11-16-20 entire issue hi res

INDEPENDENT SINCE 1880

The Corne¬ Daily Sun Vol. 137, No. 32

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 16, 2020

n

8 Pages – Free

ITHACA, NEW YORK

Money & Business

Arts

Sports

Weather

Startup Spotlight

Great British Bake Off

Winter Season Stopped

Mostly Cloudy

Less than a year after graduating, an alumnus launched a GoFundMe-like platform for green ventures. | Page 3

Columnist Mira Kudva Driskell ’23 succumbs to capitalism and indulges in some fresh-baked self-care. | Page 4

The Ivy League nixed winter sports in the latest COVID-19 sports cancellation. | Page 8

HIGH: 45º LOW: 35º

Cornellians to Serve on Biden COVID-19 Cases Continue Administration Transition Team

To Climb After Campus Moves to Yellow Alert

By ALEC GIUFURTA

to yellow alert was “a precautionary measure.”

Lombardi, in a Thursday email, On the last day of in-person classes identified one cluster in Cornell’s for the semester, Cornell’s COVID- Greek community. The Tompkins 19 success story began to unravel as a County Health Department noted major spike in cases forced the cam- that college students who visited “multiple gatherings with different pus to move to yellow alert.

A Cornell alert sent out after 3 people at each gathering” had caused p.m. Friday indicated that campus a cluster of over 10 positive cases would tick up to yellow, the sec- to date. The University declined to ond-lowest “low to moderate risk” comment on what specific chapters had cases. alert level.

In a Thursday release, the health The University last released new department stated COVID-19 case that another clusnumbers on its There are 142 active ter emerged from dashboard Friday evening, report- COVID-19 cases in Tompkins a gathering at a ing 14 new cases County, as of Sunday evening single household. on Nov. 12, for — the most ever during the A smaller, fourcase cluster resulta total of 27 on pandemic’s course. ed from a church campus positive group gathering. cases.

While campus The Tompkins County Health Department reported is at yellow alert, the only change the 17 new cases Sunday, 20 new cases University will implement is the addiSaturday and 23 new cases Friday. tion of adaptive testing, which targets On Thursday, the health depart- select groups with more frequent tests. ment reported its highest number of Campus gatherings have been capped COVID-19 cases since the start of the at 10 all semester, and Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D-N.Y.) banned all private pandemic, with 30 new cases.

There are 142 active cases in the gatherings of that size as well.

The upticks in cases in Tompkins area, as of Sunday evening — the most County and at Cornell mirror ever during the pandemic’s course.

In a Friday email to the Cornell national and statewide trends, community, Provost Michael which have both seen resurgences Kotlikoff and Vice President for in COVID-19 cases during the past Student and Campus Life Ryan month — the U.S. tallied 142,860 Lombardi wrote that additional cases of cases on Wednesday with New connected to Thursday’s cluster had been identified, and that the move See SPIKE page 3 Sun Senior Editor

JULIA NAGEL / SUN STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Cases kick up | The surge in COVID-19 cases has hit home in Ithaca, where there are now three clusters — including one in Cornell Greek life.

By JULIA NAGEL Sun Staff Writer

Days after news outlets called the election for the Biden-Harris ticket, the presidential transition team released a list of members on its agency review teams — and 18 of them are Cornellians.

The teams will prepare President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris to “hit the ground running on day one,” understand the operations of each executive agency and allow for a smooth transfer of power, according to the Biden-Harris transition website.

Their first steps are to determine policy implementation methods, develop administrative agendas for each federal agency and choose administration staff members — preparing the Biden administration to tackle the pandemic, the economic crisis, calls for racial justice and other pressing issues.

More than 500 federal policy experts currently sit on the transition review teams.

Eighteen of them are Cornell alumni, in addition to former University president David Skorton, who is a member of the Arts and Humanities Agency Review Team and was selected because of his experience as the 13th secretary of the

Smithsonian Institute.

With the goal of “building an administration that looks like America,” the transition team makeup is markedly diverse. Women make up more than half of the team, and there is also strong representation among people of color, the LGBTQ+ community and people with disabilities.

Some of the transition team members will be temporarily involved and return to their careers after the transition period ends, while others are expected to become members of the Biden administration.

Namely, Seth See BIDEN page 3

MICHELLE FELDMAN / SUN FILE PHOTO

Presidential | David Skorton, the 12th C.U. president, will serve on Presidentelect Joe Biden’s transition team.

CUPD Reform Debate Pushes Forward S.A. members address Cornell police disarmament

By ESAT BRAVEBOY

that have disproportionately affected people of color, especially Black and brown Student Assembly mempeople,” Chukwukere said. bers kicked off their latest “That’s something minorimeeting with calls for the ty students here still worry University to disarm the about.”

Cornell University Police Lucy Contreras ’21, first Department — the assemgeneration student represenbly’s latest move in a semestative at-large, pointed to ters-long push for more immedipolice reform. ate motivations “We don’t think that Cornell should The discussion for the resolufollows the assem- wait for a tragedy like this to occur for tion, explaining bly’s late October that other unius to disarm the CUPD.” resolution that versities have demanded the disarmed their Lucy Contreras ’21 CUPD cut ties police forcwith the Ithaca es, including Police Department, fol- demands.

