The Corne¬ Daily Sun
Prof. "exhilarated" by Hamas's attack at Sunday rally
Rickford Defends Remark SJP Vigil Honors Israeli, Palestinian Lives Lost
By SOFIA RUBINSON Sun Managing Editor
Prof. Russell Rickford, history, is no stranger to controversial remarks. In 2017, during a “kneel-in” event in support of students and professional athletes fighting against racism in America, he led a “Free Palestine” chant, which some students regarded as inappropriate as the IsraeliPalestinian conflict was not the topic of the demonstration.
Now, some students are expressing outrage over Rickford’s statement at a pro-Palestinian rally on Sunday, Oct. 15 at the Ithaca Commons. Rickford stated that he was initially “exhilarated” by Hamas’s attack on Israel, in which 1,400 civilians were killed. The United States and the European Union classify Hamas as a terrorist organization.
“Hamas has challenged the monopoly of violence. And in those first few hours, even as horrific acts were being carried out, many of which we would not learn about until later, there are many Gazans of good will, many Palestinians of conscience, who abhor violence, as do you, as do I. Who abhor the targeting of civilians, as do you, as do I,”
Rickford said during the rally. “Who were able to breathe, they were able to breathe for the first time in years. It was exhilarating. It was energizing. And if they weren't exhilarated by this challenge to the monopoly of violence, by this shifting of the balance of power, then they would not be human. I was exhilarated."
He added: "What has Hamas done? Hamas has shifted the balance of power. Hamas has punctured the illusion of invincibility. That's what they have done. You don't have to be a Hamas supporter to recognize that,” Rickford said. “Hamas has changed the terms of the debate. Israeli officials are right — nothing will be the same again.”
In an interview with The Sun, Rickford clarified his remarks, but did not backpedal his choice of words.
“What I was referring to is in those first few hours, when they broke through the apartheid wall, that it seemed to be a symbol of resistance, and indeed a new phase of resistance in the Palestinian struggle,” Rickford said. “We are acutely aware of the devastation, the daily destruction and degradation caused by Israeli policies, caused by Israeli apartheid, caused by the occupation. So in that context, this act of defiance of boring across the wall was a significant symbol. It really signaled that the Palestinian will to resist had not been broken. In subsequent days, we learned of some of the horrifying realities. I want to make it clear that Hamas is a fundamentalist organization. It’s important to note that in some ways, the fundamentalism of Hamas mirrors that of Israeli leadership.”
Rickford referred to Gaza as an “open-air prison,” citing the lack of abundant food, clean water and healthcare in the region.
According to B’Tselem, an Israeli human rights group, most Palestinians are prohibited from entering or leaving the area except in rare cases.
See RICKFORD page 3
of whom she has lost contact with due to the evacuation as well as internet and data service cuts for many in the area.
Students for Justice in Palestine held a vigil to mourn the loss of Palestinian and Israeli lives in the ongoing Israel-Hamas War — which has killed 2,383 Palestinians and 1,300 Israelis — on Friday, Oct. 13. Roughly 200 students, faculty and community members shaped into a circle at Ho Plaza, and the event commenced after a collective moment of silence in honor of those killed.
Malak Abuhashim ’24, President of the Students for Justice in Palestine and the Arab Student Association, spoke about her family currently residing in Gaza, many
“My cousin is the same age as me and has already experienced six to seven wars. I remember one time my dad was calling our family and we were worried about them and we could hear the bombs in the background,” Abuhashim said. “My cousin told me, ‘Don’t be scared. If I die, at least I died for my country. I died for a good cause.’”
On Saturday, Oct. 7, Hamas stormed into southern Israel, killing nearly 1,300 Israelis. In response, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu cut off food, water, electricity and other supplies from entering Gaza.
Nearly half of Gaza’s population of 2 million has been displaced, and 77 percent of households rely on foreign aid.
Friday’s vigil came mere hours after the Israel Ministry of Defense and the Israel Defense Forces issued a directive calling for the evacuation of 1.1 million Palestinians residing in the northern region of Gaza. The IDF formally notified the United Nations that Palestinians were required to evacuate within a 24-hour timeframe. Hamas told civilians in northern Gaza not to heed the evacuation call, despite concerns about an Israeli occupation of Gaza.
Pollack Condemns Support of Hamas Attacks in Statement
By JONATHAN MONG and GABRIEL MUÑOZ Sun News Editors
President Martha Pollack condemned members of the Cornell community who have made statements in support of the Oct. 7 attacks in Israel committed by Hamas — a group that controls the Gaza Strip and which the United States and European Union have designated as a terrorist organization — in a statement sent to the Cornell community on Monday, Oct. 16.
“I am sickened by statements glorifying the evilness of Hamas terrorism. Any members of our community who have made such statements do not speak for Cornell; in fact, they speak in direct opposition to all we stand for at Cornell. There is no justification for or moral equivalent to these violent and abhorrent acts,” Pollack wrote in the statement. “I am outraged by them and, along with senior
leadership of the Cornell Board of Trustees, I again condemn them in the strongest possible terms.”
