an annular eclipse and is characterized by the “ring of fire” — a band of sun still visible around the moon.

The next total solar eclipse that will be visible near the U.S. will occur in 2044, and the next to be visible in New York State will not occur until 2079.

When watching a solar eclipse, observers will first see the moon move slowly across the sun over a span of hours, creating a partial eclipse — which will look like a bite has been taken out of the sun. But if observing within the path of totality, viewers will watch the eclipse become total as the moon completely

obscures the sun, turning day into night

Several safety measures must be followed to view a solar eclipse. At no point other than totality — when the sun is completely obscured — is it safe to directly view the eclipse. Until the moon completely moves in front of the sun, it appears as a partial eclipse, and observers must either wear eclipse glasses or view the eclipse indirectly.

Eclipse glasses are specially designed to block out extreme amounts of light to protect your eyes. No light other than the sun and very bright lights should be visible through functioning eclipse glasses.

As president of the Cornell Astronomical Society, Lowry has been leading outreach efforts to educate the Cornell community and general public about eclipse safety.

“Don’t use sunglasses, don’t use x-ray or film strips or anything [besides certified eclipse glasses or solar viewers],” Lowry said. “Even if it looks dark, it’s not blocking enough of the light for it to be safe.”

Eclipse glasses should always be worn over prescription glasses — not under — according to Lowry. Otherwise, the glasses may magnify light onto the eclipse glasses, causing them to not function properly.

If you cannot obtain certified eclipse glasses in time for the April 8 eclipse, do not worry. There are many methods to view an eclipse indirectly. One method is to create a pinhole camera by poking a hole in a piece of paper. Holding the paper in the sunlight and letting light pass through the hole projects an image of the sun on the ground. Through the pinhole method, you can see the moon’s progression in front of the sun.

To continue reading this article, please visit www.cornellsun.com.

Laine Havens can be reached at lhavens@cornellsun.com.

Bringing Science to the Streets: The Ithaca Physics Bus

By RAGHAV CHATURVEDI Sun Contributor

Between the yellow school buses of the Ithaca City School District and the bright blue buses of the TCAT, there are countless colorful buses in Ithaca — but only one is purple.

On the road since 2014, the Ithaca Physics Bus is a mobile classroom that educates people of all ages in the Ithaca community about physical phenomena through quirky and interactive exhibits.

In February 2024, the bus traveled to Colorado for an open house at the Little Shop of Physics, a physics learning and outreach center at Colorado State University, joining several other organizations focused on science education and communication.

“The current way we engage with physics is too often with words and symbols,” said Erik Herman, co-director of Free Science Inc., which is the non-profit organization that owns the bus. “Building intuition is more important than the words that describe a phenomenon.”

Herman’s co-director, Liv Vincent, echoed this idea, noting the distinction between different branches of science.

“The first association with biology for kids is through animals, whereas for physics it’s through an old man in a classroom describing the Bernoulli effect,” Vincent said. “Through the Physics Bus, [kids] have a more positive first association, which makes them willing to learn and explore more.”

From demonstrations on electricity and magnetism to experiments exploring motion and energy, each exhibit on the bus communicates physics in a fun and interactive way.

Most of the exhibits are made from upcycled appliances or recycled materials that can be found in most households, such as cardboard, paper cups, batteries or old electronics. These practices keep costs low for the bus and for kids trying to build an experiment.

One of the exhibits, made by Dekwan Perry, an exhibit specialist, shows how one can levitate a bead of Styrofoam mid-air against gravity using pressure from standing sound waves. A standing wave is a pattern of oscillation that remains stationary in space. Within this wave, there are points of minimal displacement called nodes where the beads levitate. Kids can engage with the exhibit by finding the node where beads can sit.

Another exhibit involves a falling magnet inside a metallic tube. The magnet induces an electrical current in the tube, which in turn induces a magnetic field that opposes the magnet. These forces make the magnet

fall as if it was in a dense honey-like fluid.

The Physics Bus brings these exhibits to local elementary schools, fairs, universities and other outreach centers. Kids can play with the exhibits on the bus and interact with volunteers who guide them through the science behind the exhibit.