Portland State University lowing several IPD arrests Uche Chukwukere ’21, after the fatal shooting of of protesters. For the past the S.A. vice president of U.S. postal worker Jason year, student activists have finance, introduced the res- Washington on campus demanded various changes olution to disarm CUPD — grounds in 2018. to CUPD. “We don’t think that citing the history of policing In March, the S.A. passed as rooted in maintaining Cornell should wait for a a resolution calling for an slavery. tragedy like this to occur for oversight committee com“Policing has upheld a posed of members from lot of racist laws and policies See CUPD page 3 Sun Staff Writer

Cornell’s governing bodies and CUPD. In June, Do Better Cornell demanded a similar committee — which University administration had not addressed — and called for the disarming and defunding of the Cornell police. This resolution, in part, builds from previous

2 The Cornell Daily Sun | Monday, November 16, 2020

Daybook

Daybook Monday, November 16, 2020

A LISTING OF FREE CAMPUS EVENTS Today Guiding Our Children Through Crisis 10 a.m., Virtual Event How Completing Teaching as Research Project Impacted My Career Noon - 1:30 p.m., Virtual Event Online Learning Inequities: Taking Action to Do Better Noon - 1 p.m., Virtual Event The Chilean Right at the Crossroads 12:40 - 1:50 p.m., Virtual Event Race, Place and Digital Space: Using Health Communication to Achieve Health Equity 1:25 p.m., Virtual Event Back to Basics: Self-Care 101 Refresher 4 - 5 p.m., Virtual Event The Politics of Race in the European Middle Ages 7:30 - 8:30 p.m., Virtual Event

Tomorrow Be the Change: Call to Action — Connecting Identity To Community 9 - 10 a.m., Virtual Event Employment Law and Investigations: Advanced Internal Investigations Process 9 - 12:30 p.m., Virtual Event Our NextSeq 2000: New Capabilities to Accelerate Your Research 9:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m., Virtual Event Diversity and Inclusion: Inclusive Diversity and Inclusion Talent Management 10 a.m. - 1 p.m., Virtual Event Plant Breeding 3.0 – The Return of the Breeder’s Equation 12:40 p.m., Virtual Event Faculty and Staff Town Hall: Operating Budget Update 3 - 4 p.m., Virtual Event Plants of the Pacific Northwest 7 - 8:30 p.m., Virtual Event

The Corne¬ Daily Sun INDEPENDENT SINCE 1880 Editor in Chief

Maryam Zafar ’21

ALL DEPARTMENTS

Business Manager

Joybeer Datta Gupta ’21

(607) 273-3606

Business: For questions regarding advertising, classifieds, subscriptions or delivery problems, please call from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday-Friday.

News: To report breaking news or story ideas, please call after 5 p.m., SundayThursday.

SEND A FAX VISIT THE OFFICE THE SUN ONLINE E-MAIL

(607) 273-0746 139 W. State Street, Ithaca, N.Y. www.cornellsun.com sunmailbox@cornellsun.com

Postal Information: The Cornell Daily Sun (USPS 132680 ISSN 1095-8169) is published by THE CORNELL DAILY SUN, a New York corporation, 139 W. State St., Ithaca, N.Y. 14850. The Sun is published Monday, Tuesday and Thursday during the academic year, and every weekday online. Four special issues — one for Cornell Days in April, one for seniors in May, one for alumni in June and one for incoming freshmen in July — make for about 74 print issues per year (but spring term publication dates are now uncertain). Subscriptions are: $70.00 for fall term, if paid in advance. Standard postage paid at Ithaca, New York.

Postmaster: Send address changes to The Cornell Daily Sun, 139 W. State St., Ithaca, N.Y. 14850.

The Cornell Daily Sun | Monday, November 16, 2020 3

News

MONEY & BUSINESS

Alumnus Launches Fundraising Platform for Green Startups

By RUTHIE COVO Sun Staff Writer

When Sam Wenger ’20 first came to Cornell, he did not expect that, within four years, he would graduate and start a crowdfunding platform dedicated to helping sustainable businesses.

“I did engineering classes for four years, learned a lot about math and was an operations research major. So, zero of my core courses were dedicated to sustainability or the environment,” Wenger said.

But after deciding to enroll in EAS 1540: Introductory Oceanography, Wenger discovered his passion for the environment. Last summer, he interned at a green business accelerator, which laid the groundwork for his own venture — a GoFundMe-like service focused only on environmental ventures.

“After my internship, I learned that there are so many early stage green companies that are too young or too small for venture capital firms to invest in, but if they had access to capital, that would really help them grow,” Wenger said. “I feel pretty strongly that with a climate crisis this dire, it’s really important to accelerate the next generation of sustainable companies.”

After graduating, Wenger went to brain-

storm ways he could help early stage green companies gain funding without forfeiting equity. He looked towards crowdfunding platforms like Kickstarter and Indiegogo for inspiration, but found that these platforms did not show a clear dedication to sustainability; many had just one category dedicated to the environmental sector buried in their expansive websites.

And so Wenger ultimately landed on the idea of founding his own online platform that works exclusively with sustainability-focused companies.

“With Greenfundr, I took that environmental sector, broke it up into a bunch of different categories, like sustainable fashion, clean energy and sustainable agriculture, and built a platform that’s completely dedicated to green projects,” he said.

Greenfundr receives applications from different organizations, and conducts a thorough interview process to ensure that each company chosen for the website is qualified and committed to helping the environment.

The chosen campaigns are then posted to Greenfundr’s website and highlighted on its social media platforms. In exchange for each contribution, donors are rewarded with one tree planting from One Tree Planted.

Wenger first created the website in August 2020, and then partnered with a former classmate to help gain a strong social media following.

“Social media has been super beneficial for us, in terms of giving us some legitimacy [in] showing that there are people who are actually interested in Greenfundr,” Wenger said. “It’s also been a really great platform for us to recruit projects. So pretty immediately after creating a minimum viable product with the Greenfundr website, we were able to start reaching out and receiving applications.”

Greenfundr is currently in its first month of crowdfunding and has received over 20 applications. Wenger chose three companies for the website’s launch — so far, it has received over $12,300 in donations to date and has funded the planting of 400 trees.