The statement comes following a comment made by Prof. Russell Rickford, history, at an Oct. 15 rally in support of Palestine on the Ithaca Commons. Rickford spoke of feeling “exhilarated” by Hamas’s attacks.
“[The attacks were] exhilarating. [They were] energizing,” Rickford said. “And if [Gazans and Palestinians] weren't exhilarated by this challenge to the monopoly of violence, by this shifting of the balance of power, then they would not be human. I was exhilarated.”
In Pollack’s first email statement in response to the Israel-Hamas war on Tuesday, Oct. 10, Pollack described the University’s overall support for faculty, staff and students impacted by global conflicts and natural disasters. The same day, Pollack sent a follow-up email in which she apologized for not referring
to Hamas’s attacks as acts of terrorism.
This third email is the first time Pollack has included the words “Palestine” and “Palestinians” in a public statement after the start of the conflict, something for which she has been criticized by students in other previous communications talking about the conflict for not talking about Palestine.
“The Cornell community on our campuses and around the world includes students, faculty, staff and alumni who are Israeli, Palestinian and others who have close ties to the region. As the fighting there continues, the pain and suffering felt by all people throughout the region is and will be completely heart-wrenching,” Pollack wrote in the statement. “I am a grandmother and I weep for the Israeli babies who were murdered or kidnapped; I weep for the Palestinian babies now in harm’s way.”
An international Cornell student, who requested anonymity due to privacy concerns,
stood firm against Pollack’s previous omission of the word “Palestine” during a vigil held by Students for Justice in Palestine on Oct. 15.
“[I say this] at the risk of losing my visa as an international student, at the risk of losing my funding, at the risk of being deported from this country — your silence is saying that Muslim bodies do not matter to you, that Palestinian bodies do not matter to you,” the student said at the vigil.
At an Oct. 12 Student Assembly meeting, students from both pro-Palestine groups and Jewish affinity groups spoke at length regarding a resolution sponsored by the campus group Students for Justice in Palestine, which called for the University to reassess its messaging about the attacks and that the statements should represent both sides of the ongoing struggles.
JULIA NAGEL / SUN PHOTOGRAPHY EDITOR
MING DEMERS / SUN ASSISTANT PHOTOGRAPHY EDITOR
Vigil | Members of the Cornell community gathered at a vigil hosted by Students for Justice in Palestine to mourn the loss of lives in the Israel-Hamas War.
"I was exhilarated" | Prof. Russell Rickford's statement at a pro-Palestinian rally sparked outrage among some Cornellians.
By HENRY FERNANDEZ and DOUAE MAAROUF Sun Contributors
Today Tomorrow
Domestic Violence at the Workplace: A Training for Managers and Human Resources Profesisonals
10 a.m. - 11 a.m., Virtual Event
Public Economics Workshop: Prof. Carlo Rasmus Schwarz, Economics, Bocconi University
11:35 a.m. - 1:15 p.m., 494 Uris Hall
Joint Labor and Econometrics Workshop: Qiwei He 11:40 a.m. - 12:55 p.m., 498 Uris Hall
Laboratory of Atomic and Solid State Physics and Applied and Engineering Physics Seminar by Prof. Eunice Bae, Chemistry and Chemical Biology
12:20 p.m. - 1:30 p.m., 700 Clark Hall
Electrical and Computer Engineering Seminar:
Prof. Felix Leditzky, Mathematics, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign — On the Duality of Teleportation and Dense Coding
3:30 p.m. - 4:30 p.m., 233 Phillips Hall
Asian Americans and Affirmative Action
4:30 p.m. - 6:30 p.m., 251 Malott Hall
Carnegie Scholarship Information Session
4:45 p.m. - 5:45 p.m., 100 Barnes Hall
Moral Psychology Speaker Series 4:45 p.m. - 5:45 p.m., 150 Warren Hall
Weill Cornell Medicine Fall Scientific Computing Training Series: JupyterLab (in the Cloud) for Python 9 a.m. - 10 a.m., Virtual Event
Architecture, Art and Planning Professional Headshot Day 10 a.m. - 5 p.m., 235x Sibley Dome
Asian American Studies Program Wednesday Lunch Series With Leslie Tabor Noon - 1 p.m., 429 Rockefeller Hall
Students MindWell Session: Vicarious Trauma What Is It? How Do We Cope With It? Noon - 1 p.m., Centennial Room
American Studies Fall 2023 Colloquium — Race, Class and Black Radical Visions — Prof. Ashley Farmer, African and African Diaspora Studies, University of Texas at Austin Noon - 1:30 p.m., 404 Morrill Hall
Balancing Human Development and Environmental Conservation: Global Perspectives 12:20 p.m. - 1:10 p.m., 135 Emerson Hall
Institute for African Development: Multisectoral Support of Rural Food Systems in Ghana 2:30 p.m. - 4:30 p.m., G-08 Uris Hall
Misinformation, Disinformation and Propaganda: Learning to Critically Evaluate Media Sources 4 p.m. - 5 p.m., Uris Classroom, Uris Library
University Approves Shorter Term MOU With City of Ithaca
Cornell to provide $4 million PILOT to city annually
By SOFIA RUBINSON and GABRIEL MUÑOZ Sun Managing Editor and Sun News Editor
Cornell will pay the City of Ithaca $4 million annually, adjusted yearly for inflation, for 15 years, as the Cornell Board of Trustees approved the revised memorandum of understanding in an executive committee on Friday, Oct. 13. On Wednesday, the Common Council passed an amended MOU, which decreased the term length from 20 to 15 years.
