As Cornell University actively strategizes to reopen for next fall, mitigating the spread of COVID-19 is paramount. In their 97 page report, The Committee on Teaching Reactivation Options addresses the need to de-densify the Ithaca campus, and proposes several measures to do so, such as blocking off campus roads in favor of social distanced foot traffic, reducing classroom occupancy to 13-24%, and eliminating triple and quad dorm rooms from on-campus housing [1].

To this end, we the student body propose a simple additional measure: Expel freshman Nate Panza over his public use of the N-word on social media [2]. With only 6,701 single and double occupancy rooms, 153 isolation beds, and 366 available classrooms, we must be more judicious than ever before as to how that space is allocated, and to whom we extend the privilege of occupying that space. Here is a simple yet elegant opportunity to reduce the load on our system by 1.

References: [1] https://covid.cornell.edu/_assets/files/ctro-final-report.pdf

[2] https://cornellsun.com/2020/06/23/incoming-cornell-freshman-uses-racial-slur-in-video-loses-spot-on-football-team/