“I felt that on most of the mainstream crowdfunding sites, there are thousands of projects competing for space on the website. I didn’t want any lower quality projects to detract from the high quality ones,” Wenger said. “Greenfundr’s focus has been to have the best sustainable projects on our site: to choose quality over quantity.”

Over the next several months, Wenger plans to slowly expand Greenfundr’s proj-

ects while maintaining a thorough recruitment process. Greenfundr aims to provide funding for as many quality sustainable projects as possible, in order to foster a stronger dedication to helping the planet.

In the future, Wenger hopes to also offer rewards-based crowdfunding, where green companies can offer stock shares in exchange for a donation. This would allow Greenfundr to partner with larger companies that are raising more substantial amounts of money.

Wenger discovered his passion for the planet and ultimately launched Greenfundr after taking classes outside of his operations research major. For Cornell students, Wenger strongly recommended taking advantage of the University’s vast course catalog and venturing outside of your normal coursework.

“It was really only by taking Introductory Oceanography that I learned something completely new to me, and found myself inspired,” Wenger said. “And so my advice is, take classes outside of what you normally would, and talk with your professors.”

Ruthie Covo can be reached at rcovo@cornellsun.com.

S.A. Calls to Disarm Biden-Harris Team Includes Cornellians Cornell Police Dept.

BIDEN

Continued from page 1

Freshman representative Amari Lampert ’24 asked if there was already a system in us to disarm the CUPD,” place on campus for people to respond appropriately to menContreras said.

Contreras also said student tal health incidents on campus. advocacy groups at Harvard Fellow freshman representaUniversity, Yale University and tive Kayla Butler ’24 said that the University of Chicago are Cornell was already discussing a already campaigning to have “police alternative” unit, but did their on-campus police dis- not offer further specifics.

The resolution’s discussion armed or disbanded.

Youhan Yuan ’21, interna- was heated, as other assembly tional students liaison at-large, members opposed disarming the questioned how well the campus campus police. Many represenpolice would monitor campus tatives said they were apprehenwithout the option of force. sive about the resolution, raising Moriah Adeghe ’21, ex-officio concerns about campus safety.

Dillon Anadkat ’21, “Policing has upheld a lot of racist laws undesignatand policies ... That’s something ed at-large minority students here still worry about.” r e p r e s e n tative, said Uche Chukwukere ’21 the campus police member, responded by asking should be armed without lethal assembly members to recall a weapons by default, but should time where they needed both have it as an available option police assistance and police when necessary.

“When responding to lethality.

“The point of this request is something that is clearly a that we don’t think the lethality case of violence or an attack, the police wield is necessary on maybe we should have the police able to appropriatethis campus,” Adeghe said.

Other members discussed ly arm themselves before the role of police in responding approaching the situation,” to mental health incidents and Anadkat said. “I’d say that pointed to nationwide incidents we’re lucky that we haven’t of lethal weapons used during needed CUPD in the past to protect from an attack, but we non-criminal calls.

“We could look at the recent should keep the armaments incident in Philadelphia as as an option because such an an example, where a mental- attack is still possible.”

The assembly agreed to furly unstable Black man clearly needed to simply be detained ther discuss CUPD disarmaand receive medical assistance,” ment at its Nov. 19 meeting, Chukwukere said. “He didn’t when the S.A. will vote on the need armed police officers there resolution. to eventually gun him down, and his family has made that Esat Braveboy can be reached at ebraveboy@cornellsun.com. clear.”

CUPD

Continued from page 1

Harris ’83, a Department of Labor Agency Review Team volunteer, is one of four likely contenders to be named Biden’s Secretary of Labor, according to The New York Times.

Many of the Cornellians are also former members of the Obama administration. Some notable examples include Derek Chollet ’93, part of the Department of State Agency Review Team, who was the assistant secretary of defense for International Security Affairs.

Chollet participated in the Cornell in Washington program in 1992, and called the program “indispensable to my understanding of foreign policy but also to my career.”

Jenny Yang ’73, a Department of Labor Agency Review Team volunteer, was appointed by former President Barack Obama to chair the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in 2014. She was the first Asian American to serve in this position, and under her leadership on the commission, the EEOC established a task force on the Study of Harassment in the Workplace.

Other Cornellian transition team members include Erin Szulman ’12, who was appointed to the Office of Science and Technology Policy Agency Review Team. Szulman worked in the Department of Energy and Office of Science and Technology Policy for nearly five years under the Obama administration. Szulman’s career in government started at Cornell, where she served as an Arts and Sciences Representative on the Student Assembly.

Part of the Department of Labor Agency Review Team, Patricia Moscoso ’11 worked in the Obama White House as a legislative intern, legislative assistant and assistant to the House Liaison.

At Cornell, Moscoso was part of the Quill and Dagger Senior Honor Society, and was senior copy editor for The Visible Hand economics journal.

Andrea Ippolito ’06, who is volunteering on the Department of Veterans Affairs Agency Review Team, is a lecturer in Cornell’s Engineering Management Program and the Johnson Graduate School of Management. She served as the Director of the Department

of Veterans Affairs from 2015 to 2017. During her undergraduate years at Cornell, Ippolito was co-president of Society of Women Engineers and a Kappa Alpha Theta Sorority member.

As the new Biden administration and its transition teams look toward January 2021, they have already hit some bumps in the road: President Donald Trump has still not acknowledged his defeat and has refused to allow BidenHarris transition team staffers access to the necessary materials, funds and agencies.

Still, the team has worked around these restrictions by connecting with recently departed government officials and experts and tapping into a network of allies in government, The Washington Post reported.

By the time of publication, Skorton, Harris, Szulman, Moscoso and Ippolito declined to comment, citing restrictions on releasing information about the transition.

Julia Nagel can be reached at jnagel@cornellsun.com.

