In a talk organized by newly appointed director of intercultural affairs Renee Alexander '74, students discussed the challenges that men of color face at Cornell.

Cornell women of color are presented with a choice — joining Panhellenic or MGLC sororities.

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.

When people say, “All Asians look alike,” I honestly can’t blame them because, well, all Asians look alike to me too. In fact, freshman year I made my OL group ten times more awkward than it already was by mistakenly thinking I had already met one of the Asian girls in the group.

My OL leader had just picked me up from my dorm and introduced me to everyone. When the girl reached out her hand to shake mine, I waved her hand away and cheerfully said, “Oh, I just met you!”

The group fell into a deeper silence and maybe into a state of shock. Oh, crap. A terrible realization dawned on me — she wasn’t the same Asian girl that I had just met in my dorm building. She frowned and dropped her hand to her side.

“Well,” she said after a pause. “That was awkward.”

This is a critical time in the life of our University to recognize how far we have come in creating a diverse and inclusive community, but also a time when we must face squarely the long distance we still have to travel. In the wake of our commemoration of the 40th anniversary of The Straight Takeover, I feel compelled to elaborate on my commitment to diversity by sharing some thoughts about what we aim to achieve and how we will know if we are successful. I also want to alert you to some upcoming opportunities to engage the administration and other Cornellians on this set of issues.

As the Cornell community commemorated the 40th anniversary of the takeover of Willard Straight Hall this weekend, the question remains: How far have we come since the tumultuous spring of 1969? Four decades later, some facets of campus diversity have us concerned for the future of Cornell.

It is debatable what the takeover itself directly accomplished. Yet it is undeniable that the image of 50 to 100 black students emerging from the straight — armed with weapons, following a 33-hour occupation — caught the nation’s attention and shed light on the unequal representation of black students in institutions of higher education, particularly in the Ivy League.

“We reject a University that refuses to acknowledge the root of the problem — institutionalized oppression.”

— Zachary Murray ’11, quoted in “C.U. Minorities Stage Mock Funeral, Ask for Greater Univ. Support,” News, The Sun, April 3rd

The state of program houses has long been a contentious issue at Cornell. With student enrollment in them far from what it once was and financial constraints limiting resources across the University, the future of program houses is unclear and is an issue that will be at the forefront on campus in the coming months.

On Thursday we saw a preview of the campus activism that will take center stage in the coming weeks, as student groups eulogized what they see as the impending death of program houses at Cornell. Targeting the “inaction” of the administration, the protesters sought to ignite the flame and shine light on an issue, which until now, has been modest and unpronounced.