Cornell Review XXIX #5

The Cornell Review The Conservative Voice on Campus

Vol. XXIX, No. V

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Do Not Apologize.”

November 18th, 2010 Crime alert

Ujamaa “Unity Hour” Talks Prison, Race Relations with Convicted Murderer Oliver Renick Executive Editor

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t the Ujamaa Program House, Black Students United’s Sunday evening ‘Unity Hour’ has the mission statement to ‘promote lively and educational discussions.’ During a Unity Hour meeting last month, this lively discussion featured Eddie Conway as the event’s keynote speaker, who led a forum on the U.S. justice system and political prisoners.

Marshall “Eddie Conway,” ex-Minister of Defense of the Baltimore chapter of the Black Panther Party, was arrested in 1970 for the murder of Baltimore Police officer Donald Sager. After responding to a domestic disturbance call, Officer Sager and another policeman were sitting in their patrol car when they were met with heavy gunfire. Donald

INSIDE:

Sager was shot in the head and died in his seat. Shortly thereafter, Conway was convicted of Sager’s murder.

Forty years later, on October 24, Conway was invited by Black Students United and the Ujamaa Program House to speak to a crowd of about thirty students. Over a telephone conference call from Jessup Correctional Institution, Conway spoke about the problems prisoners face in jail, and the impact the United States justice system has on the African-American community.

Conway, who identified himself as a ‘political prisoner,’ was introduced to the crowd of students as just that. Conway’s murder conviction was mentioned to the students, but his case and his life as a Black Panther was not the main topic of discussion.

Editorial The Program Houses: a tendency to support convicts

Page 4 Student political leaders discuss the Republican victories

“The position of Black Students United is we support the case of Eddie Conway, we didn’t need to take a political stance [in the discussion],” the Co-Chair of Black Students United told The Review. “I think it was a well rounded discussion of prisons, and who better to have to speak on that than a prisoner?"

Along with Prof. Margaret Washington, Prof. Mary Katzenstein, and former Ujamaa Residence Hall Director Kenneth Glover, Conway instead discussed how the American justice and prison systems have historically marginalized the Black male and targeted African-Americans. His role as a self-proclaimed political prisoner was used to emphasize this point.

Continued on page 2 Page 10 Obama deficit commission releases report

Paulson Stresses Role of Government Policies in 2008 Financial Crisis Dennis Shiraev Editor-in-Chief

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n Wednesday, November 11, former Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson spoke to a packed auditorium in Bailey Hall as part of the annual Hatfield Address speaker series.

A Cornell administrator from University Communications was quick to set the tone for the talk, reminding students repeatedly about the importance of respecting the speaker’s remarks, regardless of students’ opinions of the speaker’s viewpoints.

But anyone expecting an Ann Coulter-style pie-throwing-fest was quickly disappointed. The few students who did ask questions hardly challenged the former Treasury Secretary, and while Paulson provided many unique insights into his role during the financial crisis, he stopped short of making any comments on the current policies of the Federal Reserve or the Treasury.

President Skorton began the conversation by asking Paulson what prompted him to accept the position of Treasury Secretary in 2006. Paulson

said that while he was initially hesitant because his family didn’t want him to take the job, he eventually decided that he didn’t want to look back in five or ten years and realize that he had turned down an opportunity to serve his country.

As the discussion shifted to the financial crisis of 2008, Skorton asked how it was possible that so few people saw or acknowledged the systematic flaws in the financial system leading up to the crisis. Paulson admitted that while many saw the excesses of

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Leggo my Aquafina

A New Mandate

Get Happy

Green Gestapo attempts to kill $500,000 in CU revenue

Devine's hardhitting, allencompassing, postelection analysis

Cornell community seeks strategies to improve mental health

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Blog page Hotel professor calls into question 'right to yawn'

Continued on page 5 Page 10

Olbermann's disappearing act Everyone's favorite CALS graduate remains on the air

----------Lack of inspiration at forcible touching forum ----------Joseph Bonica News Editor

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or the past few weeks, a familiar e-mail has graced the inboxes of Cornell students and faculty across campus. These “crime alert” emails from the CUPD detailed incidents of “forcible touching”, and in some cases mugging, of innocent female students in the late-night hour. In response to this sudden rise of sexual violations, a community forum was called to discuss the origins of the problem and find ways to deal with it. In his opening remarks, Dean Kent Hubbell called the incidents “emblematic of a larger situation” that needed to be dealt with.