Campus Cases Spike as Break Nears SPIKE

Continued from page 1

York at 4,821. When announcing the 30-case surge, the Tompkins County Health Department largely attributed the increase to three clusters.

University administration had lauded campus’s performance in containing the pandemic on campus throughout the fall semester.

On Sept. 30, President Martha Pollack and Provost Michael Kotlikoff wrote a Washington Post op-ed noting that despite colder weather and “precaution fatigue,” they were confident

“that our science-driven approach … can keep our community safe.”

Speaking on Good Morning America on Sept. 22, Kotlikoff said that after the early September clusters from house parties, the University “quickly sent the message that those behaviors have consequences.”

During the September spike on campus, there were 61 cases in Tompkins County — less than half the current total.

With the end of in-person classes Friday and start of the semifinals period, many students had prepared to depart cam-

pus as early as this weekend. In their Friday email, Kotlikoff and Lombardi reminded students in quarantine that they may not leave their quarantine location. “[A]ny student in quarantine or isolation is prohibited from leaving their place of quarantine without permission from the health department,” the two wrote.

As of Friday, the University’s COVID-19 dashboard shows available quarantine capacity at 93 percent.

Alec Giufurta can be reached at agiufurta@cornellsun.com.

A&E

4 | The Corne¬ Daily Sun | Monday, November 16, 2020

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT I

Help, I’ve Fallen Into The Great British Baking Show and I Can’t Get Up

have to admit, in the past I wasn’t a huge Great British Baking Show fan.

Now, this isn’t to say I didn’t appreciate the show as I am, in fact, a human with a heart, but I could never quite understand the obsession of people who tuned in every week and rewatched older episodes in their freetime. That is, until recently.

On Saturday, I spent about two hours at Ithaca College protesting the fact that they were firing 130 faculty members amidst a global pandemic, a rather sobering experience accompanied by chilly weather which had my hands looking like they were about to fall off my body.

During it all, my best friend was feeling a week’s worth of organizing come to a boiling point — so, needless to say, neither of us was at our best. By the end of the day, we both felt the need for some wholesome recuperation — a need which was immediately met by watching The Great British Baking Show.

struct a biscuit chandelier. Giving up on Bumble? Shake your head as some poor soul completely botches that week’s technical. Stressed about a last-ditch attempt to save your group project? Look on in horror at the worst cake busts you’ve ever seen.

This appreciation isn’t unique to me, as the show is constantly being complimented for its peaceful atmosphere and contestant camaraderie — which is in sharp contrast to other cooking competition shows such as Chopped, where contestants lose their minds working with ingredients that range from whole suckling pigs to dried tarantulas. Of course, The Great British Baking Show contestants have also had their frenzied moments — think any technical ever — but something about the scenic nature shots and crazed enthusiasm of the hosts offsets the chaos of it all, presenting viewers with an hour of pleasantly mind-numbing content. Which, yes, it’s television designed to ensnare your brain, but it’s still an enjoyable ensnarement.

The sheer escapism of something like The Great British Baking Show is hard Portrait of a to overstate. Am I currently stuck in a tiny apartGen Z on Fire ment eating a diet of mostly pasta? Yes. Have I been This has become something of a pat- spending most of my mental energy tern for me amidst quarantine. Annoyed trying to induce some type of psychosis at your roommate’s inability to wash that would create a simulation wherein dishes? Watch some British people con- I’m a British baker hanging out with baby

Mira Kudva Driskell

COURTESY OF NETFLIX

goats? Also yes.

I don’t think that escapism is any sort of solution. But at a time where post-election jubilation is mixed with a looming sense of doom as COVID-19 cases continue to climb, it’s nice to take a moment to yourself, and embrace the comfort of something like The Great British Baking Show.

Personally, I suffer from a rather acute case of necessity-based logic, resulting in an influx of guilt whenever I indulge in something for my own benefit. I’m somewhat hesitant to reject this mindset on the basis of self-care — a concept

that’s become increasingly intertwined with consumerism — but the reality is that sometimes you need to take time to yourself, even when it feels silly. As you return home for break, or steel yourself for an Ithacan winter, take a moment to unwind, relax and provide a brief moment of relief — even if it’s something as simple as watching someone bake a perfect genoise.

Mira Kudva Driskell is a sophomore in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. She can be reached at mdriskell@cornellsun.com. Portrait of a Gen Z on Fire runs alternate Mondays this semester.

The Success of Crunchyroll Original Adaptations Promises More Webtoons in the Future MATTHEW KASSORLA SUN ARTS STAFF

Last month, Crunchyroll finished airing their second anime adaptation of a Webtoon comic. The first Crunchyroll adaptation, Tower of God, paved the way for animation studios to turn the still comic images of a webtoon into 24 frames per second on screen. Now The God of High School, which aired from July 6 to the Sept. 28, promises even more from both Crunchyroll and Webtoons.

Either Crunchyroll has some strange inclination toward anime that deals with gods, or these two visual novels knock it out of the ballpark. To be honest, I think both are true. But I’ll save the first theory for another article.

Both Tower of God and The God of High School racked up millions of views in the past few years and ascended to high popularity among the dozens of outstanding comics on the platform.

While the former achieved a higher status on the site than the latter, reaching a rating of 9.86 stars out of 10 and boasting

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

the second highest number of total likes across all Webtoon comics (35 million), it would be hard to find a soul on the app that could not answer the question, “On which weekday does the next God of High School chapter come out?”

In fact, currently The God of High School anime is one of the hottest on Crunchyroll, and can be found in the second row of the site’s front page for popular anime, to the right of the legendary Haikyu!! and directly below the new, yet densely followed shounen, Black Clover. While popularity is not the greatest gauge of quality — which is evident from the fact that Boruto sits on the list — Crunchyroll popularity does indicate success. And oftentimes, simpler anime are very successful.