The University last negotiated the MOU in 2003, which stipulated that Cornell provide voluntary payments in lieu of taxes of $1 million annually until June 2024, adjusted yearly for inflation. Cornell is exempt from paying property taxes as a higher education institution, but instead offers the city voluntary PILOT contributions.
The agreement comes after months of negotiations over Cornell’s yearly contribution. In September, Mayor Laura Lewis announced that negotiations halted on Aug. 11, as the City of Ithaca proposed an $8 million contribution while Cornell gave their offer for $3.15 million. Seven days after Lewis’ office released the statement, President Martha Pollack signed a joint statement with Lewis that committed Cornell to pay $4 million annually.
“We don’t have the ability right now as a city to take on Cornell University with their tax exempt status and their army of lawyers.”
Jorge DeFendini ’22
Following the informal agreement, the Ithaca Democratic Socialists of America held a rally on Sept. 18 at Ho Plaza to demand an increased contribution from the University. Common Council members Jorge DeFendini
’22 (D-Fourth Ward) and Tiffany Kumar ’24 (D-Fourth Ward) joined in support of the increased contributions.
The Common Council approved the $4 million annual contribution MOU 9-1 at a meeting on Wednesday, after tense discussion about the position the city was under. On Oct. 4, the Common Council passed a budget that relied on the University’s $4 million PILOT payment contributions.
“We are in a hostage situation with Cornell University,” DeFendini said. “The fact of the matter is, we don’t have the ability right now as a city to take on Cornell University with their tax exempt status and their army of lawyers.”
The agreement took effect immediately until the year 2039, as the Common Council successfully decreased the term length from 20 to 15 years.
Eighty percent of the funding is unrestricted, allowing the city to use the funds with broad discretion. The remainder will support city infrastructure and other priority projects of mutual interest, according to a University press release.
The University will provide an additional $100,000 annual grant for a Cornell faculty member to collaborate with the city on issues such as sustainability, according to the press release.
“I’m extremely grateful to the Common Council for approving this agreement and appreciate all who were involved in the negotiations that enabled us to reach this historic moment,” Vice President of University Relations Joel Malina said in the statement. “This hard work and dedication strengthens the relationship between the city and Cornell, and these growing resources will benefit Ithaca residents for years to come.”
Sofa Rubinson can be reached at srubinson@cornellsun.com. Gabriel Muñoz can be reached at gmunoz@cornellsun.com.
Cornell Settles New Agreement to Pay TCAT $3.3 Million Until 2027
By JOANNE HU, JULIA SENZON and JONATHAN MONG Sun Assistant News Editor and Sun News Editors
Cornell and Tompkins Consolidated Area Transit announced in a press release on Monday, Oct. 16 that the University will pay more than $3.3 million per year to TCAT for the next four years, effective retroactive to July 1. The TCAT Board of Directors unanimously approved the payment plan during its regular meeting on Sept. 28.
The announcement comes three days after the Cornell Board of Trustees approved the new memorandum of understanding between the University and the City of Ithaca, certifying that Cornell will pay the City of Ithaca $4 million annually through payment in lieu of taxes, following months of negotiations. After the PILOT was informally agreed upon in September, the Ithaca Democratic Socialists of America held a rally on Sept. 18 at Ho Plaza to urge the University to increase their financial contributions to the City of Ithaca.
“Negotiators representing both TCAT and Cornell worked collaboratively to reach a fair and adequate agreement, which gives TCAT time to rebuild service to the levels that University riders and our entire ridership deserve,” said Scot Vanderpool, TCAT general manager, to the Cornell Chronicle. “This agreement clearly demonstrates the University’s support to community public transportation and its commitment to local sustainability goals.”
While the payment will increase by three percent year over year, establishing an increase of about $100,000 per year, there is a potential for higher annual increases. If TCAT meets the target of 1,100 hours of weekday service during its fall and spring service periods for its 10, 30, 81, 82 and 90 routes — considered key routes for Cornell’s campus — annual payment increases
could rise to a maximum of 3.75 percent.
Under the new agreement, the University will make a base annual payment of $3.33 million in equal monthly installments. These payments combine with the University’s contribution of almost $1 million as one of TCAT’s three underwriters, with each underwriter paying an equivalent share. This equates to a total $4.32 million contribution in 2023, around 22 percent of TCAT’s annual operating expenses of $19 million, according to TCAT’s press release.
The University will provide this funding in acknowledgment of TCAT’s essential impact on its Cornell-affiliated riders — students, faculty and staff — who make up over 70 percent of TCAT’s annual ridership.
