2025 frosh student guide

f ind yourplace on t heHill

Your guide to the ins and outs of Cornell

Welcome and congratulations to the newest members of the Cornell community — the Class of 2029!

Each year, The Cornell Daily Sun has the honor of greeting a new class, and this year, that class is you.

Cornell was founded as an institution for “any person ... any study.” But that mission is more than a phrase etched in stone — it’s a challenge. It asks all of us to make this university more open, more thoughtful and more courageous than the day we arrived. For the past three years, I have seen that every student and every idea plays a part in that work. And for the past three years, I have been proud to document it with The Sun.

As the editor-in-chief of the nation’s oldest continuously inde-

pendent college newspaper, I’ve witnessed just how much a campus can hold. Student activism and scientific discovery. Tragedy, tension and celebration.

Savor every moment as you close out your current chapter. In just a few months, you’ll hear the bells chime your favorite song for the first time, watch the rushing of the gorges on the way to class, stare off into the (unbeatable) sunset from the slope and begin building a version of yourself you’ve only just started to imagine.

And when you do, The Sun will be shining — ready to tell your story.

— Julia Senzon, editor-in-chief of The Cornell Daily Sun’s 143rd Editorial Board

Say what? Studying in the Cocktail Lounge? Eating at CTB? Learn what’s what: all the terms you need to know.

AAP: College of Architecture, Art and Planning. Found on the north end of the Arts Quad.

AEM: Applied Economics and Management, the only major in the Dyson School.

Appel: Formally named North Star, this North Campus dining hall is known as the “crown jewel of Cornell Dining.”

Big Red: The nickname for all Cornell athletic teams.

CALS: College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. Also called the “Ag School.”

Big Red Bucks: Points that can be used in a-la-carte dining facilities, such as Bear Necessities, to buy food. Better known as BRBs.

CCC: Cornell Concert Commission, the organization that brings big-name bands to campus.

Central: Central Campus, the area between the gorges that includes nearly all of Cornell’s academic buildings.

Chalkings: Announcements written in chalk on the campus sidewalks.

Cocktail Lounge: Underground, 24/7 study sac in Uris Library with comfy, sleep-inducing chairs — great for a midday nap!

Coffee Chat: Often scheduled by email, this is a preliminary meeting for many club and project team applications.

Commons: A stretch of State Street in downtown Ithaca closed to vehicular traffic. Go there to find shops, restaurants and many craft and musical fairs.

The Sun’s Cornell glos•sa•ry

Cornell Cinema: Sells discounted tickets to more than 150 films a year right in Willard Straight Hall.

CTB: Collegetown Bagels, the reliable spot for any bagel concoction you could possibly dream up.

C-Town: Collegetown, the business district of Ithaca located next to campus. There are apartments, shops, restaurants and bars on this stretch.

Dairy Bar: Cornell-operated dairy shop that serves ice cream, milkshakes and other milk products.

Day Hall: Home of financial aid, the new Office of Civil Rights other University resources — like its president.

D.P. Dough: A place to order calzones to satisfy those late-night cravings.

Dragon Day: Tradition started by Willard D. Straight in 1901, in which architecture students build a giant dragon and parade it around the campus before spring break.

EARS: Empathy, Assistance and Referral Service, a free and confidential peer counseling service.

Fishbowl: A glass-enclosed reading room in Uris Library with rows of reading-conducive desks. Perfect for studying. That’s it. Nothing alcohol-related, why do you ask?

FWS: 1. First-year writing seminar, required for nearly all freshmen. 2. Federal Work Study, a financial aid program.

Gorges: Ithaca’s claim to fame, muse of the saying, “Ithaca is Gorges.” These rock-lined waterfalls are hard to miss on campus, but swimming in them is dangerous and prohibited in most areas — be careful.

Ho Plaza: The area between the Cornell Store and Willard Straight Hall, which often hosts student rallies.

Hotelies: Students in the School of Hotel Administration.

I.C.: Ithaca College, the college across town from Cornell.

ILR: School of Industrial and Labor Relations, nicknamed “I Love Reading.”

J.A.: The Judicial Administrator determines punishments for recalcitrant students, especially those who take more than one piece of fruit out of the dining halls.

JAM: Just About Music, a residential program house.

The Johnson: Cornell’s Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, free and open to the public.

Libe Café: Where great minds meet daily over coffee inside Olin Library.

Libe Slope: A very steep hill separating West Campus from Central Campus. You’ll want to be there on Slope Day ... but otherwise only take the walk when you’re up for a work-out.

Louie’s Lunch: Late-night staple, found on North Campus between Balch and Risley Halls. Louie’s best foods include their near-legendary fries.

Big steps | Waterfalls run through many gorges and provide

trails leading down to the falls, but off-trail areas can be

Loving House: A program house to enhance the living experience of LGBTQ+ students.

MVR: Martha Van Rensselaer Hall, home of the College of Human Ecology and Cornell Brooks Public Policy.

Morgue: The large study lounge in Donlon Hall, named for its dark, dismal lighting.

Nasties: Affectionate nickname for the greasy, a-la-carte dining facility in RPCC.

Noyes: The student center on West Campus, home to a state-of-the-art gym and Jansen’s Market.

Orgo: Organic chemistry. Two words: Fear it.

Prelim: Any full-length exam that is not a final exam. Known as “midterms” at most other colleges.

PSB: Physical Sciences Building, home to Goldie’s Cafe and STEM studiers.

Quad: Quadrangle, a rectangular section of campus that houses one of Cornell’s colleges, such as the Ag Quad, the Arts Quad and the Engineering Quad.

R.A.: Resident adviser, the upperclassman in charge of keeping order in your residence hall. Don’t make their life too hard.

RHD: Residence hall director, the R.A.’s boss. You want this person to be on your side if you’re in trouble.

ROTC: Reserve Officers’ Training Corps, a collegiate-level military organization.

RPCC: Robert Purcell Community Center, one of two community centers on North Campus. It is home to numerous study lounges, Bear Necessities, and a gaming lounge.

S/U: Pass-or-fail grading that is an option in some courses (satisfactory or unsatisfactory).

S.A.: Student Assembly, a student governing body that has jurisdiction over the student activity fee and makes recommendations to the administration.

Schwartz Center: Home of Cornell’s performing and media arts department. Located in Collegetown, it hosts many student performances and visiting shows.

St. Patrick’s Day Ginger Run: St. Patty’s day tradition that takes place annually during the Collegetown darties.

The Straight: Willard Straight Hall, Cornell’s student union, which contains dining facilities, a study lounge, the Cornell Cinema movie theater and registered student organization offices.

SAFC: Student Assembly Finance Commission, in charge of distributing money to registered student organizations.

State Street Diner: A restaurant west of the Ithaca Commons. Stop by if you’re looking for greasy, home-style cooking and waitresses who will call you “honey.”

T.A.: Teaching assistants, often graduate students who lead discussion sections for large lectures.

TCAT: Tompkins Consolidated Area Transit, the bus company that serves the Ithaca area. All first-years receive a free bus pass to take you to 8:40 a.m. classes or home from late-night escapades.

Touchdown: Cornell’s mascot. Despite being named after our occasionally ailing football team, Cornellians still look to him for spirit.

Townie: A local Ithaca resident.

Ujamaa: A multi-year residential community on North Campus that celebrates Black heritage.

Wegmans: The massive and hyper-popular supermarket downtown. Great place to shop if you cook for yourself a lot.

Westchester: Where the most unique, inquisitive, humble and hard working Cornellians come from. Its residents comprise approximately 69 percent of each graduating class. (A Westchester resident wrote this.)

Zeus: Temple of Zeus, the best place to be seen pretending to do work on campus. Also the favorite spot for Sunnies — so stop by and say hi!

Slope Day: An end-of-the-year celebration in the spring when Cornellians gather on Libe Slope, hang out with friends, listen to music and have a few (or more) drinks.

ELLEN WOODS / SUN FILE PHOTO

the area its natural beauty. Some gorges have

dangerous. Above: Cascadilla Gorge at Collegetown.

Orientation Week Eases Transition to Cornell

By SUN STAFF

In late August, students from around the world will pack up from summer vacation and congregate in Ithaca, where the next generation of political leaders, business tycoons and famous activists will be become part of the incoming first-year class at Cornell University.

During the five-day New Student Orientation, firstyear students will be given information and resources regarding life on the Hill, as well as attending mandatory programs, such as Orientation Leader meetings and Community at Cornell. The Student Orientation Leader Team will run a tight ship of planned activities and events to give students a positive

“I think [Orientation Week] is a great opportunity for students to explore the campus before they take that final plunge.”

Jeff Stulmaker ’11

first taste of Cornell life.

Every incoming Cornellian will receive an Orientation Leader to help guide them through their introduction to a new home. Orientation Leaders serve as new students’ guides to campus in the first week and often beyond. They can serve as valuable resources to find quiet places to study, hidden gems around campus and advice from an upperclass student who’s seen it all.

“We were able to host much larger events where more students could be involved at one time, and overall made each event much more engaging and fun,” said former co-chair of the Orientation Steering Committee Janna Zilkha ’23 about the first in-person orientation since COVID19.

Rather than one big move-in day, the Class of 2029 will move their fans, bulletin boards and throw blankets into their North Campus dorms Monday, Aug. 18, or Tuesday, Aug. 19. Orientation will run from Monday, Aug. 18 through Sunday, August 24. The first day of classes will be held on Monday, Aug. 25.

While students attend events such as required

college programming and optional sessions about everything from study abroad opportunities to

their roommates, mingle with new students on North Campus quads, take the swim test and find their

Cornell has run orientation week programming for decades, and some things never change. Former

week is “a great opportunity for students to explore the campus before they take that final plunge” — and this year’s O-Week will be

Moving in | Students carry luggage into a North Campus dormitory, marking the start of their journey at Cornell.

Cornell History Through the Eyes of The Sun

By SUN STAFF

On April 27, 1865, the governor of New York State signed Cornell University’s charter, establishing the university that its founder, Ezra Cornell, would later describe as “an institution where any person can find instruction in any study.”

While The Sun was not established until 15 years after the University’s founding, the publication has continuously followed the University and kept Cornellians informed for over 140 years.

On this page, we’ve laid out a few of The Sun’s front pages that showcase what many would call some of the defining moments of the University’s history.

“Cornell’s Stand In Face of War to Be Revealed” | The day after the Pearl Harbor attacks on Dec. 7, 1941, the front page of The Sun [above] featured various Associated Press wires regarding World War II and the attacks. Cornell President Edmund Ezra Day issued a statement the following day, telling Cornellians to stay “at their jobs” until more definitive information regarding the country’s role in the war was provided. Throughout the war, Cornell was greatly disrupted — men were called to enlist in 1943, and The Sun became a weekly known as “The Cornell Bulletin.”

Rawlings’ seven-point plan | On Oct. 8, 1997, President Hunter R. Rawlings III announced his plan to move all first-year housing to North Campus and all upperclassmen housing to West and in Collegetown. The following day, The Sun (above) led with the headline “All Frosh to North.” Rawlings’ plan lead to the construction of Mews and Court-Kay-Bauer Halls, as well as the West Campus housing system.

The land grant university of the future | In December 2011, thenNew York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced that Cornell had won the city’s Applied Sciences competition, which granted the University the right to build a new technology campus on Roosevelt Island in Manhattan. Cornell is thought to have won the bid after Stanford University, Cornell’s rival throughout the competition, dropped out and billionaire Chuck Feeney ’56 donated $350 million to the University for the campus. The Sun reported on the announcement during Cornell’s winter break and published the news online, with the print version [right] making its debut at the start of the spring semester. The campus opened on Roosevelt Island in fall 2017 and the full buildout is to be completed by 2037.

“Without any apology for our appearance” | The Sun’s inaugural issue was published on Sept. 16, 1880, 15 years after Cornell’s charter was signed and 18 years after the signing of the Morrill Land-Grant Act, which allowed states to establish a university with the purpose of benefiting the state.

Cornell’s capitulation | Fifty years ago, approximately 100 black students took over Willard Straight Hall and ejected Cornell employees and visiting family members from the building. The following day, April 20, 1969, students emerged from the Straight. Marking the end of a decade full of racial tensions, Cornell was divided. Tensions ultimately culminated with the resignation of its president and the future establishment of shared governance on campus. Right is The Sun’s extra edition announcing the takeover.

‘Precautions Lacking’ | In April 1967, a fire at the Cornell Heights Residential Club — which is now the Ecology House on North Campus — killed eight Ph.D. students and a professor. The following day, The Sun published a story on its front page (left) about the lack of fire safety precautions in University residences. To this day, the cause of the fire is officially unknown, although following the event, Cornell invested in fire safety measures across campus.

Taking a Bite Out of the Big Apple: Cornell’s Future in New York City

1 Welcome to

ornell Tech

Over the next two decades, Cornell will expand its footprint in New York City on Roosevelt Island, the site of the new technology campus, Cornell Tech. While the campus had its official inauguration in 2017, the full buildout will not be complete until 2037. Before demolition began to make way for the University’s new campus, The Sun’s editors had the opportunity to tour the island to see Cornell’s future.

5

The site today | The first Cornell Tech building was opened on Sept. 13, 2017. The entire campus is expected to fill 12 acres.

6

Big Apple | The east side of Manhattan — which houses Weill Cornell Medical College (center) — can be seen from Roosevelt Island.

4

Four freedoms | American artist Jo Davidson created a bronze sculpture of FDR that stands in the center of the FDR Four Freedoms Park.

2 Abandoned smallpox hospital | The ruins of a smallpox hospital, designed by James Renwick Jr. in the 19th century, are a designated historic site on Roosevelt Island.

3 Remembering FDR | The FDR Four Freedoms Park, built in memory of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, opened in 2012.

Where to Live

North Campus Dorms Ready for Class of 2029

By SUN STAFF

In 1900, the Cornell student body was housed entirely in fraternities and boarding houses — no real dormitories existed. According to Cornell: Glorious to View , a history of Cornell written by history Profs. Carol Kammen and Walter LaFeber, Andrew Dickson White, Cornell’s co-founder and first president, believed students should live on their own. Clearly, times have changed. Now required to live on campus, the Class of 2029 arrives at Cornell with a wide range of housing options.

North Campus Residential Expansion

This class will be the fifth to live in the newly constructed dorms that are a part of the North Campus Residential Expansion. The entire NCRE — with five new dorms and a laundry list of new accommodations from a new gym to a dining hall — opened in Fall 2021 after over five years of planning.

Three of the five dorms will house first-year students this year — Barbara McClintock Hall, Hu Shih Hall and Ruth Bader Ginsburg Hall. The dorms — which began housing first-years when they opened in Fall 2022 — are named for Nobel Prize winner Barbara McClintock ’23, M.A. ’25, Ph.D. ’27, renowned Chinese scholar and diplomat Hu Shih ’14 and the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg ’54.

While these dorms are the newest and most modern halls on North Campus, they have been reported to be less social with their suite-style setup.

But the luxury of hardwood flooring, adjustable overhead lighting and pingpong tables in lounges make these dorms highly desirable.

Clara Dickson Hall

Named after A.D. White’s mother, Clara Dickson Hall has also held the unusual nickname, “The Big Dick.” The dormitory was originally intended to house only women, but is now co-ed. Almost 500 students can fit in this five-story dormitory making it the largest in the Ivy League. Not as conveniently, though, Dickson has only four bathrooms per floor.

Dickson is also full of single rooms, a rarity for first-years at most colleges. Many rooms stand on long hallways with lounges in the middle. During the 2025-2026 academic year, half of Dickson will house first-year students, and half will house sophomores.

Court-Kay-Bauer Hall

Opened in 2001, this residence conveniently features the beloved air conditioning other dormitories lack. While Ithaca does live up to its reputation of frigid winters, cool air is definitely welcome on those first few humid days of school. At its opening, this perk gave the dorm its nickname, “Court Resort.” As one of the most modern dormitories, Court-Kay-Bauer Hall also boasts brightly painted walls and comfortable common areas.

But all is fair, or pretty fair, in dormitory life, as the rooms in the CKB are also known to have almost paper-thin -

walls.

Mews Hall

Mews opened alongside Court-KayBauer and has a structure and facilities that closely mirrors that of its sibling dorm. Mews also contains 22 lounges, including the spacious, semicircular Lund Lounge that overlooks Rawlings Green. Mews residents also enjoy proximity to Appel Commons, one of the community centers on North Campus.

Mary Donlon Hall

Some say that Donlon Hall is “thong-shaped,” a description somewhat fitting considering its reputation for being a social dormitory.

The majority of the rooms are doubles on co-ed corridors — wings which lead to lounges in the middle for social activity. While most bathrooms are single-sex, there is an occasional co-ed one.

Socializing may be a constant for life in Donlon, but the dormitory also has a recently-renovated library on the first floor. The library was repainted and recarpeted and serves as a quiet and convenient retreat for some serious studying.

Low Rises 6 and 7

Step inside the Low Rises and you’ll feel like a rat in a maze. Winding corridors and unexpected turns are the norm in these dormitories. But at the time the buildings were constructed, the Low Rises’ small, somewhat isolated suites were a novel proposition.

Constructed at a time of high economic inflation, the Low Rises were built to be long-standing and to foster diversity and interaction between students in their small building communities. A typical suite consists of one bathroom, two double rooms and two single rooms.

High Rise 5 and Jameson

In the midst of rural Ithaca, High Rise 5 and Jameson do their best to stir up a bit of urban life with their architectural styles intended to resemble city living. Their organization is very similar to that of the Low Rises, also with suites for community interactions.

The most distinctive feature of the High Rises is arguably their Sky Lounges (complete with A/C!). Located on the top floor of each building, they provide an unparalleled panoramic view of North Campus.

Balch Hall

Balch Hall, a residence for female-identified students, was constructed in the 1920s as the second dormitory on North Campus, according to Cornell Then and Now by Prof. Ronald Ostman, communication.

Generations of Cornellians and architectural trends later, Balch’s Gothic style and ivy-covered exterior continue to exude a timeless and classically collegiate character.

After undergoing recent renovations, both North and South Balch Hall will host first, second, third and fourth-year female-identified students in the fall.

Program Houses Help Students Pursue Their Passions

By SUN STAFF

All Cornellians, including firstyears, may apply to live in program houses, the majority of which are located on North Campus. The houses allow students with an interest in a particular theme to live together.

Akwe:kon (pronounced “A-gway-go”) is dedicated to Native American heritage. Its 35 residents share an interest in Native American culture, family and community. Many Akwe:kon members take part in an annual smoke dance and pow-wow.

Ninety-six students with a passion for the environment can choose to live in the Ecology House. Typical events include environmental discussions, hikes

and kayaking trips.

Located adjacent to West Campus, the Equity and Engagement Living-Learning Community opens opportunities for 35 upperlevel and transfer students to focus on successful education, retention and identity development. Some of the programs offered include discussions and training opportunities on social justice, sexual orientation and gender identity.

The Holland International Living Center, more commonly known as HILC, is home to international students as well as those interested in global, political, economic, social and cultural issues. Some of the center’s programs include international affairs discussion groups, ice-cream hour and talent shows.

