Unsurprising News: Pike To Be Shut Down

2 05 2010

As many expected, Pi Kappa Alpha will be shut down by the university. After an undetermined length of time, they will be able to reapply for recognition by the university. Considering they have a very expansive and influential alumni organization, expect that to take only a year minimum, until the last current members are graduated at the latest (which would be summer 2012). Still, sucks to be associated with Pike right now.

Then again, it isn’t a good idea to be associated with Alpha Delt right now either. Especially in an age where “tips” can get you a page on the Huffington Post for hazing pledges. I doubt Alpha Delt will receive much of a punishment though. When your alumni include John Dyson ’65 (for whom a number of scholarship and part of Mann Library are named), Kent Hubbell ’67 (Dean of Students), and Knight A. Kiplinger ’69, you’re pretty well assured that punishment will be a figurative slap on the wrist.


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The Cornell Convention Center

29 04 2010

While doing research recently, I came across this an old article promoting the proposal for a campus convention center.

The images and article are from a November 1966 issue of the “Cornell Countryman”, which was a monthly magazine published by the old Agriculture school (now CALS).

The proposal (which was never approved), was located off of Jessup Road where the townhouses are located today. It called for a 125,000 sq ft facility complete with break-out rooms, a banquet facility and larger meeting spaces. The expected cost was around $5 million in 1966 dollars. The proposal also suggested the extension and rerouting of Jessup Road to either/or Rte 13 and 366.

In the article, it mentions proposed dorms nearby. This would be in reference to the highrises and lowrises, as well as RPU, which were built in the early and mid 1970s.


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A Critique of Cornell’s Constructions

20 04 2010

For an architecture junkie like myself, Munier Salem’s column in the Sun today was a must-read. The article briefly went over the previous eras of architecture of Cornell’s campus, and then zeroes in on the Arts Quad and the perceived blight that Milstein Hall will bring to this part of campus.

Not that I disagree. Well before I started this blog I can remember a long discussion about campus architecture Munier and I had in Cascadilla Hall. Munier has never hidden an opinion that almost anything built after 1955 has been either par for the  course or an eyesore. That being said, the architecture of Cornell buildings could be said to be distinctly to the taste of the time period. As Munier pointed out, Romanesque and Collegiate Gothic dominated Cornell’s first 75 or so years, followed by the rapid rise of modernism, in part because it was now en vogue, in part because it was cheap. The U-Halls were the  sign of things to come (inversely, Teagle Hall could probably be considered the last of the Collegiate Gothic era, as both the U-Halls and Teagle were constructed in the early 1950s). They certainly weren’t attractive, but they weren’t ugly. They were  utilitarian, like the Old Stone Row, but with ninety years of technological advancement, design trends and expectations of medicority to fall back on.

Don’t get me wrong, Old Noyes, seen on the left of this photo, was a brutalist piece of crap. But it wasn’t built until 1967. Olin Lab was famed for mediocrity (found elsewhere on this blog). Bradfield grows on you at best, and gives you cataracts at its worst. They were built to the style of the times and on tight budgets, ornamentation and “fine” taste be damned. Much of it has aged terribly, as dated as vinyl clothes.

Today, as Munier also pointed out, we live in the era of postmodernism, which at least attempts to blend the taste of older structures with newer engineering and materials.  Done right, this turns out to be typical “cake” architecture that, while not anything to write home about, also avoids being offensive. If done really well, such as Princeton’s new Whitman College, it can look as good as the old Gothic (although one could argue about craftsmanship).

However, that being said, we live in an era of “Starchitects”. where a name carries more weight than a building. I. M. Pei, Cesar Pelli, Robert A. M. Stern, Sir Norman Foster, Kenzo Tange, the A-list has at least a few dozen architects who could churn out steaming piles and yet because their name is attached to it, it wins renown. Here’s where Rem Koolhaas come into the picture. Designing a building for an architecture school carries with it the expectation of being edgy, avant-garde. So of course, to varying degrees of distaste we have had three edgy designs for Milstein Hall by Steven Holl, Barkow Leibinger and Associates, and Koolhaas. Koolhaas only wins in my book for being boring and unimpressive, versus downright ugly for the other two.

Is it a good practice to let Starchitects have free reign? Probably not. The name has power now, but who now remembers Gordon Bunshaft or Minoru Yamasaki? One designed Lever House in New York City, which hearalded the rise of glass boxes; the other designed the old World Trade Center in New York. It would seem the weight of a name decreases with time. Some people feel that the power of Gothic structures can do wonders for a school’s reputation.