Cornell’s contribution to TCAT subsidizes rides for the Cornell community, according to TCAT’s press release. Faculty and staff ride free on the TCAT at all times, along with any students for whom it is their first year at Cornell — including master’s and doctoral students. Non-qualified students have the option to purchase an annual OmniRide unlimited pass at a discounted rate. All Cornell students can ride the TCAT for free past 6 p.m. on weekdays and at all times on weekends with their student ID card.
“We are very interested in TCAT’s success and value the contribution that they make to our campus community very highly,” said Rick Burgess, vice president for facilities and campus services, in an interview with the Chronicle.
Before the new service agreement, the University committed to paying TCAT about $3.2 million under a multi-year memorandum of understanding signed in 2017, which was set to expire in June 2021. As a change from the past MOU, the new agreement sets up target service levels — including a target number of service hours — to incentivize TCAT to improve its level of service, helping accommodate more riders in the Ithaca community and achieve sustainability goals.
If TCAT’s actual service hours of the five routes surpass the target by 2.5 percent, Cornell will make extra payments for that year. If the service level is more than 2.5 percent below the target, TCAT must offer a credit or refund to Cornell.
To continue reading this article, please visit www.cornellsun.com.
Joanne Hu can be reached at xhu@ cornellsun.com.
Julia Senzon can be reached at jsenzon@cornellsun.com.
Jonathan Mong can be reached at jmong@cornellsun.com.
Faculty Senate Aims to Eliminate Permanent Incomplete Notations
By JULIA SENZON Sun News Editor
Cornell University’s grading system today relies upon standards adopted by the Faculty Senate in 1965. However, permanent incomplete designations after students fulfill makeup requirements may soon be forgone on transcripts due to a resolution presented at the Oct. 11 Faculty Senate meeting.
An incomplete grade indicates when a “student has a substantial equity at a passing level in the course with respect to work completed [and] has been prevented by circumstances beyond the student’s control, such as illness or family emergency, from completing all the course requirements on time,” according to the University’s grading system.
If the student does not fulfill set makeup requirements, as determined by the instructor of the course, the incomplete will continue to hold an INC designation or switch to a grade of F, depending on the college. If the student does fulfill the makeup requirements, however, the incomplete designation will permanently remain with an asterisk designation along with the new grade submitted.
Cornell is currently the only Ivy League university to include incomplete designations on transcripts when another grade has been assigned, according to the resolution.
“From what we can see, it doesn’t appear that the [grading] policy has been reviewed in part or in whole since its inception,” said Prof. Lisa Nishii, industrial and labor relations, who also serves as the vice provost for undergraduate education and is one of the sponsors for the resolution.
“[Since] Cornell is the only Ivy that notes this on the tran-
script… our students may be disadvantaged relative to students from other institutions.”
The resolution proposes that the incomplete designation only become a permanent part of a transcript if another grade has not been subsequently submitted. The resolution still allows for permanent INC or F grades if a student is unable to complete makeup work.
Nishii emphasized that a student is not at fault in cases that facilitate an incomplete designation.
“The argument here is [that the student] shouldn’t be punished for a setback that is out of their control by having this permanent notation that could lead other people who are reading their transcript to have incorrect assumptions [or] make incorrect inferences about why the asterisk might be there,” Nishii said.
Permanent incomplete designations, Nishii said, pressure students into disclosing private information, such as pregnancy and serious illness, to contextualize their transcript. Nishii also said a transcript reader will still know all important information from a transcript without the existing permanent incomplete designation policy, since students would still need to complete all makeup work to eliminate the designation.
“If the student has completed [the makeup work] on time, then the grade will be reflected for the work that they have completed for the course,” Nishii said.
To continue reading this article, please visit www.cornellsun. com.
Julia Senzon can be reached at jsenzon@cornellsun.com.
Rickford Israel-Hamas Statement Sparks Controversy
“As I said in that clip, I abhor the killing of civilians. If in fact we believe in the West in the rhetoric that we spout about equality, about human rights, then we must recognize the tremendous disproportionality, the tremendous unevenness, the injustice and the hypocrisy of Western support in celebration of Israeli war crimes, and the equation of any form of Palestinian resistance with terrorism,” Rickford told The Sun.
But several students told The Sun they felt the remarks were words of hate against Israeli citizens and Jewish people more broadly. Netanel Shapira ’25 was at the rally and identifies as Israeli, as most of his family was born in the country. He spent a gap year in Israel before starting at Cornell and currently has friends in the Israel Defense Forces whose safety he fears for.
“You can’t have a situation where you have a professor on this campus… make comments like it should feel exhilarating to massacre civilians and murder babies. And that he felt exhilarated by it,” Shapira said. “That’s the first step to the incitement of violence towards a group.”
Shapira ultimately ended up filming a portion of Rickford’s speech, which spread among the Jewish community at Cornell and resulted in national attention.
