THE CORNELL CLUB OF NEW YORK— Following the Student Assembly’s decision to storm the National Archives and scribble smiley faces all over the Bill of Rights, alumni have begun to lament the death of the Cornell they once knew.
“Ah, how I miss the good old days!” exclaimed Charles Olin ‘58 as he paused his Fox News broadcast. “Now everyone’s so sensitive. First, they forged 17 more amendments, then they slandered Christopher Columbus, and now they’re questioning our Jefferson-given right to free speech? This is 1920 all over again.”
There was a time in which Cornell alumni-then known as the “Big Red Good Old Boys”-had pride in their university. Now, they have grown weary of the current direction of their alma mater, feeling a generational disconnect between them and Cornell’s current student body. Things have changed since 1964, and for those alive prior to Title IX, 2023 can be overwhelming with an additional 50% of the population attaining literacy.
“Back in my day, we didn’t worry about whose feelings were hurt. We could all unite under the shared color of our skin,” Ronald Uris ‘64 reminisced. “Peach, olive, slightly tanned, it didn’t matter who you were because we all bled the same Big Red blood.”
What constitutes free speech is an ever changing idea in the United States and Cornell University is not exempt from that fact. Alumni like Gene Warren ‘62 have watched that evolution play out.
“My favorite word in undergrad was [redacted]. Now, the Student Assembly wants to violate the free speech of Cornellians everywhere by insisting that we instead refer to them as ‘people,’” said Warren.
Although free speech is a highly polarized issue, it is important to remember that both sides are equally valid in their opinions.
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