In order to make sure this year's drop in the matriculation rate of black students doesn't become a trend, the University will have to stabilize the existing minority student experience on campus.

Even with the motto “any person, any study”, Cornell has historically ranked as the least diverse university among the Ivies. In 2007, there was a 37.6% enrollment of minorities with 5.1% blacks, 0.5% American Indian or Alaskan Native, 16.5% Asian or Pacific Islander and 5.5% Hispanic.

To the Editor:

Re: “A Long Way Come, A Long Way to Go: Race Remains an Issue at Cornell 40 Years Later,” News, April 16.

In her thought-provoking article on diversity issues at Cornell, the author quotes me as saying that a focus on “numbers” (of minority faculty — or minority staff and students, for that matter) is not enough, and that in fact it can be misleading. I went on to add a practical proposal that the author was probably not able to include in her story.

To the Editor:

Re: “A Long Way Come, A Long Way to Go: Race Remains an Issue at Cornell 40 Years Later,” News, April 16.

In this article, the author commented: “... 40 years later, the more things change the more they stay the same.”

Really? What about all those Cornell students and faculty members of Asian descent, minorities all, about whom the author, somehow, failed to report? Are they just “chopped livah”?

An uncharacteristic silence swept over Ho Plaza at 12:20 p.m. yesterday as approximately 15 students dressed in all black marched to a podium in front of Willard Straight Hall carrying a casket and a sign that said “RIP Safe Spaces at Cornell.” As a “coalition of concerned students,” these students marched through the Arts Quad to Ho Plaza in a mock funeral procession for Ujamaa, the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Resource Center, the Asian and Asian American Center, Akwe:kon and the Latino Living Center. The procession stopped in Ho Plaza for students to read eulogies for the program houses and resource centers, where it was joined by more students, faculty, staff and onlookers, before processing to Day Hall.

Tai Minfei started a new life 11 years ago when she left Taiwan to marry her husband in the First Ithaca Chinese Christian Church. This Sunday, she may get a second chance at life at the very same church, which is hosting what could be a life-saving bone marrow drive for her.

Tai, who just celebrated her 40th birthday last weekend and is the mother of six-year-old twin girls, is in dire need of a bone marrow transplant. Last March, she was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia, a type of cancer in which healthy blood cells are replaced by abnormal cells grown from the bone marrow.

As Cornellians celebrate this Black History Month, we must take a moment to reflect upon how far this country has come. The Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s secured many basic rights for blacks, and America notably elected its first bi-racial president last November. Historically, great strides have also been made at Cornell. Alpha Phi Alpha, the country's first black fraternity, was established at Cornell in 1906, and in 1969, the Willard Straight takeover led to changes such as the creation of the Africana Studies and Research Center.

Even as a little kid, I always knew I was different from everyone else. While most children played with blocks and video games, I would spend hours chasing my dog in the backyard on all fours. My first word was “woof,” and I wasn’t house broken until I was five years old. To this day, old issues of The Sun line the floor of my room. Most disconcerting to my parents, however, was that I had the unhygienic habit of cleaning myself with my tongue and then greeting their business associates with licks on their faces.