When the floor was opened up to the attendees in the beginning to voice concerns, one female graduate student voiced serious concern for her safety as the reason she attended. According to the Vice President of Cornell Minds Matter, the forcible touching incidents bring a constant lack of safety, which he called “a constant stressor, and we don’t need any extra stress as Cornell students.” In general, there was a feeling of uneasiness among all of the present Cornellians, and a general desire for some closure. Sadly, although the point of the forum was to suggest ideas that would provide closure, the opportunity seemed wasted, and very few solid ideas were suggested.

The longest part of the forum was a small group discussion, in which the people sitting at their tables would discuss among themselves solutions to the problem. While everyone at my table proposed some ideas, the driver of the discussion was Professor Eric Cheyfitz of the American Indian Studies department, who, as a father of four daughters, had every legitimate reason to be concerned with the incidents plaguing the campus as of late. According to him, this is a “diversity issue”, and blamed the school for having no structure to talk about diversity. The Cornell culture, he claims, breeds a lack of respect for women, which facilitates these types of incidents. Therefore, he suggested, Please turn to page 8

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November 18, 2010

Campus

Green Gestapo Seizes Bottled Water William P. Wagner Staff Writer

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co-Nazis, marching under the banner of “sustainability,” are coming to take away our Aquafina.

A group called Take Back The Tap is touting trumped-up concerns over bottled water’s supposed “severe social, environmental, and economic problems,” according to their Vice President, as part of a broader campaign to restrict your personal freedom for the sake of socialism.

There are those, like myself, to whom the environmental ramifications are in fact a benefit of bottled water consumption. Screw the environment. I, for one, have resolved to resist the eco-Nazis’ imposition of absurd environmental values. Hippies condemn America for using a disproportionate amount of the world’s resources and taking more than our “fair share", the very things that make us Americans.

Consuming more oil than any other country means, quite simply, we win. We use more than China, Russia, Germany, France, and many others (combined) because we’re not Chinese, Russian, German, or French.

We’re Americans, and we didn’t become the greatest nation on God’s Earth to fret about exceeding our “fair share.” We got there by building the biggest guns, cars, houses, and Big Macs. The middle of a recession is no time to have a crisis of conscience; we need to consume, even (especially) at the environment's expense.

Continued from the front page “They spoke about how our current system is set up against minorities, in particular, against those black males,” said one student who regularly attends Unity Hour. “The argument was framed even before this prisoner called. It had been framed that this is an innocent man who was messed up by the justice system.”

The Co-Chair of Black Students United reaffirmed this perspective.

“My contention is that he is not a murderer; the evidence clearly shows he did not commit the crime.

It’s easy to see why we chose him; he’s done a lot of good work to support the guys he’s been there with,” he said. “What’s important to us is not that he’s in prison or all of that, but that’s he’s in prison as a mentor and helping [other inmates] with conflict resolution. He’s taken advantage of his time there.”

But Eddie Conway wasn’t originally planned to be the event’s main speaker. The Review has learned that the prisoner was only introduced to the schedule a week before the meeting. Originally, Professors Katzenstein and Washington were going to be the main attraction.

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I am certainly doing my part.

While perhaps the minimum means of combating the green menace would be to purchase the odd sixpack of Aquafina, I go much further.

That particular brand is, after all, bottled but a few hours away. Instead I have Evian, bottled in the Alps, flown thousands of miles to indulge my taste buds. I get positively giddy speculating about my “carbon footprint,” seeing it as something of a high score.

My dog doesn’t even deign to drink tap water, and they expect students to? I respect members of Take Back the Tap’s choice to ingest the swill that flows forth from Cayuga’s waters much as I bear those drunkards who swill Keystone light at frat parties. I would not, however, welcome the imposition of either on the student populace by an overzealous administration bowing to the demands of a small, loud group of crazy people.

Unfortunately, the Student Assembly did just this Thursday when they passed Resolution 35 amidst staunch protests from Executive Vice President Ray Mensah. The resultant increase in dining services prices to cover cost of the program will, he argues, “hurt... especially those [individuals] from disadvantaged backgrounds.” The immediate half a million dollars loss in forgone revenue will, according to Cornell Dining, be made up by increasing the cost of dining plans. Students will also be footing the bill for the millions of dollars in proposed infrastructure spending—putting in more water fountains—for a total

annual cost per person as high as $2000. There is no reason why everyone, least of all the disadvantaged, should pay to assuage a handful of privileged hippies’ environmental conscience.

Mensah went on to decry the group’s reliance on “deceptive information” in lieu of facts.

