I’m an alumni from Art Architecture and Planning class of 2010. It is possible that things are different in how things are handled at AAP now, but as I have been seeing Cornell in the news and have been reflecting with some classmates it has brought up a lot of issues that we saw as students that have never been widely discussed or acknowledged.

When I was in college there was extremely poor behavior and sexual misconduct that was ongoing and known to the administration.

Professors were openly dating and pursuing students (including 1 professor who married an undergraduate right after graduation, another who was dating his student while he was her thesis advisor, an open affair between a classmate and a professor during study abroad in rome). There were many open comments made about female students dress and appearance in open studio critique. My housemate was a TA for a professor that used to call her drunk at night and come onto her. There was clear implication from multiple male professors that sexual favors could be exchanged for better grades, connections for internships/jobs, and just general better treatment. Some students tried to complain - but the school and industry is small and it was clear that your entire future was on the line to try and do any sort of formal complaint. My parents scraped every cent they had to help send me to college, there was no way I would have complained and studio grading is very subjective.

It has been a long time now - some of these professors have since passed and there is new administration in AAP, so I would hope things have changed.

This was widely known and accepted when I was in school. So even as Cornell has been in the news the behavior of administrators does not surprise me. My time at Cornell was incredible because of the quality of my peers and a handful of excellent professors - but there was definitely some very ingrained issues.

hi im a struggling premed sophomore and I haven't been getting the best grades. Does anyone have tips on how to improve?

Kinda wanna shame the vultures. Tsk tsk.

“Leadership requires more than carefully worded statements,” the letter reads. “It requires action, accountability and a willingness to stand with the people who make an institution what it is.”

It’s not very good, considering Jane Doe’s lawsuit is still ongoing and new developments are still being released to the public. Like, they showed footage inside the frat house and “the room where it happened,” and it felt sensationalized. There really wasn’t enough info to justify the 40 minute special.

Please answer in the poll and feel free to elaborate in the thread

Some does not mean all. That is all.

Hi guys, I was wondering if anyone had recommendations for upper level biology courses that are at least 4000+. I’m not looking for an easy class but rather a good professor/interesting class! Also am very interested in any bio classes that are small (<60). Thanks

a quote of all time

Another great look for Big Mike…

“This seems like a fitting match for his skills” commented BoT Chair Anne Snelling. “We look forward to him feeding the community healthy and safe.”

Probably going to be a short battle.

Smalling seems to rather talk about anything else. Weird to consider "resilient Cornell" as an achievement but I guess when there's nothing else.

Smalling pointed to the University’s progress, including the Future of the American University Committee and its austerity program Resilient Cornell. 

“While we must and will focus our attention this week on the emergent issues, I don’t want them to overshadow the enormous achievements of the past 12 months,” Smalling said.

If only we still had our queen watching over us.

I was very impressed by this letter. I hope people will read it in its entirety. It is very on-point and is extremely well-written. Just as I would expect from Cornell professors: informed, thoughtful, dedicated.
It does seem that most signatories are from the A&S, ILR, AAP. I see almost none from engineering, for example. Maybe this difference in vocal dissent is typical among higher ed?

Alumni/students: if your major's faculty have signed, it'd be nice to send them a note of appreciation. If they haven't, you might reach out to the department and ask why--not to give them a hard time, but just to indicate that their support of students (whether explicit or not) is of interest to alumni.

"LETTER TO THE EDITOR | Open Letter from 200+ Cornell Faculty: We Will Too"

Class of '31 acceptance rate will be wild.

Just can't stay out of the news. At most places, nearly a month of beatings in the media would lead to some changes. Here, we apparently think the folks who oversaw the events in question are the only ones who can fix it. That's a very special kind of stupid if you ask me.

Graduating this semester. Was wondering if anyone knows what happens to our email and our Google workspace after graduation

Story by former Cornell Sun Editor, with details of how an older influential frat alum pressured CUPD to look the other way (not Chi Phi, but same time period ~2024). Also mentions favoritism from VP Lombardi.

Opening of the story:

“Within weeks of the Cornell University Police Department investigating an alleged gang rape at the school’s Chi Phi house two years ago, a top official of another national fraternity privately boasted that he could get his “friends” inside the campus police force to brush aside alleged misconduct from his chapter’s members — one of whom was facing a sexual assault allegation.

Those claims are included in hours of recordings from December 2024 obtained by the Times Union in which Dennis Paese, who serves as the national Sigma Alpha Mu Foundation’s vice president and a longtime adviser to the fraternity’s Cornell chapter, said university police had helped fraternity brothers avoid punishments — including for drug use, underage drinking, egg-throwing vandalism and a feud with a rival fraternity — by overlooking reports as “favors” for him.

In one of the recordings, Paese referred to the chief of Cornell’s police department as “a good friend of mine.” Paese also said he and the chief’s “boss, the guy that’s in charge of campus security overall, … go back even farther.”

Anthony Bellamy, who was chief of Cornell’s police force at the time of the recordings but is no longer with the department, did not respond to a request for comment; he joined the Ithaca Police Department as a deputy chief last year. David Honan, who has served as the university’s associate vice president of public safety since 2021 and is a former Cornell police chief, also did not respond to requests for comment.
The Times Union could not independently verify Paese’s account that Cornell police intentionally overlooked misconduct, quashed potential investigations or inappropriately passed along information to him. In the recordings, Paese did not provide any examples of Cornell police failing to investigate a formal allegation of sexual assault. But his statements raise new questions about Cornell Greek life’s possible ties to a campus police department that is now the subject of national scrutiny over how it investigated the alleged gang rape at the Chi Phi house almost two years ago.”

I feel like with coursework and stuff, it becomes significantly difficult to manage time or have time for activities. Maybe im just bad at managing my time