There exists a complete disconnect between Cornell and its Ithaca home. Though it’s easiest to notice superficially (the University sits atop a hill too steep for many to climb) the devil is in the details. Cornell enjoys keeping its undergraduates in its bubble, where it can shape their reality.
If there’s anything my Catholicism teaches me, it is to love your neighbor, regardless of who they are or what they do to you. On Nov. 14, The Sun reported that the Ithaca Police Department cleared the East Seneca Street Bus Station, where multiple unhoused people took refuge.
The removal created another degree of separation between Cornell and the realities of the City of Ithaca. Cornell is connected to Ithaca primarily by its bus routes, and every Cornellian had to confront the reality of poverty in America whenever they went downtown. While there are many reasons the vestibule was cleared, Cornell students are now even further insulated from the realities of the real world. I spoke to three undergraduate Cornell students whose perspectives have helped shape this opinion.
Cornellians and Their Relationship to Ithaca
Before the eviction, signs were posted telling the unhoused individuals to relocate to Southwest Park, a city-owned plot of undeveloped land temporarily authorized for camping. None of the students I spoke to had any idea this place existed before the interview.
The explanation for this is simple: Southwest Park is not just out of the way for Cornell University, but is tucked behind the Walmart and the Tompkins County Recycling and Solid Waste Center. It is, quite literally, out of sight and out of mind.
According to the students, many of their undergraduate peers almost never venture downtown, let alone take the bus, “it’s underexplored and underappreciated for most students, and it’s closer than we think,” one of them said. Many of their food and amenity needs are met on campus, so it’s reasonable that it would be rare for them to leave the Hill.
I’m not the first to notice. A transfer student from Ithaca College wrote how inward focused Cornell students were, how little they thought of Ithaca compared to IC students, and how despite access to TCAT “there isn’t much need (or reason) to willingly explore the city of Ithaca beyond Cornell’s campus.”
The situation has been made worse by the rhetoric used in Ithaca and Cornell around the issue. Daily Sun articles reuse inflammatory language for the park like calling it ‘the jungle,’ demonize individuals’ substance abuse, and choose to display a photo of the encampment with a confederate flag raised above it. This kind of imagery only worsens the situation.Demeaning the humanity and dignity of these people further is a sin regardless of your religious or political proclivity.
If you’re a student reading this, I challenge you to walk with a friend around the city of Ithaca. Explore parts of the city you wouldn’t otherwise, visit its small businesses, and actually listen to the people that live here. You don’t need to visit Southwest Park, but maybe by connecting with the community you share, albeit temporarily, may help you understand how to help it.
All of the students I spoke to lamented the fact that their peers don’t journey downtown more to enjoy all that Ithaca has to offer, “students don’t interact so much with the local community because we’re so immersed in Cornell.”
Cornell University and its Willful Distance From the Town.
An ongoing issue has been Cornell’s investment in TCAT, the Tompkins area bus service. Supported mostly by federal grants and large stakeholder contributions, it provides thousands of community members with access to campus and vital resources around Ithaca. Its budget is stretched incredibly thin, and ticket sales do not constitute a stable or significant source of revenue.
As part of a signed agreement, Cornell contributes 6 percent, or $1.2 million, of TCAT’s annual operating budget, the same contribution as the City of Ithaca and Tompkins County. Cornell University students made up 71.47 percent of all TCAT ridership in 2024, making the University’s contribution to TCAT far less than what it should be.
Cornell, atop its hill overlooking the town and Cayuga’s waters, feels and behaves further away than ever. Through a bare minimum access to public transportation, students face a natural barrier to movement.
“With the TCAT situation, they’re not giving them enough money to create bus routes that are necessary for students,” one student said, “Cornell doesn’t really talk about these things.”
To encourage better connectivity – and for the health of its students, predominantly graduates – Cornell should invest more in TCAT. For those reliant on the bus, being left at a stop in single-digit weather or missing the only bus that will get you to work on time is not just physically risky, it produces waste. According to TCAT, they produce the routes and capacity they can based on their finances.
Cornell recently agreed to pay an additional $228,000 out of the $500,000 TCAT asked for in support of budget shortfalls. Considering this was done to cover TCAT’s bills, it’s self-illustrative that Cornell is willingly letting TCAT struggle.
A Short Reflection of the Self
The East Seneca Street Bus Station is my bus stop. Seeing unhoused people taking shelter in its vestibule was a daily reminder of my own privilege as someone who is every day granted opportunities and an education that they are not being given.
Every day it was a sobering reminder that I am not doing enough, and as I watched dozens of students ignore them just the same, a reminder that our community is not doing enough.
My argument is not that the unhoused should inhabit a vestibule designed to give travelers a respite from the cold. It is that Cornell and Cornellians must engage with and confront more the realities of their home city. We — particularly students — are guests, and we must be courteous enough to offer our hand to help the less fortunate at every turn and give back to the city we ought to know and love.
Paul Caruso is an Opinion Columnist and a second year MPA student in the Brooks School of Public Policy and the Founder of the Cornell Negotiation Student Society. His column, Caruso's Compass, focuses on politics, international affairs, and campus life. The column seeks to identify issues with the status quo and provide solutions to them. He can be reached at pcaruso@cornellsun.com.
