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The Cornell Daily Sun
Friday, Dec. 5, 2025

Opinion















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GUEST ROOM | The Sound of Silence: On Music, Politics and Belonging at Cornell

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In a Guest Column, Catherine Appert, Associate Professor of Music and Sound Studies, responds to the cancellation of Kehlani’s Slope Day performance. She argues that Kehlani’s very existence, their very presence on stage as a Black American, non-binary, lesbian artist whose mixed heritage includes Native American and Filipino roots, is in itself always already political. She questions: Who, in fact, does Kotlikoff’s “unity” ultimately encompass?


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STITH | Institutional Neutrality (Unless It's Palestine)

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Opinion Columnist Yihun Stith reacts to Kotlikoff rescinding Kehlani's invitation as the headliner for Slope Day. He calls the act hypocritical, arguing that Cornell’s posturing as neutral is a tactical decision to suppress growing discontent on campus, and more specifically, suppress pro-Palestinian free speech. Cornell’s claim of institutional neutrality is a facade, selectively applied to silence dissent while protecting its own financial interests.


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GUEST ROOM | The Incredibly Shrinking University

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In a Guest Column, Professor David A. Bateman responds to Kehlani's disinvitation from Slope Day. He writes: Unity cannot be imposed by fiat, by arbitrarily deciding that some views must be insulated from exposure to others. Unity, in any case, is not the point of a university; it is the conflicting and contradictory whole to which we aspire, not the false protection of a flattened, squeezed-out discourse.