The God of High School anime perfectly fits into this simple-yet-sweet category.

It’s familiar shounen character types and fast-paced, well-animated action make it easy to pick up and even easier to stay interested in. While the webtoon-anime does little to explore the complex nature of characters or give us something to think about, it does justice in adapting the comic’s main interest points.

The animation combines realistic motions and special effects with quick camera cuts, pans and zooms to create an extraordinary sense of invigoration.

The animators perfectly create the illusion of speed, power and weight in each punch as we follow a character’s motions throughout their match. The God of High School reached Crunchyroll’s page of top-trending anime thanks to this exciting portrayal of action, and I would recommend it to you for the same reason.

For those of you who have seen Tower of God, The God of High School may leave much to be desired. But for those of you who have not seen either, I would recommend both. While the former delves deeper into characters and drives the story with outstanding plot points and well-written puzzles and challenges, the latter deals with action in a way I have never before seen done in anime.

More importantly, Crunchyroll’s “originals” of these two webtoons are promising for two reasons. One, we get to look forward to comic-tested stories coming to the animation scene. And second, we can confidently look forward to more of our favorite webtoons getting

an animation, as the success of these two anime will encourage more studios to look to Webtoon for material. In fact, it was Tower of God’s success that began this trend of adapting webtoons into anime.

While Crunchyroll is at the head of the trend, thanks to the partnership between Crunchyroll and Webtoon in October of last year, these visual comics are not limited to the Japanese company in terms of distribution. Lore Olympus, for example, the most popular comic on Webtoons, is currently being animated by The Jim Henson Company as a “young adult” series, and is rumored to be undergoing publishing by Netflix.

If successful, these anime will encourage even more studios to adapt our favorite webtoons into animated series. So far, the horizon looks pretty good.

I look forward to seeing what becomes of Noblesse — which is animated by Production I.G., the studio behind Haikyu!! — and to hearing about the next batch of Webtoon-Crunchyroll “Originals”.

Matthew Kassorla is a freshman in the College of Arts and Sciences. He can be reached at mk928@cornell.edu.

The Cornell Daily Sun | Monday, November 16, 2020 5

Opinion

The Corne¬ Daily Sun Independent Since 1880 138th Editorial Board MARYAM ZAFAR ’21 Editor in Chief

JOYBEER DATTA GUPTA ’21

JOHNATHAN STIMPSON ’21

Business Manager

Managing Editor

PETER BUONANNO ’21

KRYSTAL YANG ’21

Associate Editor

Advertising Manager

MEGHNA MAHARISHI ’22

JASON HUANG ’21

CHRISTINA BULKELEY ’21

NIKO NGUYEN ’22

Assistant Managing Editor

Web Editor

Sports Editor

A.J. Stella Stellin’ It Like It Is

Design Editor

BORIS TSANG ’21

PALLAVI KENKARE ’21

Photography Editor

Opinion Editor

CAROLINE JOHNSON ’22

SEAN O’CONNELL ’21

ALEX HALE ’21

KATHRYN STAMM ’22

ARI DUBOW ’21

ANIL OZA ’22

News Editor

News Editor

News Editor

A.J. Stella is a senior in the College of Arts and Sciences. He can be reached at astella@cornellsun.com.

Stellin’ It Like It Is runs alternate Fridays this semester.

News Editor

City Editor

Senior Citizenship In College

Science Editor

EMMA ROSENBAUM ’22

EMMA PLOWE ’23

Science Editor

Arts & Entertainment Editor

BENJAMIN VELANI ’22

MAIA LEE ’21

Dining Editor

Money & Business Editor

JOHN MONKOVIC ’22

ANYI CHENG ’21

Multimedia Editor

Compet Manager

MIKE FANG ’21

CATALINA PEÑEÑORY ’22

App Editor

Assistant News Editor

OLIVIA WEINBERG ’22

MEGHANA SRIVASTAVA ’23

Assistant News Editor

Assistant News Editor

MADELINE ROSENBERG ’23

EMILY DAWSON ’21

Assistant News Editor

Assistant Sports Editor

LUKE PICHINI ’22

BEN PARKER ’22

Assistant Sports Editor

Assistant Photography Editor

HANNAH ROSENBERG ’23

DANIEL MORAN ’21

Assistant Photography Editor

Assistant Arts & Entertainment Editor

BRIAN LU ’23

DOMINIC LAW ’22

Assistant Arts & Entertainment Editor

Assistant Dining Editor

ANNABEL LI ’21

ALICIA WANG ’21

Assistant Money & Business Editor

Graphics & Sketch Editor

LEI ANNE RABEJE ’22

MEI OU ’22

Layout Editor

Production Editor

JOHN COLIE ’23

AMBER KRISCH ’21

Blogs Editor

Blogs Editor

Working on Today’s Sun Ad Layout Production Deskers News Deskers Opinion Desker Design Desker Photo Desker Arts Desker Sports Desker

Camilla Bacolod ’21 Mei Ou ’22 Lorena Flores ’21 Kathryn Stamm ’22 Madeline Rosenberg ’23 Peter Buonanno ’21 Lei Anne Rabeje ’22 Boris Tsang ’21 Daniel Moran ’21 Christina Bulkeley ’21

Tom the Dancing Bug

by Reuben Bolling

W

hether it’s noticing some grey hairs in the mirror or blurred eyesight at 20 feet, it’s time to face the unforgiving fact that we are getting old. As seniors, we’re concluding our second-to-last semester on Cornell’s campus, and the three and a half years have taken a toll. Maybe the true meaning of senioritis this year isn’t the lack of motivation to do work (we’re all unmotivated with an online semester), but rather the creaks in our knees and the urge to turn the music down on our car radios.

