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In His ‘Last Lecture,’ Schafer Reflects on 30 Years of Coaching, What Makes a Legacy
“People always worry about things you can’t control. Always,” said outgoing men’s hockey head coach Mike Schafer ’86. “And if you find that wisdom to know the difference between what you can control and what you can’t, you’ll live a happier life.” For 30 years, Schafer’s main obligations on the Hill were to lace up his skates, blow a whistle and coach hockey. For most of his life, hockey has been at the forefront. Just a few weeks ago, Schafer coached his final hockey game at Cornell and will soon retire after a decorated career. “When I talk to our players and I talk to our alumni, talk to fundraisers,…
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TEST SPINS | Bryan Adams: ‘Reckless’
It’s impossible for me to put together a summer playlist that does not include Bryan Adams’ “Summer of ’69.” It’s simply impossible. As I’ve been curating my playlist for summer 2025, I’ve found myself returning to the songs of summers past — “Summer of ’69” chief among them, along with Empire of the Sun’s “Walking On A Dream,” Joy Oladokun’s “Out on the Weekend” and Alabama Shakes’ “I Found You.” These songs are wildly different, from sound all the way to mood, but the one thing they have in common is that they fill me with that sense of summer. Shoving the thought of my looming finals aside for a…
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Local Author Gordon Cooper’s The Lucky Six in Review
Ithaca and its surroundings are rife with history and stories waiting to be told. From resplendent gorges to Indigenous and military pasts, the region’s lore pulses just beneath the surface, ready to reveal secrets to those who know where to look. The Lucky Six, a new novel by local author Gordon Cooper, is a goldmine in regional historical fiction. Set in 1874 in nearby Watkins Glen, previously known as Watkins, The Lucky Six teaches an interesting piece of local history while weaving in an engaging, multi-faceted mystery. I was pleasantly surprised by the depth and thought that went into plotting and writing this story. As a writer myself, I understand…
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Celebrating Poetry Month with Cornell’s Creative Communities
April is recognized as National Poetry Month, a time dedicated to celebrating poetry and its impact on culture, communication and communities. At Cornell, this month is marked by a wide range of events focused on poetry and creative writing, all with the shared goal of sparking creativity. This article will highlight the campus groups and activities that contribute to the growth of poetry and support student expression throughout the month. Marginalia: The Cornell Undergraduate Poetry Review, founded in 2015, is an undergraduate run poetry magazine and society. Created to foster a poetic community among students from all majors and colleges at Cornell, Marginalia publishes student poetry and hosts workshops and…
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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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LETTER TO THE EDITOR | Contractual Constraints and Campus Speech: A Case Study At Cornell
Editor’s Note: This letter was submitted prior to President Kotlikoff’s withdrawal of Kehlani’s invitation to headline Slope Day. On March 31, President Kotlikoff wrote a New York Times op-ed in support of free speech: “When student groups invite controversial speakers to campus, we don’t intervene and we don’t weigh in, as long we are confident the events can be held safely.” This op-ed set a new tone for a school currently ranked No. 215 and “below average” on the FIRE 2025 college free speech rankings. Then on April 18, in reference to Slope Day artist Kehlani, the Cornell Daily Sun reported a statement from Kotlikoff: “We altered that contract to…
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LETTER TO THE EDITOR | An Open Letter to Cornellians for Israel: A Plea for Moral Consistency
Having learned from President Michael Kotlikoff’s email about the decision to cancel Kehlani — whom I hadn’t heard of before April 23 — as this year’s Slope Day headliner, I wanted to better understand the opposition to her invitation. The Cornell Daily Sun linked to the petition that Cornellians for Israel had circulated. According to The Sun, the petition claimed that Kehlani’s public calls for “intifada” and to “dismantle Israel” made “Jewish students feel unsafe.” But the link only thanks the signatories to the petition for their part in the group’s success in disinviting Kehlani — the petition’s content has vanished. I have no personal stake in Slope Day or…
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LETTER TO THE EDITOR | Cornell Chose Comfort Over Courage on Slope Day
Back in 2016, as vice president of the Cornell Republicans, I sat across a long table from university police, mapping security and exit routes so former Senator Rick Santorum could take questions in Statler Auditorium. Plenty of students viscerally opposed him; many demanded we cancel the event outright. We insisted that he speak, believing then, as I do now, that exposure to challenging viewpoints is essential to education. The show went on. Cornell has now made a different choice in scratching Kehlani from the Slope Day lineup. The administration chose perceived comfort over the principle of free expression. Yes, a celebratory concert is different from a political Q&A, but the…
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GUEST ROOM | The Sound of Silence: On Music, Politics and Belonging at Cornell
In his Wednesday morning email announcing his cancellation of Kehlani’s Slope Day performance, University President Michael Kotlikoff reminded us that “Cornell is an institution… where every person should feel included.” Kotlikoff’s words echo familiar campus slogans, ranging from large-scale projects like “Belonging at Cornell” to the untiring rehearsal of the founder’s motto, “any person, any study.” This week, we are once again reminded that at Cornell, difference is to be seen and not heard; to be visually included in the university’s strategic self-image but quickly silenced when it challenges the status quo. Before cancelling Kehlani’s performance altogether, Kotlikoff bragged about modifying her contract so as to ensure an event “without…
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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…