“Information doesn’t have to come from the volunteer directly,” Vincent said. “For instance, instead of saying that an exhibit works with a magnet, we can let kids go on a journey to figure it out themselves by bringing another magnet closer.”

On the Colorado trip, volunteers also helped kids build model helicopters and gliders using simple items like plywood, rubber bands, paper and foam. Using postcards to guide the glider, kids also explored how air currents affected its path.

“My goal as a volunteer is to keep the magic of science alive for the kids so when

they get to more advanced stages of scientific education, they don’t think science is boring and have something to look back on,” said Audrey Lyons ’25, who accompanied the bus to Colorado.

When not on the road, the bus parks at the Free Science Workshop, located in Fall Creek. Also owned by Free Science Inc., the workshop is a well-equipped space where kids can access tools, materials and instruction to build their own exhibit. They can either participate in day-long activities like taking apart a strip of LED lights or join long-term projects over several days like building a cat tree for their pet.

Science at the workshop is not limited to just physics. Kids can hold a ball python or play with the workshop’s resident rabbit. There are also microscopes for looking at skin cells and fossils and skeletons of animals.

The Einhorn Center For Community Engagement at Cornell has also supported the bus in its endeavors. Through their engaged curriculum grants, they introduced PHYS 4500: Cultivating Public Engagement in Physics, a class taught by Herman where, before being discontinued in 2023, students created outreach exhibits to showcase physical phenomena. Some of these exhibits are still featured on the bus.

For one of its upcoming events, the bus will travel to South Dakota and visit the Pine Ridge Reservation and Red Cloud high schools, where students will be given blueprints to build exhibits similar to those on the bus.

Raghav

Fascinating physics | The Physics Bus hosts quirky and interactive exhibits to help Ithacans of all ages learn about physics.

Enigmatic eclipse | Witnessing a total solar eclispe when the moon completely covers the sun is a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

COURESTY OF ERIK

GAME PREVIEW:

M EN’S H OCKEY P REPARES FOR M AINE IN NCAA R EGIONAL S EMIFINAL

JANE McNALLY

On Saturday, men’s hockey hoisted the Whitelaw Cup for the first time in 14 years, after defeating St. Lawrence, 3-1.

On Sunday, the team gathered at Lynah Rink to watch the NCAA hockey tournament selection show, which dealt the Red its national tournament fate, including its regional location and first-round opponent.

On Monday, the team practiced, scouted its upcoming opponent — No. 6 Maine — and caught up on school work.

On Tuesday, the Red was bound for Springfield, MA.

“[The championship] still hasn’t completely sunk in,” said junior defenseman Hank Kempf.

It’s full speed ahead for Cornell, which will face off against Maine in the Northeast regional semifinal — the first round of the NCAA tournament — on Thursday.

“To try to get prepared for three teams in a day and a half is kind of a monumental challenge,” said head coach Mike Schafer ’86. “We’re really trying to get ourselves ready for Maine.”

Kempf added: “It’s time to go to work because we [have] another huge opportunity.”

Punching its ticket to the national tournament via an automatic bid, Cornell (216-6, 12-6-4 ECAC) is the No. 3 seed at the Springfield regional, and is No. 12 overall.

“We’ve got to get through Maine first — that’s the biggest challenge,” Schafer said. “They’re good in transition, [and] they’re very stingy defensively. [They have] good goaltending [and] excellent special teams.”

Maine (23-11-2, 14-9-1 Hockey East) fell in the Hockey East semifinals at the hands of Boston University. The Black Bears –– which sit at fifth in Pairwise — received an at-large bid and are the No. 2 seed in Springfield.

“I think it’s a great matchup for us,” Kempf

said. “They play a similar game to us. … They have a really good power play and seem like they’re a pretty structured team.”

The Black Bears enter the NCAA tournament as victors of four of their last five games. In three of those games, Maine limited its opponents to fewer than 20 shots.

While Maine, on paper, has only the 23rd-best power play in the nation, the Black Bears have been lethal on the man-advantage down the stretch. Maine hasn’t gone a game without a power play goal since Feb. 24 and has been converting at a 42.1 percent clip since then.

“They’re a better hockey team, but we’re a much better hockey team than we were in November and December — night and day.”