Music lovers at Cornell can choose to live in Just About Music, known appropriately as JAM. The 144 residents range from students who enjoy listening to music to students who sing or play musical instruments. Members of JAM can take advantage of the house’s pianos, drum set, C.D. library, practice rooms, concert stage, recording studio and weekly listening parties.

The Loving House is a section in Mews Hall that can accomodate 30 residents. It aims to enhance the intellectual and cultural enviornment of Cornell in regards to LGBTQ+ and allied community experiences.

The only program house situated on West Campus is the Language House, located in the Alice Cook House. The Language

House is open to sophomores through seniors hoping to become fluent in Arabic, French, German, Japanese, Mandarin or Spanish.

Fifty-seven students interested in Latino culture live in the Latino Learning Center, or LLC, located in Anna Comstock Hall. Each week, in an event called “Café Con Leche,” students discuss issues facing Latino people across the world.

Students hoping to learn about other cultures may decide to live in the Multicultural Living Learning Unit, known as McLLU and pronounced “McClue.” This program house is located in Clara Dickson Hall, a freshmen dormitory. Members of McLLU celebrate diversity by holding presentations and festivities centering on their assorted backgrounds.

With 190 residents, Risley Residential College for Creative and Performing Arts is one of the largest program houses on campus and has its own dining hall. Risley is also home to recording and video-editing studios. Some of the programs Risleyites host each year include concerts, shows and art exhibits.

Ujamaa — pronounced “oo-jama” — is home to 140 students who share an interest in Black history and culture. The name Ujamaa comes from a Ki-Swahilian word that roughly translates to “a community that works together as a family.” The house also focuses on advancing the academic and professional goals of its residents. Ujamaa’s members engage in discussion, hold dances and work with many social-action groups.

Archway | Balch Hall, Cornell’s all-female-identified dormitory, sits at the front of North Campus, welcoming first-years through its central arch.

Student Clubs Cater to Varied Interests

A sampling of C.U.’s wide array of extracurricular activities

By SUN STAFF

If your schedule has not been sufficiently crammed with lectures, work, parties, meals and sleep, you might want to look into joining a club to fill those few extra minutes each week. Cornell has a niche for virtually every interest, no matter how esoteric. Whether you’re an aspiring guitarist or an expert knitter, it is likely you will be able to find a group of like-minded students to share your passion with. Below is a sampling of some of the more prominent clubs on campus.

Academic Groups

Looking to get your inner nerd on? Head on over to the Chess Club’s meetings to practice checking your mates. Fed up with classes? Take your frustration out in the Cornell Speech and Debate Society. Big museum fan? Join Curate Cornell.

Pre-professional organizations from pre-law to premed also offer communities of students headed toward similar goals.

Many computer and information science and engineering students find themselves involved in one of the 34 project teams on campus, ranging from autonomous sailboats to robotics to rockets.

Affinity Groups

Across campus, there are many identity-based centers to support and empower students from historically marginalized backgrounds, housed in Student and Campus Life.

For student-run clubs, there are dozens of communities, many supported by “umbrella organizations” with significant funding, including Haven (the LGBTQ+ student union), the Interfaith Council, the Gender Justice Advocacy Coalition and the International Students Union. From specific career support groups like Women in Computing at Cornell and the Black Ivy Pre-Law Society to more general ones like the Cornell Asian Pacific Student Union to the First Generation Student Union, students are sure to find a group to call home.

Athletic Groups

Not a D1 athlete? Try club sports or intermural competitions! There are plenty of ways to stay active with Big Red Yoga, Cornell Running Club and the countless dance teams on campus. For the more kinetic ways to de-stress, try your hand at Bhangra, an Indian dance troupe, or Yamatai, a taiko drumming group.

Governing Groups

Each year, dozens of budding student politicians vie for seats on Cornell’s student governing body, the Student Assembly. The S.A. meets weekly in Willard Straight Hall to discuss issues and pass resolutions on behalf of the student body, addressing topics that range from policing on campus to Slope Day regulations.

Musical Groups Cornell offers dozens of outlets for those looking to

GreekLife

express their musical creativity. You won’t be able to turn a corner the first couple weeks of class without seeing a flier for an a cappella tryout or a chalking pointing you in the direction of band auditions. The University chorus, jazz ensembles, symphonic band, marching band, symphony orchestra and glee club are all open to the musically inclined. There are more than a dozen for prospective members to choose from, each with a unique style.

Passionate about music but not one for singing? The Cornell Concert Commission organizes most of the major musical events that happen on campus, having brought such big-name acts as Mannequin Pussy, mxmtoon, Young Thug and Icona Pop over the years. Or, check out the Fanclub Collective, which hosts independent and local acts such as Home for Bugs and Twincourt.

Political Groups

The Cornell Democrats and the Cornell Republicans represent the two major political parties on campus, each engaging in its own brand of activism and spreading awareness of political issues.

Meanwhile, the non-partisan organization Cornell Votes works to increase civic engagement and promote civil discourse through providing voter registration information.

Publications

The Cornell Daily Sun is the campus daily newspaper, but there are other pub-

lications, too. The Cornell Review offers conservative commentary on local and national issues. Its newly minted counterpart is The Dispatch.

Had enough political commentary? Lighten up by reading CUNooz, Cornell’s online satire publication. Their website is updated regularly with articles ranging from humor to the downright absurd.

A smattering of campus magazines also pop up in cafes across campus seasonally. From Kitsch to Thread and Crème de Cornell to The Diplomat, students can find all kinds of publications niche enough for every interest.

Miscellaneous Groups

For students who want to spend their years at Cornell in the spotlight, the Risley Theatre group gives members the opportunity to participate in all stages of a dramatic production. Whether you’re looking to act, direct, choreo-

graph, construct sets, manage sound or create costumes, it’s likely Risley Theatre can use your skills.

The comedy troupe The Skits puts on several sketch comedy shows each year. If you’re in the mood for a more off-the-cuff style of humor, check out the Whistling Shrimp, Cornell’s improv comedy group. Love to sing but better suited for the shower? Look no further than the Mediocre Melodies, an a capella group that describes itself as “bad singers for a good cause.”

Beyond performing groups, The Cornell Bread Club welcomes all of those with a passion for the culinary arts. Those looking to find the perfect cup-of-joe can join Cornell’s Coffee Club.

Also be sure to attend Cornell’s Club Fest in September to check out the hundreds of other student groups on campus.

Sororities, Fraternities, Greek Life Galore

By SUN STAFF

With approximately a third of Cornell students in one of nearly 60 Greek chapters on campus, the Greek system is a major part of Cornell’s social life.

Social events are a large part of the Greek experience, with chapters planning their own parties, formals and tripss. Many sophomore members of Greek life also live in the fraternity and sorority houses dotted around off-campus, contributing to their senses of community.

Alongside the social aspect is the large community service aspect. Many of Cornell’s Greek chapters participate in Ithaca-based projects, such as the Tompkins County Advocacy Center, and in recent past have done massive voter drives to register all members of several houses.

Cornell’s Greek system also allows students to emerge as leaders within their respective chapters. Elected officers must run meetings, organize events and handle finances. Chapter presidents motivate their members,

treasurers must handle complex budgets and recruitment chairs must carry out strategic recruitment campaigns. Many chapters hold study hours and give out awards or scholarships to members for outstanding academic achievement. Each spring, individual chapters are honored for academic excellence by the Office of Sorority & Fraternity Life.

Alongside the SFL, the Tri-Council — composed of the Panhellenic Council, the Interfraternity Council and the Multicultural Greek

and Fraternal Council — is the main governing body of Greek life on campus, setting the guidelines for events throughout the year and annual recruitment.

Greeks cannot promote their houses to incoming firstyear students until the spring, when rush begins. First-years traditionally experience with the Greek system through open parties, but rules implemented in 2011 have reduced the ability of first-years to attend these kinds of events. First-year students are now ba

To get a true sense of Greek life, first-years can choose to take part in Spring Rush. All fraternities and sororities participate in spring recruitment, in which first-years can talk with members about Greek life in a more relaxed and intimate setting. Sorority rush follows a strict schedule in which potential new members visit every sorority. For men, rush is more casual, as first-years can choose the houses they want to visit and interact with members in a much more relaxed setting.

ClubFest frenzy | Students gather in Barton Hall for ClubFest. This event showcases the hundreds of different clubs at Cornell.

Glimpses Of Collegetown

Just of campus, past the law school and over a stone bridge spanning Cascadilla Creek, lies Collegetown , a lively gathering place for Cornellians. Here, students can fnd cheap food, bars, entertainment and basic necessities. Many upperclassmen choose to live in Collegetown’s houses and high-rise apartment buildings.

MICHELLE

CEREESE QUSBA/ SUN NEWS EDITOR

MATTHEW KORNICZKY / SUN ASSISTANT PHOTOGRAPHY EDITOR

C ITY G UIDE

From the outside, it’s hard to understand the allure of the city Cornell calls home. But Ithaca, with all its quirks and eccentricities, is full of opportunities for exploring and having fun. This year, CNN named Ithaca the best town to visit in the U.S.

The heart and soul of downtown Ithaca is called the Commons . Three city blocks in the center of downtown were made into a pedestrian mall in the 1970s, and ever since, the Commons have been a hubbub of shops, cafes and restaurants. After multiple years of renovations, the Commons reopened in August 2015 with new benches and sculptures, as well as more extensive lighting and a more easily accessible central walkway. Retail options in the area range from jewelry stores and bookshops to a branch of the Cornell Store, and other notable stops like the State Theatre and yours truly, everyone’s favorite independent student newspaper. If you’re hungry after a long day out and about, the restaurants on the Commons offer everything from Mediterranean to Thai, whatever your taste may be.

Though there are plenty of great campus dining options, some restaurants are iconic for Cornell students. Moosewood Restaurant , which made its name in the ’60s with its world-famous organic vegetarian cookbook, sits on Seneca Street and still serves the same perennial cuisine. Glenwood Pines , on Route 89 near Taughannock Falls State Park, serves what it calls the world-famous Pinesburger and offers a beautiful view over Cayuga Lake. Viva Taqueria and Bickering Twins , both near the Commons, offer dine-in and take-out options for those in need of a good fix of Mexican cuisine.

If you are into museums, more than a few can be found nestled within Ithaca’s tree-lined boundaries. The Sciencenter on Route 13 is geared toward younger kids, but still provides fun exhibits for the college-aged crowd. The Museum of the Earth , located on Trumansburg Road, is part of the Paleontological Research Institution and features a treasure trove of fossils and dinosaur bones. The Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art , just off the Arts Quad on Central Campus, houses works by artists from the ancient world to today, and also features a rotating cast of temporary exhibitions. For bird lovers and nature enthusiasts in general, Cornell’s Lab of Ornithology provides a fun, educational experience.

The Shops at Ithaca is the biggest mall in town, and it does its utmost to flatter your inner fashionista’s ego or your latest Target fix. On the other hand, an hour drive away, Destiny USA in Syracuse is the largest mall in New York State. It is touted as the mall everyone goes to when they realize that the Ithaca version just cannot fulfill their needs.

Skiing probably had nothing to do with your decision to come to Cornell, but Greek Peak , just 30 minutes away in Cortland, is the best ski area in the region. With a special deal, you can get student-priced season passes. The Ski and Snowboard Club provides weekly shuttles to Greek Peak during part of the winter.

As far as grocery stores are concerned, there’s always Wegmans , a supermarket that, at the same time, is so much more than a supermarket. Those not from around here may be surprised at its size and the amount of ready-cooked food available. Dropping anchor in 2021, Trader Joe’s offers its fix of Everything But the Bagel Seasoning and Scadinavian Swimmers just down Route 13 from Wegman’s. An altenative is GreenStar Natural Foods Market , which has a branch on College Avenue in Collegetown.

Several wineries line Seneca and Cayuga lakes, providing fertile ground for wine tours. Of course, you have to be 21 to sample the wines, so it’s more usual for upperclassmen to take excursions into wine country. For those of age, though, the wine region — often compared to Napa Valley in California — is well worth a visit.

Right off Route 13 on Steamboat Landing is the Ithaca Farmers Market , where local vendors sell delicious food, wine and seasonal produce. Open April through December on Saturdays and Sundays, it is a destination worth checking out, whether you are environmentally conscious or not.

Throughout the year, the Commons plays host to a number of different celebrations wherew students and residents of Ithaca commingle. In October, Apple Fest brings orchards and entertainers downtown, and participants sample every type of apple concoction you can think of. In February, Chilifest turns the Commons into a bustling fair filled with the aromas from local restaurants as they bring their A-game chili to be taste-tested in public. In the summer, Ithaca Festival celebrates Ithaca itself, with all its quirks included, with a parade and entertainment around town.

Apple Fest

Ithaca Farmers Market

Ithaca Falls

Ithaca Commons

Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art

THE BEST OF CORNELL

The Corne¬ Daily Sun

Best Place to Grab a Cup of Coffee: TEMPLE OF ZEUS

Temple of Zeus embodies everything that a college student could want in a coffee joint. The cafe’s prime location on the Arts Quad makes for a convenient coffee break, a great meeting spot to work or wind down with friends and a fabulous study spot after a tiring class. Furthermore, the cafe’s all-white ambiance creates a bright and uplighting study environment. The marble tables and wooden chairs make for an aesthetic that virtually all Cornellians can appreciate. Although Zeus’ tables are usually filled most weekday afternoons, a table in the Klarman atrium is worth the wait. In regard to the coffee itself, you honestly can’t go wrong. Options range from espresso drinks to kombucha, and if you’re lucky, your drink may be blessed with latte art. And don’t forget to try the food! The cafe’s sandwiches and soups are not only delicious, but fresh. Whether you are a student in Arts & Sciences or not, Zeus has become a favorite for Cornellians of all persuasions and occupations.

— Compiled by Olivia Faulhaber

Best Grocery Store:

WEGMANS

Sunday afternoon at Wegmans is a veritable social scene: upperclassmen, freshmen straight off the TCAT and Ithacans alike flock to this brick monolith to obtain not only weekly staples, but also the obscure Italian sausage or fancy cheese for a special get-together. The perpetually packed parking lot of the 24-hour national chain says it all: No other grocer in Ithaca has as wide a range of offerings as good ol’ Weggos. Though their organization can be a bit unpredictable (why is one package of noodles available in seven separate aisles?), their selection — ranging from international foodstuffs to 4 for $4 avocados — can’t be beat. Plus, after you’ve collected your week’s worth of cooking ingredients, you can avoid actually cooking them by sashaying over to their convenient restaurant (ranked #2 out of 202 in all of Ithaca on TripAdvisor) for a gourmet meal. — Compiled by Christina Xu

THIS IS CORNELL, and this is Ithaca. We curse it for its multitude of inclines and frequent snowfall. We praise it for its vibrant, quirky locale and natural beauty. Yet we often fall so deeply into the routine of papers, projects and prelims that we tend to forget about our surroundings altogether.

The Best of Cornell, a collaboration by the staff of the Sun’s Lifestyle department, aims to spotlight a few of the noteworthy attractions of Cornell and the city of Ithaca. We present to you the results of a survey within Lifestyle’s staff.

This list is by no means exhaustive; we hope to stimulate discussion and thought. But most of all, we hope this compilation will inspire a newfound appreciation for all that Cornell and Ithaca have to offer.

From burritos to gyros and chicken tenders, Terrace has a bite for everyone. Located on the ground floor of the Statler Hotel, Terrace bustles with students from hotelies to ILRies to everyone in between. Every dish is customizable and made to order, whether you’re in the mood for pho noodles or curry, or are running to class and need some morning caffeination or a smoothie. Be sure to check out their famous orange chicken burrito, and if you’re in the mood for some veggies, wait in line for half an hour for a salad at Terrace. On any day of the week, the burrito line runs long, too — but the lines are worth it. So, grab a bite at the best spot to get the most bang for your BRBs on campus.

Place to Visit:

BOTANIC GARDENS

With over 4,000 acres of beautifully dynamic landscape, the Cornell Botanic Gardens is a wonderful place to visit, especially when the much-awaited seasons of spring and fall grace Ithaca. The breathtaking plant biodiversity — the gardens offer a collection of grasses, herbs, flowers, vegetables, rhododendrons and vines, to name a few — will provide intrigue, calm and rejuvenation to any awful day. Starting your visit with the twelve specialty gardens located at the heart of the grounds — which surround the stunning Brian C. Nevin Welcome Center — is highly recommended. In addition to interpretive exhibits, a reception desk and an inclusive array of snacks, the Welcome Center also houses a Garden Gift Shop with fascinating souvenirs, such as a $12.99 “yoga” rabbit figurine eternally frozen in the Downward Dog position (if you’re interested, the figurine is also available online through The Cornell Store!). The Botanic Gardens are open from dawn to dusk, all year, and if you’re up for it, guided tours are also available. So if you would like a breath of fresh air, charming scenery and a better understanding and appreciation of biological diversity, then waste no time and head over to the gardens!

Choose Your Study Space

An Introduction to C.U.’s Libraries

Cornell is home to more than a dozen libraries. With so many to choose from, your choice of library depends on as much what you’re looking for as on what kind of person — and student — you are: every single one has a personality of its own.

Uris

Uris Library has been dubbed “Club Uris” by students who can make light of the fact that, on any given day, the Cocktail Lounge is the place to be with doors open 24/7 (cocktails not included).

You read that right: Students can make their party rounds and then get right back to Club Uris to burn the midnight oil with some after-hours studying. With 24-hour access, why bother paying rent? Bring a sleeping bag and a toothbrush, and you’re set! (Editor’s Note: The Sun does not endorse living in the library.)

Along with Olin just across the way, it houses thousands of books and plenty of carrels and quiet places in which to read them. Tucked inside is the hidden gem A. D. White Library, known also as the “Harry Potter” library for its carved-stone fireplace and spiral staircases through the stacks. Olin and Kroch

For those looking for more of a lounge than a club, Olin Library may be the place for you, keeping its doors open up to 2 a.m. Olin has its other charms, too: it is one of Cornell’s primary research libraries, complete with its own periodical room. The Amit Bhatia Libe Café on the main level is home to the Iced Skim Sugar-Free Vanilla Latte (or, as Libe employees call it, “The Long Island”) and plenty of pastries. A word to the wise: Get there early. On a Saturday morning — and especially during finals — you might find a line of eager students waiting to get the best spots next to the windows overlooking the Arts Quad on the seventh floor. Attached to Olin is Kroch Library, which houses both the Asia Collections and the Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections. Be aware: Any noise above a whisper here is verboten.

Mann

One of the steady workhorses of Cornell’s libraries is Mann, which serves the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and the College of Human Ecology. Mann sits on the far side of the Ag Quad. Its ends-of-the-earth location, made worse by Ithaca’s cold winter

weather, makes studying there a trek too far for some students, but the more determined recommend its spacious halls for this very reason. Mann is also home to the Mannufactory, an alternative learning environment and gathering space — aka it’s loud and allowed.

Engineering Carpenter Hall houses a 24/7 study space, and as you would expect, it has an abundance of stressed engineering students — ahem, an enormous computer lab.

Law

With its arched ceiling, the Law Library in Myron Taylor Hall is the second Hogwarts Castle-comparison. But beware: All those serious law students like their peace and quiet.

Nestlé

The students in the School of Hotel Administration may spend much of their time in “real world” learning situations, but even they need to study, too. The Nestlé Library in Statler Hall’s Marriott Student Learning Center has assembled the largest collection of hospitality academic resources in the world, and it has a more social atmosphere than the typical study space.