I dunno if there’s any truth in that. But if it is, can we please hire this firm?


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The Keyword Bar VII

7 04 2010

It’s actually been a while since I have one of the keyword entries. Part of it has been because I’m been busy with grad school and trying to figure out where I want to spend the next few years of my life. The decision gets easier when half the schools that accept you tell you they have can’t give a funding offer, but I guess that’s how it goes. The rest of my life is sapped away by my now-completed thesis and trying the visit the schools that won’t force me to pay out-of-pocket. Anyways…

1. “ithaca craigslist” (4-6-10)

Okay, so not exactly a query as much as it was a link. Someone posted something on Craigslist about downtown Ithaca construction projects,  and they linked here, which led a few readers here. Pretty harmless compared to some of the things you find on Craigslist (i.e. disturbing fetishes). The only time I myself have ever used Criaglist was when my housemates and I bought a bunk bed so two people could share the largest bedroom. Guy drove the bed frame out from Cortland in the bed of a pickup truck with no extra charge.

2. “what are coed greek houses called” (4-4-10)

Fraternities. Actually, some sororities, such as Kappa Alpha Theta, are also technically fraternities by name. In a nutshell, not all fraternities are all male, but all sororities are all female. Some overstep the confusion by calling themselves “societies” or by vaguely referring to themselves as “organizations”.

3. “eleusis water view” (4-5-10)

Probably not. Eleusis was based out of a house at 313 Wait Avenue. The number of houses already in the area by the 1910s, combined with at least some sporadic tress (the area was relatively barren compared to today) would’ve meant that with maybe the slight exception of the rooftop offering hindered views of Beebe Lake pre-Balch Hall, there were no water views from Eleusis.

4. “highest wind speed ever reported buffalo” (4-3-10)

According to the 2009 World Almanac, the highest wind speed is 91 MPH, but in a typical year the highest wind speed is normally around 50 MPH.

5. “physical sciences building cornell” (4-2-10)

Coming along nicely. Seems to be on time for its October dedication.

6. “green cafe ithaca shutdown” (4-1-10)

Kinda funny how that turned out. It took them well over a year to renovate the old bank building on the SW corner of College and Dryden, and they were only open for a year. I went there on a date once. It was nothing special, although food-by-the-pound was an interesting take on dining out. I s’pose that one of the reasons they applied for a liquor license a few months back was to try and drum up business, but it didn’t work as well as hoped.

7. “aem vs engineering cornell” (4-1-10)

About as similar as chalk is to cheese. One is difficult, frustrating and has a low average GPA. The other isn’t. ORIE (Operations Reserach and Information Engineering) is sometimes described as a blend of the two.

8. “sage chapel hours” (4-2-10)

To be honest, I’m not sure. I want to say it opens at 8 AM and is closed by 8 PM, but I’m not positive. Perhaps someone who reads this blog has the answer to that question.


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Fencing in a Problem?

30 03 2010

For anyone (like myself) who was away for break, returning to campus brought with it an unpleasant surprise; the installment of large “temporary” fences along several of the campus bridges over the gorge. The Triphammer Foot Bridge is closed until May 26th. Stewart Avenue has no fences yet, but Cornell and the city of Ithaca are in talks on how and when to install them.

The logic to support such a move isn’t hard to figure out. It’s a very visual gesture that makes it look like Cornell is attempting the address the recent series of gorge deaths. In other places, fence installment has significantly curtailed bridge jumping, such as the Prince Edward Viaduct in Toronto. But still, it’s really unfortunate that this is what things have become, due to the recent tragedies.

I don’t like it. But apart from installing nets or filling in the gorges, there’s not much else that can be done. This is going to look really bad during Cornell Days, and for Alumni Reunion if they’re still up in June.


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Please Just Let It Stop

13 03 2010

http://www.theithacajournal.com/article/20100312/NEWS01/3120386/1126/news/Nightfall+delays+Ithaca+search+for+body

***

ITHACA — Emergency personnel temporarily suspended the search for a body in Fall Creek on Friday evening.

A driver on Stewart Avenue saw a person drop from Suspension Bridge into Fall Creek gorge about 3:45 p.m. Friday, Ithaca police said. Ithaca police, Cornell Police officers and Ithaca firefighters tracked the body as it traveled downstream toward Stewart Park, and a helicopter joined the search, they added.

Firefighters launched an inflatable boat and searched Fall Creek from its mouth at Cayuga Lake to where the Route 13 bridge crosses it, Ithaca fire officials said. Their part of the search operation was suspended because of darkness, they added.