Ethan Glezer ’24, whose parents are both Israeli, also attended the rally. He said he attended the rally for Palestine in order to understand those with different viewpoints on the conflict, with the goal of creating open dialogue and discussion. But he felt Rickford’s comments were not productive and were instead inciting violence.
“His words were directly in support of violence. It was the next level to
where things started to feel uncomfortable being there,” Glezer said. “There was no point before that… I never felt like my personal safety was at risk until we started hearing that the actions of Hamas exhilarate another person, because those actions are completely and entirely focused on one objective, which is causing as much suffering, as much terror and as much horror to Jewish civilians, Jewish people as possible.”
Hasham Khan ’26 attended the rally as part of Students for Justice in Palestine. He told The Sun that while he does not completely support Rickford’s statement, he understands the context behind his statement.
“The exhilaration that people feel is tied to Hamas. Hamas had essentially done what Palestinians wanted to be done in almost ideology. They wanted their shackles to be taken away,” Khan said. “Can your shackles be taken away by killing civilians? No. Can your
shackles be taken away by engaging in terrorism? No. But the exhilaration and the liberation that is felt when you attack the oppressor is just a common theme in revolution.”
In a University statement sent around 4:30 p.m. on Monday, President Martha Pollack referred broadly to faculty who have spoken positively about Hamas.
“I am sickened by statements glorifying the evilness of Hamas terrorism. Any members of our community who have made such statements do not speak for Cornell; in fact, they speak in direct opposition to all we stand for at Cornell,” Pollack said. “There is no justification for or moral equivalent to these violent and abhorrent acts.”
Jonathan Mong ’25 contributed reporting.
Sofa Rubinson can be reached at srubinson@ cornellsun.com.
RICKFORD Continued from page 1
JULIA NAGEL / SUN PHOTOGRAPHY EDITOR
Bus bonus | The new agreement between Cornell and TCAT aims to improve service of key routes on campus, including route 81.
Pollack Sends Statement On Israel-Hamas War
POLLACK
Continued from page 1
“We desire historically and politically informed responses to this ongoing violence that denounce Zionism as an ideology and acknowledge Palestinians’ right to existence in their homeland,” the resolution states. “We urge Cornell to recognize the Palestinian right to resistance and contextualize the violence as a direct response to decades of Israel’s occupation.”
The resolution did not make it out of the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion committee and was submitted from the floor by its S.A. sponsor, LGBTQIA+ Liaison at-Large Karys Everett ’25. As a procedural action required under this circumstance, the S.A. ultimately voted 7-4 not to suspend the rules and consider the resolution, with several assembly members abstaining from the vote without access to read the resolution.
Some Cornellians — like Simone Shteingart ’24, vice president of Cornell Hillel’s student executive board — expressed
support for Pollack’s statement following its release.
“[The statement] condemns terrorism, it acknowledged the loss of all innocent lives,” Shteingart said. “And [Pollack is] really taking a stance against all forms of hate.”
Will Barkoff ’24, Hillel’s student executive board’s president, echoed this sentiment.
“I’m supportive of [Pollack’s] statement, especially her condemnation of terrorism and her recognizing all the loss of life,” Barkoff said. “I’m glad that she recognizes how difficult a time this is for many students on campus.”
Hasham Khan ’26, who is a part of Students for Justice in Palestine, expressed disappointment with the amount of time it took for Pollack to include the word Palestine in a public statement.
To continue reading this article, please visit cornellsun.com.
Jonathan Mong can be reached at jmong@cornellsun.com.
Gabriel Muñoz can be reached at gmunoz@cornellsun.com.
Cornellians Mourn Lives
Lost in Israel-Hamas War
VIGIL
Continued from page 1
Many chose to evacuate despite Hamas’s statement, some of whom were killed on their way by Israeli airstrikes.
Throughout the evening, students expressed frustration with Cornell and President Martha Pollack’s actions surrounding her response to the conflict. Pollack released two statements, neither of which included the words “Palestine” or “Palestinians.”
Bianca Waked grad broke into tears as she spoke. “This institution has failed us. It has failed every Arab and Muslim student. And there’s no denying that. They have failed the Palestinians who have no voice,” she said.
An international Cornell student, who requested anonymity due to privacy concerns, stood firm against Pollack’s omission of the word “Palestine.”
“[I say this] at the risk of losing my Visa as an international student, at the risk of losing my funding, at the risk of being deported from this country — your silence is saying that Muslim bodies do not matter to you, that Palestinian bodies do not matter to you,” the student said.
The student urged Pollack to acknowledge Palestine, saying, “I will implore you to do better. I will implore you to say something, Martha. Say the word Palestine.”
A faculty member stood up in solidarity with the students, urging them to spotlight their
Palestinian identities. “Your $80,000 [tuition] is the same as anybody’s $80,000...You demand to be called Palestinian. You stand up in front of the office and you say my $80,000 is from my Palestinian father and mother.”
One student, who did not provide their name, emphasized the urgency of the crisis in Gaza’s hospitals, where around 2,000 individuals, including children, are in the ICU making them unable to evacuate.