Fine Arts

The Mui Ho Fine Arts Library can be found on the third floor of Rand Hall, opening with its renovations in the Fall 2019 semester with new hanging stacks and grated floors. Beyond resources on some of Cornell’s more creative fields, AAP students can borrow tons of equipment like cameras, tripods, light kits, backdrops, digital audio recorders, speakers, microphones and more.

Africana

The John Henrik Clarke Africana Library located near North Campus provides a collection of over 22,000 volumes of African, African American and African Caribbean resources. Named for a pioneer of the field of Africana studies, the library serves the Africana Studies and Research Center curriculum and the public. Off the Beaten Path

Remaining facilities include libraries for the School of Industrial and Labor Relations, the math department and the Johnson Graduate School of Management. In Lincoln Hall’s Music Library, a curious student can peruse resources and listen to recordings of musicians from The Beatles to Tupac Shakur.

Cornell Health Serves Student Body’s Health Needs

By SUN STAFF

Oops! Did you just sprain your ankle tripping over all the stuff you’ve crammed into your new dorm room? Trying to even out the rapid muscle growth in your calves from climbing the slope? Is beginning college finally the right time to quit smoking? Do you suspect you might have the flu? Welcome to Cornell.

The next four years will, for the most part, be an exciting and rewarding experience, but what you probably want to know right now is where you can get a refill for your allergy medication.

Here’s a quick overview of the physical health and psychological services available at Cornell. Keep this in mind so you know where to turn when the midnight

pizzas start to take a toll on your body, and so you know that there are many resources to help you through the stress and pressure of being a college student.

Cornell’s one-stop shop for health problems is Cornell Health, previously known as Gannett Health Services. Located on Ho Plaza, Cornell Health is the primary care provider of medical services for all enrolled students, as well as other members of the Cornell community.

Cornell Health provides many services ranging from allergy treatment and immunizations — including free flu shots — to general medical health care. Cornell Health also offers extensive sexual health care, including free STI testing and HIV prevention.

The health care center can also

provide you with information and listings for Ithaca-area doctors such as dentists and optometrists. Cornell Health can conduct most X-ray examinations as well as most of the laboratory tests that may be prescribed by your doctor during a medical visit. A pharmacy is also located in the building so that you can fill your prescriptions on campus.

Alongside primary care providers, Cornell’s extensive Counseling and Psychological Services works to support students for an array of mental health concerns, including adjustment challenges, stress, anxiety and depression. CAPS offers individual and group counseling, psychiatry, informal drop-in consultations and workshops — all to support Cornellians’ holisitc wellbeing.

Uris Library | One of the two largest libraries on the Arts Quad, Uris Library is attached to McGraw Tower, providing one of the most quintessential views on campus.

Cornell doctors | The Cornell Health center on Ho Plaza offers medical services and health counseling to the Cornell community.

Thinking about a career in business? Why would you work for a newspaper?…

Because behind the articles, there’s a team that brings in more than a half million dollars worth of revenue every year.

Join The Corne¬ Daily Sun Business Department

If you think you’ll need more than a few good grades to enter the competitive world of business, you’re correct. To thrive in today’s fast-paced world, you’ll need the skills and abilities that you can only get from experience. So why not start your career in business right now by joining The Corne¬ Daily Sun, Cornell’s independent student-run newspaper?

As a member of our business team, you’ll gain valuable knowledge in sales, advertising, marketing, social media, human resources and event planning. You’ll be working one-on-one with clients, while gaining the sales experience and communication skills necessary to be a leader. Hey, before you know it, you might even be managing this department.

Interested in being a part of our team? Come to one of our information sessions in the fall, or send an e-mail to Audrey Im at business-manager@cornellsun.com.

Cornell’s Hidden Gems

An insider’s guide to unique opportunities inside and outside of the classroom

By SUN STAFF

The following is a guide to intriguing things that you won’t want to miss learning about during your time on the Hill.

Relationships 101

Ever wonder what went wrong in that last relationship or worry about how the sex has gone bad after a few months? Or wake up on a Sunday morning and lament, “What was I thinking last night?”

Next time you have these questions, turn to Human Development 3620: Human Bonding instead of Cosmopolitan and Maxim. Students Drink for Credit

Twice a week for one hour, around 700 Cornell students will get credit for imbibing alcohol.

No, this isn’t a cheap trick by the School of Hotel Administration to increase enrollment.

The students are enrolled in the Hotel School’s two-credit Hotel Administration 4430: Introduction to Wines, and they are probably not getting drunk on the six one-ounce wine samples they get in class.

Lecture topics include flavor components in wine, how to pair wine and food and wine etiquette.

Collection for the FashionConscious

Many college students spend a lot of time thinking about their clothing. But even though they may spend hours searching for the right outfit to wear to a job interview or party, they only see the outfit as part of their wardrobe. In the Cornell Costume and Textile Collection, however, clothing has become a part of history.

The costume collection currently hosts more than 10,000 items.

There is a significant ethnographic collection featuring traditional dress from many different parts of the world as well as a textile collection featuring quilts, tapestries and wall hangings.

However, the majority of the collection is fashion-related. It features clothing dating as far back as the 18th century up to modern times.

Inside the Particle Accelerator

Something is buried under Cornell’s playing fields. Fifty feet below the surface of the earth, next to Wilson Lab, there is a ringshaped tunnel roughly half a mile in circumference. Here, scientists work day and night to unlock the secrets of the universe.

Sound like an urban legend or the plot of a science-fiction movie? It’s not. It’s the Laboratory for Elementary Particle Physics’ particle accelerator.

The LEPP, once known as the Laboratory of Nuclear Studies, opened soon after World War II. It has gone through several different phases over the years, and the current facility was constructed in 1979.

The particle accelerator runs 24 hours a day, seven days a week with the exception of maintenance and improvement periods. The cost of energy, maintenance, equipment and staff salaries is covered by an

annual budget of approximately $20 million.

At this point, students who don’t know much about physics are probably asking what the facility actually does.

Prof. Emeritus David G. Cassel, physics, former associate director of LEPP, was more than happy to answer that question.

“It accelerates particles,” he said with a smile.

Your

Very Own Brain Collection

The display of human brains, particularly those identified with specific individuals, evokes a variety of reactions: horror, distaste, curiosity and fascination.

Experiencing this first-hand only involves a short trip to Uris Hall’s second floor, where a display case features Cornell’s Wilder Brain Collection.

The collection, which at one time featured 1,600 animal and human brains, was established in the 1880s by Dr. Burt Green Wilder, Cornell’s first zoologist. The University stopped accepting additional brains in 1940, and at present, only 70 remain.

One of the brains on display is that of Edward Rulloff, a man hanged in Ithaca in 1871. Rulloff was convicted of beating his wife and daughter to death as well as poisoning his sister-in-law and niece. Rulloff’s Restaurant and Bar in Collegetown, which closed in 2020, was named after him.

Rare Manuscripts

A journey through time to the year 2000 B.C., is still beyond the scope of modern technology. However, seeing clay tablets from 4,000 years ago only requires a journey to the library.

The Rare and Manuscript Collections in Kroch Library is open to everyone and includes tablets inscribed with cuneiform writing as well as handwritten manuscripts from the medieval period, an original copy of the Gettysburg Address and everything in between.

According to the Cornell University Library website, the collections consist of “500,000 printed volumes, more than 80 million manuscripts and another million photographs, paintings, prints and other visual media.”

The collection is also home to the Cornell University Archives, which documents the history of the University and the Ithaca area.

Ancient Artifacts

With air raid curtains from the 1940s hanging in the windows and decorative pillars left over from the museum that once occupied its place, McGraw 150 is itself a part of history.

The décor is fitting for a room that currently houses Cornell’s anthropology collection. The collection, which has existed in some form since 1868, contains artifacts from all over the world and spans roughly half a million years of human history.

The collection was started by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White and was once housed in a natural history museum at Cornell.

According to Prof. David

Holmberg, former chair of the anthropology department, when the museum closed some time during World War II, its displays were either moved to other areas or put into storage.

What hadn’t been claimed by the Johnson Museum or the geology collection then “came under the responsibility of the Department of Anthropology,” Holmberg said.

Science Guy

Although he’s currently quite fond of talking about climate change, Bill Nye ’77 keeps the periodic table close to his heart. Or at least close to his hip, where he always carries a credit card-sized version of it around in his wallet.

Although the public knows him best for his television show Bill Nye the Science Guy, Nye served from 2001 to 2006 as a Frank H.T. Rhodes Class of ’56 University Professor. During that time, students could spot Nye cycling around campus — his preferred form of transportation — on a bike borrowed from Prof. Jim Bell, astronomy.

After the two met in a chance encounter, Bell invited Nye to become a visiting professor and they have worked together ever since.

Nye still holds high regard for his alma mater. In interviews with The Sun in 2005 and 2023, he lauded the University’s strengths in a number of areas. He also spoke at Convocation in 2019.

“Cornell planetary science is as good as anybody’s — we’re exploring Mars,” he said. “The mathematics department seems as good as

anybody’s. And another thing: Ezra Cornell, whoever he was, wanted to have women here from the get-go, and the other institutions that we compete with were not that way at all. And I think that tradition of ‘any person, any study’ is still around.”

Secret Garden

Although its peak season runs from May to September, the Cornell botanic gardens remain open from dawn to dusk throughout the year. Visitors can picnic, hike or play in any of the 14 gardens. Some classes even take field trips to examine the beautiful plants.

For those who want to know exactly which flowers and trees they are passing, free guided tours take place in the gardens during certain months.

For Whom the Bell Tolls 161 steps up McGraw Tower, next to Uris library, is the home of the famous Cornell chimes. Chimesmasters play concerts on the 21 chimes three times a day. The afternoon concert typically closes with the Alma Mater, while the nighttime concert ends with Cornell’s Evening Song.

At the beginning of each semester, there is a competition in which new chimesmasters are selected.

Chimes concerts also take place to mark special occasions, and people can pay for additional concerts, such as during weddings at Cornell’s Sage Chapel.

Between concerts, a machine makes the chimes go off to mark time every 15 minutes from 7 a.m. until 11 p.m.

Professor Nye | Bill Nye ’77 sits in the office of Prof. Jim Bell, astronomy. In an interview with The Sun, Nye discussed the Mars Pathfinder and his undergraduate experiences at Cornell. From 2001 to 2006, Nye served as a Frank H.T. Rhodes Class of ’56 professor at the University.

ADAM SINOVSKY / SUN FILE PHOTO

Top of the tower | A Cornell chimesmaster plays a song atop McGraw Tower, where concerts are played three times a day.

JULIA NAGEL / SUN FILE PHOTO

History of Street Food at Cornell: Two Trucks. Two Stories.

By SUN STAFF

Part of becoming a Cornellian means learning and absorbing the history of this storied institution — alongside your first-year writing seminars and intro classes. Here, you’ll read about the stops that date back decades and have kept students fed for over a century. Hopefully the stories, and eventually the food, will connect you to this past.

Dating to 1918 and 1960, respectively, Louie’s Lunch and Hot Truck started the trend of food trucks here on the Hill. And while Louie’s Lunch stands strong on North Campus, the legendary street vendor Hot Truck sadly closed in 2018. (If you want to find the former West Campus hallmark’s food, downtown’s Shortstop Deli on West Seneca Street serves all of its menu items, memorializing the truck.)

Joining the history of Cornell-adjacent food trucks in Spring 2015 was That’s How I Roll, which split its time between North Campus and Collegetown, serving its speciality sushi burritos — or “sushi-ritos.” Next came Dos Amigos, founded by David Farahi ’16 and Jorge Bouras ’17 to bring their West Coast Mexican cravings to Collegetown. Dos Amigos popped up in Fall 2015 and quickly became an Ithaca staple, with its menu items named after famous hip hop stars — from Childish Gambeano to Roastface Killah. Since then, Dos Amigos has settled down and planted roots with a brick and mortar space on College Avenue, which opened in Fall

Louie’s Lunch

HISTORY: Believe it or not, Louie’s Lunch has been serving the Cornell community for over a century. Of course, when it was founded in 1918, the establishment didn’t have anything even remotely close to the menu it has today and was not actu- ally a truck. It wasn’t until the early 1920s that Louie’s moved into a truck, but Louie’s still bears the name of its first propri- etor, who took a cart around the North Campus area selling sandwiches to hungry members of the Greek community. Since that time, the truck has become a mainstay of the intersection at Thurston Avenue and Wait Avenue. In the past, the truck used to visit various locations, but for the sake of convenience, it has remained in its current position for longer than just about anyone can remember. Indeed, that stretch of curb looks awful- ly naked during the winter break and over the summer when Louie’s isn’t in service.

THE EATS: Louie’s offers a lot more than subs — complete with milkshakes, coffee, breakfast sandwiches, condoms and cigars, Louie’s business depends on a lot more than its sandwich- es. Louie’s also offers a variety of sandwiches, including standard parms, and it can also whip up a grilled cheese and some french fries, if that’s your pleasure.

BEST BETS:

Philly cheese steak, chicken parmesan, mozzarella sticks, BBQ beef chef salad

THE SUN’S PICK: Grilled cheese and a side of cajun fries plus your favorite flavor of milkshake.

2020. Taco ’bout expansion!

Years ago, The Sun did some polling to better understand our tasty history. It ultimately revealed that first-years and sophomores preferred Louie’s Lunch to Hot Truck, mirroring the young faces that oft lined up expectantly awaiting a sandwich, milkshake or cup of coffee. But since upperclass students mostly do not live on North Campus near Louie’s Thurston Avenue location, Hot Truck used to be a convenient spot for older Cornellians for their preferred late-night source of what some call “drunk food.” (Now we all trek to our old dorms on North to share in the milkshakes and memories.) But the rivalry lived on for years before Hot Truck stopped operations.

Now that Hot Truck has driven into the sunset, Collegetown needed a new truck to fill its absence. That’s where the student-run smpl Burger truck came into the picture. Serving only two items — burgers and fries the truck sits stationed beside local bars Hideaway and Level B, waiting to catch gaggles of college students as they shuffle by.

With our bellies full of parmesan cheese and our notebooks filled with items from the menu, we are proud to pass this Cornell legacy onto you — maybe you’ll start the next classic Ithaca food truck, or you’ll be like most of us and enjoy the late-night grease and warmth.

smpl Burger

HISTORY: smpl Burger began from an unsatisfied burger craving. One night, co-founders Jean Salamoun ’25, Talal AlHusayni ’25 and master of engineering student Karim Pareja ’24, said they wanted a “really good burger” on campus but found themselves out of luck and out of burgers. That day, Salamoun, AlHusayni, Pareja and their friends took matters into their own hands and flipped a batch of burgers for themselves which set smpl Burger in motion. In November 2023, smpl Burger earned $2,000 in funding through Cornell’s Hospitality Pitch Deck Competition, where student start-ups compete for funding. They placed second out of 29 competing start-ups. Now, the duo adds burgers to the Collegetown nightlife scene from their bright red food truck beside local bars Hideaway and Level B on Wednesdays and Saturdays from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. The truck’s late hours serve to end their customers’ nights of partying — or studying — on a high note with good food.

THE EATS: smpl Burger’s menu is simple — they offer two items: burgers and fries.

BEST BETS: Probably the burgers and fries.

THE SUN’S PICK: The burgers and fries.

Rowdiest Tradition: A History of Dragon Day

the 1960s.”

This story was originally published on March 27, 2024.

Dragon Day is a cherished tradition at Cornell University that students say fosters a sense of creativity, camaraderie and community. Every year on the day before spring break, first-year architecture students parade a dragon they built across campus, which battles a phoenix built by students in the College of Engineering.

The creation of Dragon Day is credited to Willard Dickerman Straight ’01, namesake of the Willard Straight Hall Student Union. Although the year of the first Dragon Day’s celebration is unknown, there is evidence that it started as early as 1902. As an architecture student, Straight wanted to create an event where architecture students could come together and enjoy building something amid their challenging course load.

“Straight was a senior architecture student at the time and was involved in various student leadership roles, and the story is that he just wanted to organize a celebration to bring together architecture students,” wrote Prof. Corey Earle ’07, American studies, in an email to The Sun.

Earle explained that initially, the day wasn’t wasn’t known as “Dragon Day.”

“The architects were calling their creation a dragon at least by the 1920s, but the name ‘Dragon Day’ doesn’t seem to become common usage until the 1980s,” Earle wrote. “That said, many aspects of the tradition [were] pretty solidified by

Straight originally began Dragon Day as a St. Patrick’s Day celebration, with the event coinciding with the holiday.

“Details are a little murky on the origin, but the generally accepted story is that Willard Straight, Class of 1901, organized a St. Patrick’s Day-themed event for architecture students, which included a large snake to commemorate St. Patrick’s driving the snakes out of Ireland,” Earle wrote. “There’s evidence as early as 1905 of architects and engineers decorating campus with orange and green in honor of [St. Patrick’s day].”

In 2013, after spring break was moved later into the semester, the date for Dragon Day was moved to the day before the start of break. Earle explained that this change separated the festival from St. Patrick’s Day.

Since its inception, Dragon Day has been characterized by ruckus, chaos and disorderly conduct, Earle explained.

“The event has been somewhat chaotic since the start, with some early iterations devolving into fierce snowball fights between architects and engineers,” Earle wrote. “The sense of chaos was embraced by organizers by the 1970s and 1980s, [when] a tradition of pranks and vandalism became somewhat more common, with green paint decorating campus landmarks.”

In response to this chaos, the University at one point decided to cancel the event altogether.

“In 1990, the Department of Architecture officially canceled the event due to ‘danger and cost,’ but it returned as a somewhat more organized and regu-

lated holiday,” wrote Earle.

Despite its disorganized past, Dragon Day has always been a day when students come together to celebrate in a creative way.

A Sun article published in a Freshman Issue from 1985 detailing Dragon Day describes the collective spirit of the architecture students in preparation of Dragon Day, a time when students came together to share their creativity and camaraderie.

“Running on adrenaline and coffee, the human powered, freshman architect class’s dragon lurched forward on the Friday after St. Patrick’s Day — Dragon

Day. The structure’s debut was the climax of a week of intense preparation and notorious all-nighters at Rand Hall,” the article states. “As soon as the green light for dragon construction was given, the class abandoned their current studio projects to plunge into the College of Architecture, Art and Planning’s traditional dragon-making.”

Current students in the College of Architecture continue to echo similar sentiments shared by students over 100 years ago.

To continue reading this article, please visit www.cornellsun.com.

The Evolution of the Slope Day Tradition at Cornell

For most of the year, the steep hike from West Campus to Central is considered a nuisance on the way to class. Yet at the end of the school year, Libe Slope is transformed into the venue for Slope Day, Cornell’s beloved end of the year celebration.

Each year, the Slope Day Planning Board works hard to

select the entertainers, whose identities are kept a closely guarded secret until about a month before the big day. For this reason, trying to guess the performers has become a favorite activity for many Cornellians waiting for classes to end.

The tradition traces its roots back to 1901, when it was known as Spring Day.

The celebration morphed to Spring Fest before coming to its current incarnation: Slope Day.