Efforts to recover the body were unsuccessful because it “frequently disappeared from view,” police officials said. Though they may have identified the person, information was being withheld until they recover the body, confirm the identity and notify the next of kin, they added.

The search may resume today, fire officials said.

Meanwhile, a body recovered in Fall Creek gorge under the Thurston Avenue Bridge on Thursday was identified as Cornell University student William Anthony Sinclair, 19, of Chevy Chase, Md., Cornell officials said. A utility crew working on the underside of the bridge saw Sinclair’s body sometime after 11 a.m., Ithaca police officials said.

Ithaca police, Cornell University Police, Ithaca firefighters and Bangs Ambulance personnel responded to the scene, police said. Using a rope system, four Ithaca firefighters descended to the north embankment and recovered Sinclair’s body. Cornell Transportation Services and Cornell Environmental Health Services assisted at the scene.

Sinclair was a sophomore in the College of Engineering, and Ithaca police and Cornell Police were investigating his death, Cornell officials said.

“On behalf of the entire Cornell community, I wish to convey my heartfelt condolences to the family of our student, William Sinclair, and to his many friends who will always carry the memory of happier times in their hearts,” said Cornell President David Skorton. “Please join me in keeping them foremost in your thoughts in the days ahead, as we mourn this tragic loss of life.”

They wouldn’t be able to comment until the investigation is complete, Skorton said.

Further information on Sinclair, along with information on counseling and psychological services can be found at http://www.cornell.edu/statements/2010/20100311-william-sinclair.cfm

***

David J. Skorton
show details 12:11 am (1 day ago)

Dear fellow Cornellian,

It is with deep sorrow that I write to you regarding another death that has occurred in our campus community. Matthew Charles Zika, a junior in the College of Engineering, died this afternoon. While the cause of this tragedy is still under investigation by the Ithaca Police Department, I join all of you in grieving deeply this and the other losses we have experienced together so very recently.

I have asked Susan Murphy, Vice President for Student and Academic Services, to take charge in reaching out to the entire Cornell community, and to do a welfare check throughout the university’s residential community this weekend. She has already arranged for Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) to be open for students, faculty and staff, Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Vice President Murphy and her colleagues will be communicating in the days ahead to all of us. Please feel free to respond to her with your concerns or ideas.

As a doctor, teacher and father, I, too want to reach out personally to each one of you – especially our students. I want you to know that it is normal to feel sad or anxious at times, particularly when such tragedies occur. Roommate conflicts, relationship problems, financial challenges and especially academic stress are just some of the pressures that can make us think that things are too difficult.  Your well being is the foundation on which your success is built.  You are not alone. Your friends, your family, your teachers, your colleagues, and an array of counselors and advisors are ready to listen and help you through whatever you are facing. If you learn anything at Cornell, please learn to ask for help. It is a sign of wisdom and strength.

Cornell is a caring community where the struggles of one of us is a concern for all of us.  You can help by checking in with your classmates, roommates, colleagues and friends to make sure they are well. It is important to take the time, regularly, to reflect on the many things for which we are grateful and on how best to overcome, together, the daily challenges we must face.  This is the time to be with and for one another.

Sincerely,

David J. Skorton

***

Eleventh undergraduate student fatality for the year, twelfth total. Third fatality in a month that involved the gorges. Police and security are currently being stationed on all the bridges to prevent further incidents.

Sincerely, please just let it stop. If these are suicides, nothing is worth doing this over.


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A Bad Year Keeps Getting Worse

11 03 2010

*****************************

This message has been delivered to all users of the Cornell University
electronic mail system.  Do NOT forward this message to individuals or
mailing lists within Cornell.  You cannot be removed from the
distribution. (Sent to postoffice #10.)

**********************************************************************

———————————————————————-
University announcement on body found in Fall Creek Gorge
———————————————————————-

Fellow Cornellians,

I am sorry to have to inform you that another tragedy has occurred on our campus.  A body has been recovered from the Fall Creek gorge near the Thurston Avenue bridge.  The Ithaca police department is investigating the matter.  As soon as we have additional information we will share it with the community.

Counseling and support services are available to all members of the Cornell community.  If you have concerns about your health or the well being of a fellow Cornellian, please contact Gannett Health Services by phone 24/7 (607-255-5155).  Students can reach Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) on campus by calling that same number.  The Faculty and Staff Assistance Program (FSAP) is available 24/7 by calling 800-327-2255 and selecting option 1.  For Cornell United Religious Work (CURW), call 255-4214.