Head coach Mike Schafer ’86

Cornell’s penalty kill is in the middle of the pack nationally, just shy of 80 percent, but has allowed only one goal on the kill in the last five games. Aided by junior goaltender Ian Shane, who has anchored Cornell to allowing the fewest goals against per game, the Red’s penalty kill will be put to the test.

“You’ve got to keep them off the power play, which means playing disciplined — controlling your sticks,” Schafer said. “They have some [smaller] guys that seem to draw a lot of penalties, so you have to control yourself against those guys.”

One of those smaller yet powerful forwards for Maine is 5’8 forward Josh Nadeau, who plays on a line with his twin brother, Bradly. The pair of freshmen have dominated for the Black Bears, amassing near identical point totals (45 for Josh and 46 for Bradly) and goal totals (18 for Josh and 19 for Bradly).

The twins’ 91 goals account for 31 percent of Maine’s offense this year.

“Their top line is one of the best top lines

we’ve seen,” Schafer said.

Maine emerged from a Hockey East conference that has been particularly strong this season. Besides Maine, three other Hockey East teams qualified for the NCAA tournament, including the top team in the nation, Boston College.

Read more about the other 15 teams in the NCAA tournament here.

Cornell has twice faced — and beaten — Hockey East opponents this season, the first being its formidable rival, No. 2 Boston University, which the Red defeated, 2-1, at Madison Square Garden on Nov. 25.

The Red also upended then-No. 11 Massachusetts — the fourth-seeded team in the Springfield regional — in a shootout on Dec. 29 in the Adirondack Winter Invitational in Lake Placid.

”Playing UMass and BU gives us [an advantage] because you watch what UMass and BU did against Maine,” Schafer said. “[We can] watch what was effective and what we did.

However, both teams are different than they were in the early stages in the season.

”They’re a better hockey team, but we’re a much better hockey team than we were in November and December — night and day,” Schafer said. “We can only speak to ourselves, but we’re also pretty stingy defensively right now.”

The other semifinal matchup in Springfield features the NCHC champion Denver and Massachusetts. Should Cornell advance to the regional final, it’ll face one of two teams that it’s already familiar with.

“Denver hasn’t changed, they [have a] very similar style to what they played last year and do a lot of similar things,” Schafer said, referring to the matchup between his team and Denver in last year’s regional semifinal, where Cornell dominated en route to a 2-0 win.

Kempf, who endured the regional final loss to Boston University last season, added:

Men’s Hockey

Cornell

vs. Maine

Thursday, 5:30 p.m. Springfield, MA

“[Against] BU, we got a little lost. … We didn’t have as much of that ‘just got for it’ [mentality] that we had [against Denver]. I think that’s what we should take from the experience.”

Though Maine is on the docket right now, past the Black Bears is a possible Frozen Four qualification, something Schafer has remarkably achieved only once in his 29-year head coaching tenure with the Red.

”We have that experience of getting through that first round but not getting through the second one,” Schafer said. “It’s extremely difficult to win it and get [to the Frozen Four].”

Despite its youthful roster, Cornell is confident that this group can lift Schafer over that jump. “[In] other years, we’ve been right on that edge [to the Frozen Four],” Schafer said. “It’s just [important to] continue to have those experiences like Lake Placid. We didn’t play so great against Harvard last year. And then this year, we’re fortunate that we took that next step, and we’ve got to do the same thing in the NCAA [tournament].”

From Uppsala to Upstate: How Gabriel Seger ’24 Skates to Success

MARIAN CABALLO & JANE McNALLY

Hailing from across the Atlantic in Uppsala, Sweden — nearly 4,000 miles from Ithaca — senior forward Gabriel Seger engineers success both on the ice and in the classroom.

Most weekends, you’ll find him at Lynah Rink, poised to make his mark on the ice and drive the Red toward NCAA tournament triumph.

But when he’s not firing pucks into the net or outsmarting his opponent at the faceoff dot, Seger can be found delving into advanced classes

in circuitry and computer science. This spring, Seger will graduate with a degree in computer and electrical engineering.

“It’s about finding that balance,” Seger said. “At first it was a challenge. Now it’s kind of routine.”