Unlike the festivities students have enjoyed in recent years, Spring Day hosted attractions like fire-eaters, snake-charmers, cowboys and sailors on the Arts Quad. Spring Day was known as one of Cornell’s first excuses to cancel class in the name of mass debauchery.

The original springtime carnival originated because of financial strains to the University Athletic Association. To save the Big Red’s sports teams, drama clubs and musical groups organized a benefit concert.

The event struggled at the box office, but managed to inspire an impromptu parade to draw attention to the concert.

More changes to Slope Day occurred in 1985 when the legal drinking age changed from 18 to 21.

Recent Slope Day Performers

2025 : Louis the Child, Gunna

2024 : A Boogie wit da Hoodie, Flo-Rida

2023 : COIN, Snakehips, Coco & Clair Clair

The performance was so well-attended that both the concert and the parade were repeated the following year, and the celebration before the show raised more money than the production. From then on, Spring Day became a campus-wide custom.

At the brink of the first World War, many Cornellians believed that they had celebrated their last Spring Day. However, after World War II, the celebration returned with the moniker “Spring Weekend.”

Due to protests and unrest that plagued the University in the early 1960s, the celebration was canceled in 1963.

The next incarnation of Slope Day, known as Springfest, appeared in the late 1970s.

After the drinking age changed, the University stopped serving alcohol to everyone at the event and now requires a wristband, though students still find creative ways to drink (refer to number 22 on the 161 List for inspiration).

“In the years that followed ... a number of students were treated for alcohol related emergencies,” said Tim Marchell ’82, director of mental health initiatives at Cornell Health.

In response to the emergencies, the University attempted to end Slope Day in the early 1990s. As an alternative, a Universityorganized event was offered on North Campus.

Since 2003, Slope Day has maintained a new format that includes live entertainment.

For years, Slope Day was held on the last day of classes, but begining in 2014, the tradition was moved to the day after classes ended due to changes in the academic calendar.

ROAR! | The Dragon Day festivities that occur every spring are some of the most anticipated events on campus.

BETH SPERGEL / SUN FILE PHOTO

Living it up | Students flock annually to Libe Slope for Slope Day, held the day after the last day of classes as a way to de-stress before finals.

CONNOR ARCHARD / SUN FILE PHOTO

By ANUSHKA SHOREWALA Former Sun Assistant News Editor

By SUN STAFF

C.U. on the Hill

By now, I’m sure you’ve all heard the University’s favorite pun: “C.U. on the Hill,” be it from a campus brochure or University email. What you may not know is that there is a literal C.U. on the hill. I’ve heard that Balch and Dickson (two of the larger freshman dorms) were supposed to be connected to form a mega dorm.

Aparently, this never actually happened because, from a bird’s eye view, Dickson looks like a “C” and Balch looks like a “U.”

The adjacent dorms spell out “C.U.” on North Campus. Of course, C.U. stands for Cornell University, and if you want to see this for yourself before arriving in August, then I suggest you consult Google Maps for a view of these interestingly designed firstyear dorms.

Underground Tunnels

While I was surfing Reddit my junior year, I discovered that Cornell has a network of underground tunnels. There’s (a) Ezra’s Tunnel, which runs between Risley and Rand Hall; (b) a tunnel connecting Olin and Uris Libraries; and (c) a tunnel running from the Plant Science Building to Weill Hall, beneath Tower Road. While Ezra’s Tunnel is supposed to be closed, a few of my friends have told me they’ve accidentally wandered into it while hiking around Cornell. Unfortunately, the tunnel between Olin and Uris is only accessible to library staff, or to those who are close to library staff, but the last tunnel is incredibly easy to find and open to anyone. All you need to do is walk into the Plant Sciences building through its main entrance from the Ag Quad. Once you walk in, a door to the left will have a sign that will lead you to other signs that will ultimately bring you to the tunnel. It becomes especially useful in the winter months, if you want to cross the street while avoiding the snow and wind outside.

Musical Steps

The steps of Olin Library are sonically calibrated and actually sound musical notes when stones are thrown on them. Although stone-throwing is now forbidden due to safety concerns, a cursory Google search will produce online video and audio footage of it that can be found on Vine, Flickr and YouTube, which seem to suggest that the entire terrace above Olin—not just the steps—are sonically calibrated.

Even as a Cornellian entering her senior year, I was still learning things about our University that surprised me. From the apple vending machine in Mann Library to the names and meeting locations of secret societies, there are so many factoids to be found. For your convenience, I’ve compiled a few of my favorite discoveries! I hope that as you all begin the first of your four years at Cornell, you take the chance to check out and appreciate the tiny trivia treasures that our campus has to offer.

— Jacqueline Quach ’19, Former Sun Senior Writer

Robert Carl Baker, Inventor of the Chicken Nugget

Although McDonald’s is now synonymous with the chicken nugget, the fast food corporation did not invent this gustatory gift to mankind. In fact, the true originator of the chicken nugget was a Cornellian by the name of Robert Carl Barker ’43 and taught food science at Cornell for his entire 32-year career. During the 1950s, Baker perfected his recipe for the chicken nugget, decades before McDonald’s would patent and sell their McNuggets. If you’re curious about what young Baker looked like, walk down to Uris Library and crack open the Class of 1943 yearbook.

Ghosts and Hauntings

There are so many stories of ghosts and hauntings that surface once you look into paranormal phenomena at Cornell. There have been reports of strange occurrences at the Ecohouse after the 1967 fire that claimed the lives of eight students and a professor, tuxedo-donning ghosts in Willard Straight Hall, sightings of Auntie Pru in Risley Hall, a stalker spirit in Olin Library and encounters with Alice Statler in Statler Hall. According to an article from The Tab, two employees of the Statler Hotel disclosed their experiences with Alice during 2004—one was so disturbed he immediately quit his job! If you’re curious and want to know the details of these accounts, Kitsch Magazine has a great piece on these freaky phantoms, as do The Sun and the Cornell Chronicle!

JACQUELINE QUACH / SUN FILE PHOTO

COURTESY OF GOOGLE MAPS

Any Person, Every Milestone:161 Things Every Cornellian Should Do

20 years. Thousands of memories. 161 traditions. Two decades after the original list debuted, the outgoing 142nd Editorial Board revamped our famous list, updating the quintessential experiences that define life on the Slope. So grab a carnelian colored pen (or steal one from the A.D. White House), and get to checking!

o 1. Make the library into your bedroom and have sex in the stacks

o 2. Go to the Cornell-Harvard men’s hockey game and throw fish on the ice

o 3. Go to Zeus after class. Sit on a bench because all the tables are being used or coffee chats

o 4. Take off to NYC for Fall Break, being sure to post on Instagram about it at least twice

o 5. Sled down Libe Slope during a snow storm

o 6. Take Hotel Administration 4300: Introduction to Wines

o 7. Take AMST 2000 and learn some Cornell history from Corey Earle ‘07

o 8. Streak across the Arts Quad

o 9. Go sake bombing at Plum Tree

o 10. Order ice cream at the Dairy Bar

o 11. Climb the rock wall in Bartels Hall

o 12. Listen to a full chimes concert from the clock tower. Guess the songs played

o 13. Order the same thing off the Collegetown Bagels menu all four years

o 14. Register for classes during Freshman Pre-Enroll, then switch out of every single one by the time Add/Drop ends

o 15. Dress for 70 degree weather. Cry as you walk home in the freezing cold that night

o 16. Steal a vegetable from the Cornell Botanic Gardens. Savor it

o 17. Go to the Fuertes Observatory on North Campus and gaze at meteor showers

o 18. Enroll in BIOEE 1540: Introductory Oceanography as a joke, then fall in love with Bruce Monger and attend every class

o 19. Have a snowball fight in May

o 20. Stick your hand inside a fistulated cow

o 21. Skip class to play SpikeBall on the Arts Quad

o 22. Bury a bottle of Barton’s on the Slope. Dig it up on Slope Day.

o 23. Enjoy golden hour from the Cornell Botanic Gardens

o 24. Attend the Apple Festival on the Commons

o 25. Flirt with your professor

o 26. Bomb a prelim

o 27. Ace the next one to save your grade

o 28. Steal a bunch of cups from the dining hall and never give them back

o 29. Attend Hotelie prom

o 30. Take a selfie with Happy Dave from Okenshield’s

o 31. Take three finals in two days because they were just over 24 hours apart

o 32. Get heartburn at the Chili Cook-off on the Commons

o 33. Enjoy Ithaca’s two months of warm weather — spend a summer here!

o 34. Go to a Shabbat dinner at 104West!

o 35. Watch the AAP students parade down East Avenue on Dragon Day

o 36. Walk out of class to warm weather and immediately get a beer at CTB

o 37. Build a snow penis or count how many you see around campus

o 38. Dress up and view The Rocky Horror Picture Show at Risley

o 39. Take a class you think is impossible just for fun

o 40. Go to Catherine Valley for a wine tour

o 41. Kiss on the suspension bridge at midnight

o 42. Take Plant Pathology 2010: Magical Mushrooms, Mischievous Molds

o 43. Shop at the Friends of the Library Book Sale

o 44. Get a University parking ticket, then sweet-talk your way out of it

o 45. Buy an Ithaca Is Gorges t-shirt, then get sick of wearing it and buy a dumb variation (Ithaca Is Gangsta, Vaginas Are Gorges, Ithaca Is Long Island…)

o 46. Learn the “Alma Mater,” “Evening Song” and “Give My Regards to Davy.” Hum them when you hear the chimes

o 47. Attend an opening at the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art o 48. Smuggle food from the dining hall and run for your life as they try to get back your stolen cookies

o 49. Make the Walk of Shame. See an ex on your way home

o 50. Have dinner at a professor’s house

o 51. Get wasted at a professor’s house

o 52. Take a selfie with a Cornell president

o 53. Play a game of tag in the Kroch Library stacks

o 54. Take a class that meets outside

o 55. Start your freshman year pre-med. Graduate from Dyson.

o 56. Kayak or canoe on Beebe Lake

o 57. Watch dancers fly through the air at Pao Bhangra show

o 58. Have a midnight picnic in the Ag Quad

o 59. Wait in line for half an hour for an orange chicken burrito at Terrace

o 60. Ignore the “No Winter Maintenance” signs … slip and fall down the stairs

o 61. Sit in Libe Café when you have no work to do and watch worried students down gallons of coffee

o 62. Write an angry letter to the editor of The Sun

o 63. Get swarmed by freshmen as they migrate back to north

for the final, wish you had taken notes instead

o 80. Go ice skating at Lynah Rink

o 81. Request a song to be played on the clock tower

o 82. Watch the ginger run

o 83. Walk to class in the snow, uphill both ways

o 64. Explore the secret underground tunnel between Uris and Olin libraries

o 65. Request an item from the library’s Rare and Manuscript Collection.

o 66. Pretend you are Harry Potter and study in the A.D. White Reading Room

o 67. See the brain collection in Uris Hall

o 68. Use all your CityBucks at 7-11 on Keystone and Twisted Tea Light

o 69. Submit a guest column for Sex on Thursday about your raunchy sexcapades

o 70. Eat your way through the Farmer’s Market

o 71. Sleep through your alarm for a 1:25 p.m. class

o 72. Take part in a psychology experiment and get a measly number of SONA credits

o 73. See Ezra Cornell’s body in the crypt

o 74. Occupy Willard Straight or storm Day Hall

o 75. Watch as a virgin crosses the Arts Quad at midnight and A.D. White and Ezra Cornell walk towards each other to shake hands on Halloween

o 76. Live through an Ithaca blizzard and tell your friends you survived frostbite

o 77. Throw a flaming pumpkin into the gorge

o 78. Join an intramural sports team. Take it too seriously and get matching uniforms

o 79. Spend all your lectures figuring out the Wordle and Connections. While sitting

o 84. Hook up with someone in your dorm and then see them every day afterward

o 85. Write dirty messages with rocks in the gorge

o 86. Eat a chicken parm sandwich from Louie’s Lunch

o 87. Walk the runway as a model in the Cornell Fashion Collective’s annual fashion show

o 88. Sleep through pre-enroll and change your major as a result

o 89. Gain the freshman 15. Pay $145 for a gym membership and don’t go.

o 90. Play trivia at Collegetown Bagels on Tuesday nights

o 91. Go bowling at Helen Newman Lanes

o 92. Get a ticket for peeing on the Law School

o 93. Have a friend’s parents take you out to eat at Thompson and Bleeker or Simeon’s

o 94. See a concert at Barton Hall

o 95. Order off the secret menu at Louie’s Lunch

o 96. Cheer on your friends as they perform at the Schwartz Center

o 97. Pick next year’s ice cream flavor

o 98. Nap in every library on campus

o 99. Get too drunk before homecoming. Miss the game

o 101. See Yamatai bang it out at Clubfest

o 100. Take a midnight nap in Uris Library Cocktail Lounge and wake up 3 days later

o 102. Visit Ithaca Mall, realize it is severely lacking, then drive to Destiny USA Mall in Syracuse

o 103. Take a night prelim near the vet school, walk back in the dark

o 104. Get thrown out of Balch Hall

o 105. Attend a show at the State Theatre or Hangar Theatre

o 106. Go to an a cappella concert

o 107. Walk to a fraternity party with your entire freshman floor. Get turned away

o 108. Put on a swimsuit and jump into the cold water at Second Dam

o 109. Take part in Holi and get colorful

o 110. Eat at each dining hall at least once

o 111. Try to order pizza from a Blue Light phone

o 112. Have a traumatic OurBus experience. Never return o 113. See a film at Cornell Cinema

o 114. Ride a horse at Oxley Equestrian Center

o 115. Take the BASICS program. Do it with a beer in hand

o 116. See how long you can go without doing laundry o 117. Get lost during O-week as a freshman, and end up in the Commons o 118. Have the Hideaway bartender take a picture of you because your fake doesn’t scan

o 119. Check out a charger from Olin. Don’t give it back

o 120. Lose a friend over signing a lease in Collegetown

o 121. Walk holding hands around Beebe Lake

o 122. Buy a Cornell-grown apple from a vending machine

o 123. Get tapped for a secret society

o 124. Go skinny dipping in a gorge

o 125. Get more downvotes than upvotes on Sidechat

o 126. Host a prefrosh

o 127. Drive your car up and down Libe Slope

o 128. Make a chalking. Weep when it rains that night

o 129. Attend a Sun meeting

o 131. Eat hungover brunch at Morrison or Appel

o 130. Take photobooth pics at Hideaway and post them on your Instagram story

o 132. Turn down a flyer at Ho Plaza and say “I already got one”

o 133. Rush a fraternity/sorority or mosey a Co-op during your freshman spring

o 134. Meet Bill Nye ’77, “The Science Guy,” and give him a hug

o 135. Ski at Greek Peak

o 136. Crash a political rally on Ho Plaza

o 137. Get on the wrong TCAT and end up at Ithaca College

o 138. Watch women’s hockey dominate any team who steps on the ice

o 139. See how many people you can cram into your dorm room

o 140. Order Wings Over after 2 a.m.

o 141. Make the trek down the hill: go to a townie bar

o 142. Tell a professor what you really think of his/her class

o 143. Drink with your R.A.

o 144. Go to the sex shop, called the “Adult Outlet,” on the Commons. Gawk

o 145. Run out of BRBs in March. Live off campus events’ free food for the rest of the year

o 147. Get asked if you are pregnant at Cornell Health

o 148. Attend a show at the State Theatre or Hangar Theatre

o 146. Heckle your tour guide friend as they’re leading a group of prospective students around campus

o 149. Go to ClubFest as a first-year and sign up for a dozen clubs that you’ll never go to

o 150. Complain about the Slope Day headliners

o 151. Ask for an extension on a term paper

o 152. Visit Nocturnal Cafe under The Sun’s office

o 153. Accidentally rip a poster at the poster sale. Tell no one

o 154. Play mini golf at the Sciencenter

o 155. Hook up with your hot T.A.

o 156. Go swimming at Treman State Park, Buttermilk Falls or Second Dam

o 157. Furnish an apartment entirely with items from Ithaca Reuse and the Dump & Run

o 158. Walk to a fraternity party as a senior; convince yourself you were never one of them

o 159. Fail your swim test, just for kicks

o 160. Eat a Pinesburger, then watch water flow over Taughannock Falls, the highest single-drop waterfall east of the Rockies

o 161. Climb all 161 steps to the top of McGraw Tower

CORNELL CAMPUS

• A.D. White House

• Admissions Office

• Africana Library Center

• Alice Cook Dining

• Anabel Taylor Hall

• Appel Commons

• Baker Hall

• Bard Hall

• Barnes Hall

• Bartels Hall

• Bethe House

• Big Red Barn

• Carl Becker House

• Carpenter Hall Library

• Center for Intercultural Dialogue

• Clark Hall

• Computer Services & Financial Aid, East Hill Plz.

• Cornell Institute for Social & Economic Research • Cornell Store • Corson Hall • Court Hall • Dairy Bar • Day Hall Main Lobby

• Dickson Hall • Donlon Hall

Duffield Hall

• East Hill Office Complex

• Environmental Health & Safety Building

• Flora Rose • Gannett

• Goldie’s (Physical Sci. Bldg)

• Goldwin Smith

• Hasbrouck Center

• Horticulture Office

• Humphreys Service Building

• Ives Hall (ILR)

• Ivy Room (WSH)

• Johnson Museum

• Keeton House Dining

• Kosher Dining Hall

• Mac’s Café

• Martha’s (MVR)

• Mann Library

• Myron Taylor Hall

+ Hughes Dining

• Noyes Main Lobby

• Okenshields (Willard Straight Hall)

• Autumn Leaves Used Books (Ithaca Commons)

• Bear Necessities

• Center Ithaca

• Coal House Café

• Collegetown Bagels: CTown + Triphammer

• Commons Grocery (Ithaca Commons)

• CFCU (Triphammer Rd.

+ East Hill Plaza)

• Corner of College & Dryden

• Corner of State & Aurora

•Express Mart, Comm. Crnrs.

• Hillside Inn

• Hilton Garden Inn

• Holiday Inn

• Ithaca Coffee Co.

• Ithaca College, Phillips Hall

• Jason’s Grocery & Deli

• Kendal

• Kraftees

• Lifelong

• Oasis (Greenstar)

• P&C Fresh (East Hill Plaza)

• Salvation Army

• Shortstop Deli

• Olin Hall

• Olin Library B Level

• Plantations

Gift Shop

• Rhodes Hall

• Risley Dining

• Robert Purcell Community Center (RPCC)

• Sage Hall Atrium

•Sibley Hall, Green Dragon Café

• Snee Hall

• Statler Lobby

• Statler Terrace Restaurant

• Tatkon Center

• Teagle Hall

• Transportation Dept., Maple Avenue

• Trillium

• Uris Hall

• Vet Center (Shurman Hall)

•Weill Hall, M1 Rm + Synapsis

• Willard Straight Hall Lobby + Dining

• Stella’s

• Tompkins Cty. Public Library

• Tops (Triphammer Rd.)

• Universal Deli

• Warren Real Estate (Downtown + Community Corners)

A Year in P ictu res

1

In fall 2021, Morrison Hall and Ganędago Hall opened to house freshmen for their first semester. Morrison’s dining hall opened in the spring. The complete NCRE — with five dorms, a new fitness center, an additional dining hall and many other facilities — was finished in fall 2022. The housing complex serves both freshmen and sophomores.

