INDEPENDENT SINCE 1880
The Corne¬ Daily Sun Vol. 137, No. 44
TUESDAY, MARCH 16, 2021
n
ITHACA, NEW YORK
8 Pages – Free
News
Arts
Science
Weather
Honoring LaFeber
Bias in A.I.
Vaccine Progress
Chance Of Snow
Peers of historian Walter LaFeber look back on a life well lived. | Page 2
The Johnson & Johnson vaccine has the potential to accelerate the journey to herd immunity. | Page 8
Coded Bias panel considers how issues of inherent bias and privacy affect facial recognition. | Page 4
HIGH: 37º LOW: 32º
One Year After Shutdown:
Students Reflect on Pandemic Era By KATHERINE ESTERL, OLIVIA CIPPERMAN and KAYLA RIGGS Sun Staff Writer, Sun News Editor and Sun Assistant News Editor
It has been a year of Zoom, of nose swabs, of swift policy changes. It has been a year since the lives of Cornell students turned upside down, as the coronavirus pandemic pushed students off a bustling campus that remains a world away. Cornell announced its transition to virtual instruction on March 10, 2020, sowing panic across campus, as administrators told Cornellians to leave at the start of spring break and to stay home for the remainder of the semester. On March 13, Cornell suspended classes for three weeks and urged students to leave as soon as possible. In a span of days, the busting prelim season campus transformed into an aban-
doned ghost town of buildings and quads. Since students fled Ithaca and Cornell rolled through a rocky fall reopening, mask wearing, online classes and regular surveillance testing have become the new campus normal. In the shadow of the virus, students supported one another from a distance. They studied for exams, celebrated milestones and tried to stay safe, whether in Ithaca or multiple time zones away. As the vaccine rollout begins, here’s a look into the lives of students who lived through a pandemic-driven year as Cornell looks ahead to a future once again filled with Lynah Rink games, Slope Day and in-person graduations. The following interviews See FLASHBACK page 3
BORIS TSANG/SUN SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHER
Pandemic ponderings | A student reads on Libe Slope as Cornell’s campus evacuated on March 20, 2020.
Prof. Walter LaFeber Dies at 87 Bill Clinton to Speak Remembered as influential historian, mentor By ANDREAS PSAHOS Sun Staff Writer
On Tuesday, Prof. Walter LaFeber, the Andrew H. and James S. Tisch Distinguished University Professor of History Emeritus — one of the most influential U.S. foreign policy thinkers in the past half century and a beloved professor known for his show-stopping lectures and unconditional support for his students — died in Ithaca. He was 87. LaFeber first stepped onto the Hill in 1959 as an assistant professor, having received his doctorate from the University of Wisconsin that same year. He earned his professorship in 1967, and served as the Marie Underhill Noll Professor of
American History emeritus from 1968 until 2002. “Between 1959 and Walt LaFeber’s retirement almost 50 years later, he was, without question, the most iconic, the most admired, the most respected, the most identifiable professor who made a difference in the lives of thousands and thousands of students,” said Prof. Glenn Altschuler Ph.D. ’76, American studies, who was a Cornell graduate teaching assistant in 1971 before becoming a lifelong colleague of LaFeber’s. LaFeber was considered to be a key member and student of the Wisconsin School of American diplomatic history. While his work forgoes typ-
COURTESY OF CORNELL UNIVERSITY
Rememberance | LaFeber inspired his students through a long career.
ical political labels, he is considered a “moderate revisionist” who characterized the 19th century American empire as driven by economic imperialism rather than morality or security. He also had a strong presence outside the University as a prolific writer and communicator, writing and co-authoring 20 books and dozens of articles, speaking at countless universities and appearing in documentaries such as PBS's American Century, the BBC's End of the Cold War? and Walter Cronkite’s American Presidencies. “He was a great storyteller,” said former student Prof. Andrew Rotter ’75, history, Colgate University. LaFeber’s lectures in Baker Laboratory granted him a level of notoriety among Cornell students for nearly 50 years. While most professors of LaFeber’s seniority usually moved on from teaching undergraduates, he continued to give lectures during the week for his courses in addition to a lecture on Saturday mornings that consistently drew massive crowds of Cornell students, faculty and outside visitors. “What I can say to you is what I say to all current undergraduates: I'm sorry you couldn't have taken See LaFEBER page 2
At Cornell Web Event
Former president to address democracy By ONALEE DUANE
Initiative. Both Clinton and Israel have spent time in political Former President Bill office and worked in other Clinton will join Prof. Steve fields after their terms. After Israel, government, speaking Clinton’s time at the White to the Cornell community House came to an end as the on Thursday on the state of 42nd president, he created the American democracy follow- Clinton Foundation, which ing a year of deepening U.S. aims to create economic oppordivisions. tunity, improve public health Hosted by the Institute and inspire civic engagement of Politics and service. and Global Israel is Affairs and The conversation will focus a former eCornell, on the political challenges D e m o c r a t i c the convercongressman sation will the U.S. currently faces and from New what students can do to focus on York and the politr e p r e s e n tpreserve democracy. ical chaled the state’s lenges the second and U.S. faces third districts and how students can preserve for 16 years. After his time democracy for future genera- on Capitol Hill, Israel left to tions. pursue a career as a writer. The event will launch He now leads the nonpartisan the new Milstein State Cornell University Institute of of Democracy Addresses Politics and Global Affairs in series, and the conversa- New York City. Israel is a fretion will include questions quent political commentator from undergraduate students on MSNBC, and he regularand an introduction by Bob ly contributes to The New Harrison ’76, chair of the York Times, The Wall Street Cornell Board of Trustees and See CLINTON page 3 CEO of the Clinton Global Sun Staff Writer