I remember entering Cornell as a puppy-eyed, clean shaven freshman. I looked at the seniors with awe and admiration (though, looking back, they probably viewed us with disdain and laughter). I was nervous to raise my hand in class, but now the little blue hand goes up every time I want to make a half-witted pun in poetry. I was eager to meet new people, but now I hold the close door button in the elevator to avoid passing conversations. I was energetic for our PE requirements, but now you couldn’t roll me off the couch to go for a run with the promise of a signed Frank Sinatra picture.

It doesn’t feel all that long ago, but a lot has changed.

Maybe you’re not feeling the same way yet in your final year. Maybe the thought of eating a grilled cheese from Nasties at 3 a.m. doesn’t give you indigestion, but it doesn’t take much for us to realize, or rather, accept the truth. If you’re experiencing any of these symptoms, you may be a senior citizen.

1. All excitement for birthdays has halted because who wants to keep getting older after reaching the legal drinking age?

2. Your hangover lasts all the way up until dinner time: 4:30 p.m. at the earliest.

3. You were born in the same century as Mother Theresa.

4. You’ve gotten angry with the younger kids in your extracurricular organization for disrespecting their elders, even if your ideas are outdated and unhelpful.

5. You can grow a full mustache for Movember, and find some greys.

6. You’re the last person in class to figure out all of the features on Zoom (we’ve spent three years with in-person classes, we don’t like change).

7. You play one recreational soccer game, then can’t bend over for two days due to unadulterated back pain and your significant other has to get you an appointment at a massage spa even though you’re afraid of the touch of a stranger.

8. The most important items on your Wegman’s list have changed from Diet Coke and Ruffles to toilet paper and Tums because you’ve developed acid reflux and IBS (two ant-acids a day keeps the bile away).

9. You start listening to the playlist you made when your grandma visits because Elvis and Johnny Cash are the new Bing Crosby and Dean Martin.

10. You wake up to your roommate’s burping moans from drinking too much seltzer in the morning. First thing you do is finish the seltzer you left for yourself on the bedside table.

11. You call your insurance so they deal with the medical invoice you received from Cornell Health labs instead of handing the responsibility over to your parents.

12. You have moved back from the stage at Slope Day because the music was too loud (or think you might, if we have one again).

13. You leave voicemails.

14. You carry around change and hand the cashier at Universal Deli the exact $8.24 for a bottle of Advil.

15. You talk too much about your past glory days from freshman and sophomore year (how you got lost at your first on Halloween only to wind up in the Commons in a lemur onesie, or how you cut class to Uber to Friendly’s).

It’s reasons like these that we no longer feel the wind in our face in our chipper walks to campus, but instead feel awfully similar to Chevy Chase in Community.

We’ve traded in pimples and beerbongs for creases on our cheeks and Werther’s Original butterscotch candies. Enjoy the ability to exercise without twenty minutes of stretching beforehand, or the blessing of a liver that can handle a thorough drunk Friday night, then waking up early Saturday for some day-drinking while it lasts. All good things must come to a harshly premature end.

It doesn’t take much for us to realize or, rather, accept the truth. If you’re experiencing any of these symptoms, you may be a senior citizen.

You’re the last person in class to figure out all of the features on Zoom (we’ve spent three years with in-person classes).

6 The Cornell Daily Sun | Monday, November 16, 2020

Opinion

Abolish Legacy Preference in College Admissions

Wendy Wang Common Nonsense Wendy Wang is a freshman in the College of Arts and Sciences. She can be reached at ww376@cornell.edu. Common Nonsense runs every other Friday this semester.

O

nce again, college application season is upon us.

Even in this extraordinarily unprecedented time, millions of high schoolers are getting ready to apply to one of the approximately 2800 four-year colleges in America. Many have already submitted applications through early or rolling admission. All of this means we should once again talk about the persisting inequities in the college process. Recently, discussions over how fair the college process truly is has come up as a result of the debate over affirmative action and the recent college admissions scandal known as Operation Varsity Blues.

But I believe the real issue in college admissions is the preference given to legacy applicants. After all, legacy preference is the most overt way an applicant can get an edge in the admissions process. And they still play a role in a significant number of American colleges and universities, with approximately 42 percent of private colleges and universities, including Cornell, factoring in legacy status in admissions.

Here at Cornell, legacies make up around 15 percent of the student body. Yet at best, legacies mostly benefit already socioeconomically privileged kids, and at worst, they promote a lack of racial and socioeconomic diversity on college campuses.

Legacy admissions have long had a controversial and troubled past that’s rooted in keeping certain groups out of elite universities. After all, legacy preference to applicants was initially established after World War I to stop the rapid increase of Jewish students. While legacy admissions does not carry such an overtly discriminatory tone today, the policy still serves to mainly benefit the same people it initially was meant to protect, namely white and generally wealthy prospective applicants.

While most colleges, including Cornell, tend to keep their statistics regarding legacies under wraps, we can look at the legacy makeup at one of our peer institutions: Harvard.

Because of the recent lawsuit against Harvard over alleged discrimination against Asian American applicants, much of Harvard’s data on legacy admissions have been made publicly available. A study done using this data discovered that 43 percent of white students, compared to less than 16 percent of students of color, were either recruited athletes, legacy students, children of faculty and staff or students on the children of major donors to Harvard. The study ended up concluding that “removing either of these [legacy and athlete] preferences would result in significantly fewer white admits with increases or no change in the number of African American, Hispanic, and Asian American admits.”