Formerly

The big football stadium for Big Red football. You’ll likely come here during Saturday home games, where you’ll sit in the Crescent (students had previously sat in the g randstand on the other side of the field before the Athletic Depar tment changed the seating arrangements a few years ago). The traditional “Freshmen on the Field” event takes place at the first home football game.

The big football stadium for the Red’s football games. You’ll likely come here during Saturday home games,

J OH NSON M USEU M

The Herber t F. Johnson Museum of Ar t houses Cornell’s ar t collection, begun by President Andrew Dickson the 1880s. The building was designed by renowned architect Pei in 1973. The museum has 30,000 works in its permanent tions and hosts about special exhibits each The sixth floor gallery offers a beautiful Ithaca and Cayuga

ARTS Q UAD

of your major, you’ll defnitely cross the Arts Quad hundreds of times before you graduate. When it’s not snowing, raining, too cold or blocked by construction, students lay out on the Quad to do study, tan or people-watch. Tossing frisbees

This was the University’s orig inal quadrangle, and it remains the center of campus. Regardless of your major, you’ll definitely cross the Ar ts Quad hundreds of times before you g raduate. When it’s not snowing, raining or too cold, students lay out on the Quad to do some studying, work on their tans or people-watch. Throwing frisbees or footballs is also recommended.

BAI LEY HALL

During most years, Cornell Night, a show sampling several of the University’s per forming g roups, is held here on the last night of orientation. In addition to the huge introductory psycholog y class, some big campus events occur in Bailey — including concer ts and lectures. Years ago, the building housed a debate from the 2006 New York State gubernatorial campaign.

MAN N LI BRARY

The biggest and brightest library on campus, the orig inal por tion of Mann Library features stunning Ar t Deco ar twork and detailing. With a renovation completed in 2007 Mann is now a state-of-the-ar t facility for studying, out-loud g roup work and computer lab use. For students in the College of Ag riculture and Life Sciences, Mann Library is definitely the place to be.

U RIS LI BRARY

Filled with comfor table study lounges, like the Cocktail Lounge, this is underg raduates’ favorite spot to hit the books or take a nap. Its A. D. White Reading Room regularly makes lists of the most beautiful library rooms in the world. The ordinary stacks are a bit unattractive, but are usually a last resor t if every other seat is full. Adjacent is Olin Library, the largest library on campus, and the underg round Kroch Library

DAY HALL

The building where Cornell’s administrators work. The bursar’s office, financial aid, the University reg istrar, the Judicial Administrator and many other depar tments that keep Cornell running make their home in Day Hall. The top floor has g reat views. (Editor’s Note: The J.A. doesn’t look too kindly on your taking more than one piece of fruit from campus dining halls.)

WILLARD STR AIGHT HALL

The Straight, the nation’s first student union, is home to the dining hall Okenshield’s, student lounges, a movie theater and a browsing library

Many organizations have their headquar ters in this building. The Student Assembly meets and special events occur in the massive Memorial Room, which features multi-story windows and an intricate wooden hammerbeam ceiling.

through the Cornell Seasons

SUN PHOTOS BY: Christine Buffalow, Leilani Burke, Julia Nagel, Ming DeMers, Hannah Rosenberg, Claire Li

Big Red

JULIA NAGEL

MICHELLE FELDMAN

LEV KATRECZKO /

LEILANI BURKE /

IN ACTION

LEILANI BURKE / SUN SENIOR EDITOR

JULIA NAGEL / SUN

JULIA NAGEL / SUN

JULIA NAGEL / SUN FILE PHOTO

“The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee” Risley Theater April 22, 2023

The Battle of the Bands April 10, 2025

Gunna Headlines SlopeDay May7,2025 Flo Milli Takes Over Barton Hall April 23, 2022

Big Thief performs at State Theater Tuesday, April 12, 2022

“Midnight Zone” Johnson Museum March 17, 2021 Cornell Ballet Club’s ‘Swan Lake’ February 22, 2025

HANNAH ROSENBERG / SUN

ANTHONY CORRALES / SUN FILE PHOTO

VAUGHN FRIEDEN / SUN STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER NATHANELLISON

Sun

PARENTS PARENTS PARENTS PARENTS

Classes v Tests v Papers v New Friends

Roommates v Dorms v Gorges v Fraternities

Sororities v Campus Organizations v Sports

Your child might not have time to let you know what’s going on at Cornell every day.

WE DO!

The Corne¬ Daily Sun, the student newspaper of Cornell, can be sent to you every week of the academic year. We’ll keep you informed of campus news, issues and opinions.

Your child spends three-quarters of their year at Cornell. Doesn’t it make sense to find out what’s going on here?

Your guide to culture around campus — and beyond IthacArts Concert Venues

So. You’re in college. In Ithaca. What to do now?

When prelims, lab reports and snow aren’t getting you down (read: seldom), there’s a lively arts scene right outside your doorstep to keep you sane. From barn-burning bashes in Barton to art appreciation in the Johnson, there’s something for every taste. Cornell may be known for its cows and gorges, but it’s no slouch when it comes to music, theater, film and fine art.

And don’t forget the turf around the Hill. Ever since it made an appearance in Homer, Ithaca has been an arts-obsessed little town, with a local music scene bursting at the seams and a host of other cultural offerings to keep the hippies and Hillsters entertained. So make use of your time here, hit the town and remember — grades may last a semester, but art lasts forever.

— The Arts Section

Show Promoters

Cornell Concert Commission

The heavy hitters in the campus concert scene. They’re the ones responsible for the big blowouts at Barton (Wavves, Avicii, etc.) and the early fall show on the Arts Quad. Now you know where your Student Activity Fee goes.

Cornell Center for Historical Keyboards

Featuring performers on the fortepiano or harpsichord, C.C.H.K often hosts guest pianists performing on historical keyboard at the auditorium in Barnes Hall. Eighteenth-century style German chamber organ on stage, as well as two concert grand pianos. The Green Room is the Music Department’s primary performance space an intimate setting for recitals, chamber music, and small ensembles.

Slope Day Programming Board

They only put on one show a year, but don’t call them lazy: These cats work year-round to throw Cornell the biggest and baddest party around, and the music’s just half of it. Feeling woozy? Thank your lucky, Slope Day Programming Board stars that there’s free water (and port-o-potties) within crawling distance.

The State Theatre

107 W. State St.

The State is Ithaca’s very own Fillmore, MSG and Royal Albert Hall, all rolled into one. A cinema following Ithaca’s brief tenure as the Hollywood of the East, its ornate interior will play host this upcoming season to David Sedaris and Ladysmith Black Mambazo, and has hosted the likes of Norah Jones, Cat Power, Elvis Costello and Arlo Guthrie over the years. Be sure to get your tickets early.

Bailey Hall Central Campus

If you want to hear the sweet sounds of the Cornell Symphony Orchestra or the thoughts of Nobel Prize winners that have included Elie Wiesel and Toni Morrison, then Bailey’s your best bet. The classroom for some of Cornell’s largest classes doubles as a venue for more subdued performances.

Risley Hall North Campus

As with all things arts-related on campus, Risley Hall is right in the thick of the concert scene, hosting smaller acts like The Pains of Being Pure at Heart in years past, while welcoming Cornell’s own singers and songwriters to rock their halls. Risley also plays host to student productions, and is home to the annual showing of The Rocky Horror Picture Show

Barton Hall Central Campus

There might be track and field equipment on the floor and ROTC classrooms for a backstage, but Barton is a bona fide big star attraction. Ever heard of Carly Rae Jepsen, Young Thug or Trevor Noah? They’ve all stopped by the last few years, and Barton Hall is the undisputed king of campus venues, with a capacity around 5,000 and ... interesting acoustics. Last year Ken Carson played a sold-out concert in Barton Hall. One other quirk: Most shows are on Sunday nights — the track team gets Barton on Saturdays.

The Bars Downtown & Collegetown

For a more intimate live music experience, be sure not to miss the thriving bar music scene around town. Ithaca Underground, a nonprofit supporting Ithaca’s local music community, brings over 40 shows to the city every year. Watering holes like The Nocturnal Cafe (103 S Geneva St.) book acts throughout the year.

The Slope

The epicenter of madness and debauchery on campus ... at least for one day a year. The headliner last year was Gunna, joining an already impressive roster that includes Chance the Rapper, Kanye West and Drake. It gives you something to look forward to during the long, cold winter.

Drama

The Schwartz Center for the Performing Arts 430 College Ave.

The home of Cornell’s Performing and Media Arts Department hosts campus-produced plays, musicals, movies and dance performances throughout the fall and spring in addition to can’t-miss annual events such as Festival 24.

Risley Hall

North Campus

Risley’s drama-oriented denizens give Cornell plenty to laugh, cry and think about, offering everything from nights at the circus to period-faithful reproductions of Don Giovanni

Other Theaters

Even with all of the campus offerings, there’s a thriving drama scene in the city of Ithaca. The Kitchen Theatre (417 West State St.) offers classical and modern productions year-round and the newly renovated Hangar Theatre (801 Taughannock Blvd.) performs for those lucky enough to stay for an Ithaca summer. Speaking of which, the Ithaca Shakespeare Company puts on Shakespeare in the Botanic Gardens in July.

Johnson Museum Central Campus

The Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Cornell University’s own fine art museum located conveniently on the Arts Quad, has a prolific collection of contemporary and historic works of art, including many Asian artifacts. The temporary galleries change almost monthly and the Johnson frequently hosts events and lectures related to the works shown. Less known is the fact that the Johnson owns many more works than it can show at any given time: hidden in the archives are more Hokusai prints, original Rembrandt plates and the paintings of abstract expressionists like Michael Goldberg. These works are available for free viewing to students — an awesome privilege — and can be seen by making an appointment with a curator. Also, once a year, the History of Art Majors’ Society, a student-run group, curates a show accompanied by essays and interactive exhibits.

Hartell Gallery, Sibley Hall Central Campus

Architecture students are notoriously mysterious, always locked up in Rand Hall producing God - knows - what. Hartell Gallery is a little known way of sneaking a peek at their curriculum. Nestled under the dome in Sibley Hall, the (spatial) center of the AAP community hosts a range of exhibits throughout the year. During mid - terms and finals, stop by to see the studio works of students pinned up — not just drawings of buildings, but frequently hand - built models and constructed work.

Tjaden Hall Central Campus

Cornell conceals a small but productive discipline in the fine arts within its College of Architecture, Art and Planning. The two galleries at Tjaden Hall put on constantly changing exhibits throughout the year — a glimpse into the discourse on campus. In years past, exhibits have offered everything from huge plaster casts of bulging bodies to delicate paintings of Iraqi aerial landscapes. The Olive Tjaden Gallery and the Experimental Gallery are open during the week. Check at the AAP registrar’s office for a schedule of shows.

Art Galleries Film

Cornell Cinema Central Campus

Billing itself as a “year-round film festival,” it screens a frightening number of feature films, documentaries and shorts. Showings are usually in Willard Straight Hall or Uris Hall. Do yourself a favor and make it a regular stop; there are multiple films a day and a constantly changing lineup the live talks by directors and music-accompanied silent films are just icing on the cake. Seriously, you’re lucky.

Architecture

Milstein Hall Central Campus

Nope, that’s not a U.F.O. — Milstein Hall, designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architect Rem Koolhas and conceived as the home to Cornell’s esteemed architecture program, is a dazzling and starkly modern architectural marvel. The 47,000 square foot building, which officially opened in August 2011, was the first new building to be dedicated to Cornell’s Architecture, Art and Planning program in over 100 years. Architectural highlights of the structure include the glass-encased “upper plate,” which cantilevers almost 50 feet over University Avenue (in laymen’s terms: it looks like it’s floating), and the lower-level dome, which supports both the auditorium’s raked seating and the stairs that lead to the studio above. Even if you’re not an architect, you owe it to yourself to pay a visit to this prestigious structure and sit on one of its colorful globes.

Cube House Makarainen Road

One of the beautiful works by a Cornell architecture grad in the Ithaca area, Simon Ungers’ ’80 minimalist cube is located out by Route 79 near Ithaca College. A pristine concrete box surrounded by acres of wilderness included in the property, the house stands as a tribute to the beauty of old school modernism in all its glory — stark, individualist and monumental despite its small scale. Simon Ungers was the son of the late O.M. Ungers, who taught at Cornell and whose works abroad have influenced generations of designers. Borrow a friend’s car and drive up to Makarainen Road, near South Hill to creep around.

Johnson Museum

Central Campus

Beyond being the home to a prolific art collection, the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art is a complex and interesting space designed by Pei Cobb Freidd Partners — whose most famous architect is I.M. Pei, designer of the Louvre. Situated at the end of the northern row of the Arts Quad, the Johnson Museum functions as a viewing device for the lake and the landscape. The building has distinct and interesting spaces on each floor, from the big courtyard in the middle to the panoramic conference room on the top floor. A stark contrast to the historic decadence of the other buildings on the Arts Quad, the architecture of Pei’s Johnson Museum deserves its own look.

Carl Sagan’s Study 900 Stewart Ave.

When crossing the Stewart Avenue bridge from North Campus’ Fall Creek Road towards the West Campus dorms, you will see a two-faced work of architecture that is shrouded in mystery. On the North Campus side, the building displays a modernist façade — a pure white plane with a cut opening. Looking across the gorge from the West Campus side, the building, flanked by Rockledge fraternity, appears to be the gateway into an Egyptian tomb. The late Carl Sagan, legendary Cornell astronomer, renovated the former meeting place of the senior honor society Sphinx Head into his study and part-time home. Designed by the late Guillermo Jullian de la Fuente (a protégé of Le Corbusier and one-time Cornell professor) and his wife Ann Pendleton, Carl Sagan’s cliff-edge study is a structural and formal marvel.

Cinemapolis 120 E. Green St.

A gift from silverscreen gods, this Ithaca fixture screens independent, foreign and mainstream films on a daily basis. If you do not make at least a couple trips here come Oscar season, consider yourself behind the curve.

Regal Cinemas

Pyramid Mall, 40 Catherwood Rd.

And you thought college meant never going to the mall again. But if you absolutely must see the midnight debut of the next Marvel flick, hoof it over to Regal, home of the Hollywood blockbuster and normal release schedule.

SC I ENCE

Student Guide Edition

Top Five Science-y Tings to Do

By MARIA MINSKER

Former Sun Senior Writer

1. Be a farmer for the afternoon at a Dilmun Hill Student Farm work party.

An entirely student-run, organic farm that practices sustainable agriculture, Dilmun Hill is located on Route 366 (Dryden Road), just across from Judd Falls Road, near the Cornell Orchards.

The farm hosts weekly work-parties and invites everyone to experience the latest in sustainable agricultural practices, support the farm, join their community and go home with fresh produce.

If visiting the farm seems like a bit of a journey, visit Dilmun Hill’s on-campus farm stand in front of Mann Library (on the Ag Quad) and inside the library lobby on rainy days.

Former market garden manager Isaac Arginteanu ’12 said, “I started out knowing nothing about agriculture and farming and now I’m a manager. It was my introduction to something I’ve become very passionate about.”

4. Go stargazing at the Fuertes Observatory.

Fuertes Observatory is located on North Campus near Helen Newman Hall. The observatory houses several small telescopes, and a larger, 12-inch refractor telescope with a mechanical tracking mechanism that is operated by weights, like a grandfather clock.

Though the observatory is no longer used for research purposes, it is used for introductory astronomy classes and is open to the public.

The Cornell Astronomical Society runs public viewing nights at the Fuertes Observatory on every clear Friday night during the semester from 8 p.m. until midnight.

5. Take a midnight trip to the Lab of Ornithology’s sanctuary.

Founded in 1915, the Cornell Lab of Ornithology is a world leader in the study, appreciation and conservation of birds. The lab is not on campus, but is easily accessible by a shuttle bus that stops at Corson-Mudd Hall (across from Trilium).

The lab is located in Sapsucker Woods, and guided bird walks through Sapsucker Woods Sanctuary are offered for beginners on Saturdays and Sundays from April to September. The Visitor Center at the lab is home to a large observatory with chairs, telescopes and bird feeders, interactive exhibits, a world-class collection of bird art and sculpture and the Macaulay library — the world’s largest archive of animal sounds and video.

Dear First-Year Students:

Congratulations on your acceptance to Cornell, one of the nation’s fnest research institutions. Science is organized knowledge, and Cornell University ofers a diverse set of scientifc study. Our advice to you is to make curiosity your key. Question everything, fgure out how things work and begin to explore and discover. Cornell has so much to ofer to the inquisitive student. Tese are the same halls where Carl Sagan pondered the cosmos and where Bill Nye began as a budding Science Guy. Tey were both curious –– and you should be, too. So feed your curiosity by reading Te Sun’s science section and learn about the science happening around you every day.

Scintillating Science Classes

By SUN STAFF

1, 2, 3 ... Takeof! Classes Away

BIOEE 1560: Introductory Oceanography — Travel under the sea with beloved prof. Bruce Monger, Earth and atmospheric sciences. Widely regarded as a whimsical and eye-opening biology course, this class covers environmental threats to the oceans, global warming and culminates in writing a letter to a government representative about a climate issue of your choosing. Enroll to check off #18 on the 161 List, meet your new favorite professor and learn more about environmental conservation.

EAS 1220: Natural Hazards — Earthquakes, tsunamis, hurricanes, volcanoes galore. Learn all about the hazards that wreak havoc around the globe.

ENTOM 2030: Honey Bees, Their Intriguing Biology and Interactions with Humans and More — Buzzzzzzz... Students swarm to this wacky entomology class to learn about the stripey insects that buzz around our gardens. Learn about bee species, pollination, sustainable agriculture and mitigating bee decline while gaining an appreciation for the powerful pollinators through this course.

2. Check out the 200,000 species in the Cornell University Insect Collection.

The Cornell University Insect Collection includes more than seven million insect specimens representing about 200,000 species, or roughly 20 percent of the world’s described insect fauna. The collection is housed in approximately 16,500 drawers held within in a climate-controlled facility located on the second floor of Comstock Hall on Cornell’s Central Campus.

The CUIC also participates in the annual Insectapalooza celebration — a one-day insect fair with educational exhibits for all age groups, from children to adults. Insectapalooza typically takes place at the end of October.

3. Check out the world’s largest particle accelerator, the Synchrotron.

Slightly larger than a football field, the Cornell High Energy Synchrotron Source has a 768-meter circumference and the capability to send electrons and positrons flying at 99.9999995 percent of the speed of light.

CHESS provides state-of-the-art synchrotron radiation facilities for research in physics, chemistry, biology and environmental and materials sciences, and attracts 500-600 scientists, graduate and undergraduate students each year.

Researchers at CHESS always welcome student volunteers to participate in research and experiments, and even observe 24-hour CHESS runs. CHESS is located in Wilson Laboratory on Route 366 and Pine Tree Road.

The 220-acre sanctuary, which includes forest trails, boardwalks through thick marshes and a tranquil pond, is open every day from dawn to dusk.

