Columns

STUDENTS FOR A DEMOCRATIC CORNELL | What Admin Doesn’t Want You To Know About the Referendum

By Opinion Department · Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025

VINK | Take Back the Code of Conduct

By Adriana Vink · Thursday, Dec. 11, 2025

PETROVA | Ethical Consciousness in a Consumers’ Republic: We Can Make Injustice Unprofitable

By Mina Petrova · Tuesday, Dec. 9, 2025

CARUSO, TOBIN & BADAWI | One to Rule Them All

By Leah Badawi , Paul Caruso and Lali Tobin · Monday, Dec. 8, 2025

COMMITTEE ON THE FUTURE OF THE AMERICAN UNIVERSITY | We Must Expand the Timeline of AI in Higher Education

By Committee on the Future of the American University · Thursday, Dec. 4, 2025

On behalf of the Committee on the Future of the American University, Professor Phoebe Sengers situates generative AI within decades of technological transformation and calls for Cornell to strengthen resilience and rethink Cornell’s role in proactively shaping emerging technologies.

GALPERIN | Ideas, not Ideologies

By Ezra Galperin · Thursday, Dec. 4, 2025

Opinion Columnist Ezra Galperin ’27 argues that political identities have become substitutes for actual thought. Drawing on local politics, national elections and his experiences at Cornell, he argues that confirmation bias leads people to defend their side and dismiss any information that challenges it. In a university dedicated to testing hypotheses, he calls for treating our beliefs the same way: not as identities to protect, but as ideas that must withstand scrutiny.

GROSS | The Right to Privacy, and Why We Need to Exercise it More

By Sophie Gross · Wednesday, Dec. 3, 2025

Senior Opinion Columnist Sophie Gross ‘27 writes about the different realms of personal, digital and institutional privacy and how unknowingly exposed most of us leave ourselves to violations of our privacy.

AGRAWAL | Tar, Traffic and the Butterfly's Silent Scream

By Professor Anurag Agrawal · Wednesday, Dec. 3, 2025

Opinion Columnist Professor Agrawal argues that America’s dependence on roads and cars inflicts silent ecological harm and that investment in rail, via the “All Aboard Act” currently being considered by congress should be adopted. Let’s limit our hyper-mobility and replace this destructive “freedom” with a more sustainable future for all.

ZHOU | Where Have the Mugwumps Gone?

By Rayen Zhou · Tuesday, Dec. 2, 2025

Opinion Columnist Rayen Zhou '29 comments on the loosening of Trump’s grip on the GOP and what the recent Epstein files saga may mean for the future of Republican dissenters.

STEINGARD | When Professors Stop Professing

By Mihir Steingard · Monday, Dec. 1, 2025

Opinion Columnist Mihir Steingard ’28 argues there is a new reality of professor self-censorship in higher education. He urges students to engage when they get a professor who is open with their views.

CARUSO | Out of Sight, Out of Mind

By Paul Caruso · Tuesday, Nov. 25, 2025

When we shove our unhoused neighbors into a corner, the Cornell community becomes more and more comfortable with its denial that it is in a city. As the undergraduate bubble becomes thicker, Senior Columnist Paul Caruso challenges you to pop it.

DAVIS | You Sound Like AI

By Nina Davis · Tuesday, Nov. 25, 2025

Opinion Columnist Nina Davis ‘26 argues that you should want to sound like yourself, and consequently human, when you write – but also when you go about your everyday life.

ZHOU | Rhyme or Reason

By Rayen Zhou · Tuesday, Nov. 25, 2025

Opinion Columnist Rayen Zhou '29 introduces Rhyme or Reason with a dive into his personal history with political media.

WALTER | Onion Theory

By Kira Walter · Tuesday, Nov. 25, 2025

In her introduction column for Onion Theory, Kira Walter '26 appeals to the non-linear and experiential character of her spiritual outlook.

PHAM | Ellaments of Truth

By Ella Pham · Tuesday, Nov. 25, 2025

Ella Pham '29 introduces Ellaments of Truth, her new opinion column about elevating underserved communities by studying ethics in professional and cultural life.

BURZLAFF | The Basics (4): The Study of Rest

By Professor Jan Burzlaff · Monday, Nov. 24, 2025

Prof. Burzlaff investigates the benefits of rest in this edition of Office Hours (Open Door Edition).

KHEDER | You Can Use AI Better

By Zak Kheder · Monday, Nov. 24, 2025

Opinion Columnist Zak Kheder '26 discusses the prolific use of artificial intelligence in the classroom. He offers three ways for students to use AI more practically for their education.

SELL | I Want To Ride My Bicycle, I Want To Ride It Where I Like

By Wyatt Sell · Monday, Nov. 24, 2025

Opinion Columnist Wyatt Sell '27 critiques city ordinances that prevent bicycling and other modes of transportation in the Ithaca Commons.

BELMONTE | The Scariest Thing This Halloween Was Socialism

By Adrian Belmonte · Wednesday, Nov. 19, 2025

Senior Columnist Adrian Belmonte ’28 writes in his fortnightly column Saved By The Bel about the conflation between communism and democratic socialism. With the rise of a new democratic socialist candidate, Zohran Mamdani, he critiques America’s fear of socialism, contrasting capitalist failures with the democratically driven reforms many voters increasingly demand.

Committee on the Future of the American University | The Crisis of Trust

By Committee on the Future of the American University · Wednesday, Nov. 19, 2025

Committee on the Future of the American University writes that the crisis of trust facing higher education reflects a broader nationwide decline in confidence across American institutions and demands renewed effort to rebuild the foundations of trust that sustain both universities and society.