Note: This editorial by executive editor Joseph Bonica will appear in this week’s issue of the Cornell Review. The event “Karl Rove: Thoughts on 2012″ will occur this Wednesday, April 13th.

Of all of American liberalism’s favorite targets, few inspire as much vitriol and blind rage as Karl Rove. As the architect of former President Bush’s two presidential and gubernatorial campaigns, many on the left see him as an insidious puppetmaster, pulling the strings behind every policy decision in the administration and thus public enemy number one. In fact, if not for the rapid ascension of Sarah Palin to the top of the list of people liberals love to hate, Karl Rove would probably still be the cocaine used to fuel the far left’s rage. This is not to say that only liberals criticize Mr. Rove; many on the right also take issue to his techniques and policy stances. However, their criticism of him is based typically in logic and actual thought rather than sheer partisan rage. This general attitude towards Mr. Rove will make April 13th a very interesting day indeed, as on that day he will speak in front of a Cornell University crowd that hasn’t been too welcoming to the idea thus far.

Certainly, though, in an institution that prides itself on rational discussion and the presentation of all sides of an argument, the student body would be willing to see someone they disagree with and ensure a fair intellectual atmosphere, correct? Theoretically, yes; however, the initial reactions don’t seem too promising. Here, for example, are direct quotes assembled from the event page on Facebook:

“I hate this man with a passion…which is exactly why I am going to see this.”

“Christ, it’s like meeting Darth Vader. Who wouldn’t want to?”

“You’ve GOT to be kidding me for sending me the invite! I’d rather chew rusty tacks! I abandoned the Republican Party in 2000 and it remains the best thing I ever did for myself in the previous decade! So thanks, but NO!”

While this is obviously a small sample size, it wouldn’t be much of a stretch to assume that many students will be attending the event for the same kinds of reason. They won’t be attending to actually listen to an alternate political reality to their own; debate doesn’t really seem to be their thing. Rather, they are attending for the sheer novelty of meeting the bad guy and get a chance to air their grievances with him. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that this is not a good starting point for healthy intellectual conversation.

This especially doesn’t bode well, however, for the day Rove actually stands a few dozen feet away from them and outlines his thoughts on the upcoming elections. While the reactions and debate will likely be largely civil, it’s hard to imagine the most enraged far leftist will be able to halt themselves from enacting their borderline sexual desire to stand down the great “war criminal” himself. Evidence of some kind of protest has already been seen; on the comment board of the Ithaca Journal, one intrepid poster has the bright idea of printing fake tickets to get into the event and cause a little bit of chaos. It is fully expected that there will be at least a few moments of aggression, self-righteousness, and outright rage from audience members upon confronting Rove himself.

From this, a question inevitably arises: is this behavior of a tolerant political ideology? Anyone who follows any kind of politics knows that the American left prides itself on “tolerance” and “openness to alternate ideas”. These ideals sure sound nice and are immeasurably important to the proper running of a republic, but in practice we see that many “liberals” are in fact far more tyrannical than the other side of the aisle. It is this very lack of tolerance among the left, especially the campus left, that transforms an event such as Karl Rove’s speech from an informative discussion to an opportunity to act out a repressed Empire Strikes Back fantasy; to preserve the intellectual integrity of this environment, this thought process must change.

Blakinger's Facebook picture. She was busted with a lot worse than cigarettes.

Mugshot. Image: WNBG

One Cornell student was busted with enough heroin to send you through CALS.  Not to be outdone by Columbia and their recent drug bust, the Daily Sun reports that Keri Blakinger ’11 was arrested with six ounces of heroin, valued at about $150,000 this past Sunday. Blakinger, a past editor of the Daily Stun‘s Red Letter Daze, is currently being held without bail at the Tompkins County Jail.

There’s not much more we can say that hasn’t already been said by the Sun or other news outlets, but news of the arrest has made The Huffington Post, BusinessInsider, IvyGate, and the New York Daily News, just to name a few.  It will be interesting to see how this story plays out.

According to a recent email sent within the past 2 hours to students in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Kathryn Boor, who became the new dean of the school this past August, has decided to begin the slow elimination of Cornell’s education department in the interest of budget preservation. This is apparently the result of, in Boor’s own words, “several years of discussion”, likely beginning with Cornell’s financial crisis.  Rather than go into all of the other details myself, here is the actual email I received:

Dear CALS Community,

It has been little more than three months since I assumed the position of Dean of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. In this short time, I have had multiple opportunities to celebrate the excellence that defines CALS, along with the need to make some challenging decisions. Today, I am writing you about the latter.