Earlier this year, Seger was named the 2024 ECAC Men’s ScholarAthlete of the Year, flaunting a 3.513 GPA while helping lead Cornell toward an ECAC title. Seger, alongside junior goaltender Ian Shane, was one of two Cornell players nominated for this year’s Hobey Baker Memorial Award — awarded annually to the top NCAA men’s ice hockey player.

Seger said that he specifically dedi-

cates time to his coursework every day leading up to the weekend so his focus can transition to the game.

“Some terms have been tougher than others. I really try to crush out [my schoolwork] on Monday[s], Tuesday[s] [and] Wednesday[s],” Seger said. “Some weeks you kind of fall behind a little bit so you have to speak to your professors.”

On average, a Division-I athlete can devote upwards of 40 hours per week to their sport, though for Ivy League athletes this number is slightly lower due to conference-specific restrictions. For Cornell student-athletes like Seger, this entails lifting and playing nearly every day plus playing about two games per week during the season, all on top of the rigorous demands of one of the nation’s topranked engineering programs.

However, Seger is determined to chase both academic and athletic prowess.

“I’ve always been kind of a math guy. I love math. I love building things. A couple of family members are engineers — my grandpa, dad, sister,” Seger said. “Coming in as a hockey player, I was back and forth on whether I should do economics or engineering. So I just tried it out. I came in as an undecided engineer, and it worked out pretty well.”

The Swedish native said that a

major draw to playing college hockey in the United States was the balance it offered between education and sports. According to Seger, it is common in Sweden to enter professional hockey leagues at the age of 19 or 20.

“In Sweden, if you don’t get into school [when you’re 18], you have to go all in with hockey. [Then] if you don’t go pro when you’re 22, you have to pick between [going to] school or just to keep working in hockey,” Seger said. “It was pretty simple to me — [I wanted] the opportunity to both keep developing in hockey and get [strong] academics from it too.”

Seger may play for an American team now, but it’s not uncommon to see the blue and yellow of the Swedish flag waving in the stands of Lynah Rink in a display of support. Having grown up in Gävle, Sweden — a hockey-centric city home to Swedish professional ice hockey team Brynäs IF — Seger fell in love with the game at seven years old after being inspired by his friends on the rink.

“All of my classmates were playing. I just asked my parents if I could try it out, and fell in love with the game,” Seger said. “It became my number one sport.”

Seger spent time with the Brynäs Under-16 team before rising through the ranks of Brynäs’ J18 teams but said he decided to play junior hockey

with the Amarillo Bulls of the North American Hockey League when he started taking hockey more seriously.

“Their level of play [in Sweden] is kind of similar, but it’s a faster game in North America for sure,” Seger said. “The players back home are still very skilled, but the ice surface is bigger so you have little more time. There’s [less] forcing pucks into the net.”

Though Seger started his college hockey career at Union College, he was no stranger to Cornell’s hockey team and the intimidating atmosphere of Lynah Rink. In his transfer process, selecting Cornell was almost a no-brainer.

“[Lynah Rink is] an unbelievable place to play at. When I played as an away team [with Union], I used to hate playing here,” Seger said. “I heard great things about [head coach Mike Schafer ’86] and the culture. I wanted to play with a really good hockey team — which Cornell was — and the academics was a big part of [my decision].”

Ivy League schools rarely dip into the transfer portal due to heavy eligibility restrictions, but Cornell hit the lottery when it snagged Seger in 2022. Since coming to Cornell, Seger said he has seen himself develop into a stronger player.

To continue reading this article, please visit www.cornellsun.com.

Swedish sensation | Senior forward Gabriel Seger has made his mark on Cornell hockey history despite playing only two seasons with the Red.

BOLSTERING THE BLUELINE

GROWING PAINS, MEN’S HOCKEY D-CORPS HOLDS STRONG

JANE McNALLY Sun Sports Editor

This article was previously published in College Hockey News.

Attend a practice at the old Lynah Rink in Ithaca, N.Y., and you might hear a whole lot of this:

“Details, details, details!”

