INDEPENDENT SINCE 1880
The Corne¬ Daily Sun Vol. 134, No. 9
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 2017
News Career Connections
Students and employers appreciated the ample space at this year’s Career Fair unlike last year’s. | Page 3
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Arts
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Find out what is playing at Cornell Cinema in Willard Straight Hall this fall.
Field hockey walked away from its first weekend undefeated.
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Highest-Paid on C.U.IRS Form: Mostly White Men
No black or Hispanic employees among top earners listed by University on last year’s IRS filing By DREW MUSTO and NICHOLAS BOGEL-BURROUGHS Sun Senior Editor and Sun City Editor
Of the 23 top employees whose incomes Cornell University reported to the federal government in its most recent tax filings, 15 are men and all but two are white. These employees, who earned a combined $35.9 million, constitute Cornell’s most vital personnel and hold or have held the University’s most powerful posts. They are current and former officers, directors, trustees and highest-compensated employees, as well as key employees, as defined by the Internal Revenue Service. In the filings, which were made public in May and
have not been previously reported, Cornell lists two Asian employees among the group of 23. Cornell is the only Ivy League school with no black or Hispanic employees in this group, according to fiscal year 2015 IRS forms for the other seven Ivies published by ProPublica. Joel Malina, vice president for university relations, said in a statement that Cornell has “made a number of senior level hires over the past few years that increase our leadership diversity, and we will continue to emphasize this throughout the organization.” “Diversity at Cornell is a source of strength, innovation and excellence,” Malina said, adding that the University is committed to diversity “among all mem-
$1,500,000 average compensation number of employees whose earnings Cornell was required to report on Schedule J of its return
bers of our community, including faculty, students, staff and the senior administration.” Minorities and women are underrepresented at other Ivies, too: About 6 percent of the Ivy League’s listed top employees are black or Hispanic, and 61 out of 199 — 31 percent — are women. The elite group is listed by Cornell in a tax form for fiscal year 2016 that the IRS requires from tax-exempt, charitable organizations. The filing, Form 990, is open to public inspection and was provided to The Sun by Cornell upon request. For the fiscal year ending June DR. ROSENWAKS 30, 2016, Cornell’s five highestpaid employees were all doctors employed by Weill Cornell, and four out of five were white men. The top five made an average of more than $4 million, and the highest-paid Cornell employee was Dr. Zev Rosenwaks, director and physician-in-chief of the Ronald O. Perelman and Claudia Cohen Center for Reproductive Medicine in Manhattan, who made $6.4 million. Cornell also reported that there were 4,282 employees who earn more than $100,000 in their University jobs. Former President Elizabeth Garrett’s total compensation, reported for the first time, was $575,627 from July 1, 2015, to Feb. 19, 2016, when she transferred her power to Provost Michael Kotlikoff and underwent treatment for colon cancer. Garrett died on March 6, 2016. Cornell declined to release President Martha E. Pollack’s compensation figures for this article, noting that the University complies with IRS requirements and will release the president’s salary when required by law. See FILING page 4
Ithaca Declares Day For Indigenous People
How I Met Your Mother Star Speaks at C.U.
By ANU SUBRAMANIAM
Josh Radnor, star of the hit CBS sitcom How I Met Your Mother, unpacked his interest in spirituality and his journey to his career in theater in front of a full Statler Auditorium Wednesday night. Having starred in the Pulitzer Prize–winning Broadway play Disgraced two years ago, appearing in numerous TV shows and writing, directing and starring in two feature films, Liberal Arts and Happythankyoumoreplease, Radnor was invited to speak at the year’s first event of the Cornell Hillel’s Major Speaker Series. Throughout his talk, Radnor described growing up in a Midwestern Jewish family and attending an Orthodox Hebrew day school. “I never thought much about being Jewish because I was so saturated in it,” he said. However, as he grew up his rela-
Sun Staff Writer
Ithaca’s Common Council unanimously passed an ordinance to recognize the second Monday of every October as Indigenous Peoples’ Day and to amend the city code to reflect that change on Wednesday night. Currently, the second Monday in October is nationally recognized as Columbus Day. However, the City of Ithaca sought to change this in order to recognize that the indigenous people were on the land known as the Americas prior to Columbus’s arrival.
Beyond the national implication, Ithaca has a local obligation to the change, as it aims to recognize that Ithaca is built on land previously held by the Cayuga Nation and the Haudenosaunee Confederacy. In doing so, recognition of Indigenous Peoples’ Day seeks to value indigenous peoples’ contributions made to the community, to promote equality and to “promote an environment where all may achieve their full potential,” the resolution read. This ordinance will take effect immediately See COUNCIL page 5
By JOHN YOON Sun Assistant News Editor
tionship to his Jewish background became more salient, which became critical when deciding where to go to college. He describes a spiritual calling that pulled him away from Cornell, where he was accepted, to Kenyon College. “I was driving home from school one day and I heard this voice one day and it said — ‘if you go to Kenyon, you’ll be an actor,’” he said. “Then I was fully intoxicated by the theater.” Radnor then attended New Y o r k Un i v e r s i t y ’s Tisch School of the Arts to pursue an MFA in acting, where he
took a “transformative” trip to Israel that left him doubting his chosen path. “I was seized with this idea that being an actor was a narcissisSee RADNOR page 4 MICHAEL SUGUITAN / SUN STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
‘Intoxicated with theater’ | Actor Josh Radnor describes his career to a full Statler Auditorium Wednesday night.