Cornell has updated its Community Living Standards to include a clause banning the processing of wild animals in communal kitchens. The update follows a September incident in which students skinned and butchered a legally hunted bear in a shared kitchen in Ganędagǫ: Hall, a residence hall on North Campus.
A University spokesperson confirmed that the update is a response to the Ganędagǫ: Hall incident.
“The policy aims to provide clarity regarding what is or is not appropriate to do in a communal kitchen space,” the spokesperson wrote.
On September 6, two students hunted and killed an adult black bear in the Department of Environmental Conservation’s Region 4, approximately two hours from campus, before bringing it back to Ganędagǫ: Hall to process it.
Aaron Chin ’27, one of the bear skinners who revealed himself on the MeatEater Podcast, explained on the podcast that they intended to process the bear at a friend’s place, but they ran into an “emergency” and took it to the dormitory kitchen, not wanting to let the meat spoil.
The skinning was met with online backlash on Reddit and Sidechat, an anonymous social media platform, as images circulated showing the bear’s remains on the shared kitchen table and meat stored in ziploc bags in the dorm’s communal fridge.
The skinning also resulted in the kitchen being shut down for two days and fully sanitized by staff from Cornell’s Building Care Department.
The bear was hunted legally, per New York State’s bear hunting regulations, and no code violations were found following an investigation from the DEC.
Despite the two students involved not facing disciplinary action from the University, the incident received national coverage — even inspiring an opinion piece from The Dartmouth.
Chin did not respond to a request for comment by the time of publication.
“Cooking in the University residences can be a great activity to bring people together, but it can also create unsafe and unsanitary conditions for the community if not done in a manner that respects all members of the community,” the living standards state.
Everett Chambala is a member of the Class of 2027 in the School of Industrial and Labor Relations. He is an assistant news editor for the 144th Editorial Board and can be reached at echambala@cornellsun.com.