FDSC 1101: Science and Technology of Foods — A visit to the Cornell Dairy Bar is often number one on new students’ to-do lists, and number two should be taking this class to have a chance at developing new ice cream flavors to be sold across campus. In fact, students in this course were responsible for the famous Red, White and Biden ice cream flavor in 2017 in honor of commencement speaker, President Joe Biden. Take advantage of one of the most unique classes at Cornell, and your ice cream idea could be the next campus sensation.

HD 2600: Introduction to Personality — What makes up personalities and how can those biological, social or cultural aspects be measured? Dive into these questions and learn about personality psychology while discussing historical debates over personality.

NS 1150: Nutrition, Health and Society — Enroll in this introductory nutrition class and learn to stay healthy in the college world of late munchies and sleepless nights. Iconic Prof. David Levitsky, nutritional sciences, is sure to keep you entertained with songs about the digestive system and snacks in class.

Bird watching | The Lab of Ornithology, located in Sapsucker Woods, is a world leader in the appreciation and conservation of birds.

SIMON TARANTO / SUN FILE PHOTO

Getting dirty | Becky Hume ’11 plants seedlings at a Dilmun Hill Farm work party, where students gather to do farm chores each week.

COURTESY OF DILMUN HILL STUDENT ORGANIC FARM

Under the stars | Visit the Fuertes Observatory to stargaze or watch a meteor shower.

EMILY BURKE / SUN FILE PHOTO

A Brief History of Cornell Scientifc Breakthroughs

Theobald Smith 1881 discovers the first Salmonella enterica bacterium. Hypothesizing it to be the cause of common hog cholera, Smith named the microbe after Daniel Elmer Salmon DVM 1872, who led the research team under the United States Department of Agriculture (Salmon was also the first recipient of a DVM degree in the United States). Though Smith’s theory was later proven incorrect, the Salmonella genus was found to be responsible for several infectious illnesses, such as typhoid fever and food poisoning.

Philip Levine M.D. ’23 discovers the Rh factor in blood after observing hemolytic disease in infants. Levine found that a “negative” pregnant mother’s antibodies can destroy the red blood cells of her child if the child’s blood was “positive” (containing the Rh antigen). Today, an infant’s afflicted blood can undergo immediate treatment to prevent major repercussions.

1974

Henry Heimlich ’41 M.D. ’43 publishes an article promoting an anti-choking technique consisting of repeated abdominal thrusts, now commonly advertised as the “Heimlich maneuver.”

1978

2001

Florence Kimball

DVM 1910 graduates from Cornell to become the first certified female veterinarian.

William F. Friedman 1914 leads the research division of the U.S. Army’s Signals Intelligence Service to break the difficult Japanese PURPLE cipher, providing Japanese diplomatic secrets to the United States government before World War II.

Stephen Moulton Babcock master’s degree 1875 develops the Babcock Test, an inexpensive method of measuring the fat content in milk that allowed farmers to produce consistent quality dairy. From 1907 to 1911, Babcock led a series of single-grain experiments to measure relative nutritional value among grains for cattle, leading to the establishment of nutrition as a science.

William J. Wilgus, a correspondence student at Cornell between 1883 and 1885, designs and oversees the construction of New York City’s Grand Central Terminal. Chief Engineer of the New York Central Railroad, Wilgus was responsible for the introduction of electric trains into the terminal as well as the idea for two-level stations below ground.

1953

1960

The first successful implantable pacemaker — invented by Wilson Greatbatch BEE ’50 to regulate beating of the heart — enters use after extensive animal testing. Greatbatch’s pacemaker used a mercury battery as an energy source, different from earlier designs.

1983

Prof. Hans Bethe, physics, participates in the preliminary design meetings for the atomic bomb. A major player in the Manhattan Project, Bethe also participated in the development team for the hydrogen bomb. During the process, he hoped to prove the weapon impossible to create and serve as a force for disarmament.

1958

The cyanoacrylate commonly known as Super Glue hits shelves, having been developed as an adhesive called “Eastman 910” by Harry Coover M.S. ’43 Ph.D. ’44. Able to bond solid objects as well as human tissues, the glue is also known for its forensic ability to capture fingerprints.

Gregory Goodwin Pincus ’24 begins testing the combined oral contraceptive pill after studying the ability of progesterone to inhibit fertility. The pills — approved by the Food and Drug Administration in 1960 — are now used by over 100 million women worldwide as a form of birth control.

Walter McCrone ’38 Ph.D. ’42 performs several days of forensic testing on the Shroud of Turin, a linen cloth that appears to bear the image of a bearded man who had undergone crucifixion. McCrone concluded that the Shroud had been painted, due to the presence of red pigment that others had deemed blood.

Jon Rubinstein ’78 M.Eng ’79 leads the eight-month development of the iPod, Apple’s first portable music player. Rubinstein later became senior vice president of Apple’s newly-created iPod division in 2004.

1992

2003

Barbara McClintock ’23 M.A. ’25 Ph.D. ’27 becomes the first and currently only woman to win an unshared Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for her discovery of genetic transposition in corn plants. Transposable elements are DNA sequences that can move throughout the genome, changing how certain traits are turned “on” or “off.”

1985

Prof. Mae Jemison M.D. ’81 becomes the first African-American woman to travel into space, serving as the science mission specialist on the Space Shuttle Endeavor’s second spaceflight. Jemison went on to start The Jemison Group, a company that focuses on integrating technologies into developing countries.

Prof. Steve Squyres ’78 Ph.D. ’81, astronomy, leads the Mars Exploration Rover Mission as principal investigator. The mission, through the rovers Curiosity and Opportunity, returned significant findings about Mars, including evidence that water once flowed on the planet’s surface.

Prof. Kenneth G. Wilson, physics, directs the establishment of the Cornell Theory Center (now the Cornell University Center for Advanced Computing in Rhodes Hall), one of five original supercomputer centers created to provide high-speed computing resources within the United States.

2018

Arthur Ashkin Ph.D. ’52 wins the Nobel Prize in physics in October 2018, setting the record for the oldest person to receive the award in Nobel’s 123-year history. He record was then broken in 2019. Ashkin split the award with two of his co-researchers. Together, they researched and invented “optical tweezers,” which allowed Ashkin to pick up living bacteria without damaging them.

A Sit Down with CHEM 2070 Professor Kyle Lancaster

By ZEINAB FARAJ Sun Assistant Sports Editor

This story was originally published on April 7.

Prof. Kyle Lancaster is a world renowned inorganic chemist whose impact on the field of science includes a Forbes 30 under 30 award and nearly 100 publications.

To many Cornell students, Lancaster is better known as the professor of the notorious CHEM 2070: General Chemistry I — a course known for its complicated material and specific grading.

The Sun sat down with Lancaster to learn more about CHEM 2070, his teaching style and how he manages a course that receives a lot of backlash.

Teaching and Tackling General Chemistry at Cornell Lancaster likened his experience teaching CHEM 2070 at Cornell to being a dentist, describing it as “an important job that nobody thanks you for,” except for a “few people.”

Around 800 students take General Chemistry I in its more popular fall semester, many of whom are on the pre-medical track. It is a keystone course for any student on the pre-medical course that covers foundational concepts like molarity and solubility, to more complex topics such as electron orbitals and ligand field theory. Lancaster also teaches CHEM 4210: Introduction to Inorganic Chemistry Research and CHEM 6400: Bioinorganic Chemistry.

During the fall semester, CHEM 2070 met four times a week, with three 50 minute lectures and a 50 minute optional discussion section. Additionally, there was a weekly three hour lab section where students applied their practical understanding of chemistry to design and complete various

experiments.

Lancaster described his teaching style as “jokes, live demos, practical knowledge and applicational knowledge.” His live demonstrations of chemistry are a unique component of the lecture, in which he and Professor Daniel Lorey perform chemistry experiments in front of the class.

“My first semester of chemistry [at college] we had no demos, and then in the second semester, my professor started with a really cool demo — the luminol demo I did for 2070,” Lancaster shared. He thinks that the live demonstrations help content “stick” with his students and break up the class time.

In one of his demonstrations, Lancaster mixed a cocktail while using the ingredients’ availability to describe the concept of limiting reagents — a chemistry concept describing an ingredient in a reaction that is the first to be used up.

“You have to use your imagination to think about mixing a cocktail as a limiting reagent,” Lancaster said. “But seeing it happen in front of you is different, so people are not going to forget that concept as easily.”

Lancaster, who has taught CHEM 2070 four times, said the biggest challenge he has faced was organizing the content in a logical way. He noted that the course teaching had to be done out of order to be able to build up to other concepts and to coincide with the lab component of the course.

And of course, there is the backlash he receives for the exams and the class overall.

“Students think I specifically write an exam to make people’s lives miserable,” Lancaster said. “No, I’m writing an exam because I have to give exams and challenge people.”

When asked what he wishes he could tell his students, Lancaster said that he wants them to understand that their

grades are not everything.

“Good grief, you get a B+ or a C- in 2070 and your world is not shattered, your life is not over,” Lancaster said. “2070 is the first serious STEM course, so most people take some time to figure it out.”

Lancaster also commented on the idea that Cornell students take on too much and put too much pressure on themselves. He described his social college experience at Pomona as “a different world” compared to Cornell.

“If I could wave a magic wand and do one thing to the Cornell undergraduate population, it [would be to] get them to take a chill pill,” Lancaster said. “Make sure you have hobbies and do things to enrich your life, don’t just have hobbies so you can put them on a resume.”

He pointed out that many people believe 2070 to be a “weed out” course that is “designed to make people fail.” He said that is “not true.”

“Only two percent of students actually fail 2070 and those people have essentially given up on the course,” Lancaster said.

He also stated that he is a member of Reddit and has seen the Cornell Sidechat before. Lancaster said he has read a numerous amount of people “complaining” about 2070.

“The biggest mistake I made was downloading Sidechat after the second exam,” Lancaster said. “I used to see all this stuff on Reddit about ‘another great look for chem,’ so I was curious to see how it is. And then I was like, ‘Oh God why did I do this.’”

To continue reading this article, please visit www.cornellsun.com.

Women’s Ice Hockey’s Rory Guilday Shines on the Ice

For the second year in a row, The Sun’s Female Athlete of the Year is a member of the women’s hockey team. Last year’s winner — Izzy Daniel ’24 — was an incredible individual talent and a bridge between the pre-pandemic success and the post-pandemic rebuild of the program. Like Daniel, Rory Guilday ’25 was instrumental in rebuilding Cornell’s women’s hockey program to a place of excellence. Unlike Daniel, Guilday remained long enough to see the Red return to college hockey’s promised land: the Frozen Four.

For Cornell, the 2024-2025 season was a historic one. The team won its fifth ECAC title, made its fifth Frozen Four appearance, and set a women’s hockey attendance record at Lynah Rink.

“[At the ECAC] championship we had a spectacular crowd, and I remember having chills the entire time, from when we first stepped on ice through the national anthem when everyone yelled ‘Red,’” Guilday said. “I think honestly, maybe I got a little teary eyed.”

The Red’s impressive season came five years after the cancellation of the 2020 National Collegiate Athletic Association tournament while the squad was slated as the top seed and four years after the Ivy League missed the entirety of the 20202021 season. There may be no player who better represents the post-pandemic resurgence of the women’s hockey program at Cornell than Guilday.

When Guilday first stepped foot on campus, little remained of the impressive 2019-2020 team.

“It was a really, really young, inexperienced team because of the loss of the [COVID-19] year and … I think the team we had at that point there was only a few girls — a handful — who had actually played in college games before that season,” Guilday said. “We had a big freshman class, I think 11 or 12 of us … It was chaos.”

Making matters worse, the 2022 Winter Olympics were held during Guilday’s freshman year, meaning head coach Doug Derraugh ’91 was missing for stretches of the season while coaching for Team Canada. Despite Cornell’s mediocre record (14-14-2, 12-8-2 ECAC), what Guilday dubbed a “rebuilding year” triumphed in setting up the team for future success.

“We all kind of took on the learning curve together, and did what we could

do for that year and we all learned a lot,” said Guilday. “It took trial and error, and rebuilding this team back up … it was for the people in that room and for no one else. We wanted to get better, and we did each year. I think that’s because of the people we had in the locker room and our amazing coaches that guided us in the right direction, and we eventually made it.”

Make it they did. After finishing sixth in the ECAC during the 2021-2022 regular season, Guilday and the Red finished fifth, then fourth, in the following two years. During these three seasons Guilday was excellent, racking up 43 points and twice finishing second on the team in blocks. While her sophomore campaign was shortened due to injury, Guilday played in 29 and 32 games her freshman and junior seasons respectively, earning All-Ivy honors in both years.

Then came the 2024-2025 season.

It’s no coincidence that what makes Guilday such a special player is almost identical to what propelled this year’s team to greatness: gritty lockdown defense, timely scoring and a close bond.

For both Guilday and Cornell, the defense comes first. This summer, Guilday will be a top pick in the Professional Women’s Hockey League draft because of her defense prowess. At 5’ 11’’, the Minnesota native terrorizes forwards with her physical defensive playstyle, while also being able to keep her head up to close down passing and shooting lanes.

“I’m no stranger to hard work here at Cornell and I think that’s going to help me a lot in the PWHL,” Guilday said. “It’s a fast physical game there and it’s obviously professional hockey with the best players in the world, and I think that I’m well prepared because of what coach [Derraugh] has taught me and what we’ve been through as a team.”

Regardless of what comes next, Guilday’s impact at Cornell is undeniable. Along with her 10 fellow seniors, Guilday helped lead Cornell from a .500 team to competing for National Championships.

“I’m maybe a little biased because she’s one of my best friends, but she is the best human being I know. She’s such a good, well rounded person,” Rud said. “Obviously a very good teammate, friend, person. She excels not only on the ice but off the ice, as well in the classroom. I have nothing but good things to say about her.”

Men’s Lacrosse’s CJ Kirst Continues to Break Records

It’s easy to describe attackman CJ Kirst’s accomplishments with numbers.

239 goals made him the highest-scoring Dl men’s lacrosse player of all time. 74 goals is the most any Cornellian has achieved in a single season. With 4.62 goals per game, he leads the country. Twice, he’s been named a Tewaaraton Award finalist — and likely, this year, he will win it. He was the first overall pick in the 2025 Professional Lacrosse League draft.

The record books tell one story. It’s impossible, however, to quantify Kirst’s leadership, charisma and character.

“The things that he does are immeasurable on the stats sheet,” said head coach Connor Buczek ’15 MBA ’17. “The heart that he plays with sets the tone for our entire team.”

Kirst played his first game with the Red in 2022, after his freshman season in 2021 was cancelled due to COVID-19 restrictions. The year prior, the team had only completed five games before all activity shut down.

In 2022, the Red released the bottled-up tension built during two seasons off the field. Though Cornell fell in the semifinal of the Ivy League Tournament, an at-large bid to the National Collegiate Athletic Association Tournament gave the team a second chance.

The Red faced Ohio State in its first round game, sending the Buckeyes home with a 15-8 defeat. Behind seven of those goals? Kirst, in his first season.

Kirst scored in every game of the Red’s unlikely seventh-seed run to the NCAA Championship, which it ultimately lost to the University of Maryland. He was second only to John Piatelli ’22 in goals and points on the season.

He didn’t let up. In 2023, he led the team with 65 goals, and even in 2024, a comparatively unproductive year (partially due to a shortened postseason), he topped the list. Kirst returned for his fifth-year season with a hunger – not just for personal success, or even to return the Red to glory, but to make the most of his time with his teammates.

“The goal is to earn more time together,” Kirst said. “To host an [NCAA Tournament] game was the goal, and having that opportunity was pretty crazy.”

The Red won the Ivy League Tournament for the first time since 2018. Not only did it win, but it was decisive; Cornell scored over 20 goals in both games.

What distinguishes Kirst on the field, potentially even more than his seemingly unstoppable solo attacks on the net, are his partnerships.

Kirst and senior attackman Michael Long have played side-by-side since high school,

graduating the college-preparatory Delbarton School one year apart. The pair operate as a unit; during the Ivy League Tournament alone, three Kirst goals were assisted by Long, and two Long goals were assisted by Kirst.

On April 26, Kirst officially surpassed the NCAA scoring record with his 225th goal. Making the final pass, of course, was Long.

“If I were to draw it up it couldn’t be any better,” Kirst said after the game. “[Long and I have] been through a lot together.”

The other dynamic duo drawing eyes on Cornell’s offensive line consists of Kirst and sophomore attackman Ryan Goldstein. Goldstein replaced Long’s past position at the X and has thrived; he is second on the team in points, with 34 goals and 48 assists.

The trio is collectively responsible for over one half of the team’s total points for the season.

“I came back as a sixth-year senior,” Long said. “I wanted to come back here. I knew I wanted to play with [Kirst]. You’ve seen it out there; between him and [Ryan] Goldstein, we’re just having the time of our lives.”

Against Yale on March 22nd, Kirst broke his personal record for single-game goals. Goldstein, in that same game, broke his personal record for single-game assists.

“[Goldstein’s] a pass-first kind of guy,” Kirst said after the season’s home-opener against Denver, in which he notched six goals and two assists, while Goldstein earned five assists and one goal. “He’s always got his head up and makes our offense go. It was always an easy shot today, so all credit to him.”

After the Red’s final home game of the 2025 season, a second-round win against University at Albany in the NCAA tournament, Kirst emerged from the locker room into a crowd.

Approaching from the crowd of athletics staff, family members and media representatives, a pair of young lacrosse players held out their sticks. With a smile, Kirst signed both.

“Has that ever happened before?” asked The Sun.

“No, never,” Kirst replied, grinning ear to ear. “That was so cool.”

It’s a family business; with older brothers Colin, Connor, and Cole each playing DI men’s lacrosse and continuing on to the PLL after graduation, it was only natural that Kirst would follow in their footsteps. After being picked up first overall by the Philadelphia Waterdogs during the PLL draft, Kirst has opportunities to test professional-level limits ahead of him.

For now, though, he’s focused on the only thing he can: “getting the next one.” Though he may have achieved every pinnacle of recognition for collegiate men’s lacrosse, Kirst won’t relent until the clock runs out.

Lacrosse legend | CJ Kirst became the highest-scoring DI mens lacrosse scorer.

Guilday goal | Guilday will be a top pick in the Professional Women’s Hockey League Draft this summer.

LEILANI BURKE / SUN SENIOR EDITOR

By ALEXIS ROGERS Sun Sports Editor

By ELI FASTIFF Sun Senior Editor

Inside the Fish-Throwing Tradition at Lynah Rink

By LUKE PICHINI Former Sun Sports Editor

This story was originally published on Jan. 26, 2020.

Whenever Harvard visits Lynah Rink to face Cornell men’s hockey, in a bout of upstate hospitality, fans warmly welcome the Crimson by throwing scores of fish onto the ice.

The tradition has been in place since the early 1970’s and has become a staple for fans. Matthew Frucht ’21, Daniel Morton ’21 and Jake Polacek ’21 were among the fans who participated in the age-old tradition.

This weekend’s contest was not the first rodeo for the three juniors.

Last year, the group waited until the last minute to pick up their fish. After driving around Ithaca and Lansing, Frucht and Polacek picked up several mackerels at a market and planned an exchange at the rink with Morton, who was busy at the time.

“We actually exchanged [the fish] in the bathroom at Lynah,” Polacek said. “As we were walking out, a cop walked in.”

The two escaped the sticky situation with their fish undetected.

