INDEPENDENT SINCE 1880
The Corne¬ Daily Sun Vol. 134, No. 54
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 2018
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ITHACA, NEW YORK
16 Pages – Free
A Short Hiatus
Arts
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Because of February Break, The Sun’s next print edition will appear on Wednesday, Feb. 21.
Throwing Shade
Max’s Path Now
Slight Chance Of Rain HIGH: 55º LOW: 38º
Freshman Max Dean emerges from older brother Gabe’s shadow.
“This movie sucks,” says Nick Smith ’20 in his critique of Fifty Shades Freed. | Page 10
| Page 16
Pollack Quiet on Cause of Dean’s Exit
Business college finances in order, president says By NICHOLAS BOGEL-BURROUGHS Sun City Editor
Cornell President Martha Pollack sought to assure the faculty on Wednesday that the business college dean’s sudden resignation last month was not related to the fledgling college’s finances, but she refused to elaborate on the actual reasons for the dean’s departure. Speaking to the Faculty Senate, Pollack said she wanted “to reassure, to calm some nerves, to
maybe diffuse some rumors” regarding Prof. Soumitra Dutta’s abrupt and unexplained resignation on Jan. 30. Dutta, a professor of management, served as dean of the SC Johnson College of Business since its launch less than two years ago. “The finances of the school are healthy,” Pollack said. “They’re beginning to actually reap the savings benefits of the integration. The reputation of the three embedded schools is very, very healthy.” Cornell has saved $750,000 annually from merging the School of Hotel Administration, the SC Johnson Graduate School of Management and the Charles H. Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management under the business college umbrella in July of 2016, Pollack said. When Charlie Van Loan, the dean of faculty, See DUTTA page 4
BORIS TSANG / SUN STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Mum’s the word | President Pollack won’t say what led to Dutta’s abrupt resignation last month.
PROF. DUTTA
American Dream Is a ‘Hallucination,’ Prof Says mate change.” Cheyfitz also said that despite the widespread disapproval of the The “American Dream” has now Democratic and Republican parties, the become a “hallucination,” according to groups themselves are not the root of the Prof. Eric Cheyfitz, the Ernest I. White issue. “Their collusion in the militarized Professor of American Studies and corporate hegemony is the problem, and Humane Letters. During an event hosted by the neither of the two parties can address the Institute for Comparative Modernities problem because they are constituted by on Tuesday, Cheyfitz introduced his it,” he said. The capitalist story of the American most recent book, The Disinformation Age: The Collapse of Liberal Democracy in enterprise, in Cheyfitz’s mind, is a key the United States, which paid particular contributor to the rise of disinformation because many believe capitalattention to the Obama ism and democracy are synAdministration, of which onymous. Cheyfitz is highly critical. “This story has always “If I were to sum up the confused capitalism with book in one sentence,” democracy when in fact the Cheyfitz said, “I would say it two systems are fundamentalis a historical explanation ly at odds,” he said. about how and why the Cheyfitz also stressed the United States is still trying lack of accurate information to live a narrative, American PROF. CHEYFITZ available to people, which exceptionalism, that fails to leaves them unable to fight back. rationalize the state any longer.” “People know they’re poor, but nothObama’s speeches, he said, are classic examples of what Cheyfitz defines as ing has been put into place for them to “disinformation,” or the “rupture of join together and fight against this narpolitical rhetoric from political reality rative,” he said. “That’s disinformation for me.” with fatal results.” When asked what inspired him to In other words, Trump and our current political situation are not, contrary write the book, Cheyfitz said he was to what many people may think, the motivated by the condition that the country has fallen into and the need to causes of disinformation. “Trump is not the problem — he is write a history that reflected these curthe latest symptom of the problem,” rent conditions. “I am an activist in my work, so I’m Cheyfitz explained. Rather, the country’s major issue is the overlapping, “imbri- concerned with these issues as practical cated pair of income inequality and cli- and political and social issues. And of By DENA BEHAR
Sun Staff Writer
course I work with students here and am concerned about [their] futures.” According to Cheyfitz, the model for a just society and the solution to disinformation can be found in the ways and practices of indigenous peoples. “Here in the juncture of history we are in desperate need of another story, one that answers the question: what is a just society?” The answer, Cheyfitz said, is “one of extended kinship that has been told in Native American societies for thousands of years.” Dena Behar can be reached at dbehar@cornellsun.com.
MICHAEL WENYE LI / SUN ASSISTANT PHOTOGRAPHY EDITOR
Raising awareness | E.A. members brainstorm ways to better connect with employees on Wednesday.
E.A.Seeks to Increase Constituent Outreach By MIGUEL SOTO Sun Staff Writer
Aiming to step out of the shadows, the Employee Assembly brainstormed ideas to raise its exposure and improve its outreach to the people they represented in a meeting on Wednesday. Representatives also offered differing views on President Martha E. Pollack’s response to the assembly’s push for a comprehensive transportation plan. According to a 2016 employee survey, only 28 percent of respondents indicated that they agreed or strongly agreed that the E.A. represents their interests. “Folks just aren’t aware of what we’re doing on their behalf,” said Jeramy Kruser, executive vice chair of the E.A. Kristine Mahoney, chair of the E.A. Transportation Task Force and College of Human Ecology representative, addressed the importance of using face-to-face interaction and reducing reliance on digital media to increase people’s awareness of the assembly’s initiatives. She also suggested placing public boards in Willard Straight Hall for people to express their opinions. “How do we get people to know who we are and get them to share their interests to us in a way that we could then explore them?” Mahoney See EMPLOYEES page 4
Wonder woman
CHANG W. LEE / THE NEW YORK TIMES
Mirai Nagasu celebrates after becoming the first American female figure skater to complete a triple axel in the Olympics in Gangneung, South Korea on Monday.