Earlier this evening I spoke to a group of incoming freshman from the DC Metro area. As promised, here is the remainder of my 15 pieces of advice for new students:

1) Don’t worry if you don’t have your major figured out yet- it’s perfectly okay to treat freshman year as an opportunity to check out new classes and find the major that’s the best fit for you.

2) Use caution when exercising IB/AP credits.

3) Keep an open mind about joining a fraternity/sorority.

4) Reach out to professors for research opportunities, even during your freshman year.

5) Check your book prices on Amazon. You might be able to save hundreds of dollars compared to buying at the Cornell Store.

6) Try out the library for studying early on. Many people prefer this over their dorm rooms but don’t make the switch until later on in their Cornell careers.

7) Don’t buy school supplies at the Cornell Store unless you’re dying to pay a premium for Cornell logos on your notebooks, pencils, and erasers.

8 ) Work on problem sets and study for prelims with friends, and make as many friends in your new classes as possible.

9) Check out the College Scholar program if you’re in A&S. It’s one of Cornell’s best kept secrets, in my highly biased opinion.

10) Study abroad is a great opportunity for junior year. Don’t start worrying too much about it yet, but definitely begin thinking about where you’d like to study if this is something that interests you.

11) Join as many clubs as you want at the beginning of freshman year, but realize that you’re better off focusing on 1-2 after first semester. This isn’t high school, and very few people are able to hold genuinely efficacious leadership positions in more than one or two clubs.

12) Look for opportunities for advancement outside of the classroom. Cornell has so many fellowships, grants, project teams, etc., available for students- you just have to look for these opportunities.

13) Go to class. Seriously, go to all of them your freshman year. I know a handful of students (mostly Math/Engineering) who don’t go to class because they genuinely feel that they can learn the material better on their own, but these are few and far between.

14) Reach out to upperclassmen for advice. I think all people who make the most of their time at Cornell do so by getting great advice from older students during their freshman/sophomore year. I know that was certainly the case for me.

15) Read the Cornell Insider every day! 

Also, check out our “How To” guides from last year for Arts and Sciences, CALS, ILR and Engineering.

Best of luck to all incoming 2015′s!

As soon as construction starts at 726 University Ave, we should have a better idea about the source of the recently discovered oil in Fall Creek. From the Cornell Chronicle:

“We won’t be sure until we start digging out a larger area whether the contamination at the Fall Creek site is related to the site of an oil tank that was removed in 1995 or some other source,” said Steve Beyers, environmental engineer in Cornell’s Office of Facilities Engineering. “From the reports filed at the time and from our recent investigations, we think that the contaminated soil has remained in the same area for years — until the March spring thaw.”

But there’s more to this story than just a leaky pipe. The last Sun article on the subject suggested the possibility of a nefarious coverup on the part of the university:

Additionally, Hang [president of a local environmental advocacy group] alleges the absorbant booms placed in Fall Creek to control the contamination were placed before Cornell reported the oil sheen to the DEC. This would mean Cornell knew about the oil sheen but did not report it to the DEC, Hang said.

The now “investigative” construction work is set to begin on Monday.

Hunter Rawlings III, former President of Cornell University and currently a professor of classical history at Cornell, has been selected as the new president of the Association of American Universities. From The Chronicle of Higher Education:

Mr. Rawlings, who was chair of the association while at Cornell’s helm, will take office on June 1 for a five-year term. He will succeed Robert M. Berdahl, the president since 2006, who is retiring. Before serving at Iowa and at Cornell, from 1988 through 2003, Mr. Rawlings worked 18 years at the University of Colorado at Boulder, another AAU member. In a news release issued by the association, Mr. Rawlings stressed the importance of the partnership between the federal government and research universities in producing transformative technologies and top graduates, and in advancing scholarship. “AAU’s first responsibility,” he said, “is to work with government to ensure that this relationship remains strong” despite “potentially severe fiscal restraint and increasing demands on our universities.”

It’s not clear whether the position will require Rawlings to relinquish his teaching position at Cornell.

Two weeks after the death of SAE brother George Desdunes ’13, the Interfraternity Council has abruptly cancelled all registered social events amid pressure to maintain a safe social atmosphere.

“With respect to recent events that have occurred within our system, as well as the presence of the Board of Trustees on our campus, the Greek system has voted and decided to cancel all fraternity social events this weekend,” IFC President Daniel Freshman ’12 wrote to fraternities in an email this evening.

“We understand that this is last minute, and do apologize for the inconvenience that will fall upon those who have scheduled events for this weekend.  However, it must be noted that as more discussions occur around recent events, we will be expected to embody the change that must come within our system,” the email said.

The email goes on:

Our system of self-governance is a privilege, and one that we deeply treasure at all levels of our system. However, in this testing time we must prove ourselves worthy of that privilege and show our ability to recognize the need for change when we see it. This decision will not serve as a precedent for future week-by-week votes to cancel social events. It must still be noted that this is one weekend with no social events, and as such, the consequences for incidents that may occur this weekend as a reflection of functions within our system will reflect more severely on houses found responsible and additionally upon our system as a whole and the privileges that come with our current status.

Anyone who has questions regarding this policy is encouraged to reach out to their chapter presidents, or to their respective council presidents or vice presidents of judicial affairs. We apologize again for the short notice, and wish you a safe and relaxing weekend.

Natalie Raps has won the Presidential race in the SA Elections. Here are the vote totals:

Natalie Raps: 1966
Adam Nicoletti: 1096

Executive Vice President:

Adam Gitlin: 2017

Alex Pruce: 691

Minority At Large:

Roneal Desai: 1380

Ashley Pinkney: 1287

Derrick Vallejos: 763

Lesbian, Bisexual, Gay, Transgender, Queer Representative at Large:

Nate Treffeisen: 1487

Hilary Orzick: 940

Undesignated at Large:

Adam Nicoletti 1366
Adam Gitlin 1345
Anisha Chopra 847
Geoffrey Block 837
Dan Goldberg 812
John R. Mueller 745

Joe Bailey 741

Alex Pruce 713
Matt Koren 628
Joy Cai 611
Bill Gerding 603
Cal Curtis 530

Kevin P. Bassney 372

University Assembly Undergraduate At Large:

Melissa Lukasiewicz: 1466

William Candell: 1209

Phillip Goldstein: 1180

Ramsey Ataya: 1144

Karan Javaji: 957

International At Large:

Mohit Gulrajani: 1373

Nam:  599

Chong Guo: 554