“We were both in the same bathroom stall, so it was a little bit sketchy,” Morton said.

The group planned their scheme for several weeks. On Thursday, they picked up 10 fish, including six big ones.

Before the game, the three made it through the first round of security and went

to their seats in Section B.

“Wearing hockey jerseys and a jacket, you can fit a fish in the sleeve of your arm,” Frucht said. “And that’s what I did.”

Even with the University’s rule of a zerofish policy, the three, like scores of the Lynah faithful, were not deterred from carrying out their plan.

“They have all of the rules and sent an email about the zero-fish policy,” Frucht said. “But after freshman year, we realized that there is some leeway if you can sneak it in.”

The school mascot was even in on the action last year.

“Last year at the game, Touchdown the Bear was in a hockey jersey and was holding this giant plush fish above his head,” Morton said. “They encourage it, even though they technically can’t.”

But the plan floundered when Morton’s fish were confiscated in the stands by security.

“There was a guy walking around, and I thought he was a student,” Morton said. “I had my jacket cracked open because it was getting hot. I had a bag tucked inside my sleeve and he must have spotted it.”

Despite Morton’s best efforts, he had to release his fish.

“So then, he was like questioning me,” Morton continued. “I tried to hold him off, but he called his superior, and I had to hand it over.”

Armed with plenty of other fish, though, the trio still had the necessary ammunition to carry out the tradition. With the Harvard skaters ready to enter the ice, Polacek made

the first move, tossing the first sea creature of the evening.

“As soon as the goalie touched his foot on the ice, it was flying,” Polacek recounted.

After the initial wave of fish was thrown out onto the ice, fans continued to heave fish as the Harvard skaters clung to the wall in an effort to avoid any pelting.

Although the three were active participants in the tradition, they did note some of the unsavory side effects that come with this tradition. Some fans hurled Swedish fish onto the ice, but the candy wound up staining the ice.

“We got to get rid of the Swedish fish,” Polacek remarked. “It ruins the ice.”

But frozen fish can stink for its own reasons, too. Because frozen fish thaw out and become wet, fish juice ended up raining down over the rink.

“It starts to smell like a fish market five minutes before puck drop,” Polacek said.

In regards to the actual game, the three enjoyed the experience as well.

While the contest was scoreless for the first 56 minutes, the three noted the energy from the Lynah Faithful. Freshman Jack Drury’s goal for Harvard silenced the crowd, but sophomore forward Michael Regush’s response on the power play revived the fans.

“I think that’s the loudest I’ve ever heard it,” Morton said, referring to the noise following the Red’s tying goal.

While there may be formal rules that prohibit the fish-throwing tradition, it continues to live on, uniting the Cornell fanbase, just as it did for these three juniors.

Last-Second Goal Sends No. 16 Men’s Hockey to NCAA Regional Final

By JANE MCNALLY Sun Senior Editor MEN’S ICE HOCKEY

This article was originally published on March 27.

TOLEDO, O.H. — After 40 minutes, things seemed as good as done.

Men’s hockey mustered just four shots on goal in the second period against topranked Michigan State. It surrendered a goal — a turnover by the goaltender — that seemed destined to be the game-winner.

But there aren’t 40 minutes in a hockey game.

Cornell skated out for the final 20 minutes with its back up against the wall — a phrase that has been used quite a lot throughout these last few weeks.

“We knew we were gonna face some adversity at some point,” said senior goaltender Ian Shane. “So whether it’s in the first period, third period, we were ready to face it.”

It was looking for a miracle.

But Cornell was also looking for a miracle just six days ago against Quinnipiac in the ECAC tournament semifinal. It got that.

On Thursday, Cornell found another miracle.

No. 16 Cornell, the lowest seed in the Toledo regional, topped No. 1 Michigan State, 4-3, on a goal with just 10 seconds left. The Red trailed 1-0, 2-1 and 3-2 before scoring twice in the third period to beat the Spartans, which were the second-seeded team in the entire tournament behind powerhouse Boston College.

Schafer had, evidently, not seen everything. A power play goal clinched Cornell a spot in the regional final — an area at which Cornell had struggled all year. The Red got one opportunity on the power play all night, and senior forward Sullivan Mack made it count.

The Spartans outshot Cornell 37-21. The Red made the most of its chances.

“I kept telling our guys: ‘ignore the shots on the board,” Schafer said. “They shoot a lot of pucks from everywhere.”

Though Mack stole the show with his buzzer-beating game-winner, it was

another senior between the pipes that made the win possible — Shane made 34 saves, including a handful of point-blank opportunities down the stretch, to send Cornell to the regional final.

The win makes head coach Mike Schafer ’86 11-4 in NCAA first round games. His team has now won seven games in a row, and will look to make it eight in the regional final — a stage that has seen Schafer win only once.

“We’ve been waiting for 365 days to get here,” Schafer said. “I think losing, just like anything else, prepares you to be more resilient. It prepares you to be better. And I think that’s what these guys did tonight.”

Michigan State, after a hot start, snapped Cornell’s six-game streak of scoring first. The two goals in the first period were also the most allowed by Cornell in the first period since Feb. 28, its last regulation loss coming at the hands of Union.

With under five minutes left in the period, Cornell found a much-needed response. Sophomore forward Ryan Walsh made a nifty play, picking the pocket of a Spartan skater and promptly beating Michigan State goaltender Trey Augustine to knot the score.

It looked like Cornell might escape the first period tied with the top team in the country, but a cross-checking penalty taken by junior forward Dalton Bancroft sent Cornell to the penalty kill with just 49 seconds left in the period. It took just 20 seconds for Michigan State to regain the lead, with Daniel Russell beating a sprawling Shane after some strong passing sequences by the Spartans.

The second period saw each team pot a goal, but it was nothing short of a dominant 20 minutes by the Spartans.

Michigan State did not allow Cornell a shot on goal in the period until over halfway through the frame, and kept the Red to just four shots in the period altogether.

Despite the onslaught of Spartan pressure, the Red ultimately tied the game up at 2-2 on just its second shot of the period.

A lethal one-timer by freshman forward

Charlie Major, after Michigan State had pressed over and over again, had all the opportunity to suck the wind out of the

Spartans’ sails.

Then disaster struck. Shane, after the ensuing faceoff, came out of his net to play the puck. After hesitating to make a decision, Shane ultimately turned the puck over and Karsen Dowart grabbed the puck and fired it into the open net. The goal came just 17 seconds after Major’s tying goal.

“You just kind of laugh it off. It’s a tough goal, not one you want to let in,” Shane said. “But like I said earlier, you can’t really get too far ahead of yourself. Can’t worry about it.”

“I wasn’t laughing, by the way,” Schafer said. “It was frustrating to give up that third one.”

Cornell skated out for the final frame down a goal and looking to keep its season — and Schafer’s career — alive. Michigan State was 18-0-2 when leading after two periods up to that point.

Things looked promising to start — Cornell sustained pressure in its offensive zone for nearly two minutes, trapping the Spartans defensively and generating a few good chances on Augustine.

Michigan State followed that up with a grade-A chance, nearly making it a twogoal deficit, but Shane made his best save of the night on Dowart — the goal scorer from Shane’s gaffe with the puck — who was all alone in the low slot and was met with an outstretched left pad and glove to keep it a one-score game.

“It obviously gives you a lot of confidence when they put the tying goal in, [but] you don’t want to get too ahead of yourself. Michigan State’s a dangerous team,” Shane said. “It was really just a matter of settling down and settling into the game and just kind of focusing on whatever I have to do.”

Then, the Red broke through. After an initial shot by sophomore defenseman Ben Robertson, at the doorstep was his fellow classmate Walsh, who beat Augustine for the second time that night to tie the game for Cornell a third time.

“He didn’t waste any time tonight on that rebound goal from Ben [Robertson],” Schafer said. “He didn’t over-handle it, he released it quick. He’s big on face-offs. He can play against other teams’ top lines. So

he’s been a tremendous player for us all season long.”

The final frame was undoubtedly Cornell’s best of the three — it was the only period that the Red outshot the Spartans in (12-7) and Cornell turned the puck over at a much less frequent rate than it did in the first two periods.

“We definitely needed a wake up call after the second period,” Mack said. “And the coaching staff kind of came in [and] Schafer came in and told us: ‘let’s get it going here.’”

With a little under two minutes to go, senior forward Jack O’Leary bolted into the offensive zone in pursuit of the puck.

Spartan defenseman Matt Basgall went after O’Leary, moving slower than the speedy 5’7” forward.

That speed ultimately paid off — O’Leary was taken down by Basgall, and with 1:39 left, the referee’s hand went up. Cornell would get a power play.

And although Cornell’s power play has consistently ranked towards the bottom of the country, it has taken on a new life as of late — it might not be very consistent. But it has been clutch.

Cornell pushed and pushed. Then, the announcement of the period’s final minute. Cornell kept the puck in its zone. Major got the puck with less than 20 seconds left. He faked, and then sent the puck over to Mack. The two exchanged another set of passes, before Major fed him one last feed that somehow, someway, eked through the stout Spartan defense. In the blink of an eye, the puck was in the back of the net.

Cornell scored on the power play — just its 16th power play goal all year — to take a 4-3 lead on Michigan State with 10 seconds left. Those 10 seconds would pass and the Red would go on to swarm Shane, upending the top-ranked team in the region and in the country.

“This season has fed me everything that I could not imagine,” Schafer said. “As a coach, you’ve been in the business for 39 years, and you think you’ve seen everything.”

The win sends Cornell to Saturday’s regional final against Boston University. Schafer will look to advance to his second Frozen Four in his coaching career, the last being in 2003.

Fishy fans | Throwing fish is prohibited at Lynah. But some rules were made to be broken.

BORIS TSANG / SUN FILE PHOTO

Taking on Life as a Team

How two Cornellian couples found love through athletics

By ALEXIS ROGERS Sun Sports Editor

Sports have been bringing people together for generations. Whether it’s to cheer for the same team or back each other up on the field, Cornell athletics has introduced future friends and even future family.

Ahead of Valentine’s Day, The Sun spoke to two Cornellian couples that have found lifelong partners through their sport.

Jon Jaques & Jasmine Marcus Jon Jaques ’10 may be known to most as the new men’s bas ketball head coach — or as the star player of the his toric 2009-2010 men’s basketball team — but his most important score at Cornell wasn’t on the court.

In the spring of 2009, Jaques was balancing his third year of Division I bas ketball, writing for The New York Times’ college sports blog The Quad and working on his biolo gy and society degree. To add to his already impressive ros ter of activities, he accepted a friend’s invita tion to join the staff of The Sun as a sports con tributor and head ed to the newspa per’s office by the Ithaca Commons.

That was where he met Jasmine Marcus ’10, who was also a junior and a member of The Sun’s edi torial board.

“Jasmine was the first person to introduce herself to me,” Jaques said. “She was very friendly and welcoming, and I probably looked lost and confused like the athlete who didn’t know what he was doing.”

For the 2024-2025 season, Jaques assumed the helm from former head coach Brian Earl, and his first season has yielded promising results. The team (13-7, 5-2 Ivy) is shooting for its ninth Ivy League title.

Though Jaques’ job takes him across the country, he knows he can trust his family as a rock during the hectic season.

“Coaching is a hard life for families of coaches,” Jaques said. “Jasmine has been awesome and so supportive. A huge part of it is that I’m working at a place that she feels strongly about too. She knows how much my experience meant to me and my teammates; she knows the reason I’m trying to pay it forward.”

Karen Chen & Len van Deurzen

After returning for their senior fall, Jaques and Marcus met for the second time on Halloween. Though Jaques was captivated by the woman dressed as Princess Jasmine, he couldn’t remember her name until he looked through a list of The Sun’s editorial board.

“She made an impression,” Jaques said. “We reconnected, and the rest is history.”

“Coaching is a hard life for families of coaches. Jasmine has been awesome and so supportive.”

Jon Jaques ’10

Jaques went on to a stel lar senior season, elevated to a starter after his clutch performance in the Legends Classic tournament on Nov. 29, 2009, propelled the Red to a narrow victory over Drexel. As tri-captain, he spearheaded a historic NCAA run that featured the Red’s first-ever tournament win and ended in the Sweet 16.

“After we started dating, Jasmine started covering the team a bit more,” Jaques said. “She even traveled to the NCAA tournament.”

After graduating from Cornell, Jaques accepted a contract to play professional basketball with Ironi Ashkelon in the Israeli Premier League. Luckily, Marcus’ family connections in the country made it possible for the pair to move overseas together.

Though experienced on the court, Jaques found his calling from the sidelines, coaching at both Stevens Institute of Technology and Columbia University for a year before returning to his alma mater as an assistant coach from 2013-2022.

Meanwhile, Marcus earned her doctor of physical therapy degree from Columbia and entered practice in the Ithaca area.

“Our jobs are way more similar than people would realize,” Jaques said. “With coaching and being a physical therapist, so much of it is psychology, motivation and how you’re trying to reach people. We always bounce ideas off each other.”

“At the end of the day, I always feel like we’re on the same team We’re getting through it together.”

Karen Chen ’25

Karen Chen ’25 has accomplished a lot since enrolling in Cornell’s College of Human Ecology in 2019. She took two gap years to travel to the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, where she earned a team gold medal. She serves as co-captain of the Cornell Figure Skating Club and is just months away from graduation. Last fall, she checked off another item on the bucket list: getting engaged. When Chen invited Len van Deurzen Ph.D. ’24 to the Cornell Figure Skating Club’s spring-semester ice show in her sophomore year, the two were barely acquainted as friends-of-friends.

“He came to the show, and we started talking after that,” Chen said. “I’m an introvert, and so is he, so in the beginning it was a little hard to get his vibe. But he was really passionate about his work for his Ph.D. in physics, and at the time I was also taking physics, so he helped me through that.”

After their initial connection, the pair hit it off. Their different interests — Chen’s in figure skating and the pre-med track, van Deurzen’s in his doctorate — gave them plenty to learn from one another.

“During [my] junior year, he was finishing up his last year of his Ph.D.,” Chen said. “If we would have met earlier, when he was in the thick of it, maybe we wouldn’t have had the time. But we’ve always found time for each other and communicated with each other.”

Chen had plenty on her own plate as well; despite putting her intense training regimen aside to focus on school, she found out in 2024 — two years after her Olympic appearance in Beijing — that the team had been awarded

a gold medal due to Russian skater Kamila Valieva’s positive drug test.

“[In Beijing], we were in our gear to go to the awards ceremony when it was canceled, and we didn’t really know why,” Chen said. “It was tough waiting to get our medals, but getting the ceremony in Paris was really exciting. I was surprised by how heavy it was.”

After her graduation, Chen plans to head back to school to obtain a doctor in physical therapy. She’s also planning for her wedding, which the couple hopes to hold in the Netherlands to be close to van Deurzen’s family.

“I have some family in the United States, but my grandparents and other relatives are in Taiwan,” Chen said. “We’re going to do a smaller, intimate wedding in the Netherlands, and maybe go to Taiwan to do a celebration there.”

The pair is excited for many more years of support and growth as they look forward to their professional careers.

“At the end of the day, I always feel like we’re one team,” Chen said. “We’re getting through it together.”

Jaques’ journey | Jaques celebrated his promotion to head coach of men’s basketball with his family on April 12, 2024.

COURTESY OF CORNELL ATHLETICS

Tying the knot | Chen and her beau plan to walk down the aisle in the Netherlands next fall.

COURTESY OF KAREN CHEN

From Zero to Hero in 50 Days: Meet the Four Frosh Rowers Turned Champions

This story was originally published on Nov. 6, 2024.

Two months ago, four freshmen met for the first time. 50 days later, they are rowing champions.

Merrick Word-Brown ’28, Peter Mueller ’28, Aiden Parsa ’28 and Alex Slezak ’28 joined Cornell Rowing Club with a combined zero years of rowing experience. But on Oct. 26, the four frosh represented CRC at The Head of The Fish Regatta in Saratoga Springs, New York, beating out multiple Division-I and DivisionIII schools en route to gold.

Completing the 3.2K race in 13:35.68, CRC outpaced 10 competitors despite facing headwind conditions.

So how did these four manage to go from zero to hero in 50 days? How did they develop championship chemistry? The Sun spoke to the four freshmen to learn the secrets to their success.

Slezak hails from San Francisco. Outside of his classes as a public policy major, Slezak is the president of Hu Shih Hall. The first time he rowed he fell in love — the unison of the boat, the feathering, the sounds, and every other small detail in rowing. Slezak sits as the stroke of the boat, with his job being to set the rowing pace.

“CRC has cultivated a winning culture for us,” Slezak said. “I think when I met Merrick, Aiden and Peter, our goals and competitive spirits really aligned with that culture.”

The team has a rigorous schedule — training on the ergometer, remaining conditioned in the gym, watching film and practicing technique on the water. They try their

best to imitate the top athletes of rowing. On top of that, they had to learn everything else that came with rowing — maintaining the boat, using the correct terminology to communicate in the boat, practicing proper technique and literally managing to stay afloat together.

“It’s really an addiction,” Word-Brown said. “Every day after practice we analyze film, [and] we work on making adjustments that will lead to bigger improvements down the road.”

Word-Brown is a global and public health major at the College of Human Ecology. On top of rowing, he is a member of the Cornell Cycling Club and a writer for The Cornell Healthcare Review. He started pursuing rowing because of its similarities to cycling.

Mueller studies agricultural science in the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences. He began rowing after members of the varsity team encouraged him to try it. Mueller is an Upstate New York native and said his greatest athletic achievement was winning this regatta.

The four have developed a couple of traditions they believe have delivered their success. They hold team dinners, during which they discuss tactics, watch film and set a positive mindset for their practice. They also analyze technique videos against their own film, identifying one area of improvement to bring to the boat. Their favorite sources for these videos? Instagram reels.

“It’s been really fun just finding people that are motivated and really push me to be the best rower possible,” Parsa said. “We all hold each other responsible, and the friendships I’ve made go beyond just rowing.”

Hailing from Rome, Georgia, Parsa is an economics major in the

College of Arts and Sciences. Parsa was directly introduced to rowing by Slezak and has not looked back since. The challenges Parsa faces as he strives to improve keep him hooked.

Getting to the boathouse itself is its own challenge — the four typically travel about a mile off campus via bike on a winding and uphill road. Interestingly, they enjoy this trek to practice, which they say is an opportunity to prepare physically and mentally for the practice ahead. Despite the team’s clear passion, there are still points of frustration. With only four official practices before the regatta, the team struggled to balance learning an entirely new sport with race technique. The four constant-

ly mixed with other members of the rowing club and never truly had the opportunity to just row together.

“Two practices before the race, we struggled keeping the boat at a good pace,” Slezak said.

The night before the race, the four met up at Parsa’s dorm in Mary Donlon Hall. They spent time watching inspirational rowing videos and discussing race strategy. The entire time, their mindset was that this race was theirs to win.

“Something clicked on race day and I think it was just all of the passion and work that we’ve poured in,” Slezak said.

Another key part of the boat’s success is the coxswain, whose job is to navigate the boat and lead the rowers through motivation and

specific direction. The four have worked with two different coxswains — Joseph McMahon 28 and Carolina Gomez ’26 — which has provided an interesting aspect to their training.