If you arrive a half-hour before practice begins, don’t fret — you’ll see some action. Odds are, you’ll see a defenseman or two. Some will be coming from a video session, often with the likes of their defensive partner, while others will get some extra reps in on the ice before the rest of the team joins them.

The top defensive corps in the nation doesn’t take its craft lightly — allowing just 1.88 goals per game all year, Cornell prides itself on its hard-nosed, pesky defense, marquee to its style of play.

So, what’s the philosophy behind Cornell’s defensive prowess?

“Great attention to details and our habits, and a responsibility to our expectations for our d-partners and our d-corps,” said associate head coach Ben Syer.

In his 13th season with the Red, Syer leads the defensive group that has flourished and produced multiple pro-caliber defensemen.

“Much like our program is, we try to make our d-corps like its own entity,” Syer said. “We always reference our d-partners as our lifelines, like best buddies. You know, like, ‘I got to take care of my best buddy the same way that I would hope he would take care of me.’ So we try to build a little bit of camaraderie.”

The walls of the Cornell hockey locker room are full of phrases that players strive to embody every day: “attention to details,” “personal accountability” and “collective sacrifice,” among others.

Cornell lost 10 seniors to graduation in 2023, including half of its defensive group. Notably, they lost the stellar play and leadership of captains Travis Mitchell ’23 and Sam Malinski ’23, who has recently made a name for himself with the NHL’s Colorado Avalanche. This year, the Red introduced 10 freshmen and five new defensemen to fill the void left by the senior class.

There have been some growing pains — while Cornell’s defense has climbed up the ranks and sits atop the NCAA after an ECAC championship, there have been some uncharacteristic lapses, including an 8-4 nightmare-fuel loss to Quinnipiac in Hamden, CT, as well as a disappointing 4-2 defeat to Colgate at Lynah Rink.

Things even looked dodgy in the first two periods against Dartmouth in the ECAC tournament semifinals, when the Red at one point trailed 3-1 to the Big Green due to a lack of poise in its defensive zone and blips that ended up in the back of Cornell’s net.

“It can be challenging,” Syer admitted when asked about the transition from mainstays like Mitchell and Malinski and the hard-hitting Sebastian Dirven ’23 to a youthful first-year class learning the system for the first time.

But, as Syer added, “it can be a lot of fun.”

A Fresh Face

Perhaps the player you’ll see most enjoying himself at the rink — arriving extra early for video sessions, treatment and skates — is freshman defenseman Ben Robertson. The true freshman has quickly launched himself to the top defensive pairing with junior defenseman Tim Rego, posting 23 points in 33 games played, including a seven-game point streak to start the season, the longest by a Cornell first-year to open a season dating back to 1975-76.

Robertson collected a handful of postseason accolades, including being named to the ECAC All-Rookie team, the All-ECAC second team and the All-Ivy League second team.

“He’s a rink rat,” Syer said. “He loves being around the rink. He’s got a high IQ.”

Robertson’s silky play on the backend, as well as his seamless transition to manning the point on the power play, has cemented his status as a top defenseman for Cornell.

“I’m always trying to find that balance of being an offensive defenseman but also playing defense,” Robertson reflected on his style of play. His creative offensive abilities, complemented by hard-nosed defense, mirror that of the graduated Malinski.

“When I visited here last August, I got to talk to him a little bit then. And I tried to watch as many of his games as I could,” Robertson said of Malinski. “Definitely someone I try to emulate my game after.”

Malinski is just a fraction of the support Cornell hockey gets from its alumni.

“Well, you know what? One goal, because you don’t go blade on blade and deflect a puck into the netting, could be the difference between 0-0 and 1-0. And 1-0 can win a game.”

Associate head coach Ben Syer

“Oh, they’re still very involved,” Syer said of the alumni. “We’ve had Sammy [Malinski] talk to the guys. Mitchy [Mitchell] sent some things in for our corps dinner. … Even guys that I didn’t coach, like Jeremy Downs and Charlie Cook, who were a part of that (2003) Frozen Four team, have become very good friends of mine in working here, and they’re very involved in giving their two cents or their insight that’s really invaluable.”

