INDEPENDENT SINCE 1880
The Corne¬ Daily Sun Vol. 142, No. 17 News Discrimination dispute
A lawsuit alleges Cornell did not consider white applicants to fill a faculty vacancy. | Page 5
16 Pages – Free
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2026 n ITHACA, NEW YORK Arts
Sports
‘Sinners’ success
Brown bested
The movie Sinners received 16 Oscar nominations.
Men’s hockey beat Brown 4-2 over the weekend.
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‘ICE Out of Ithaca’ Rally Downtown Draws Hundreds
Protesters gathered at Bernie Milton Pavilion to take a stand for the lives lost at the hands of ICE in Minnesota
By MADELEINE NAUMOFF Sun Contributor
Feb. 2 — Hundreds of students and Ithaca residents rallied at Bernie Milton Pavilion in the Commons on Friday, to take a stand for the people killed by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers. They call to “stop ICE’s reign of terror,” according to an Instagram post made by the rally’s organizers. Organized by several on and off-campus organizations, including Cornell Young Democratic Socialists of America and the Tompkins County Workers’ Center, the “ICE Out of Ithaca Rally” was part of a national shutdown to protest ICE’s actions. The shutdown, called for by Minnesota-based student organizations and other groups across the nation, aimed to draw attention to the murders and prompt changes in ICE funding. Minnesota saw federal immigration officers fatally shoot two residents in the last month: Renee Good, who was killed in her car on Jan. 7, and Alex Pretti, who was killed while recording an ICE operation on Jan. 24. These deaths resulted in national attention and protests against ICE’s actions. The “ICE Out of Ithaca Rally” took place from 4 to
5:30 p.m. and brought together around 300 people with ment to The Sun. “Overall, make America a much safer signs, drums and megaphones. Amid the sub-10-degree place for immigrants, for women, for people of color, for weather, volunteers and protesters distributed hand warm- people in the non-binary and LGBTQ community.” ers and warm beverages. To continue reading, please visit www.cornellsun.com. The rally was publicized via Instagram and sponsored by Cornell YDSA, Ithaca Committee for Justice in Palestine, Tompkins County Workers Center, Ithaca Madeleine Naumoff can be reached at mn635@cornell.edu. Democratic Socialists of America and many other Finger Lakes and Ithaca-based organizations. During the rally, community leaders gave speeches about the need for unity and action in the face of ICE’s recent actions. Graduate student María Bulla, one of the speakers at the rally and communications secretary for Cornell Graduate Students United, told The Sun that she wants “to make it clear to the Ithaca community that we are standing with [them and] that we don’t want ICE in town or in the University.” Cornell and Ithaca College students also spoke to The Sun, with statements centered on their overall disgust at the violence in Minneapolis and fervor to see a shift in actions by the federal government. NATHAN ELLISON / SUN STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER “Defund ICE and get rid of it entirely, defund the police, defund the government’s ability to control,” Ithaca Chilly change | Anti-ICE protesters gathered at Bernie College student David Alejandro Cohen said in a state- Milton Pavilion in cold conditions on Friday.
How Rachel Foster ’89 Worked Former IDF Soldier Tables at Willard Straight Hall With Epstein Victims to Release Files EVERETT CHAMBALA and CORAL PLATT
By ATTICUS JOHNSON Sun Senior Writer
Feb. 2 — Rachel Foster’s ’89 sense of “repairing the world” started early: at nine years old, she declared herself a vegetarian. Now, Foster, an anti-trafficking advocate and co-founder of World Without Exploitation, works with Epstein survivors to advocate for the release of files and accountability for abusers. Foster said she values the idea in the Hebrew phrase tikkun olam — or, translated, “to repair the world.” She described the phrase’s meaning to her as “living the notion of repairing the world,” and that people “have an obligation to repair the world.” Foster said she first got involved with victims of convicted sex offende r Jeffrey Epstein a n d l o n g -
time associate Ghislaine Maxwell through Elizabeth Stein, an anti-trafficking activist and victim of Epstein, who came to WorldWE in the midst of reports that Ghislaine Maxwell — one of Stein’s abusers — might get a pardon. WorldWE was founded in 2016 to be “the connective tissue” between anti-trafficking and gender-based violence organizations and intended to spotlight organizations when they need it and bring organizations together to push policy. “[Stein] said, ‘it would be so great if we could come together,’ and we said, ‘let’s organize [Epstein survivors],’” Foster said. On Sept. 3, the first rally including EpsteinMaxwell survivors was held in Washington, D.C. “From then, we began organizing them, and created a strategic advocacy plan to get the files released,” Foster said. “Up until then, victims felt COURTESY OF RACHEL FOSTER
siloed, silenced and sidelined, and they really came together as a collective voice.” At the time of the rally, Congress had yet to schedule a vote on the Epstein files, and President Donald Trump was publicly opposing their release in Congress and by the Department of Justice.
Sun Senior Writer and Sun Staff Writer
After the rally, Foster and Epstein survivors wanted to pile on pressure on Congress to schedule a vote on the release of the Epstein files. Their “multi-pronged plan,” according to Foster, included billboards, meetings with representatives and a PSA. For one, “Courage is Contagious” billboards were put up across the country, urging representatives to release the files, and reminding them that this vote could be important to their political future.
Feb. 3 — “I am an IDF Soldier Who Fought in Gaza, Ask Me Anything,” read a poster in front of Sam Fried, an American citizen who volunteered to fight in Gaza as a sharpshooter, as he tabled in Willard Straight Hall on Monday afternoon. Throughout the tabling session, dozens of students circled Fried’s table as he defended Israel’s actions in Gaza and invited students to ask questions and debate various topics relating to the Israel-Hamas war, ranging from genocide, antisemitism and his personal experiences in the Israeli Defense Forces. Fried’s Q&A session was announced on the Cornellians for Israel’s Instagram story at noon on Monday, minutes before the start of the event. The event was scheduled to end at 1:30 p.m. However, Fried continued for nearly two additional hours. CFI, a Cornell organization focusing on “Israel advocacy, education, and programming” according to its Instagram bio, hosted an RSVPrequired guest speaker event with Fried a few hours after the Q&A session, where media coverage was not allowed. In contrast, Fried’s tabling was open to anyone passing by. Originally from Queens, New York, Fried served in the IDF in the army from 2020 to 2022, ultimately ranking as a paratrooper in the 890th battalion, before returning home to pursue a degree in finance at Baruch College. After the Oct. 7, 2023 attacks, he rejoined the IDF reserves as a sharpshooter, because he felt an “obligation to be one of the fighting Jews in history,” he said in an interview with the Jerusalem Post.
See FOSTER page 10
See IDF page 10
“Up until then, victims felt siloed, silenced and sidelined, and they really came together as a collective voice.” Rachel Foster ’89