“Whether the coxswain is Joe or Carolina, we as a team emphasize communication — telling them what we want to hear and what helps,” Parsa said. “The coxswain is very important to our chemistry, and we are lucky enough to have Joe and Carolina.”

Gomez was the coxswain during the competition. She utilized her communication skills and experience to steer the boat in the winding conditions of the race.

To continue reading this story, please visit cornellsun.com

By ZEINAB FARAJ Sun Assistant Sports Editor

COURTESY OF CORNELLROWING CLUB

Boat bonds | While rowing might be a daunting sport for some to pick up for the first time, these four newcomers did it with ease, forging lifelong friendships along the way.

What’s that? You don’t know the difference between Schaap and Schafer? You better start reading.

Arena: Bruce ’73. Played lacrosse and soccer for the Red. Former coach of the U.S. men’s soccer team the New England Revolution and member of the National Soccer Hall of Fame.

Bartels Hall: The athletic facility formerly known as Alberding and the Field House. Unfortunately, the Alberding family no longer felt the need to fork over the big bucks — enter Mr. Bartels.

Barton Hall: The cavernous main gym. Big place where ROTCs hang out, also headquarters for powerhouse indoor track teams and the location of many Cornell final exams. Originally built as an airplane hangar, it is the former home of hoops squads.

Baughan: Matt. Golf coach, who has been leading the Red for over two decades. Also has the honor of being head teaching pro at Cornell’s beautiful Robert Trent Jones golf course.

Bettman: Gary ’74. First commissioner of the NHL. Known to show up at Lynah Rink to take in a game every now and then. All three of Bettman’s children have attended Cornell.

Big Red: 1. A type of chewing gum. 2. The nickname for all Cornell athletic teams. Go Big Red! (Or if you are reading The Sun, just Red).

Big Red Bear: Cornell mascot. Although the bear is brown, not red, students still hold it dear and often pass it in the crowd at football games, when people actually show up.

The Sun’s Sports glos•sa•ry

Boiardi: George ’04. Men’s lacrosse player who died after being struck by a lacrosse ball in a game against Binghamton in 2002. He was a four-year starter and captain, set to graduate two months after death. Head coaching position named in his honor.

Boothe: Kevin ’06. Anchor of the offensive line during his Cornell career, opening lanes for Red backs. Drafted by the Oakland Raiders in the sixth round of the 2006 NFL Draft, won a Super Bowl with the Giants in 2008 and 2012.

Bowman: Rich. Former women’s track and field/cross country coach. In his 38 years at Cornell, he coached over 150 athletes to Ivy League and Hep championships. Living legend.

Brown: The color of dirt, but also an Ivy school that doesn’t believe in grades or sports. Officially nicknamed Bears, but the students still call themselves Bruins — their old nickname. Still, as the saying goes, if it’s Brown, flush it down.

B.U.: Boston University. Hockey rival that pulled out of the ECAC in the 80s with several other teams to form Hockey East. Inspiration for the all-purpose cheer “Screw B.U., [insert opposing team here] too!”

Buczek: Connor ’15, M.B.A. ’17. Formerly a men’s lacrosse legend Buczek became Head Coach of Men’s Lacrosse in Spring 2020 after spending five seasons on staff, first as a volunteer assistant coach for two years and then as an assistant coach for three seasons. He led the team to a national championship this year.

Colangelo: Bryan ’87. Former GM of the Philadelphia 76ers who played guard for the Red while on East Hill. Averaged three minutes a game in 42 contests. Trust the process.

Colgate: Relatively substantial rivalry outside the Ivy League. Their fans throw Big Red chewing gum when the men’s hockey team is visiting, Cornell fans throw Colgate toothpaste when Raiders are in town.

Columbia: Does not even have men’s lacrosse or hockey teams. In the 1980s, the football team broke the all-time NCAA record for consecutive losses. Although it has improved of late, the school would throw a parade down Broadway if it actually won an Ivy title. Added bonus: Opponents can laugh at their light blue uniforms.

Cornell: Glorious Ivy League university — perhaps you’ve heard of it. Nationally notable in rowing, wrestling, men’s and women’s hockey and men’s lacrosse, among others.

Crew: Grueling year-round sport. Has perhaps the most underrated athletes at Cornell. Who else could endure severe hand blisters or 5 a.m. runs down to the boathouse for two-hour practices in 30-degree weather? Pain is their life’s blood. That said, rowers are widely considered to have the best bodies on campus.

Cullen: Terry and his late father Bob, that is. Father-son team that coached the Cornell sprint football team “forever” and guided the Red to countless CSFL titles. In 2006, the Red achieved perfection for the first time since Purple Rain was popular, going 6-0 en route to a national championship. Altough he retired in 2023, Terry is honored by the name of the head coaching endowment

— the job is literally named after him.

Dartmouth: Small school, but with proper nourishment could become a full-grown university like the rest of its Ivy pals. Nicknamed the Big Green, a name stolen from the children’s movie of the same title.

Davy: Fight song, played after Cornell scores in any game the Big Red Band bothers to attend, except for basketball where it plays it whenever it can at its own obnoxious decibel level. George M. Cohan stole the melody from “Give My Regards to Broadway.”

Dennison: Liz. Former head coach of the women’s rowers and current associate director of rowing. EAWRC Co-Assistant Coach of the Year in 2011.

Derraugh: Doug ’91. Returns for his 19th season as head coach of the women’s hockey team. He guided the Big Red to the national title game in his fifth season and back-to-back-to-back NCAA Frozen Four appearances in 2010, 2011 and 2012. Ivy champs in 2017.

Diakomihalis: Yianni ’23. One of the greatest Cornell wrestlers in history, Diakomihalis won four national champion titles, a world silver medal, four NCAA titles, four All-American and EIWA titles and becoming a four-time Ivy League Wrestler of the Year, among other lengthy accomplishments. Post-graduation, Diakomihalis is training for the Olympics.

Durant: Adrian. Head coach of men’s track and field/cross country. Coach for U.S. Virgin Islands at the 2016 Rio Olympics, sent four past and present Cornellians to Rio as well. More swag than you can measure.

Smith, coach of 21 years.

Gallagher: Patrick. Head coach of the women’s swim and dive squad. Before, head coach at St. Francis where he is the program’s winningest coach. Game (a.k.a. The Game): Cornell vs. Harvard, hockey style. Action on the ice nearly paralleled in the stands. People throw fish (and in one instance, an octopus) at Harvard players. People used to tie chickens to the net between periods, but the ECACHL stepped in recently. People swear a lot. In between all this, the Red and Crimson play some great hockey. We laughed, we cried. A must see.

Graap: Jenny ’86. 29-year women’s lacrosse coach who helped the women’s laxers to a turnaround season in 1998. She took the team to the Final Four in 2002, garnering Coach of the Year awards. Led the team to its first ever co-Ivy League title and another NCAA berth in 2006, won Ivy title in 2017.

Dryden: Ken ’69. Three-time All-American, perennial All-Star and Stanley Cup netminder for the Montreal Canadiens. Found his real calling practicing law, however. He was named the general manager of the Toronto Maple Leafs in 2004 and inducted into the College Sports Information Directors of America Academic All-America Hall of Fame in May 2005. His No. 1 was retired and lifted into the rafters of Lynah Rink in 2010.

ECAC: Eastern College Athletic Conference Hockey League. Large coordinating organization overseeing collegiate sports up and down the eastern seaboard. More specifically, the major college hockey league that Cornell calls home. Gives schools like Union and St. Lawrence an excuse to feel smarter.

Eldredge: Dave ’81. Considered one of the best polo coaches in the country. In 2008, the men’s team overcame its underdog status to reach the national finals, where it lost. Grand total of 15 national titles and 37 national championship appearances, last coming in 2016. In a 2018 article published by The Sun it was reported that Eldgredge retired after 33 years as the University investigated claims of misconduct.

Farlow: Julie ’97. Alumna is the head coach of the softball team. Two-time second-team All-Ivy while playing at Cornell, first woman to bat over .400, Cornell athletics hall of famer. In a 2019 report by The Sun, Farlow was involved in a controversy when several of her players came forward, detailing years of mistreatment.

Ferguson: Rob. Entering his fifth season as the head coach of the Cornell women’s soccer team, was hired as the sixth head coach in program history in Feb. 2020. Prior to his appointment, Ferguson served as an assistant coach under previous head coach Dwight Hornibrook.

Friedman Center: State-of-the-art wrestling facility featuring practice and match space, weight rooms, offices, study rooms and locker rooms. Benefactor is Stephen Friedman ’59, President Bush’s former chief economic advisor.

Garner Emily. Head coach of the womens basketball team. Prior to coming to te Red she guided Trinity (Conn.) to a pair of NCAA Tournament appeareances (2023,2024) and the schools first-ever NESCAC regular season title. She replaced Danya

Hall: Melanie. Served as assistant and associate head coach, before becoming head coach of the Cornell gymnastics program in June 2021. She has coached the team toseven Ivy Classic and two ECAC team titles Harvard: Smug Ivy League school loaded with money, squash courts and grade inflation. Top-ranked rowing, swimming and hockey teams. Nicknamed Crimson — the bastard child of the color red and poop. Also, introduced the world to the Winklevoss twins. Yuck. Helen Newman: Original headquarters of Cornell women’s athletics, now North Campus’ home to pickup basketball games, an indoor swimming pool and a state-of-the-art fitness center. Also houses one of the premier bowling alleys on campus or in Ithaca for that matter.

Hoy: Former home of Cornell baseball. First man to hit one over the formerly big right field fence was Lou Gehrig, according to legendary historian and sports writer Kenny “The Haunter” Van Sickle. The second — again according to Kenny — was George H.W. Bush, in his Yale days, before he moved on to better things.

I.C.: Ithaca College, the school on the other hill. Division III kingpin in just about every sport. Nicknamed the Bombers, possibly because of an affinity for cheap Ithaca bars.

Jaques: Jon ’10. Head coach of the men’s baketball program. A former captain for the reds, Jaques then spent 12 years as an assistant coach for the Cornell team. He had been the program’s associate head coach since 2022 before being put at the helm in 2024, bringing a depth of experience in the Ivy League during his tenure.

Kerber: Chris. Former lightweight crew coach and the winningest in Cornell’s history. ECAC Lightweight Coach of the Year thrice. Led squad to national championship in 2017. Dominance.

Kennett: Todd ’91. BMA. Coach who established lightweight crew dynasty — leading the squad to three consecutive national championships before becoming the heavyweight crew’s fearless leader in 2008. Enjoys putting his team on the erg machine before sun-up.

Klinkov: Ariana. Assumed the role of Head Coach of Women’s Fencing in September 2019. Klinkov led the Red to 20 victoires in her first season as coach. The team has since kept their momentum collecting top 10 national rankings easily and winning four All-Americans.

Lynah: Lynah Rink, cradle of Cornell hockey fanaticism. 4,000-plus person capacity. Hockey analyst Barry Melrose’s favorite college hockey rink. Where legends are born and opponents’ dreams are crushed.

Lynah Faithful: Half-crazed Cornell hockey fanatics who never miss regular or postseason home games. Climb and bang on Plexiglass and throw newspapers, garbage and fish at opposing players.

In a league of his own | In 40-plus years as a journalist, Dick Schaap ’55 excelled both in print and broadcast media.

COURTESY OF CORNELL ATHLETICS

The Sun’s Glossary of Sports Terms From A to Z

Manfred: Rob ’80. This ILR alumnus is the commissioner of Major League Baseball. Often seen fielding grounders at Hoy Field. Invented an inning clock once.

Marinaro: Ed ’72. The best player in the Red football history. Appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated on Nov. 1, 1971 and was featured in a Fall 2007 issue. After a brief stint in the NFL, he followed in the footsteps of another former great — “Broadway” Joe Namath — and tried his hand at acting.

Moore: Nicki. The 15th Director of Athletics at Cornell, and the first woman to do so, Moore began her post in November 2022. Prior to joining the Red, she was Vice President and Director of Athletics at Colgate University.

Moran: Richie. Hall of Fame lacrosse coach. Took Cornell to the NCAA playoffs countless times, winning three national championships along the way. Was once dubbed by Sport magazine as “The Electric Pear.” Presented with the 2012 Spirit of Tewaaraton Award.

Newman Arena: Home of the Red basketball and volleyball teams. Located in Bartels Hall.

Newman: Wes ’09. Cornell swim and dive alumnus, now

leading the men’s squad. A Canadian, so swimmers have been practicing in maple syrup so the water feels easier at meets.

Nieuwendyk: Joe ’88. Once NHL Rookie of the Year for Calgary with 51 goals. Took faceoffs for the Dallas Stars until he was traded to the New Jersey Devils to win a third Stanley Cup in 2003. Cornell MVP in 1987 and a NHL All-Star. He has also won the Conn Smyth and Olympic gold. No. 25 retired at Lynah Rink on Feb. 26, 2010.

Noel: Andy. Cornell’s Athletic Director from 1999-2022.

Oversaw 106 Ivy League Team titles and 35 national championships. His legacy is carried on by current athletic director Nicki Moore.

Novakovic: Joanna ’03. Head coach of Equestrian since 2014. Won the Ivy league in 2018, sending riders to nationals is not uncommon.

Palmer: David. A two-time world champion, now the head coach of the squash program entering his fourth year. Once awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia by Queen Elizabeth II of Down Under. Got royalty in his DNA.

Penn: Slimy Ivy rival in Philadelphia. It has strong athletic teams and questionable recruiting ethics. Learn to hate them. They’re ruthless, bad sports and play to win at whatever cost — even if it means

throwing toast on the football field. And they call themselves Quakers.

Pepicelli: Dan. Head coach of the baseball team entering his 10th year. In his first two seasons, Coach Pep brought over his expertise from baseball powerhouse Clemson to revamp Cornell’s baseball program. Future is looking up for the Red on the diamond.

Princeton: Yawn. Nickname: Tigers. Location: New Jersey, but shockingly fields top-notch basketball and lax teams anyway. Has won more Ivy League titles than any other school with its shady recruiting.

Redman: Cornell wrestling mascot. Has been known to randomly show up at men’s basketball games. Identity unknown.

Sarachan: Dave ’76. Former head coach of the Chicago Fire, an MLS team. Led Red booters to two NCAA bids in his final seasons at the helm. Two-time All-American at Cornell.

Schaap: 1. Dick ’55. Highly acclaimed newsman who died in 2001. Veteran sports journalist, author of numerous books, sports correspondent for ABC News and host of ESPN’s Sports Reporters. Oh, and he was also once the editor in chief of The Sun. 2. Jeremy ’91, ESPN. Followed in dad’s footsteps and is currently correspondent for ESPN’s Outside the Lines. Also, former sports editor at The

Sun. Came to Ithaca prior to Cornell’s Sweet 16 matchup with Kentucky to report on the men’s basketball team. “In Ithaca, New York, Jeremy Schaap, ESPN.” So legit.

Schafer: Mike ’86. Men’s hockey coach who steered his team to ECAC tournament victories in his first two seasons, then to the squad’s first Frozen Four appearance in 23 years in his eighth. In his 10th, 200506, guided the Red to a 22-9-4 record in which the team came a goal away in triple overtime against Minnesota from making the Frozen Four. Fans greeted him then and now with the chant, “Kill, Schafer, Kill.” Retiring this past year, Schafer ‘86 is leaving behind a lasting legacy.

Schoellkopf: Stadium which hosts football and men’s and women’s lacrosse. Nice view of Ithaca and most of Central New York on clear days on the Crescent side. Artificial playing surface has been called “the Cadillac of turf systems” but has seen its last days at Schoellkopf, giving way to the new wave FieldTurf which recently debuted.

Smith: John. Men’s soccer head coach entering his ninth year. He comes to Ithaca from Palo Alto, where he was the associate head coach for Stanford — a team that won the 2015 NCAA title. Earned a win against nationally-ranked Syracuse in

Big Red Fans Show Spirit

his second season. An England native, he knows a thing or two about soccer, or “football.”

Swanstrom: Dan. Formerly the head coach at crosstown Ithaca College, compiling a 32-11 record record he joined the Red as head coach of the football team late 2023. Be on the lookout for a breakout season to come.

Tanasoiu: Silviu. Romanianborn head coach of the men’s tennis team who has led the Red for the last 14 years. Won an Ivy championship and went to second round of NCAAs in 2017.

Tatum: Mark ’91. Played baseball at Cornell, named deputy commissioner and Chief Operating Officer of the NBA in 2014. This completes the trifecta of Cornellians leading pro sports. NBA’s most powerful Tatum.

Vande Berg: Trudy. Entering 10th year as head coach of the volleyball team. During her second year, led her squad to the program’s most wins since 2006 and highest conference finish since 2008.

Yale: Mediocre Ivy misfits. Not really good at any sport, but what else can you expect from a school in New Haven? Also called the Bulldogs and the Elis. By the way, what’s an Eli?

Zordani: Katie. The current head coach of the women’s tennis team, Zordani began her role in 2022 after an extensive playing career.

YOU ARE A FIRS T-YEAR

AND YOU’RE AFRAID. VERY AFRAID. IT’S THAT LITTLE-FISH-IN-A-BIG-POND THING THAT’S GOT YOU WETTING YOUR LEVI’S, GOT YOU STAYING UP NIGHTS SHIVERING IN THE DARK. YOU NEEDED A COLLEGE EDUCATION LIKE YOU NEEDED A BULLET IN THE HEAD, BUT MOMMY SAID YOU HAD TO ATTEND AND THERE’S NO ARGUING WITH MOMMY, SO YOU SHUT UP AND APPLIED, AND HERE YOU ARE. THE DAMAGE IS DONE. NOW WHAT? NOW YOU FEAR CORNELL, ITS BIG CAMPUS OF BIG BUILDINGS AND BIG PEOPLE AND BIG IDEAS, AND YOU WONDER HOW YOU’LL DEAL. HOW WILL YOU KNOW WHO’S IN CHARGE, AND HOW WILL YOU KNOW IF THEY’RE PLAYING IT FAIR? AND HOW CAN YOU SPEAK OUT IF THEY AREN’T? WHAT ARE ALL THESE PEOPLE FIGHTING ABOUT, AND WHICH SIDE SHOULD YOU JOIN? OR IS IT JUST NOT WORTH FIGHTING? IS IT ALL HOT AIR? WHAT DO THE OTHERS THINK? WHAT’S THAT GUY’S DEAL? WHAT’S THAT PUMPKIN DOING THERE? THIS ROAD IS CLOSED AGAIN? HOW MUCH ARE THEY SPENDING ON THIS BUILDING, AND WHY DOES IT LOOK LIKE A PRISON? TUITION IS RISING HOW MUCH? WHO’S MAKING CORNELL APPAREL? WHICH COACH WAS FIRED? HIRED? WHAT’S THIS ABOUT A BUILDING TAKEOVER FOUR DECADES AGO? THAT GUY GOT ARRESTED AGAIN? WHO’S SPEAKING ON CAMPUS, AND WHERE CAN I GET TICKETS? HOW CAN I DONATE MY EGGS? HE SOLD HIS IDEA TO STOUFFER’S? HOW MANY CRUSHING DEFEATS CAN THIS TEAM BEAR? HOW DO I BECOME A BIG FISH? WHAT’S THE STORY?

E A D

FREE T HE SUN. ON CA MP US.