On Wednesday morning, the entire editorial staff of the Daily Emerald — the student-produced newspaper at the University of Oregon — went on strike in protest of the attempts of its board of directors to install a publisher with unprecedented control over the newsroom.



Today, college newspapers across the United States and Canada stand in solidarity with the editorial staff of the Daily Emerald in support of the independent collegiate press and student-controlled editorial content. We are deeply dismayed by the short-sighted actions of the Emerald’s board of directors and strongly support the strike until the staff’s demands are met.

Stocks crashing! Endowments disappearing! Budgets trimming! The start of this semester has seen incredibly trying times as establishments across the country fall to shambles. In light of the times, the University plans to cut budgets across the board. Our crack team of Berrypatch reporters have also discovered that in order to pick up some of the fiscal slack, the University Board of Trustee’s voted to incur its own budget cuts for its upcoming Trustee Weekend. The following provisions are to take place ...

Pack ’em like Sardines

The Board of Trustees arrived in Ithaca last night for what will be a series of long and daunting days marked by uncertainty. No one knows when world markets will stabilize or when the job outlook will become sustainable. As the trustees grapple with all of this, we cannot offer any comprehensive solutions. What we can do, however, is posit some advice.

Serving as Cornell’s governing board, the trustees have two overarching responsibilities. First, it is in their power to determine the University’s financial policies, while making decisions pertaining to construction, financial aid and academics. But second, the Board of Trustees must also keep in mind the moral and social responsibilities as managers of a multi-billion dollar investment portfolio.

We want to hear you yell and scream. We’d like it if you clapped and cheered. You’ve shown us you have what it takes, and we’re itching for more.

Throughout the past few weeks, we have received hoards of letters and guest columns expressing a plethora of critical and eclectic viewpoints. Many of those opinions have appeared in the pages of this newspaper because, after all, it is our goal to foster a healthy exchange of ideas between The Sun and its readers.

These viewpoints have ranged from questioning our methods of reporting to condemning our coverage, and to highlighting issues that may have been overlooked. Your skepticism, your concerns, your angst and sometimes even your praise have generated a wealth of new content and thus we are inspired.

Today, Cornell becomes the last of the Ancient Eight to allow its student body to directly elect its president and vice president of the governing Student Assembly. Was the policy revision necessary? Sure. But it came far too late.

The delay in passing this resolve highlights what we see as the most fundamental of problems with the S.A. — a detrimental lack of student engagement. For anyone who has bore witness to an S.A. meeting, it is clear as glass who is running the show. But it is not always evident what they do or who they serve. Student attendance at meetings is scarce, and the voice of the student body is muffled by an institutionalized infrastructure reluctant to change.

It’s a special day for us down here at The Sun as we bring you the inaugural issue under the direction of the paper’s 127th editorial board. As our predecessors pass the torch, the task is a daunting one. But we have high hopes for the rebirth of the nation’s oldest continuously independent college daily — and we’re more than ready to feed the flame.

The Sun is a constant work in progress. With each spring comes a new board of leaders and innovators who sacrifice their social lives, sleep and sanity for the good of this newspaper. And as we make ourselves at home at 139 W. State St., we will all work to both preserve what makes The Sun the institution that it is, as well as seek out how to keep The Sun shining in what are dark and dismal times.

This is it. We’ve done all we can do. Last night, The Sun’s 126th editorial board officially put its last paper to bed. There was drinking (of the non-alcoholic variety). There was dancing (it was embarrassing). There was laughing, and there was crying. Most of all, there was a sense that, for at least some of us, The Sun will now become something we did at Cornell, no longer the overarching focus of our college careers.

Two weeks ago, 1,300 black flags graced the Arts Quad to commemorate the recent deaths in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, standing alongside several dozen signs featuring statements about the recent deaths. This week, in response, the Cornell Israel Public Affairs Committee and Cornell Hillel sponsored a separate display featuring signs regarding Israel’s right to defend itself and Hamas’ affiliations with terrorism.

Florence Babb, an endowed professor at the University of Florida, is getting hit hard by the $69 million that was slashed from the university’s budget last year. Ignoring her contractual agreement issued when she was appointed in 2004, the university asked Babb to up her commitment to the school, teaching three courses per year as opposed to the two to which she had initially agreed, according to InsideHigherEd.com.

A statewide union now stands behind Babb in her fight against the university, which alleges that a collective bargaining agreement with the faculty union permits adjusting course loads despite prior appointment arrangements. Under the contract, UF can determine the “mix” of a faculty member’s responsibilities, which encompass teaching research and service.

Yesterday, at 5 a.m., a group of concerned architecture students gathered to place signs both on and inside Sibley. The banners, which read “No More Incest,” “New Search” and “Mass Retire, Mass Rehire” indicated the students’ concerns over recent hiring (and lack thereof) within the college.

The main goal of the students involved was to promote dialogue regarding their concerns with hiring and to increase communication between administration and students about the issues.

In response, the architecture administration ordered that the signs be taken down around 8:30 a.m., about the time that they arrive to work and that students begin to arrive on campus.