“They can’t f***ing leave. They’re going to die. So I don’t want to hear what the f*** Martha has to say anymore,” the student said.
Several Jewish Cornell students spoke at the vigil. One Jewish student, who also did not provide a name, reflected on his identity at Cornell.
“I came to Cornell and I was excited about the possibility of having a Jewish community, … but then I saw what that community was like here, the community that was present at the Student Assembly [Thursday] — that’s not a community I want to be a part of,” the student said of the pro-Israel Jewish students who spoke against the SJP bill to the S.A. last Thursday.
To continue reading this article, please visit cornellsun.com.
Henry Fernandez can be reached at hjf47@cornell.edu.
Douae Maarouf can be reached at dm927@cornell.edu.
&
Olivia Rodrigo Is Not “ Te Next Taylor Swift”
SYDNEY LEVINTON ARTS CONTRIBUTOR
Taylor Swift and Olivia Rodrigo often make headlines, but now more than ever, the two of them seem to be a major topic of conversation.
Taylor Swift’s burgeoning relationship with Travis Kelce has been talked about non-stop in the media, Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour is already reaching record-breaking ticket sales in theaters and 1989 (Taylor’s Version) is set to be released at the end of this month. Olivia Rodrigo has largely been talked about in regards to the release of her sophomore album, GUTS, and the announcement of the accompanying world tour.
As we all know, Taylor Swift’s fan base is one of the most influential and robust of any artist. Olivia Rodrigo herself identifies as a hardcore Swiftie and has repeatedly emphasized the influence Taylor Swift’s music has had on her own. This has led many of her fans to call her “The Next Taylor Swift.” While Swift and Rodrigo do share certain similarities, I would argue that by assigning Rodrigo such a title, we are limiting her growth as a creative.
Olivia Rodrigo first shot into the spotlight as the character Nini on High School Musical: The Musical: The Series. On the show, she sang the song “All I Want,” a sweet ballad emphasizing the perils of teenage love, which received plenty of attention. Shortly after, in 2021, Rodrigo released her first single unassociated with the show, “drivers license,” which was then followed by “deja vu.”
As I am sure you all remember, people went crazy for both tracks, in which she reminisces on a past relationship. It was at this point that fans made the romantic connection between Rodrigo and High School Musical: The Musical: The Series co-star Joshua Bassett. Not only were Bassett and suspected then-girlfriend Sabrina Carpenter completely demonized by the press as a result, but Rodrigo gained a reputation — that of the relatable, angsty teenage girl who understood what it meant to be scorned, who understood what it meant to be us. However, this persona can be a double-edged sword — while it contributed to Rodrigo’s growing fan base, it also created rigid expectations for the album that “drivers license” and “deja vu” were a part of: SOUR. Rodrigo rose to the occasion, though, with
songs such as “traitor,” “good 4 u” and “happier” solidifying her ability to sing extremely effectively about past relationships.
As the drama involving Bassett and Carpenter built, the tide started to turn on Rodrigo. She began to receive backlash for the effect her songs were having on Bassett and Carpenter. Many of her fans stuck by her side, but her reputation became complicated. This reputation is not unlike Taylor Swift’s, whose songs about young love put her on the map but also resulted in her receiving much criticism about her supposed “exploitation” of her past relationships for subject matter.
Not long after the release of SOUR, Olivia Rodrigo was crowned “The Next Taylor Swift.” In some ways, this is a huge benefit to Rodrigo’s career — Taylor Swift is one of the most influential and storied singer-songwriters of our time. She was named SongwriterArtist of the Decade at the Nashville Songwriter Awards in 2022 for good reason; her lyrics display a nuance and thoughtfulness that is rare in today’s musical landscape. Her ability to beautifully transcend the constraints of genre is laudable. Being compared to Taylor Swift is being compared to a legend. Likewise, naming Olivia
Rodrigo “The Next Taylor Swift” is a restriction of artistry. By bestowing this identity upon her, fans essentially prescribe her artistic future. This is especially significant in the wake of the release of GUTS. This album was highly anticipated — many people expected another SOUR, which included a number of ballads that showed off Rodrigo’s vocal range and displayed a heartwarming sensitivity comforting to anyone who has ever been a teenage girl. That being said, GUTS marks a shift away from such content. Rather than leaning into that aspect of her first album, she went in the other direction, which we got a taste of with SOUR songs like “brutal”: the riot grrrl anthem. Songs like “logical” attempt to balance out this quality with a quieter vibe, but it seems forced, like an attempt at keeping the attention of fans of SOUR’s soft side. As aptly put by Cat Zhang of Pitchfork, “The album’s more somber offerings are not always bad on their own, but amid songs that showcase such ripened self-awareness, they can feel stuck in the past, content to repeat the same wounded, wide-eyed disbelief of ‘drivers license.’”
This is the harm in comparing Olivia Rodrigo to Taylor Swift. The whispers of Taylor Swift’s influence that we heard
in SOUR, that purposeful prose and instrumental focus, were not just expected but demanded in GUTS GUTS showcased Rodrigo’s ability to do it all and represented her development as an artist in the past two years, but this was overshadowed and undervalued because of the Taylor Swift designation.