Tommy Bruce
Vice President for University Communications

This information posted: 2010-03-11 13:22:39 -0500

******************************

David J. Skorton
show details 8:42 PM

Dear fellow Cornellians,

This morning we learned with deep sadness that we have lost a member of our community whose body was found in the Fall Creek gorge. I am saddened, as I know you are, that another life with unfulfilled promise has been lost.

On behalf of the entire Cornell community, I wish to convey my heartfelt condolences to the family of our student, William Sinclair, a sophomore in the College of Engineering, and to his many friends who will always carry the memory of happier times in their hearts.  Please join me in keeping them foremost in your thoughts in the days ahead as we mourn this tragic loss of life. For understandable reasons, and out of deference to the family, you will understand that we will not be able to comment on the circumstances of this tragedy until the investigation has been completed by the Ithaca Police Department.

I do want to acknowledge the toll we all may be experiencing from repeated losses already this year.  I sincerely hope that you will join me in reaching out to your classmates, roommates, colleagues and friends to cherish the memories you have of those who have departed us, and to renew your commitment to each other. It is important to take the time, regularly, to reflect on the many things for which we should be grateful and on how best to overcome, together, the daily challenges we must face.

[…]

***

The Cornell Sun continues to provide updates about the body recovered from the bottom of the Fall Creek gorge here. It would seem this body was retrieved not too far from where Bradley Ginsburg ’13’s body was found last month.

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The Rush Week PR Disaster

24 01 2010

Pike being booted is bad enough. But it looks like sororities haven’t been able to avoid trouble either.

If anyone has read Ivygate or the Huffington Post lately, apparently Pi Beta Phi’s dress manual for sisters during rush week was leaked, substantiating just about every single embarrassing sorority stereotype known to man. Not that everyone didn’t know there was a dress code, but the shallowness of it all really echoes with the sister who wrote the six-page guide. It’s not something that Pi Phi will get in trouble for since they didn’t do anything wrong, but it’s an embarrassment and a public relations debacle.

Watch out for those dress checks, ladies.

Speaking of which, this puts Greek Life at Cornell in an unpleasant situation. We have Pike and Pi Phi caught committing activities that portray the darker side of Greek Life by exposing some of the excessive drinking and superficiality, the kind that anti-Greek zealots thrive off of.  I know I made the joke a couple of entries ago about how I hope my fraternity sends no one to the hospital during rush week, but this is ridiculous. The goal of recruitment is to invite those interested into Greek chapters, not embarrass ourselves in a stereotypical shit-show that will have repercussions through the system. The reputation of the greek system at Cornell has taken a major hit this week, and Panhel and the IFC need to something, now. Advertising the high points of Greek Life in Sun Articles and OFSA publications is only a small part of the answer. Open and extended discussion of these events will be required at the meetings of the respective councils, and ways to improve upon it. Even if they don’t (which I’m being honest here, and know that things won’t really change), it will offer some good PR.

I know that some of the comments I’ve seen on facebook and other sites question the harshness of immediately stopping Pi Kappa Alpha’s recruitment and kicking them off campus. Let’s be frank – they deserved it. Yes, they sought the freshmen medical attention. Congratulations, by not letting them die they just avoided persecution under NYS law. However, the brothers still let it happen in the first place. Did not monitor the situation, did not prevent the freshmen from drinking to the point of poisoning, did nothing until their lives were actually in danger. The freshmen were stupid, but regardless of that the brothers should have been smart and prevented the situation from occurring. But they didn’t. They deserve every punishment that Cornell, the IFC, their national org, their alumni and anyone else delivers upon them.


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Money and Morons

13 01 2010

So, I’ll be on a little hiatus for the next several days as I will be attending a conference, but I figured I’d share two conversations I had recently.

The first was with a friend of mine whose job involves educating student athletes on how to conduct phone fundraising. I asked her how they were doing.

“Well, they only have like a couple days each to do it, but ladies hockey is only a thousand dollars from their goal so they’ll probably make it. The guys team wouldn’t have come close to their goal if some guy didn’t pledge $15,000.”

“Wait, someone pledged a $15,000 donation over the phone?”

“Yeah, I think it was one of the largest single donations the phoneathon has ever received.”

EDIT: The best part was when I found out this evening from that same person that the men’s hockey team raised over $55,000 in two days. Of course, half of them became ill, but still, that’s a lot of money.

Someone definitely has some money to give away this recession. It could be that he really likes Cornell men’s hockey, or in light of recent news, he could be trying to buy someone’s enrollment.

Conversation number two was with a friend who is a member of an IFC fraternity. I asked if he was looking forward to rush.

