Let the games begin. Not only have classes started at Cornell but so, too, have this year's Donlon Games. So announced Cornell President David Skorton, at the Aug. 27 opening of the mini-Olympics event pitting the residents of the five floors of Mary Donlon Hall against one another in five events over the coming weeks in a variety of sports.

Skorton and wife Robin Davisson, professor of biomedical sciences, opened their second academic year on campus by repeating last year's move into Donlon Aug. 25 as weeklong residents.

At the games' opening ceremony, Skorton addressed the Donlon residents, lined up by floor, each floor in different colored T-shirts, on Rawlings Green in front of the Appel Commons. The ceremony included an introduction of Donlon's faculty fellows and resident advisers, and a performance by the Absolute A Cappella group before Skorton declared the games officially open.

The lines of residents then proceeded behind their official floor flags to the first event: beach volleyball on the sand courts next to Dickson Hall.

"There's a lot of spirit in Donlon," said Harvey Williams, HumEc '09, a resident adviser in Donlon and the "Donlon Games commissioner." He noted that of 450 Donlon residents, 400 ordered the games' T-shirts. The games will continue for the next four weeks as the floors battle it out in Ultimate Frisbee, field day events, bowling and dodgeball.