INDEPENDENT SINCE 1880
The Corne¬ Daily Sun Vol. 133, No. 31
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 1, 2016 ! ITHACA, NEW YORK
16 Pages – Free
News
Arts
Sports
Weather
Testing Troubles
In Good Company
Back to the Grind
Mostly Sunny HIGH: 60º LOW: 49º
Prof. Ruixue Jia, U.C. San Diego, explains the importance of China’s college entrance exam. | Page 3
Catherine Huang ’18 writes that Ithaca College’s production of Company excellently explores love and friendship. | Page 9
Cornell women’s hockey began ECAC play, splitting its first two games. | Page 16
Graduate Students ‘Torn,’ Debating Necessity of Union By ANNA DELWICHE Sun Staff Writer
After the Cornell Board of Trustees voted unanimously to change the name of the Cornell Plantations to the Cornell Botanic Gardens on Friday, conservative student activists blasted the decision, calling it an unnecessary decision that sets a dangerous precedent. Olivia Corn ’19, chair of the Cornell Republicans, said she does not think the renaming will affect diversity on campus, saying “most of the people [I have] talked to about the renaming do not have a strong opinion on it” and she does not believe “the name has prevented people from attending Cornell.” Corn added that she found the decision to be an “example of some students being oversensitive,” although she acknowledged that she was not a person of color and could not speak to other groups’ feelings on the issue. “It is ridiculous that the administration is more concerned with a name
Unionization has quickly become a hot topic among Cornell graduate students. Within the past week, an email discouraging unionization from Interim President Hunter Rawlings and the formation of At What Cost to counter information disseminated by “The Cornell Graduate Students administrators United have spurred the have an debate about whether unionization is in graduate students’ institutional best interest. bargaining Many graduate students — some confused about the stance that issue, some near experts — are grad students scattered somewhere along don’t have and the spectrum from pro- to anti-unionization. that’s clearly “I’m pretty torn about the indicated in union because Cornell’s been pretty good to me and I have their ability to no complaints,” said Hoa send out mass Duong grad. emails.” Some graduate students value the formation of a Hoa Duong grad union not because of “a specific benefit that we’re looking for, but rather an ability to be represented,” according to Gregory Booth grad. For Duong, Rawlings’s recent email is a source of “potential conflict,” particularly because it was sent to undergraduate as well as graduate students. Duong said this demonstrated that the University “get[s] to shape the debate.” “The administrators have an institutional bargaining stance that grad students don’t have and that’s
See PLANTATIONS page 4
See CGSU page 5
MATT HINTSA / SUN FILE PHOTO
Seeds of change | Some Cornellians have called the renaming of the Plantations a poor method of addressing a lack of diversity on campus.
C.U.Repubs: Plantations Renaming ‘Oversensitive,’ Precedent-Setting By EMMA LI Sun Staff Writer
KYLE KULAS / SUN FILE PHOTO
Panelists Present Paths to Campus Carbon Neutrality Say success will depend on clean energy, community collaboration By CATHERINE GOLDSMITH Sun Staff Writer
Cornell’s successful transition to carbon neutrality by 2035 will depend on decreasing campus power consumption and establishing innovative sources of clean energy, according to panelists at a forum hosted by the Senior Leaders Climate Action group. The panel — which was led by co-chairs Prof. Lance Collins, mechanical and aerospace engineering and dean of
MICHAEL LI / SUN STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
engineering, and KyuJung Whang, vice president for infrastructure, properties and planning — discussed realistic ways to achieve campus carbon neutrality. Other panelists included professors and students involved in sustainability at Cornell. Collins and Whang cowrote a report — released early last month — at the request of Provost Michael Kotlikoff, analyzing viable options for the Ithaca campus See CARBON NEUTRALITY page 4
Next to neutral | A report released last month analyzed viable methods for achieving carbon neutrality by 2035.