Today, thousands of student activists from around the country are cheering loudly — and for good reason.

A nation-wide alliance, the United Students Against Sweatshops, drove a persistent group of protesters to fight for the rights of sweatshop laborers who had been stripped of their jobs at a Russell Athletic factory after workers tried to unionize.

In recent weeks, evidence of the recession has surfaced in Collegetown. With the closing of Sinbad’s and Collegetown Candy and Nuts, upperclassmen walking to and from class are nearly guaranteed to pass a vacant storefront or two. It is worrisome to witness businesses shutting down in the area, but now may be a defining time for redevelopment of Collegetown’s commercial landscape.

The University’s response to last Monday’s stabbing incident raises concern about Cornell’s safety protocols and alert procedures. Cornell’s crime alert e-mail reported the incident as merely a robbery and was sent over two and a half hours after it happened, both downplaying the fact that a student was physically harmed and failing to alert the community about suspects who remained at large.

Questions persist surrounding the details of the situation, particularly about the degree of physical harm endured by the student. While The Sun reported the incident as a stabbing, the University has refused to acknowledge this wording, insisting that only a “small puncture wound” was endured.

One of the most popular majors on campus, biology serves as a gateway to the medical profession, as well as a department for crucial research in areas such as pharmaceutics and genetics. Although we applaud the attention paid to the major in the form of a recent revamping, we are, nonetheless, disappointed with the low level of transparency on the part of the Biology Curriculum Transition Committee throughout the process.

The Faculty Senate will vote today on a measure to support or discourage the University from leasing land to private drilling companies in search of natural gas in the Marcellus Shale. We urge the senate to vote against this leasing and drilling.

While natural gas produces far fewer amounts of pollutants than any other fossil fuel, the risks involved in its extraction are, as of now, far too dangerous. Before the University leases any land for drilling, stringent safety measures must be implemented to ensure that the social, economic and environmental impacts are minimal.

Slowing faculty hiring was a common suggestion mentioned throughout the academic task force report summaries as a method for cutting costs. That combined with attrition, however, will make it increasingly more difficult for Cornell to maintain competitive hiring practices. We fear that such an approach will threaten he viability of academic departments across the University. That said, we were intrigued by a mention made by the the College of Engineering summary regarding the prospect of instituting a post-tenure review process — something, if implemented cautiously, could do good for the University.

Provost Kent Fuchs is conspicuously tearing off layers of the Big Red Tape that engulf Day Hall and we applaud him for his work. The decision to make public the 20 reports from the academic task forces was mission-critical for the process of “Reimagining Cornell.” It beseeches the University community to play a more active role in a truly academic debate about the future of cuts, where those who speak out will have facts and figures to support their cause as opposed to mere speculation.

Today, the Senate Judiciary Committee will consider passing The Free Flow of Information Act, which would protect the right of journalists — including student journalists and bloggers — to conceal confidential sources from the government. We endorse the bill and hope that the Senate will recognize its value in securing a journalist’s right to responsibly disseminate information.

Students comprise 98 percent of Ithaca’s fourth ward, the district which encompasses Collegetown. Due in part to student apathy and to the disproportionate political influence of the neighborhood’s small minority of permanent residents, students living in Collegetown frequently find their voices marginalized in city politic — an unfortunate reality for a population that contributes so much to the local economy. This is reason alone to fully endorse Eddie Rooker ’09 to represent Ithaca’s fourth ward on the Common Council.

As the Student Assembly upheld a 22-percent cut in byline funding for Cornell Cinema last week, a number of issues surfaced that must not go overlooked. Aside from the cultural misfortunes that this budget slash would bring, we take issue with the manner in which the cuts were implemented, and what this decision will mean for the future of student funding at Cornell.

Conflicting Interests