Eh, whatever happens happens. We have a few guys we know are coming back for us, but we’ll see how it goes. It doesn’t help that one of our sophomore guys got drunk and punched this one freshman in the face because he thought he was annoying.”

On that note, physcical assault of freshmen is not the best way to recruit. Like last year, I’m keeping my fingers crossed that I don’t come back to find out someone set my fraternity’s house on fire or sent rushees to the hospital.


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An Employee’s Revenge?

12 01 2010

Truth or fiction?

http://www.theithacajournal.com/article/20100111/NEWS01/1110344/Former-employee-accuses-Cornell-University-of-unfair-admissions-practices

A former Cornell University employee threatened to reveal unfair admissions practices in an attempt to settle a personal lawsuit regarding overtime, Cornell officials allege.

Eldred Harris, a former reunion campaign officer in the Alumni Affairs and Development Office, is suing the university for $30,000 in overtime fees. Cornell officials allege in court documents that Harris said he had information about a supposed university admissions practice in which mediocre students were offered placement in return for large donations, and threatened in March 2008 to reveal it if a settlement was not reached.

Harris’ lawyer, Edward Kopko, said the matter of Cornell’s admissions practices is not related to the overtime issue and the university is using it to obfuscate the matter.

“We are only concerned with (the Fair Labor Standards Law) and labor law,” Kopko said. “The case has nothing to do with the distractions that were raised by Cornell pertaining to admissions. I assume Cornell is doing it to undermine Mr. Harris, but it actually has nothing to do with this case.”

Associate Vice President for Alumni Affairs and Development Richard Banks said in an affidavit in the case that Harris’ then-lawyer, Seth Peacock, wrote to Cornell Vice President for Human Resources Mary Opperman on March 12, 2008, outlining Harris’ grievances, which included being terminated for persistently pushing the AA&D office to address what he termed “neglect and under-investment (of) Cornell’s diverse constituents,” and giving a deadline for reaching a settlement regarding the overtime fees.

“To highlight one of many of Mr. Harris’s significant concerns, I have included three disturbing e-mails with this letter,” Banks quoted Peacock’s letter as saying. “They illustrate quite clearly that for majority donors, there is a threshold gift level that impacts admission decisions despite all of the lofty protestations to the contrary. The first sets forth the price of admission to Cornell; the second, if the price is paid even a mediocre student will be admitted. Both students were admitted to Cornell.”

A third e-mail is from an African-American alumnus who was complaining of his daughter’s rejection from Cornell despite what he regarded as her “clear qualifications and his giving potential.” According to Banks’ affidavit, Harris asserted in Peacock’s letter to Opperman that this alumnus is still not tracked by the AA&D office. Harris’ complaint in Tompkins County Supreme Court includes several e-mails between him and his supervisors at Cornell, but does not include the e-mails mentioned in the quoted letter to Opperman.

Quantcast

Peacock’s letter, as quoted by Banks, goes on to say that the issue of equitable access to higher education is one to which Harris is “highly sensitive” as an African-American Cornell alumnus, and that Harris is “prepared to forward all one hundred plus messages to … the New York Attorney General’s Office, numerous media outlets and most importantly he is ready to share these messages with Cornell’s twenty-five thousand or so Asian, African-American, and Latino alumni of which I (Peacock) am one.”

University Counsel Wendy Tarlow responded to Peacock March 13, 2008: “Please be advised that the use of confidential University documents by your client violates the confidentiality agreement that he signed while employed at Cornell. Your threat to use these documents also appears to constitute extortion under New York law. Moreover, your own actions in writing the letter dated March 12, 2008 (to Mary Opperman) appear to violate the New York Code of Professional Responsibility.”

Tarlow gave a deadline for the documents to be returned to Cornell by the next day.

Banks and Harris did not return calls regarding the case. A spokesman for Cornell’s press relations office said she could not comment on the case since it is still in litigation, and that she was not aware of practices within Alumni Affairs and Development. Harris is a member of the Ithaca City School District Board of Education.

Kopko said the matter of Cornell’s admissions process and Harris’ exchange with the university regarding the e-mails have nothing to do with the case Harris has brought against Cornell and are an intentional distraction Cornell has “injected into the case.”

“The issue in the case is simply overtime,” Kopko said. “It is a (Fair Labor Standards Act) overtime and labor claim. … When you read the documentary evidence, they are trying to distract the court from the fact that this is a labor law issue by referring to the circumstances surrounding (Harris’) separation from Cornell.”

Cornell filed a motion to dismiss the case Dec. 18.

***

Well, if there’s any truth to the allegations, then I guess Sandy Weill’s grandkids will have no problem getting into Cornell.


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