This preference given to children of legacies also disadvantages low-income students even more in the college process, contributing to the lack of socioeconomic diversity on many college campuses. After all, at Harvard, 67 percent of students come from the top 20 percent, while here at Cornell, 64 percent of students come from families in the top 20 percent. Legacy students tend to be wealthier, and thus already have an edge, as they likely have access to better resources such as a private school education or personal college counselors. At my private high school, I would estimate at least a third of the people in my grade of 55 had legacy

The real issue in college admissions is legacy preference. Legacies benefit already socioeconomically privileged kids and promote a lack of racial and socioeconomic diversity on college campuses. connections of some sort, which probably contributed to the over 20 of us that ended up at Ivy League universities.

Additionally, a common argument in favor of legacy admission is that it makes alumni more likely to donate to their alma mater. But when a group of researchers looked at data for the top 100 universities from 1998 to 2008, they found no proof that legacy preferences influence alumni donations. In fact, from 1980 to 2010, as the proportion of students with legacy status decreased, total alumni giving increased. And other prestigious universities, such as Oxford and MIT, do not consider legacy status in admissions decisions, and neither their reputation nor their financial health has suffered.

Honestly, I don’t think getting rid of legacies will solve the mess that is college admissions. There are already so many other things that give wealthier applicants a leg up in the college process. But legacy preference is one of the few policies that overtly benefit generally wealthy and white students, who are already among the most privileged when it comes to college admissions. To me, it’s just the first step in making the college process more meritocratic, one that better models the core value of this country, that if one works hard enough, one can accomplish anything.

Re: ‘Africana Department Refuses to Support Creating Caribbean Studies Minor’

Carole Boyce Davies Guest Room Carole Boyce Davies is a Professor of Africana studies and English and the H.T. Rhodes Professor of Humane Letters at Cornell.

Guest Room runs periodically this semester.

T

he decision of the current leadership of Cornell’s Africana Studies and Research Center not to consider the students’ request for the creation of a Caribbean Studies minor or to even create a committee of scholars to examine the possibilities indicates a major way in which they are failing to represent all the interests of the faculty and students in the Department and in Cornell at large. The ASRC director’s letter to Caribbean Studies Association dated Oct. 5, which is now public, says explicitly that “the faculty have now met and carefully considered your request.” By these means I indicate that the decision was not unanimous or uniform and that the entire faculty did not endorse this dispatching of the CSA request.

The Africana Studies Department in its founding operated with a sense of geographical coverage of Africa, the Caribbean and African America, under the rubric of Africana, generated by robust student support. Africana Studies evolved out of Black struggle and engagement, particularly the well-documented activities of 1968 and 1969. Students all over the United States were at the forefront of asking that the universities they were enrolled in be more attentive to the fact that the curriculum was Eurocentric and that

there was a need for Black Studies. Those in the unit now (faculty, staff, students) benefit from that struggle and the hard work that went into creating Cornell’s Africana and similar programs and departments across the United States.

Since its inception fifty years ago, the field has grown substantially from the early available scholarship on the African-American experience and the studies of the history of the African continent to a groundswell of work on a range of African Diaspora communities in Europe, Latin America, Asia, North Africa, Brazil and definitely the Caribbean. While the Department has added one African-American and one Caribbean-American junior scholar to the faculty in the last two years, we have not really grown. As a result, there are critical sub-fields missing. Caribbean Studies today is not just studying the “islands” but also includes the circum-Caribbean and the Caribbean coastal countries of South America, (the Greater Caribbean) replete with AfroLatin American communities and definitely the larger Caribbean Diaspora in the U.S. and Europe. If we want to fully represent Africana Studies, then, these missing areas must also be considered in a project of expansion and inclusion of Caribbean and Afro-Latin American Studies areas of the African Diaspora minimally.

Students concern for Africana’s remoteness was not just the physicality of its location though that was an issue but, in my view, the fact that the Department was not meeting their needs, hence the CSA and the #DoBetterCornell petition which includes items relevant to Africana. The recent Anti-Racist demands of Cornell faculty, students and alumni, which Africana as a department did not sign (though individual faculty, graduate students and staff did) requested cluster hirings and several items which would benefit Africana.

There are several missing areas in African American intellectual history so much needed to ground all students in some of the important currents that define the experience of African Americans in the U.S. which are absent from the current department’s offerings. I would therefore suggest an African American Studies specialization as well within the Department and even a Black Women’s Studies specialization. All of these will expand the department’s possibilities and provide more students, move the unit away from constraint to expansion and provide better coverage and an amazing

and dynamic array of research areas that would create new generations of scholars.

I am clear that my position is a minority position among faculty. I expressed these ideas being articulated here at that meeting in which this decision was made and made a follow-up request for at least a committee to study the CSA request which was also rejected.

However, as a former president of the CSA (20152016) and the one currently teaching the introductory course Caribbean Worlds it is impossible for me to acquiesce to a less than equitable handling of the current Caribbean Students Association CSA request for a minor. It is important to say as well that I am the faculty advisor for CSA and in that capacity supported their petition though this was generated completely by student initiative, with several other requests specific to their passage through the University.

The fact is that CSA’s petition for a Caribbean Studies minor points to several gaps in Africana’s offerings. Missing is the entire Afro-Latin geographical and cultural field heavily represented in the circum-Caribbean coastline of South America, not to mention Brazil which has the largest African-descended population in the Americas. There is no Brazillianist in the Department. In my view then, a student group’s request for an area of study, such as this, should help us think about how best to advance our absent coverage in these areas; how best to meet the needs of the students; how best to return our department to being the leading one in the country which it was initially.

The current director’s and department’s controlling logic that Africana means studying Africa and the African Diaspora as an interconnected field is fine as an ideological construct that we all support. But along with an ideological framework (or even guided by it) this is an intellectual field and, as such, there is room for specializations which minors are, providing students a means to do advanced and particular work and study as they go on to graduate school or to related places of employment. We can note relatedly that several departments have minors which actually expand the reach of the field and broaden the possibilities of students and provide more majors and minors and above all excitement for study which we should never squelch in students . . .