Taylor Swift and Olivia Rodrigo are distinct artists who are talented in their own rights.
To conflate them is to define them and limit their potential.
As new artists emerge, we must
allow them to define themselves to foster change and innovation in the industry, instead of creating a vortex of previously-established talent.
Sydney Levinton is a freshman in the College of Arts and Sciences. She can be reached at shl222@cornell.edu.
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Gabriel Levin
Gabriel Levin is a second-year student in the College of Arts & Sciences. His column Almost Fit to Print spans issues in science, social justice and politics. He is the host of Under Te Sun, a Cornell Daily Sun opinion podcast. He can be reached at glevin@cornellsun.com.
We Must Teach Media Literacy. Here’s Why.
In case you missed it, the world is going to hell in a handbasket, and this time, the chaos will be televised.
Peace in the Middle East remains a pipe dream as innocent Palestinians and Israelis perish in a continuing cycle of violence and retaliation. The war in Ukraine, too, rages on with no resolution in sight.
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Then there’s this summer’s coup in Niger; flooding in Libya and India; the earthquakes that shook Morocco and Afghanistan; and all the innocent Syrians recently slain by remote-controlled drones raining terror from above.
Wherever calamity strikes, a journalist is sure to be there with a pen and notepad in hand to bear witness. That’s how the world knows. As we enter this strange and daunting period of history, one word comes to mind: unprecedented.
No tradition, it seems, will survive to be passed on to the next generation, and nothing is sacred, certainly not the truth.
It’s hard not to be desensitized watching the never-ending news ticker just transition from one tragedy to the next, spelling out our collective doom headline by headline. But turning off the TV won’t help.
Knowledge is what empowers us to take charge and be changemakers in the world. And without journalists to shed light on injustice, progress is impossible.
That’s why this anti-media strain running through our culture is so toxic. Lies spread six times faster than the truth on platforms like X, formerly Twitter, and more Americans than ever before blindly distrust the press.
The kind of willful ignorance we’re seeing today is an educational failure. At Cornell and beyond, professors need to do more to reel young minds back into reality.
I propose introducing a media literacy class into our core curriculum. Knowing how to distinguish between facts and lies is central to an education because meaningful learning can’t take place when the truth itself has become politicized, from vaccines and presidential elections to the climate crisis.
I reached out to a handful of bigname alumni in journalism — all former Sunnies — to hear their thoughts on what course designers should prioritize in a required media literacy class.
“I think [the class should focus on] establishing a basic understanding of what newsgathering entails, of what it means to be a credible news organi-
zation and of how notions of balance have evolved,” said Andrew Morse ‘96, the publisher of the Atlanta JournalConstitution and former digital chief of CNN.
Morse also told me that the class should act as a window into newsrooms across the country, from start-ups to legacy media outlets. “Students need to understand the good, the bad and the ugly,” he said. “They need a basic primer on [journalistic] ethics.”
I completely agree. What readers don’t see when they picak up a newspaper is all the behind-the-scenes muckraking that goes into it.
The fake news narrative that has emerged in politics would be debunked if we could all see the editorial integrity of publications like The New York Times, L.A. Times and The Washington Post — and more people would view primetime loudmouths like Tucker Carlson with a skeptical eye.
After the Dominion lawsuit, we really have to ask ourselves why we gave him a platform in the first place?
But the lies aren’t only limited to Fox News.
The Internet is rife with disinformation. We’ve seen it this week as the humanitarian crisis in Gaza unfolds in the fallout of Hamas’ brutal terrorist assault on everyday Israelis. The cauldron of high emotions and conflicting information that is social media has finally boiled over.
The commander in chief is as lost as many of us are. The White House recently walked back President Biden’s claim that he saw evidence of Hamas beheading babies (as of publication, those reports are still unconfirmed).
“Critical thinking and knowing the difference between rooting interests and hard facts are worthwhile skills for every person,” said David Folkenflik ‘91, NPR’s media correspondent and this year’s distinguished visiting journalist. The media literacy course, he said, should give an overview on sourcing and identifying bias.
Eric Lichtblau ‘87, an author, teacher and two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, said the course needs to address the digital age: “It’s become harder than ever to tell the truth from a lie. It’s probably going to get even tougher before it gets easier, especially as AI gets more sophisticated.”
“Extremism has become the biggest battleground for disinformation, as we’ve seen in the last seven years, with one flashpoint being the Russian interference campaign in 2016,” Lichtblau said. “Politics should be at the heart of the class.”
SMOKE BANANAS
Fill in the empty cells, one number in each, so that each column, row, and region contains the numbers 1-9 exactly once. Each number in the solution therefore occurs only once in each of the three “directions,” hence the “single numbers” implied by the puzzle’s name. (Rules from wikipedia.org/wiki/ Sudoku)
Mr. Gnu by Travis Dandro
Freshmen Shine, Hockey Domininates in Debut
Cornell men’s hockey began its season with an exhibition against Toronto Metropolitan University, dominating from the start to pick up the 6-1 win. The game was trademarked by its freshmen who accounted for three of the six Cornell goals, two of which had multi-point games.
