“This will be the only Africana Ph.D. program in the state of New York,” the center's director said.

President David Skorton delivered his State of the University address Friday, recounting the year's ups and downs and challenging the Cornell community to continue to strive to move the University forward.

Members of the Ithaca College community are challenging a new policy that forces student media groups to request interviews for administrators through the college’s office of media relations, effectively prohibiting them from contacting the individuals directly.

After a student publication at Amherst College published a former student’s account of sexual assault on campus, Cornell students reacted with shock at the lack of action taken by the Amherst administration in response to the reported sexual assault.

Disagreeing with a study that asserted that Cornell, along with other top institutions, is on a “financially unsustainable path,” a University administrator said that Cornell is a stronger institution now than it was before the recession four years ago.

Although some students criticized the University for what they saw as its inadequate response, Susan Murphy ’73 Ph.D. ’94, vice president of student and academic services, also stressed the importance of dialogue, saying it would be helpful to know which students administrators should be responding to.

In a memorial service at Sage Chapel Saturday, friends and administrators honored the life and achievements of former University President Dale Corson, who died on March 31 at the age of 97.

Over the summer Cornell announced an unfortunate revision to its financial aid policy. The revision was heralded under the headline of a University press release entitled, “Cornell reaffirms its commitment to need-blind admissions and robust need-based aid.” The announcement outlined Cornell’s decision to eliminate the no-loan guarantee for students whose family income falls between $60,000 to $75,000 while increasing the loan burden for those students with family incomes from $75,000 to $120,000. Readers of Cornell’s press release might have been hard pressed to understand the true impact of these changes, as it was buried deep beneath paragraphs emphasizing Cornell’s successes in improving its financial aid offerings. 

The incidents of hate that have occurred in our community, both during finals period and during Orientation Week, are very troubling. First, an individual not affiliated with Cornell threw bottles at black students during finals week, yelling racial slurs. Second, this weekend, an individual allegedly verbally and physically assaulted a group of students, yelling slurs against members of the gay and minority community. It is little consolation to know that Cornell students were not the ones who were accused of these heartless actions. This can, and must, stop.

When buzz words mean a whole lot of noise.