To continue reading this column, please visit cornellsun.com.

Comics and Puzzles

Sundoku 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)

The Cornell Daily Sun | Monday, November 16, 2020 7

Puzzle #395

MASK

CLASSIFIED AD RATES Ads are accepted at The Sun’s office at 139 W. State Street downtown, by phone or e-mail.

Deadline: 2:30 p.m. at The Sun’s office on the day preceding publication. Monday’s deadline: Friday, 2:30 p.m. at The Sun’s office.

Standard Rate:$3.60 per day for first 15

words, 38 cents per day per word thereafter.

Five or more consecutive insertions, $3.35 per day for first 15 words, 36 cents per day per word thereafter.

Commercial Rate:$5.40 per day for first

15 words, 39 cents per day per word thereafter. Five or more consecutive insertions, $5.20 per day for first 15 words, 37 cents per day per word thereafter.

The Sun is responsible for only one day makegood on ads.

273-3606 classifieds@cornellsun.com

Caption Contest Winner Art by Alicia Wang ’21

12 AUTOMOBILES AUDI/VW (used) 7 Days Sales - 40 Years *Good/Bad Credit!!

Service 315-789-2200 SelectEuroCars.com

26 A PARTMENT FOR R ENT 109 Sage Place 3 Bedroom Apartment

Access to Shuttle to Campus On-site Laundry office@ithacastudentapartments.com 607-277-1234

COLLEGETOWN TERRACE APARTMENTS

Mr. Gnu

by Travis Dandro

Private Rooms, Studios, One, Two & Three Bedrooms Heat, hot water and Wi Fi Shuttle Bus Service to campus Washer & Dryer & A/C in Most Apartments collegetownterraceithaca.com office@ithacastudentapartments.com 607-277-1234

1 Bedroom Apartment 120 Oak Avenue Just steps to Cornell Campus 607-277-1234 office@ithacastudentapartments.com Ithacastudentapartments.com

Now Renting 2-10 Bedroom Houses / Apartments for 21-22.

All Locations.

Call today or visit our website:

Certified Properties of TC Inc certifiedpropertiesinc.com 607-273-1669

Mr. Gnu

by Travis Dandro

STUDIO APARTMENT

504 Thurston Avenue North campus 607-277-1234 office@ithacastudentapartments.com

DRYDEN SOUTH

Collegetowns Best Address Now renting for 2021 Visit DrydenSouth.com for details Email Leasing@drydensouth.com

27 H OUSE FOR R ENT HOUSES FOR RENT

American Affairs Desk

by Mark Kaufman

103 Sage Place 7 Bedrooms Lower Collegetown 505 East Seneca Street 7 Bedrooms Lower Collegetown 201 Wyckoff 6 Bedroom North campus 607-277-1234 office@ithacastudentapartments.com

The Corne¬ Daily Sun

Sports

MONDAY NOVEMBER 16, 2020

8

Ivy League Cancels Winter Sports COVID concerns prompt league to further suspend intercollegiate athletics

TOP AND BOTTOM: BORIS TSANG / SUN PHOTOGRAPHY EDITOR MIDDLE: BEN PARKER/ SUN ASSISTANT PHOTOGRAPHY EDITOR

By CHRISTINA BULKELEY Sun Sports Editor

The Ivy League extended its moratorium on varsity athletics Thursday, when it announced that winter competition would not take place for the 2020-21 season.

“Regrettably, the current trends regarding transmission of the COVID-19 virus and subsequent protocols that must be put in place are impeding our strong desire to return to intercollegiate athletics competition in a safe manner,” the Ivy League presidents wrote in a joint statement.

The league’s decision also affected spring sports, which will be postponed at least until the end of February.

The announcement came the same day that Vice President for Student and Campus Life Ryan Lombardi announced that the University would move to Code Yellow due to a spike in COVID-19 cases on campus. Nationwide, COVID-19 infections continue to climb, as well.

When the Ancient Eight canceled fall competition in July, it became the first athletic conference to do so, but left open the possibility that football and other fall sports could resume in the spring. David Archer ’05, the head coach of the Cornell football team, told The Sun last month that he thought it was “The current trends ... very unlikeare impeding our strong ly that there be a desire to return to inter- would season. The Ivy League was collegiate athletics.” also the first in Ivy League Presidents the country to cancel sports last spring.

The Ivy League’s plan prior to the start of the school year canceled all competition through the end of the fall semester. That meant winter sports, like hockey and basketball, might be able to resume around the start of 2021. But the decision reported Thursday means winter sports won’t take place during the 2020-21 season, and spring sports won’t start for at least three months.

Cornell’s women’s and men’s ice hockey had recently been dubbed the NCAA’s No. 2 and No. 6 teams, respectively, in preseason polling. At the early conclusion of last year’s seasons, both were rated No. 1.

The ECAC on Friday said it remains dedicated to conducting a winter season this year with whatever member institutions are able to play. Ivy League schools make up half of the ECAC’s 12 teams. It is not yet clear exactly what the league’s plan for resuming play will be going forward.

Precedent does exist for leagues rescinding such decisions — earlier this fall, the PAC 12 and Big Ten doubled back on their plans to cancel fall sports and commenced play partway through the season. The Ivy League, however, is less likely to make such a change, given its steadfastness in its decision making this past fall and the fact that sports do not produce as much revenue in the Ancient Eight as they do at Power Five conference schools.

Spring athletes last year were granted an extra year of varsity athletics eligibility by the NCAA. It is unknown whether any such concessions will be made for the Ivy League athletes who aren’t playing this school year.

Christina Bulkeley can be reached at cbulkeley@cornellsun.com.

Hopes iced | The league’s decision ended the potential for Cornell’s top-rated hockey teams to hit the rink this season.