INDEPENDENT SINCE 1880
The Corne¬ Daily Sun 12 Pages – Free
Vol. 140, No. 26
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 16, 2023 n ITHACA, NEW YORK
News
Dining
Science
Weather
Laundry Troubles
Thanksgiving House Dinner
CDC Grants
Partly Sunny
Donlon residents bristled at only having four working laundry machines. | Page 3
The Center for Disease Control gave Cornell $8.7 million in grants for vector-borne disease research. | Page 12
Eirian Huang '26 reviews Keeton House's Thanksgiving dinner. | Page 5
HIGH: 61º LOW: 45º
C.U. Pre-Enroll Posters Displaying Kidnapped Compared to Ivy Israelis Vandalized, Removed College Processes
By KATE SANDERS Sun Staff Writer
After being attached to poles in Ithaca Commons for over a week, posters about the hostages taken by Hamas have been removed after they were vandalized with anti-Israel remarks. In the weeks since Hamas took about 240 people hostage on Oct. 7, red and white posters displaying the word “KIDNAPPED” in large block letters have become ubiquitous in cities and college campuses around the
world. These posters were designed in New York City by Israeli street artist Nitzan Mintz and her partner Dede Bandaid as an effort to support Israel from thousands of miles away. Their official website describes the posters as a piece of “guerilla public artwork” and encourages supporters to “place as many posters as possible in the public space.” Several posters bringing awareness to Hamas holding individuals hostage were hung on every pole in the Commons on Nov. 13. The next day,
JONATHAN MONG / SUN NEWS EDITOR
Posters | Posters on the Ithaca Commons that displayed the names and pictures of Israelis held hostage by Hamas were vandalized with anti-Israel slogans and removed.
all of the posters on Ithaca Commons had been removed, and small, damp, red and white pieces of paper laid on the ground next to where the posters once were. Chapter 272 of The City of Ithaca’s code prohibits the posting of “temporary signs” — like the “KIDNAPPED” posters — in public spaces without a permit from the city. The Sun was unable to independently confirm whether or not the city granted a permit for the posters and whether or not the city was involved in their removal. Some members of the business community said they disliked that the posters were placed in a public space. Lou Cassaniti, owner of Lou’s Street Food, said he disapproved of their being posted without city permission. “I’m against it only because it doesn’t look good. I’m not against the idea — I’m against what the controversy is going to cause about whether you can do it or not,” Cassaniti said. “Some people feel they can do it because it’s their right to do it, but the Commons is owned by the city. You can’t come to my house and put posters on my house.” Prior to the Commons being cleared of posters entirely on Nov. 14, individuals had been attempting to remove them themselves — often leaving large chunks of ripped paper attached to the poles. Several people working at stores in Ithaca Commons said they observed people taking the posters down in this way before Nov. 14. Alli Streeter, a retail assistant at a store on the Commons, said she was upset when she saw someone ripping down the posters.
See VANDALISM page 3
By GRACE LIU and LUKA PAVLOVICH Sun Contributors
Natalie McFadden ’27 stared anxiously at her computer screen at 7:29 a.m. on Nov. 8, waiting for the freshmen pre-enroll period to open so she could sign up for courses for the upcoming spring semester. McFadden said she spent weeks meticulously crafting the perfect class schedule — and preparing multiple backup schedules, too, in case her first-choice classes were full by the time she attempted to enroll in them. As the clock struck 7:30 a.m., McFadden raced "Just trying to get [the to click the “enroll” necessary credits] to button in Student Center. be a full-time student “I watched was a challenge." the loading icon spin around and Natalie McFadden ’27 around, until my computer screen refreshed and flashed a sea of red x’s,” McFadden said. Out of the 18 credits she attempted to enroll in, McFadden could only successfully enroll in 2.5 credits. To remain in good academic standing with the University, a student must enroll in at least 12 academic credits. She then tried enrolling in multiple backup courses, but it ultimately took an hour of frantic searching for McFadden to find a schedule that worked for her. “I felt helpless because my backups didn’t work. Nothing was working,” McFadden said. “Just trying to get [the necessary credits] to be a full-time student was a challenge.” McFadden’s pre-enroll ordeal, however, is not uncommon among Cornell students. To provide context to Cornell’s course enrollment process, The Sun analyzed the processes at different Ivy League institutions and spoke to students at their respective universities. See PRE-ENROLL page 4
Latino Cornellians' Day Hall Takeover, 30 Years Later By GABRIEL MUÑOZ and DINA SHLUFMAN Sun News Editor and Sun Contributor
On Nov. 19, 1993, a group of Cornell Latino students and their supporters marched to Day Hall to demand the administration address on-campus vandalism and hate speech. When the administration refused to speak with them, they staged a fourday takeover of the building. According to Kety Esquivel ’97, a takeover participant, the protest began in response to an act of vandalism that had occurred earlier that month. Cornell students had vandalized a piece of artwork — “The Castle is Burning”
by Daniel J. Martinez, a prominent Hispanic-American artist — that was on display in the Arts Quad. The artwork was a part of a series of exhibitions called “Revelaciones/ Revelations, Hispanic art of evanescence,” in which art by various Hispanic artists was placed around campus. Martinez’s piece, a set of barricades covered in black tar, was vandalized with messages such as “Cesar Chavez is dead,” “Kill the illegals,” and “White pride.” A swastika was also drawn on the artwork. Esquivel, a native New Yorker, said these messages shocked her when she first saw them on campus.
“The things that they were saying made it such an unwelcoming climate when in fact, this was my home,” Esquivel said. “This is my home.” Cristina Bañuelos ’97, who was adjusting to her first year at Cornell when the vandalism took place, expressed a similar sentiment. “It was really shocking,” Bañuelos said. “My expectation coming onto campus was that it was this really diverse place with people coming together because they wanted to be a part of a multicultural, diverse learning environment.” See TAKEOVER page 4
MARK PASNIK / SUN FILE PHOTO
Thirty years later | In 1993, Latino Cornellians and their allies staged a takeover of Day Hall after an art installation was vandalized.