BURZLAFF | Beyond the Silent Wall: Participation Is a Process, Not a Performance
How does higher education overcome paralysis? With a first mover: a respected individual who takes that gutsy first step and absorbs the uncertainty of action. Maybe the risks aren’t as bad as everyone’s making them out to be, but they'll never know until someone acts. Once that dam breaks, momentum can build.
The Sun places its trust on Saad Razzak ‘26 for executive vice president of the Student Assembly. He balances this local efficacy with a clear-eyed understanding of broader political challenges.
What does it mean to teach and learn in uncertain times — both in the world writ large and here on campus? Professor and Opinion Columnist Jan Burzlaff reflects on navigating education as a collective construction of meaning when tensions spike, trust breaks down and people pull back into their own spaces.
As diversity, equity and inclusion programs in higher education are being targeted by President Donald Trump, how does Cornell's guiding principles of "any person, any study" position it as the leader of DEI defense? In his first-ever Sun piece, Columnist Paul Caruso argues that as one of the first universities in the nation (and notably the first Ivy League) to admit Black Americans and women, it is in our DNA to defend our community tooth and nail.
In mid-March, Christian pastors and apologists (i.e. defenders of Christianity) Cliffe and Stuart Knecthle came to campus, the closest thing to Socrates in Plato’s dialogues coming to fruition. Hundreds of students, not just from Cornell but from all over, gathered together in the center of campus not to hear someone drone on about their worldview but for dialogue.
Many Israelis, Palestinians and diaspora Jews have long believed in open dialogue and collaboration as a path to peace. However, the landscape shifted dramatically following the Hamas-led attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023 and the war that followed, challenging long-standing efforts for peace. The rise in hostility made it impossible to continue these conversations.
Editor-in-Chief Julia Senzon '26 welcomes the Class of 2029 to Cornell.