INDEPENDENT SINCE 1880
The Corne¬ Daily Sun Vol. 135, No. 56
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 2019
n
16 Pages – Free
ITHACA, NEW YORK
Dining
Arts
Sports
News
ZaZa's Cucina
Forget Frats
Hockey
Cloudy And Cold
The restaurant promises reliable, if not extraordinary, contemporary Italian fare. | Page 8
Peter Buonanno '21 pledges to boycott future Grammy presentations.
Men's and women's teams both stand poised to mount a serious playoff push.
| Page 10
HIGH: 41º LOW: 26º
| Page 16
Cornell Mars Rover Dies After 15 Years of Extra Life
Once projected to last only 90 days, the craft delivered a treasure trove of data
COURTESY OF NASA
Life on Mars | The Opportunity rover made a number of important findings in its lengthy lifetime, including the discovery of water on the red planet.
By SARAH SKINNER Sun Assistant News Editor
After 15 years and a journey of over 140 million miles, NASA said Wednesday that the Cornell-led Opportunity Rover had reached its final resting place: a dusty, frigid valley on Mars. From its Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, C.A., NASA officially declared the rover dead after a months-long effort to regain communication with it proved fruitless. Mars’ Perseverance Valley, from where Opportunity sent its last update, was bombarded by a massive dust storm last summer, choking out both the sky and communication between NASA and the rover. The last transmission reached Earth on June 10, 2018. In the eight months since then, NASA sent over a thousand messages to Opportunity. None received a response. See MARS page 4
Alum’s Use of Dated Term Roils Some By NICHOLAS BOGEL-BURROUGHS Sun City Editor
As dessert was served in a Boston hotel’s grand ballroom Friday night, about 100 students sat side by side with alumni, proud to be representing Cornell at an annual conference dinner. The Cornell Association of Class Officers honored a 1952 alumnus for being an “outstanding class leader,” and he took the stage to give a speech. The students and alumni listened as he spoke from behind a podium about his admiration for Satchel Paige, a Hall of Fame pitcher who followed Jackie Robinson as one of the first black players in Major League Baseball’s modern era. Then the alumnus, Paul Blanchard ’52, referred to Paige as a “Negro,” and students’ ears perked up. They gave each other nervous glances. Blanchard’s subsequent qualification — “Now they call them blacks” — only intensified the discomfort. “I was just like, what is going on?” recalled Jaëlle Sanon ’19, who was sitting at one of about three
dozen tables in the Sheraton hotel ballroom. “After his speech ended, there were black people looking to other black people like, did we all hear what just happened?” As Blanchard wrapped up, an event organizer quickly took the stage, encouraging students to stick around for an impromptu debriefing session that ended up lasting more than an hour and was attended by Fred Van Sickle, Cornell’s top alumni official. In the days following the Cornell Alumni Leadership Conference dinner, Blanchard’s comments have been denounced by students, Cornell alumni officials and a conglomerate of alumni associations. Some students told The Sun that Blanchard’s use of the dated word, as well as an insinuation in his speech that he and his friends used to “survey” women on the Arts Quad, were signs of a larger disconnect between the alumni network and Cornell’s next generation of alumni — its current students. See ALUMNI page 4
Valentine’s Day
MEGAN ROCHE / SUN PROJECTS EDITOR
Afternoon delight | A large majority of Cornell students reported having intercourse at least a few times in the past year.
42% of Cornellians in Love, Sun Survey Finds By AMANDA CRONIN Sun Staff Writer
CAMERON POLLACK / SUN FILE PHOTO
Each year, McGraw Tower is illuminated with radiant magenta clockfaces in anticipation of Valentine’s Day.
The clock tower is lit up with a magenta heart, a smattering of invitations to themed galas and club parties abound; it’s Valentine’s Day at Cornell. To some, the holiday is a time to share their amorous adventures with the world — but to others, it may be an unwelcome reminder that they are without a partner. Leading up to a day often known for love and heartbreak, 811 undergraduate and graduate students responded to a series of questions posed by The Sun including how often they have sex, where current couples met and how often they use dating apps. The survey was shared via Facebook, Instagram, email, text message and GroupMe
chats over a period of five days. The survey was anonymous, but collected demographic information on gender and academic year. The majority of respondents self-identified as female — 68.63 percent — compared to 29.17 percent male. The remainder identified as gender non-conforming, non-binary or other. Most respondents were sophomores, at 34.94 percent, followed by juniors at 21.72 percent, seniors at 20.67 percent, freshmen at 13.85 percent and graduate students at 8.81 percent. This relationships survey gave us intimate insight on the status of Big Red love, relationships and sex. Here are The Sun’s findings. See SURVEY page 5