The freshmen didn’t need much time to get used to playing in front of the Lynah Faithful, as two out of the first three of Red’s goal scorers were first-years. The three notches came all within the first five minutes to give Cornell a commanding lead.
“It gives them confidence,” said head coach Mike Schafer ’86. “It gives them an opportunity to get their feet wet and that first experience of the crowd.”
Each defensive pairing had a freshman paired with an upperclassmen, a move Schafer said he made intentionally to take some weight off of the first-years’ shoulders.
“We did that throughout the whole lineup, and it gives them an opportunity to sit and talk about things on the bench,” Schafer said.
Kraft also cited leadership as a reason for his class’s success offensively on Saturday night.
“The older guys [have been] really welcoming,” Kraft said.
Freshman forward Jonathan Castagna got the scoring started less than two and a half minutes in, with freshman forward Jacob Kraft and senior forward Gabriel Seger joining the party less than a minute
later with a goal each. Kraft and Seger’s goals both came off beautiful feeds from freshman defenseman George Fegaras and sophomore forward Nick DeSantis, respectively.
“It was a blast,” Kraft said, reflecting on his first collegiate minutes and his offensive outburst. “Coming in, [I] didn’t really know what to expect. Obviously, Lynah is a great place to play, so it was definitely a blast.”
Kraft debuted on a first-line with Seger at center and DeSantis at right wing.
“It’s been awesome,” Kraft said of playing with the two experienced forwards. “Obviously [Seger] is very experienced and his awareness and hockey sense is second to none. [DeSantis] is a very highly skilled player, too.”
It was all Red in the first period, holding TMU in its zone for the majority of the period. The Bold goaltender Kai Edmonds came up with a couple of key stops, including a one-time missile by Seger from the slot.
With 3:42 left in the period, TMU had a close call, with Shane briefly outside of the crease, a defensive save by freshman defenseman George Fegaras helped keep the Bold scoreless. Later, with just under two minutes left in the opening frame, TMU found themselves on a partial breakaway, but a hustling effort by junior defenseman Tim Rego allowed him to break up the play and prevented sophomore goaltender Ian Shane from seeing a shot. Shane was up to the task in the first, easily stopping the three shots he faced.
A scrum after the horn sounded on the first period caused the second frame to begin with a Cornell power play. TMU’s Cole Cameron was given a five-minute major penalty for slew footing, resulting in a game misconduct for the defensemen. Seger and TMU’s Liam Ross were also nabbed for roughing.
It didn’t take long for the Red to capitalize: Winter Wallace found the back of the net just 27 seconds into the period off of a freshman-centered passing sequence by Kraft and Fegaras. Less than a minute later, TMU took another minor penalty to give the Red a 5-on-3. Once again, Cornell wasted no time: junior defenseman Michael Suda fired a wrist shot over the blocker of the TMU goaltender, extending the Red’s lead to 5-0. Sophomore forward Sean Donaldson and O’Leary picked up the assists on Suda’s tally.
The scoring depth was apparent all over the box score. “A lot of guys played well, got pucks to different people,” Schafer said.
Still on the power play from the slew footing major penalty, yet another Cornell freshman was able to find the back of the net. This time, it was freshman forward Ryan Walsh, who made a beautiful deflection off a Seger shot from the blue line. Sophomore forward Dalton Bancroft had the secondary assist on Walsh’s goal, putting Cornell up 6-0 just before the halfway point of the contest.
TMU made a change in net after the sixth goal, replacing Edmonds with Ryan Dugas, who made some stellar saves to cool down the red-hot Red. Dugas stopped all
shots he saw in the second frame, a period where the Red fired a remarkable 17 shots on goal. The game concluded with Cornell firing 34 shots against the two TMU goaltenders. Edmonds finished with nine saves, while Dugas personally shut out the Red, making 23 saves. While the goals subsided as the second frame went on, the action never stopped. Cornell was relentless with its pressure, pinching in tight and making aggressive decisions deep in its offensive zone. Shane stood tall when tested, making a crucial breakaway save while the Red were short handed at the halfway point of the period. Not long after that stop, Cornell replaced Shane with sophomore goaltender Remington Keopple, who played the remainder of the contest. Shane and Keopple stopped 16 of 17 TMU shots, finishing with five and 11 saves, respectively. The third period saw more even play between the Red and the Bold, with the goalies standing tall at both ends. Around six minutes into the frame, Suda took a high sticking penalty and the Red found itself back on the kill. However, it was Cornell that got the better chance, breaking out into a two-on-one.
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Ruth Abraham can be reached at rabraham@cornellsun.com. Jane McNally can be reached at jmcnally@ cornellsun.com.
Sun Staf Football Picks — Week Six
ANGELA BUNAY
SOFIA RUBINSON AIMÉE EICHER HUGO AMADOR NOAH DO
By RUTH ABRAHAM and JANE MCNALLY Sun Sports Editor and Sun Staff Writer