INDEPENDENT SINCE 1880
The Corne¬ Daily Sun Vol. 132, No. 57
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2015
!
ITHACA, NEW YORK
16 Pages – Free
Opinion
Arts
Sports
Weather
Family Establishment
A Concerned Student
Hopes of Victory
Rainy HIGH: 48º LOW: 33º
Akshay Jain ’17 calls Aziz Ansari’s relationships on Masters of None the show’s most compelling aspect. | Page 7
Stephen Meisel ’18 defends free speech on campus and calls out pseudo-political poetry. | Page 8
The men’s football team looks for its first win against Columbia this weekend. | Page 16
Garrett,Lombardi Address Concerns About Financial Aid,Tuition
CAMERON POLLACK / SUN SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHER
Financial aid packages to include $350 health fee
By TALIA JUBAS Sun Senior Writer
The $350 health fee for students not enrolled in Cornell’s Student Health Plan will be included in eligible students’ financial aid packages for the next academic year, President Elizabeth Garrett said at Thursday’s Student Assembly meeting. “I am pleased to announce that for the next academic year and thereafter, we will include a $350 student healthcare allowance in the cost of attendance and in financial aid calculations,” Garrett said, attributing the success of the shift largely to student advocacy. Garrett and Ryan Lombardi, vice president for student and campus life, respond-
ed to student concerns in an open-forum question and answer session. In her first semester on campus, Garrett said she discerned themes in the demands coming from the student body and described administrative efforts, including the addition of the health fee to student aid packages, to address those recurrent concerns. Shivang Tayal ’16, S.A. international representative at large, said there are a So to speak | President Elizabeth Garrett, with vice president for student and campus life Ryan number of international issues that Lombardi, answers a question on financial aid at a Student Assembly meeting Thursday. have yet to be resolved. Despite Cornell’s “sizeable international student concern is that, unlike other minority international students share many of the body,” university resources have not been groups on campus, the international stu- same issues as the general student body, it is put toward the needs of this community, dent community does not have an advoca- clear that there are “other factors that are with most recent initiatives being “largely cy center, he said. Responding to Tayal, Garrett said while See GARRETT page 4 student run,” according to Tayal. A central
Law School Sees Highest Bar Exam Pass Rate in State
CAMERON POLLACK / SUN SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHER
By YUN SOO KIM Sun Staff Writer
Million Student March | Cornell Independent Students’ Union member Alec Desbordes ’17 holds a sign during a march on Ho Plaza Thursday.
Students March to Day Hall
Demand $15 minimum wage, fossil fuel divestment By ALEXA ESKENAZI Sun Staff Writer
Cries of “the students united will not be defeated!” filled Ho Plaza Thursday afternoon when nearly a hundred students banded together for the Million Student March and demanded tuition-free public college, cancellation of all student debt, a $15 minimum wage for campus workers and immediate divestment from fossil fuel corporations. Despite a student’s post
on social media calling for its cancellation, students gathered on the steps of Willard Straight Hall at 3 p.m. for the march, which was organized by the Cornell Independent Students’ Union for a national event with more than 100 participating colleges. An hour before the march, a student posted on the Facebook event page a screenshot of a CISU statement of the union’s demands, underlining a portion of the sentence,
“Alongside students, faculty must demand that lowincome and colored people traditionally excluded by the status quo, are invited into the university system.” Pointing to the phrase “colored people,” the student said in her post that she found it insensitive. “This is NOT okay. CISU needs to be held accountable. Students of color will not be tokenized by this organization,” the See MARCH page 4
Cornell Law School boasts the highest pass rate of the July 2015 New York bar exam — 96.6 percent, a two percent increase from last year, according to New York Law Journal. For the past two years, Cornell has had the highest pass rate in the state, even as the statewide pass rate hit an all time low since 2004, at 79 percent. In 2008, the law school’s pass rate reached a record high of 99 percent. Eduardo Peñalver ’94, dean of the law school, said Cornell has always had an impressive pass rate, even while the rate naturally fluctuates year to year. “Our pass rate has been consistently strong, and that’s because our admissions standards and our students are smart and hardworking,” Peñalver said. “I think this is within the range of what we are accustomed to, there’s always some variability year to year.” Peñalver said the law school did not make any internal changes to promote a higher bar pass rate and that the school’s admissions standards have remained rigorous. “We haven’t changed anything, we are continuing to just admit a really strong group of students,” he said. “Even in a down year, our pass rate is going to be at the top end of the N.Y. law schools.” According to Peñalver, Cornell Law School remains committed to
accepting only strong candidates even as law schools nationally are seeing fewer applicants in recent years. “In an environment where applications to law schools are overall down, recruiting students at the caliber we’re recruiting at is a challenge but is something we’re committed to doing,” he said. “Other law schools have made different decisions and I think you would expect to see some decline in their bar passage.” Nathan Baum grad, who passed See BAR page 4
VICTORIA GAO / SUN SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHER
Law and order | Cornell’s law school saw a 96.6 percent pass rate of the July 2015 New York bar exam, the highest in the state.