Top Stories
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SUNBURSTS | Flinging Into Spring
From Last Lecture to lacrosse records, campus has been abuzz in the last few weeks until Summer recess. SLOPE STUDIES | Students study, nap and relax on Libe Slope ahead of a long week of prelims and finals preparation. (Sophia Romanov Imber/Sun Staff Photographer) SENIOR SEASON | With spring finally in the air, graduating seniors took time to get grad photos in their caps and gowns, snapping a few selfies along the way. (Aerien Huang/Sun Staff Photographer) FIRST (LAST) LECTURE | Outgoing men’s hockey coach Mike Schafer ’86 gave his “Last Lecture” to Cornellians on Wednesday evening. (Stephan Menasche/Sun Assistant Photography Editor) CAPACITY | Schafer’s highly anticipated lecture filled a…
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‘The Patients Are the Ones that Suffer the Most’: Researchers Left in Limbo After Cornell Funding Freeze, Stop-Work Orders
A quantum materials professor. A space weapons researcher. A breast cancer oncologist. In the wake of at least 90 stop-work orders sent to Cornell University by the federal government just in April, researchers across Cornell’s campuses have seen their projects halted and are left grappling for answers. An April 21 statement from Cornell administration noted the federal stop-work orders began in February of this year, impacting “vital research” across its main Ithaca campus, Cornell Tech and Weill Cornell Medicine. Cornell Media Relations confirmed that stop-work orders on more than 80 research grants were from the Department of Defense and the Department of Agriculture. The stop-work orders impacted research focused on…
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No.1 Men’s Lacrosse Beats Dartmouth on Senior Day, Kirst Sets NCAA Record
Men’s lacrosse entered its clash against Dartmouth with a lot on the line. Cornell needed to defend its senior day ceremony, protect its No.1 rank in the media polls and launch senior attackman CJ Kirst into the record books as the player with the highest career goals in NCAA history. In the end, Cornell (12-1, 6-0 Ivy) defended its home field from the Big Green (8-5, 2-4 Ivy) and won 10-8. On the first possession of the game, Kirst cut in front of the goal and got the ball from fellow senior and long-time attack partner Michael Long. Kirst shot and scored his 225th career goal, leaving him as the…
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‘We Can Do Something About It’: Former Rep. Joe Kennedy III Talks Trump Administration, Federal Funding Freeze
Amid Cornell’s $1 billion federal funding freeze and nationwide tensions between universities and the Trump administration, The Sun sat down with former Rep. Joe Kennedy III to talk about the different challenges the United States is facing during a period of accelerated government change. Kennedy, who is the grandson of former Attorney General and New York Senator Robert Kennedy, served in the House of Representatives from 2013 to 2021 for Massachusetts’s 4th Congressional District. During his time in Congress, Kennedy was selected to deliver the democratic response to President Donald Trump’s 2018 State of the Union Address, an honor only awarded to one member of the Democratic Caucus. Kennedy ran…
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What Was Said at Kotlikoff’s ‘Conversation With Students’ that Preceded the Kehlani Announcement
The day before President Michael Kotlikoff rescinded Slope Day headliner Kehlani’s invite to perform, top administrators promoted an event to several pro-Israel and historically Jewish Greek Life organizations to meet with concerned students. At the meeting, administrators discussed potential options for the concert, protocols for political activity at Slope Day and student reactions to the controversial headliner. R&B singer Kehlani was set to perform at Slope Day, the annual campus-sponsored concert on Libe Slope following the last day of classes. On Wednesday morning, Kotlikoff announced that he rescinded the artist’s invite in an email to the campus community. When Kehlani was first named as headliner, dissatisfaction surfaced as students and…
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Zora deRham ’27 Secures Second Term as Student Assembly President, Christian Flournoy ’27 Elected Executive Vice President
Zora deRham ’27 will continue to serve as Student Assembly president and Christian Flournoy ’27 will fill the role of executive vice president, according to the Assembly election results for the 2025-2026 school year, announced at 3 p.m. on Wednesday. deRham won the majority vote in a presidential race against three other candidates. Ameera Aftab ’26 was the runner up for president against Eddy Pang ’28 and Flournoy — who ran for president and executive vice president and is currently on the student-elected trustee ballot. Flournoy also had three competitors for executive vice president, including runner-up Ezra Galperin ’27, Saad Razzak ’26 and David Suarez ’27. The presidential and EVP…
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BREAKING: Kotlikoff Rescinds Kehlani Invite, Citing Antisemitism and ‘Hateful Views’
After revealing to a group of about 70 concerned students at a town-hall style meeting on Tuesday afternoon that a decision regarding Slope Day would be made “within 24 hours,” President Michael Kotlikoff announced that Kehlani’s invitation to perform was rescinded in an email to the student body on Wednesday morning. In the email, Kotlikoff wrote that it was not the intention for Kehlani’s slope day performance to have “injected division and discord into Slope Day.” “For that reason, I am rescinding Kehlani’s invitation and expect a new lineup for a great 2025 Slope Day to be announced shortly,” Kotlikoff wrote. This decision comes amid a funding freeze of over…
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Cornell Law Professor Calls University Funding Freeze ‘Illegal,’ Highlighting Due Process Violations
Legal concerns over the freezing of over $1 billion in federal research funding at Cornell have escalated, with Prof. Michael Dorf, law, calling the actions “illegal” for bypassing statutory due process protections in the ongoing civil rights investigation. Following the funding freeze, a Trump Administration official confirmed to CNN that the pause was undertaken in connection with “several ongoing, credible, and concerning Title VI investigations.” Currently, there are at least two Title VI investigations into Cornell. In November 2023, the U.S Department of Education announced that Cornell was being investigated for potential violations of Title VI, related to reports of antisemitic or anti muslim harassment. This came after Cornell received…
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‘Together for Tomorrow’: Earth Day Festival Returns to Ithaca
The rain did not stop Ithaca community members from exploring Ithaca’s second annual Earth Day Festival, held Saturday afternoon on the Ithaca Commons. Hosted by Cornell Cooperative Extension alongside the City of Ithaca, this year’s festival centered around the theme “Together for Tomorrow” — promoting actionable climate change solutions, showcasing local businesses taking steps to reduce carbon emissions and hosting entertaining programming for families — including performances, facepaint and other activities for kids. Over 25 organizations were present at the event, ranging from Tompkins County government advisory boards, transit groups and local food vendors. Many Cornell students tabled at the event — including Nicole Collins ’25, an intern for Sustainable…
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Messages of Unity, Resistance Bring Together Community at National Day of Action Protest
Over 500 people gathered in Dewitt Park downtown Saturday for a protest against the Trump administration. The event was part of a National Day of Action organized across the country by the grassroots 50501 movement, and sought to draw support from a broad array of causes. It featured speeches from professors and political figures to a crowd assembled in the park, many of whom held signs criticizing Elon Musk or expressing solidarity with federal workers. A poster for the Ithaca event advertised support for “social security, medicare and medicaid, Ukraine, Palestine, immigration rights, LGBTQ rights, voting rights, and everything this administration is destroying.” The rally included speeches by its organizer,…