The rich tradition of Cornell hockey is imperative to its success — while Cornell adjusts to a new-look defensive group, upperclassmen leadership is critical. The likes of junior defensemen Hank Kempf, Michael Suda and Tim Rego have been imperative in adjusting the freshmen — many of whom are just 18 or 19 — to the aggressive defensive system Syer upholds.

“The younger guys that come in, they’re used to playing 60-70 games a year,” Syer said. “They have a tough game on a Sunday. Kind of stinks for a day or two. But they might play on a Wednesday night, or then they have three again the next weekend. So, it’s easily forgotten or doesn’t have a real significant impact. When you play 29 regular season games, everything is magnified.”

Entering Cornell after a strong year with the Waterloo Blackhawks of the USHL, Robertson quickly unearthed the importance of every game, every shift and every play.

“Every single play really matters since you don’t have that many games,” Robertson said. “You may think you’re making a simple play, but if the puck ends up in the back of your net, and you end up losing, that’s a game you’re not going to get back.”

Safety Net

When the puck does get through the defense, it’s nice to have a goaltender to bail you out.

“His attention to his craft is second to none,” Syer said.

Junior goaltender Ian Shane hails from Manhattan Beach, California, nearly 3,000 miles from Cornell. A year before arriving in Ithaca, his season was tumultuous. He spent time between the pipes with the Chicago Steel in the USHL before relocating to Bismarck, ND, to play in the NAHL.

In his third season with the Red, Shane has quietly amassed a .924 save percentage and averages 1.71 goals against in his 82 career decisions. Shane was named a top-10 finalist for the Mike Richter award, was nominated for the Hobey Baker Memorial award and took home Ken Dryden Goaltender of the Year honors.

“I don’t think there’s anything that I necessarily want to prove individually,” Shane said. “I think the goal for everyone is to win a championship — Ivy, ECAC, National championship.”

They’ve got two of those down.

Be in the presence of Shane, and you’ll probably be a bit intimidated — he composes himself exceptionally professionally. He is quick to deflect the conversation from himself and instead attribute his accolades to the group around him.

“He’s certainly an intellect of the game,” Syer said. “You’ll see him watch video on his own. He’ll want to have different discussions. He knows the details of the team that we’re playing — like, he’ll want to know who has the most shots on the other team. Which way did they shoot? Where are they on the power play?”

Robertson attributes much of his confidence on the backend to Shane. “He makes it easier for us, having someone back there to rely on. You know, if you aren’t on your guy, he’ll definitely let you know, and it just makes the game a lot easier.”

Shane first got his shot in early 2022, as a first-year, when Cornell was in North Dakota, taking on the then-No. 1 Hawks.

Nearly two years later, with a near-totally different defensive group in front of him, Shane has blossomed into a top goaltender in the ECAC and rivals many across the country.

Perhaps a telling reason for Shane’s going unnoticed is the low shot volume he faces — this season, Cornell has allowed the fewest shots in the NCAA at 744, 65 fewer than the next closest team, going into the NCAA tournament. The Red have blocked an additional 411 shots and asserted themselves as known shot-blockers, making it a crucial part of the game plan. Yet despite seeing fewer shots, Shane flourishes.

Shane had five shutouts last year, including an impressive 2-0 shutout victory over the then-reigning national champion Denver, which he largely attributed to the guys in front of him. With much of that group gone, Shane has played a prominent role in anchoring the new-look corps to success.

“He’s a calming presence,” Syer said of his goaltender.

“Obviously, there’s a little bit of an adjustment when you bring in a lot of underclassmen and 10 freshmen, but some younger guys are stepping into those roles, and I think they’ve been doing a great job,” Shane said. “Ben Robertson comes to mind. You see him in pretty much every situation on the ice.”

The rag-tag group has clinched an NCAA tournament berth for the second straight year, where, in 2023, the Red was one win short of a Frozen Four last season. At the very least, Cornell is setting itself up again for a strong next couple of years.

“Some guys are like, ‘Okay, that’s happened 1,000 times — why is that a big deal?’” Syer said. “Well, you know what? One goal, because I don’t go blade on blade and deflect a puck into the netting, could be the difference between 0-0 and 1-0. And 1-0 can win a game.”

JULIA NAGEL / SUN SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHER