NEW YORK -- In past weeks, Cornellians in New York City celebrated the renaissance of Hillel, went birdwatching in Central Park and helped forge collaborations between labor and protectors of the environment worldwide.

Why is this day different from all other days?

On this day (April 26), glass plates (courtesy of a Kosher caterer) substituted for the china normally used at the Cornell Club. Over 140 Cornell alumni, trustees, deans, vice presidents and presidents mingled in the filled-to-capacity room. The celebration to honor Hillel and David M. and Abby Joseph Cohen was a cross between a family reunion and an after-party (the farewell lecture by Professor Walter LaFeber at the Beacon Theatre on Broadway had occurred the previous evening).

"When David became chair of Hillel, he and Abby set out to create a Jewish life at Cornell which they would have liked to exist when they were students," philanthropist Harold Tanner '52, former chair of the Cornell Board of Trustees, told the gathering. "In 1998, when David began his term as chair, Hillel was exceptionally weak on campus," said Tanner, whose name bears a prize that the Cohens received earlier this year.

The renaissance of Hillel since then has been extraordinary, said Rabbi Ed Rosenthal. "Today Cornell Hillel has one of the premier programs of Jewish student life in the country." Now there are more than 30 Jewish groups on campus, and Sabbath and Passover dinners fill Barton Hall. No longer does a student have to break the Yom Kippur fast with a tuna sandwich from a vending machine, as an undergraduate Abby Joseph Cohen once did.

From Sapsucker Woods to Central Park

It was early dawn on Saturday, April 29, and the Inventor's Gate on the east side of Central Park was appropriately devoid of humans. As the hour inched closer to 8 a.m., friends of the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology drifted in from Fifth Avenue. Clear-eyed and determined, they balanced tripods and cameras and outfitted in camouflage as they made their way into the park. Stalwarts of Sapsucker Woods might consider birding in Central Park dismal, but according to the walk's leader, David Speiser '91, "It is one of the best places in the country for birding." That's because about 200 species of birds nest or migrate in Central Park. He was one of 20 Lab of Ornithology friends who spent hours in the tranquility of the Ramble, the 38-acre artificially created wild part of Central Park, spotting warblers and waterfowl, among others.

From uptown greenery to midtown environmental sustainability

Approximately a dozen countries were represented at the second annual North American meeting on labor, the environment and sustainability at the School of Industrial and Labor Relations' New York City offices May 8. Cornell's Global Labor Institute hosted 150 attendees to discuss trade union strategies on sustainability, and to interact and strategize with representatives from the United Nations, the European Trade Union Confederation, and the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions-African Regional Organization. The event was well represented by a standing-room-only crowd of unionists and environmentalists.