Columns
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CHANCELLOR | Everyone is Religious
Every dog has its day, just as every religion has its rise. However, in modern times, especially in places like the university, we claim this is no longer true. We claim that we have evolved past the primitive superstitions of millennia past. When we look up at the sky, we no longer see the stars as gods; we see nuclear fusion. As 19th-century German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche said, “God is dead” and “we have killed him.” Modernity claims to have no religion. Is this true? Is this even possible? The answer to both questions is no. Everyone has a god, whether money or themselves, because everyone believes in something. Religion…
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FARAJ | Leveling the Play Field for All: Athletics Must Protect All Sports’ Team Budgets
The landscape of college athletics is shifting. Since the NCAA’s landmark policy change in 2021 allowing student-athletes to profit from their name, image and likeness — commonly referred to as NIL — deals, college sports have become increasingly commercialized, blurring the line between amateurism and professional sports. With record-breaking viewership, multimillion dollar sponsorships and a surge of public interest in athletes like Caitlin Clark and Paige Beukers — and for women’s sports overall — it felt like equity was finally within reach. But now the ground is shifting again. The Trump administration has intervened by rescinding Title IX-based federal guidance that had ensured NIL compensation was distributed equitably across men’s and…
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CARUSO | The World Just Lost a Champion. Cornell Needs Its Own.
At 1:35 a.m. on Easter Monday, his holiness Pope Francis passed away after briefly recovering from pneumonia. Despite doctor orders to rest and step away from work, he refused, conducting the papacy from his wheelchair and bed. The passing of Pope Francis on Easter Monday rattled the world. Though tragic, many believe that the timing of his death was at least symbolic, if not a direct act of God. Regardless, many Catholics like myself felt a vacuum left by his large presence due to his 13-year tenure. Despite the small size of the Vatican, its role in global affairs has been that of a convener and reliable neutral. While anyone…
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BURZLAFF | Let the Words Come First: On Final Papers and the Courage to Begin
On my daily stroll, I could feel the tension in the air — in libraries, cafés, carrels. Tabs open, cursor blinking, pressure mounting. The quiet weight of something coming due. Final papers have a way of sneaking up on us — not just in time, but emotionally. Even when we’ve had weeks to prepare, the actual moment of sitting down to write can feel like staring into a mirror we didn’t ask for. I recall the voices in my own head: You don’t sound smart (or worse, academic) enough. You don’t know what you’re saying. And somehow, before we’ve even typed the first sentence, we’re already exhausted. But what if…
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WEIRENS | Dressed to Distress: White Dress Woes
111 dresses tried. Three states. Hours and hours spent standing in front of cracked mirrors and dirty white walls, bending and zipping, spinning and twirling. Stomach grumbling, head pounding, legs aching. That’s how one of my friends spent three entire days of her spring break – endlessly shopping for the right graduation dress. This friend, although a more extreme example, is fairly representative of the struggle many graduating women experience finding their dress. This is for many reasons: White, the traditional (to a duress-like extent) color of a graduation dress, is a difficult color to look good in, the social pressure of shopping for such a large event is stressful,…
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ELMORE | The Rise of Hypocrisy: Kehlani versus Coulter
Nearly two weeks after Cornell announced that Kehlani would headline this year’s Slope Day, students woke up to an email from President Kotlikoff: Her invitation to perform had been rescinded, citing antisemitism. Although many students are now concerned with how — or even if — a new Slope Day headliner will be selected in the next three weeks, Kotlikoff’s decision to walk back on Kehlani’s performance signals a much deeper and troubling concern — rearing its head far longer than Kehlani has been part of the discussion: We are watching the dissolve of sincerity in campus leadership, and Kotlikoff is at the helm. In his 10 a.m. email, Kotlikoff expressed…
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STITH | Institutional Neutrality (Unless It’s Palestine)
With only two weeks until Slope Day — Cornell’s biggest event of the year — Kotlikoff rescinded Kehlani’s invitation as the headliner. Kotlikoff justifies this with claims Kehlani has “espoused antisemitic, anti-Israel sentiments in performances, videos, and on social media.” This stands completely contradictory to Cornell’s supposed “institutional neutrality” and commitment to “debate and dissent,” which Kotlikoff has cited ceaselessly all year. Zionism, a political ideology founded by thinkers like Theodore Herzl, seeks the establishment of a Jewish state in present-day Israel and the Occupied Palestinian territories. Zionism became popularized against the background of historic persecution of Jewish people in Europe and the horrors of the Holocaust. While initially understandable…
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SEIELSTAD | The Danger of “Live and Let Live”
“Live and let live” sounds like an easy, peaceful answer to a complicated world. At a place like Cornell – where students come from every background, belief system and worldview – it can feel like the most respectful path forward: You do you, I’ll do me. Don’t interfere. Don’t offend. Stay in your lane. But behind that philosophy lies a growing culture of indifference. When carried to its extreme, this kind of tolerance morphs into apathy – one that gives space for misinformation to go unchallenged, and for harmful ideas to fester quietly. It creates a climate where people stop asking questions, stop pushing back and stop caring about what…
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POGGI | Ithaca Is Monopolized
What comes to mind when you think of Ithaca? Is it the famed Moosewood restaurant, cascading gorges or Cornell University overlooking Cayuga Lake? Ithaca’s identity seems rooted in its alternative, hippie culture — hikers at every turn, farmers markets in full swing, arts and crafts fairs and community events like Porchfest drawing crowds. But that image no longer tells the full story. The reality of Ithaca today is an increasingly monopolized city, shaped largely by Cornell University and its surrounding neighborhood, Collegetown. The most obvious monopolies in Ithaca are the landlords. Property giants like Lambrou, O’Connor and PJ dominate the apartment and housing markets, owning a huge portion of properties…
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BADAWI | Watch the Throne
It is written that, at the festival of Lupercalia, the consul Mark Antony offered Julius Caesar a laurel-wreathed diadem. The gesture was met with slow, scattered applause. But when Caesar brushed the crown aside, the crowd erupted in cheers. Antony brought it forward again, and when Caesar refused it once more, the forum roared with greater acclamation. The irony is that, even as Caesar refused the crown, he did so from a golden throne, dressed in a triumphal robe. Staged or not, the event was intrinsically performative; at the time, Caesar was a king in all but name. Just days earlier, he had proclaimed himself dictator perpetuo —dictator for life…