After a thorough review of the options, I have made the very difficult decision to close the Department of Education in a planned phase-out. This decision is made after several years of discussion regarding the future of the department.

Over the course of the next few years, faculty members in the department will be transitioned to other academic homes closely aligned with their areas of academic expertise while staff will be relocated to other positions. All current students, graduate and undergraduate, will be able to finish their degree programs as planned. We do not expect layoffs from this move.

Senior Associate Dean Max Pfeffer is handling the department phase-out, which is part of the college’s ongoing strategic effort as laid out in Reimagining CALS. The visionary plan, which was developed with extensive faculty and staff input, calls for the college to target resources in core areas of academic strength and leadership. A key part of the strategy envisions us streamlining from 26 departments down to a more nimble, manageable size. Over the summer, we merged eight sister departments on our Geneva and Ithaca campuses into four, kicking off our college’s strategic reorganization.

Today’s announcement continues our college’s critical restructuring. In coming months, Max will be working with individual faculty to make decisions about their transfers to new departments. The departments that eventually become homes to the education faculty will be strengthened by their presence. Max will also seek department input about the future of the graduate program and important extension programming.

We are committed to retaining departmental programs that have historically been an important component of our land grant college’s educational offerings. We are actively exploring alternative ways to provide STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) and agricultural science teacher accreditation opportunities for Cornell students by partnering with sister SUNY institutions. We also remain committed to providing opportunities for students to obtain BS degrees in agricultural science, a popular program, particularly with double majors in education. Many students enter this program through articulation agreements with SUNY agriculture and technical colleges.

The economic reality is such that we will need to continue to make difficult and sometimes unpopular decisions in coming years. Still, we have a bright future ahead of us. The college is a world leader and we will ensure it remains so while building capacity to meet our long-range goals. Recent developments — including the university’s new faculty hiring initiative, the naming of the Dyson School, the realignments of some CALS departments into stronger, collaborative units – are exciting and inspiring events.

I believe the decision to close the Department of Education, though made with regret, will help to position the college for the future.

Sincerely, Kathryn J. Boor, PhD The Ronald P. Lynch Dean

More on this to come.

1. Don’t Let Anybody Tell You This Is Just An “Agriculture School”: This is more of an issue with people outside of the school than with people inside, but some of you may know the occasional scoundrel that will (mockingly or otherwise) belittle you for attending an “agriculture school”. If you encounter any of these people, feel free to make them feel like idiots my boasting how CALS has the second best business program in the Ivy League, an excellent biology program, and other top degrees. CALS is a great school and nothing to be ashamed of.

2. Embrace Trillium ASAP- If you have a lot of classes on the Ag Quad as I did in my freshman and sophomore years, you will learn to love the food at Trillium. Get accustomed to going there and trying their decent selection of food. It’s solidly tasting food too, so don’t be afraid of it.

3. No Matter What Year You Are and Where You Live, Be Prepared for A Long Walk To Class- The Ag Quad is the most inconveniently positioned quad when it comes to distance from housing, so be prepared to get a workout when you do go to your classes there. On the flip side, “I walked back and forth from Mann Library” is a highly legitimate excuse to not go to the gym.

4. If You’re a Science Major of Some Kind in CALS, try to Find Research when You Can-As  a Biology major, research is of utmost importance to me. Thankfully, CALS is blessed with a very helpful career office and research network which helps you find the research you need. The Office of Undergraduate Biology provides a tremendous amount of assistance as well, so use their resources wisely. When you get the chance to do research, jump on it. It’s a great way to expose yourself to a wide variety of different fields in your area of study and can thus help you narrow down your post-graduate career path.

5. Try Your Hardest to Forget That Keith Olbermann graduated from Here-This needs no explanation.

The number of volumes in one of the largest library systems in the United States isn’t going to shrink anytime soon, but expect to see some changes in the number of libraries on campus:

…Indeed, as Cornell University prepares for its 150th anniversary in 2015, it expects to reduce the number of libraries on campus. However, according to a slide prepared by John Saylor, Associate University Librarian for Scholarly Resources and Special Collections, “we will transform our remaining physical presence into popular destinations for productivity, learning, research and contemplation while we deploy our services and resources into virtual environments inhabited by students, faculty, and researchers.”

More here.