Teams across Student and Campus Life are banding together to rethink the social calendar at Cornell, giving students more times and places in which to make connections. 

They are planning events, seeking feedback from students and evaluating ways to add new social spaces to campus. One initiative, Big Red Nights, is looking at ways to give students more social outlets from 8 p.m. to 2 a.m. on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays. 

They include a students-only DJ battle on Friday, Nov. 13, where six student DJs will perform 25-minute sets in the All Hands On Deck Boiler Room competition. The winner will open for rapper Ty Dolla $ign when he performs the next night in Barton Hall. 

Campus Activities teamed up with the student groups Slope Day Programming Board, Cornell Interfraternity Council, Cornell Concert Commission and Multicultural Community Fueled Activity Board to quickly plan the two-night event. 

“There is already a lot of programming from offices and departments and student organizations,” said Kyle Ziarko, associate director of Campus Activities for Student and Campus Life (SCL). “But there hasn’t really been a structured, intentional effort to collect a series of events where a student could think, ‘Oh, I’m bored’ on a Friday night, pull up this late-night programming calendar and see that there’s always something happening, whether it’s a concert or a student dance performance or a build-a-bear event at Willard Straight Hall.” 

Along with Alyssa Talvi, associate director of the Tatkon Center for New Students, Ziarko serves as co-chair of a newly formed working group of SCL staff members who are leading the Big Red Nights initiative to identify and fill gaps in the social calendar, and to collect and promote existing activities. 

On Halloween weekend, Big Red Nights events attracted hundreds of students, including parties in Willard Straight Hall and a Halloween Chimes concert. A shuttle bus transported 1,300 riders to and from campus. Since then, SCL teams have planned late-night rock climbing sessions at the Lindseth Climbing Center and an open skate at Lynah Rink that filled to capacity with 200 skaters. 

“Part of our task right now is to find opportunities to enhance the student experience and fill in these gaps like the students very clearly need,” Ziarko said. 

Student programming boards have been stepping up to plan events that go beyond their usual schedules, he said. “But we know that the burden to fill every pocket of programming can’t fall exclusively on our students.” 

Riya Patil ’28, vice president of finance for the Student Programming Council and a human biology, health and society major in Cornell Human Ecology, said the council is actively figuring out ways to bring more fun, diverse events to campus, with partnership from SCL staff members. 

“As student programmers, we can only do so much while balancing classes and other extracurriculars,” she said. “Having this extra support and programming helps us reach our goal of keeping Cornell feeling close.” 

Student feedback will be central to shaping future programming. SCL sent out a survey that invites students to share their thoughts on the types of experiences they would like to see on campus, and student programming groups will remain important collaborators, Ziarko said. 

Moving forward, the Big Red Nights working group plans to explore collaborations with places like the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art and the Cornell Botanic Gardens. 

“This is a really great opportunity for us to centralize a little bit and bridge some of the gaps in our decentralized campus,” Talvi said. “There are a lot of natural opportunities for us to also have cross-campus collaborations.” 

Karli Buday, director of Campus Activities, said off-campus collaborations are likely, too. 

“Students still want to be off campus and feel a little bit of independence,” she said, “so I think there’s definitely going to be some creative partnerships that we’re going to be able to figure out downtown and within the larger Ithaca community.” 

When students feel connected to one another and to the campus community, they are better positioned to learn, grow and succeed, Buday said. 

“We’re proud of Cornell’s rich history of fostering student connection and community,” she said, “and we’re excited to build on that foundation in new and meaningful ways that meet today’s students where they are and create opportunities for every student to find their place and make the most of their Cornell experience.”