In his goodbye column Peter Finocchiaro '10 reflects on how Cornell has changed him, and chooses which six words he'd use to define his college experience.

With two columns to go, a burned-out columnist gives us some random musings about college life, and makes a few bold predictions for the future.

Just before his ascension to the head of the Catholic world in 2005, Pope Benedict XVI — then Joseph Ratzinger, the dean of the College of Cardinals — railed against moral relativism in modern society. He has returned to this rebuke often, blaming “the dictatorship of relativism” for the prevalence of all kinds of sins that the Catholic Church’s hard-line conservative base perceives.

Any familiarity with Cornell’s aspiring student leaders quickly yields the impression that some of them are, in fact, crazy a-holes. Not all of them, mind you; just enough to lend the Student Assembly the air of an irrationally batty farce. It’s hard to think of another campus group with as much responsibility, yet as little clout in the court of public opinion.

Hyperbole (hī-pûr'bə-lē)

— American Heritage Dictionary [modified]

Those of you who flipped through The Sun’s opinion section last week may be under the impression that Cornell suffers from a widespread case of prejudice. Last Tuesday, columnist Andrew Daines ’10 argued that a persistent anti-religious bias permeates our ivory tower. “Faith,” he wrote, “[and] specifically the faith of others, seems to be a source of mistrust on campus.” He continues, “It is an unfortunate and very real feature of our campus life that faith-based political beliefs are often rejected out of hand.”

As the health care debate nears its climax, it’s only natural to look ahead to the next big political showdown in D.C. — energy reform. It’s an issue with far reaching environmental implications, and one that contemporary society seems hard-pressed to tackle head-on.

Whatever legislation emerges from the Senate, it’s a good bet it will be watered down and ineffectual, owing to the ubiquity of the energy lobby in our nation’s capital. Which begs the question: What can realistically be done to combat the growing carbon specter? Distinguished University of Chicago economist Steven Levitt wondered as much himself, and set out to get some answers.

Pop quiz: What do Glenn Beck and Bill Maher have in common? If you answered with, “They’re both blowhards” ... well, sure. But for the purposes of the present conversation, let’s take a look at these two from another angle. What other similarities might they bear? Well, for starters, they both host news-centered cable television programs. More to the point, they’re both famous for their “colorful” approaches to political commentary. And, most recently, they’ve both urged Americans to reject the new swine flu vaccine.

If you asked someone in the business of business, they would tell you that the business of books is in trouble. Readership is down, profits are way down and Internet retailers are massively screwing with traditional distribution models. The good news is that help is on the way. The bad news is that the savior of literature is Dan Brown.

If you fancy yourself cultivated, there’s a fair chance this suggestion has you all hot and bothered — and not in that good way, like when you read Danielle Steel. But calm down, I’m not suggesting that the guy should win the Pulitzer. Far from it. I fully recognize that Dan Brown sucks.