These days always end up being particularly nuts for me. There are just a lot of things going on at once. Prelims, papers and the like are usually always there, though they pile up particularly high in mid-February, usually without fail, year after year. Other things are particularly February-specific. Like the height of Ithacan winter, free with a sky that is already dark by five, giving the impression that the day is considerably shorter. Or receiving your tax return forms in the mail, so you have to think about that, too. Many people get to know where they’ll be going to grad school, and, if having both the blessing and curse to be admitted to several places, the necessity to choose where to go to is also a burden shared in the very long February nights.

I remember May 26, 2009 quite vividly. My friend Ben and I took the subway into San Francisco. Protest signs in hand, we made our way to the steps of the California Supreme Court building, joining the throngs of people who had been waiting there all morning — waiting, eagerly, for the announcement of the decision of Strauss v. Horton, the case that would decide the fate of the well-known and highly controversial Proposition 8.

It is reasonable to assume that the budget cuts which have recently bludgeoned the performing arts at Cornell will only expand, as departments, majors and disciplines deemed “peripheral unit to the University’s core” (as a Feb. 3 editorial put it) lose funding. The departments that will be saved, because they are certainly not peripheral in any way, like the hard sciences, will never have to question whether or not they are serving the University’s “mission.”

When Doris Davis leaves her post as associate provost for admissions and enrollment, Cornell will lose a veteran administrator with 30 years of higher education experience, but more importantly, an innovator who consistently used the tools at her disposal to push the University in the right direction, even when it was not the easiest or simplest option. The importance of the admissions office cannot be understated, as it plays a pivotal role in shaping the face of the University and the individuals with whom we interact on a daily basis. The utmost care must be taken to ensure that the transition period and Davis’s replacement continue building upon the legacies she leaves, and fixing the problems that remain.

‘Tis the season. No, I’m not horribly confused. Despite the fact that I still have a wreath on my front door, I am well aware that it’s not Christmas. No, no, my dears. I’m talking V-Day.

If I were an incredibly lazy columnist, I would write an extremely generic article on how I have always been single on Valentine’s Day, how I contemplate killing every hand-holding couple on campus this time of year and how my only comfort this season is the free chocolate my Valentine (read: my mom) sent me.

When Mike Wallace asked for his thoughts on Black History Month, Morgan Freeman famously responded that it was “ridiculous” to “relegate my history to a month.”

“I don’t want a Black History Month,” he stated. “Black history is American history.” Wallace had no response, save “how we gonna get rid of racism?”

“Stop talking about it,” Freeman responded. “I’m going to stop calling you a white man. And I’m going to ask you to stop calling me a black man.”

The mandatory swim test for incoming undergraduates is a long-standing requirement that should remain a part of Cornell’s physical education curriculum. The Student Assembly resolution to make the test optional that was introduced at Thursday’s meeting, if implemented, would undermine the University’s definition of a well-rounded education and represent an unfortunate upheaval of Cornell tradition.

Because The Cornell Daily Sun is an influential news source on campus and beyond, I was troubled to see several factual errors in last week’s reporting on the Theatre, Film and Dance budget reduction. Those errors, as well as conjecture in the two articles, seem to have informed much of the reasoning in last Thursday’s editorial on Reimagining Cornell. I feel compelled to write about Cornell’s critical challenge to honor excellence and breadth in our offerings, but within the financial constraints recently imposed on universities across the country. It is essential to start by clarifying the request to Theatre, Film and Dance.

Time for a pop quiz, Cornellians:

1. What causes the characteristic soreness that develops 24 to 48 hours after hard exercise?

a.) Lactate.

b.) Microtrauma to muscle.

c.) Working out too hard.

2. You will get fatter from:

a.) Taking in more sugar than your body can use.

b.) Taking in too much diet soda.

c.) Taking in more than the recommended amount of fat.

3. Drinking diet soda:

As many of you know, the Department of Theater, Film, and Dance is being asked by Arts College Dean Peter LePage to cut about two million dollars over the next two years, which is about a third of what the College of Arts and Sciences is trying to cut overall.