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The Corne¬ Daily Sun Vol. 135, No. 44
TUESDAY, DECEMBER 4, 2018
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16 Pages – Free
ITHACA, NEW YORK
Happy Holidays
Arts
Sports
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The Sun wishes you a great time as we take a hiatus from publication! See you again on Monday, January 21 of the new year!
Top 10 Movies of 2018
Lynah East
Snow Showers
The A&E staff counts down its favorite films of the past 12 months.
Cornell men's hockey fans descend upon Cambridge in “roar game“ vs. Harvard.
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HIGH: 30º LOW: 19º
Jewish Students Say Response to AntiSemitism Is Lacking By YUICHIRO KAKUTANI and PARIS GHAZI Sun News Editor and Sun Assistant News Editor
While Cornell responded to the three swastika signs were found on North Campus in November by strengthening security at Jewish events and holding support meetings, the Jewish students who found the signs expressed concern that the campus response was nevertheless lacking. Ryan Lombardi, vice president of student and campus life, denounced the acts and promised to hold a “support gathering” in a public statement published hours after The Sun’s report was published. The “support gathering” held on Thursday was attended by 13 individuals, roughly half of whom were administrators rather than students. One student participant told The Sun she was not aware of the incidents nor the support meeting until she accidentally walked into the Robert Purcell Community See ANTI-SEMITISM page 4
PARIS GHAZI / SUN ASSISTANT NEWS EDITOR
Swastikas | Students who spotted swastikas, including the one near Appel (above), express concern about the perceived lack of campus response.
HELEN LI / SUN GRAPHICS EDITOR
Transfers tell tales | The number of transfers increased from 613 in fall 2017 to 645 in fall 2018, which led to 38 more transfer housing applications.
Transfers Frustrated With Housing Shortage By ANNE SNABES
housing, but does not guarantee housing for transfer students, according to Karen Brown, director of Campus Life Marketing and Communications. This year, transfer students were not notified of whethIn early July, Cornell informed incoming transfer student Eitan Wolf ’21 that he would be placed in a tem- er Cornell would provide them with on-campus housing porary quintuple in a converted study lounge in a North until June 22, which meant that some students had to find a place to live in Ithaca about two months before the Campus dorm. semester started. Weeks later, Wolf was assigned to The reason for the late notification, a different but permanent housing: “You’re just so isolated. Brown explained, was because some Schuyler House, a dorm that is nearly It’s the furthest thing transfers are admitted during “the suma mile away from Central Campus. He said that Schuyler has “come with its from being on-campus, mer months,” and they have up to 10 after receiving their acceptance to share of difficulties.” and it makes it difficult.” days apply for housing. “You’re just so isolated,” Wolf, The University explained that it was who transferred from Oregon State Eitan Wolf ’21 unable to offer transfer students housUniversity after his freshman year, ing on-campus because the incoming told The Sun. “It’s the furthest thing from being on-campus, and so it makes it difficult just to class of transfers was “unusually large,” so there was an get to and from school. It makes it difficult to participate “overwhelming demand” for housing, according to a June 22 email sent to incoming transfers by Kristen M.E. in extracurriculars.” Wolf is one of the transfer students who live either Lomparco, associate director of the Office of Residential off-campus or in an on-campus residence that is far from central campus. Cornell guarantees freshmen on-campus See TRANSFER page 3 Sun Assistant News Editor
Cornell Research Associate on InSight Team Describes Awe of Mars Landing By MARYAM ZAFAR Sun Staff Writer
“Everybody in the room was kind of on pins and needles,” said Don Banfield ’87, senior research associate, astronomy, describing a movie-like scene. Science team members who had worked on the InSight spacecraft for NASA sat and waited to hear whether the spacecraft had successfully landed last Monday. “And we’re sitting there
watching it, and it was maybe an hour before it was supposed to get to Mars,” Banfield continued. Sitting at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California, “we’re all kind of mentally calculating: ‘If I was sitting on a spacecraft, how big would Mars look like in my eyes if I was just looking forward?’” For Banfield and the team, the stakes were high: the Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport (InSight)
mission was first proposed in 2009, and after a year and a half of proposal-writing, the project was selected from around 50 others. After further filtering and more years of work, the InSight project was finally selected to receive $425 million from NASA’s Discovery Program in 2012. As a co-investigator of InSight’s science team, Banfield monitors weather data like See INSIGHT page 4
COURTESY OF NASA
Out of this world | Don Banfield ’87 is a co-investigator on InSight’s science team. The spacecraft landed succesfully on the surface of Mars (above) last Monday.