INDEPENDENT SINCE 1880
The Corne¬ Daily Sun Vol. 132, No. 110
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 23, 2016
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ITHACA, NEW YORK
16 Pages – Free
News
Arts
Sports
Weather
Exploring Identity
Girl Power
On a Roll
Showers HIGH: 50º LOW: 38º
Associate dean of students shares her passion for diversity and community building. | Page 3
Jael Goldfine ’17 breaks down what she sees as a new wave of feminism.
With two wins apiece in regionals, the men’s and women’s polo teams advance to the nationals. | Page 16
| Page 11
Kotlikoff Confirms Pledge To 2035 Carbon Neutrality
Je suis Bruxelles
Seeks to enlist aid of students, faculty members
By PHOEBE KELLER
ty,” Chi said. “[SLCAG] is a step in the right direction but there is still a long way to go.” Provost and Acting President Michael Kotlikoff explained that this committee Kotlikoff pledged that Cornell will remain will be responsible for formulating a new committed to becoming carbon neutral by plan to achieve carbon neutrality and 2035 in a meeting with faculty and student reporting back with a recommendation for proponents of prioritizing green the University by Sept. 1. The University policy. new plan will seek to develop In the meeting with the “broader and more implemenprovost, Prof. David Shalloway, tal” steps toward a goal of susmolecular biology, and tainability, unlike the previous Elizabeth Chi ’18, a member of plan, which he said was heavily KyotoNow, said that they conreliant upon geothermal energy. sidered the formation of the “We currently have a goal Senior Leaders Climate Action that relies on a single technoloGroup the beginning of a new gy. We need a broader plan,” he KOTLIKOFF era of collaboration between said. “This does not mean abanadministrators, faculty members and stu- doning deep earth source heat — it means dents in striving toward a goal of carbon acknowledging that we don’t have a price neutrality. for that technology and we won’t know “[Students] have met with Kotlikoff and until we do substantial research at substanother administrators and there is support tial cost.” for stronger partnership between students While the Acting President said that he and the administration on carbon neutrali- believes divestment will remain “off the
Sun Managing Editor
STEPHEN CROWLEY / THE NEW YORK TIMES
President Barack Obama stands with Cuban President Raul Castro in Cuba yesterday during a moment of silence for the victims of the terror attacks in Brussels.
table” moving forward, citing The Board of Trustee’s decision on the topic this winter, Chi and Shalloway stressed that students and faculty members remain optimistic that this decision is not final. “If students can do anything about it, divestment won’t be off the table,” Chi
said. Kotlikoff also said that this approach to carbon neutrality is not a “marked departure” from the policy advocated by President Garrett in her time at Cornell, See SUSTAINABILITY page 5
GPSA Debates Academic Freedom Language House Students By REBECCA EVEN Sun Staff Writer
Cornell’s Graduate and Professional Student Assembly discussed academic freedom and its application to Cornell policy 6.4 — which prohibits discrimination, protected-status harassment, sexual harassment, sexual assault and violence — at its meeting Monday. Nathaniel Stetson grad said the policy allows a faculty member accused of sexual harassment or assault to appeal on the grounds of academic freedom or a special relation“[Students may] and the ship. The faculty member is professor might say, then heard by a committee spe‘This is an academic cializing in dealing with freedom issue.’” such issues, and Nathaniel Stetson grad the complaint must be proven at a higher level — requiring more evidence than at a typical complaint meeting, he said. “If you, as a faculty member, are complained against, the hearing that you go to will be the preponderance of evidence standard,” Stetson said. “If the faculty member raises one of these appeal grounds … then the appeal will require you to show your complaint by clear and convincing evidence, so there’s a higher evidentiary bar to clear when you appeal on these grounds.” Stetson connected the policy to broader issues of academic freedom, including issues with trigger warnings — words or phrases that could possibly upset students.
“[A professor may be] giving a lecture in criminal law, on rape, and some student in the audience feels harassed by the tenor of the conversation,” Stetson said. “That student might complain, and the professor might say, ‘This is an academic freedom issue. I need to use the words that I see fit in order to teach the subject in an unfettered way.’” The GPSA also debated a resolution, which was ultimately tabled until its next meeting to hold Cornell and the IRS responsible for recent issues encountered by international students after they See GPSA page 4 MORGAN COHEN / SUN STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Listen up | Members of the GPSA discussed academic freedom and tax issues at a Monday meeting.
Call for Reinstatement Of Director Position By REBECCA SUH
Sun Staff Writer
More than two thirds of the students in Cornell’s Language House — a member of the Alice Cook House community — have signed a petition to reinstate the Language House director position, according to Arundathi Sharma ’17, one of the petition’s organizers. So far, 38 of the 54 Language House residents have signed the petition — which students presented on March 16 to Cook House Professor-Dean Prof. André Dhondt, ecology and evolutionary biology, and
Assistant Dean Jennifer Majka — Sharma said. Last year, the parttime director position was held by Astrid Jirka, who had regular office hours, planned week-long student trips abroad and met with Native Speakers and house fellows to organize programs, according to the petition. West Campus Senior Staff dismissed Jirka at the end of the 2014-15 academic year, saying they felt the Language House had not contributed to the West Campus community, according to Dhondt. Last Wednesday, the petition’s four
student organizers discussed the issue with Dhondt and
“The changes we’re making have strong institutional support on West Campus.” Jonathan Reinhardt grad Majka, who discredited “every point on the petition,” said organizer Oscar See PETITION page 4