Ithacating in Cornell Heights

 

Yeah, I’ve been lax about updating lately. I have some things in queue, but I also have research going on, so things are a little hectic. Naturally I’m turning to my favorite cop-out of fielding responses to some of the search entries that have led people to the entries in this blog.

1. “alpha gamma cornell” (9/5/09)

This could be in reference to a fraternity or defunct sorority that the individual failed to incluse the whole name of, or it could be a reference to the research report “Hazed and Confused” by Adam Zwecker [1]. In Zwecker’s report of hazing within the Greek system of Cornell, he uses the psuedonym “Alpha Gamma (Phi)” in reference to a house that he was pledging that committed a series of hazing violations in flagrant disregard of system and campus policies. Rumor mill tends to associate the psuedonym with two or three different houses, and the actual house was reported to have been reorganized after the report to remove such dangerous activities.  I’ve heard the report used more than once as a reason why Cornell students avoid becoming part of the Greek system, which is unfortunate but I can definitely see the reasoning behind their decision.

2. “tke blackballed from lehigh” (9/4/09)

This one is interesting not because of who it deals with, but the term “blackballing”.  According to the fountain of information that is Wikipedia [2], blackballing is a rejection technique used in elections to decline membership in fraternities and gentlemen’s clubs. Typically, in Greek orgainzations, some method similar to blackballing or dinging is used to decline membership to potentially undesirable candidates. The name hails from the black balls used to signify opposition in elections in the fraternal orders of days long past.

Since the IFC at Cornell has made use in the recent past of an electronic system to keep in track of rushees visiting houses during Rush Week, and that the site includes the capability to record comments on these individuals submitted by houses, a person could be blackballed not just from a house, but from most/all Cornell fraternities if the comments are strongly negative. I imagine that would take an outstanding showing of stupidity.

3. “ithaca cornell share frat scene” (9/3/09)

I’m going to take this as a a question regarding whether Ithaca College and Cornell have uniform membership in greek houses. The answer is no for IFC and PanHel. Ithaca College banned Greek Life in 1980, and while there may be some underground groups, they operate separately from Cornell chapters. However, MGLC has found a way around this by creating “citywide chapters” which draw members from multiple colleges in the same geographic area. I’m aware of at least one MGLC sorority that has roughly half of its members from Cornell and half from Ithaca College. The legitimacy of these organizations with regards to Cornell’s greek affairs alone is debatable, but since most MGLC organizations are quite small, it probably doesn’t come up very often.

4. “three side dormitory cornell”  (8/30/09)

Donlon, but technically not correct, since it actually has six exterior sides. It’s just that the three curved sides are much more prominent.

 

Photo Courtesy of Cornell Facilities

Mary Donlon Hall was completed in 1961 as an all women’s dormitory, the last of the all women’s to be built on north campus before it went co-ed [3]. Mary Donlon Alger (class of 1915) was a prominent federal judge who served on the Board of Trustees for 29 years [4].

5.  “maximum building height town of ithaca”

Really depends on the zoning, but most residential zoning only allows a maximum height of 36 feet before a zoning variance is required. The two current projects beofre the board fall below that though; a 106-unit townhouse development by Holochuck Homes off of Route 96, and a 13-unit housing development called Cleveland Estates that will be south of Ithaca College off of Danby Road. The townhouse units might see some trouble because of traffic concerns and opposition to what the West Hill community feels would be an increase in crime if the housing is “affordable” (believe it or not, this is a leigitimate concern. The 128-unit Overlook at West Hill development has been plagued with what neighborhood residents feel are unreasonably high crime rates [5]). The town is looking into a moratorium on West Hill, which would effectively kill the proposal.

According to the West Hill Civic Association, this is the list of proposed and potentially developable properties that are under study:

1. Carrowmoor, 400 units, commercial space

2. Conifer (Linderman Builders), 100 more units (this is in addition to the 180 or so units already in place)

3. Holochuck Development, 106 units near hospital

4. Cornell Parcels, 33 acres off Trumansburg road

–Assisted care interested, 50 units of senior housing, (probably similar to Alterra)

–nothing formal before town

5. Land that can be developed, nothing set yet, Medical Center parcel

Tompkins County

6. Property off Bundy Rd. (67 acres)

7. Perry Farm (60 acres)

8.Kaderli Trade Inc. (100 acres)

***

[1]http://www.ilr.cornell.edu/smithers/docs/hazed_and_confused.pdf

[2]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackballing

[3]http://www.fs.cornell.edu/fs/facinfo/fs_facilinfo.cfm?facil_cd=3026

[4]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Donlon_Alger

[5]http://www.theithacajournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090808/NEWS01/908080343