According to him, the potential efficacy of this initiative is vastly overblown: “the claim that 700,000 water bottles are consumed on campus each year... is problematic, as it does not differentiate between” bottles purchased on and off campus.

In reality, the reduction will be far less significant than claimed, greatly limiting the already dubious “benefits” of this proposal.

This was not the only misleading figure employed by the group.

In the resolution, they claim the U.S. expends 32 million gallons of oil a year producing over 50 billion bottles of water. Those are some big, intimidating numbers, right? Not really.

Of these 50 billion bottles, the resolution can, by the group’s admission, address but the (over)estimated 700,000 bottles consumed on campus.

One requires no particular aptitude for mathematics to realize the figure’s triviality. After some number crunching we see they address 0.0014% of the problem, saving 448 gallons of oil, or some 23 gallons of gasoline.

“We invited and figured out who would have a speech a week before

attended had any prior knowledge of Conway’s case.

“I was unaware they were going to call anybody in - I didn’t know anything about him previously,” said one student who attended. “Nobody there asked why he was in prison.”

Despite the abruptness of Conway’s inclusion, his talk fit in with the rest of the speakers.

“You had other organizations

“What’s important to us is not that he’s in prison or all of that, but that’s he’s in prison as a mentor and helping with conflict resolution.” the program. Conway sort of developed in the last week,” said BSU’s president.

Conway became connected to the event through the outreach of one BSU member, who was introduced to the prisoner through American Friends, an organization that promotes social equality and humanitarianism. There was no mention of the planned conference call in the emails that went out to Unity Hour members, and few students who

“He certainly wouldn’t have been my choice of speaker. ” Student at Unity Hour

there echoing the idea that our justice system is out to get blacks; you definitely felt a lot of that. They used this guy’s story to build that up,” the student said.

Despite Conway’s status as a convicted murderer, the leaders of Black Students United and Ujamaa Unity Hour encouraged his presence.

“He wasn’t somebody who just killed a policeman; there was a

Emballage Digest / Lucas Policastro

SA kills commercial staple at $500,000 cost; 23 gallons gas saved

A tank of gas. Thanks.

A tank of gas. Thanks.

William Wagner is a sophomore in the College of Arts & Sciences. He may be reached at wpw27@cornell. edu. whole story about it,” said BSU’s president.

The president explained that Conway refrained from talking about his past or about how students can improve race-relations. His talk, she explained, explored “the dynamic of the number of African-Americans he sees in the prison system, how it’s becoming a business, and about racial tension within the black community itself.”

Some students who attended, however, did not share the same affinity for Conway as the leaders of the program.

“He certainly wouldn’t have been my choice of speaker,” said the student who regularly attends Unity Hour. “While I do think they help start a dialogue on campus about important issues, I do not believe that such speakers and topics improve race relations on campus in any meaningful way.”

Oliver Renick is a junior in the College of Engineering. He may be reached at ojr5@cornell.edu.

TheCornellReview Founded 1984 r Incorporated 1986 Ann Coulter Jim Keller Jerome D. Pinn Anthony Santelli, Jr. Founders

Dennis Shiraev Editor-in-Chief

Oliver Renick

Executive Editor

Raza Hoda President

Lucas Policastro Managing Editor

Joseph Bonica News Editor

Hannah MacLean

National News Editor

Brendan P. Devine

Campus News Editor

Anthony Longo

Treasurer, News Editor

Contributors

Michael Alan Lucia Rafanelli Peter Bouris David Schatz John Farragut Chris Slijk Noah Kantro Gregory Stein Karim Lakhani Matthew Truesdail Tianye Liu William Wagner Kathleen McCaffrey Zachary Waller Alfonse Muglia Sam Pell

Board of Directors Christopher DeCenzo Joseph E. Gehring Jr. Ying Ma Anthony Santelli Jr. Faculty Advisor Michael E. Hint

meh26@cornell.edu The Cornell Review is an independent biweekly journal published by students of Cornell University for the benefit of students, faculty, administrators, and alumni of the Cornell community. The Cornell Review is a thoughtful review of campus and national politics from a broad conservative perspective. The Cornell Review, an independent student organization located at Cornell University, produced and is responsible for the content of this publication.

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Editorial

November 18, 2010

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One Year Later, Still Waiting on Program Houses A

lmost exactly one year ago, injustice then why didn’t The Cornell Review used this they invite somebody like editorial page to break a pattern, to Steven Barnes, who spoke step out from a historically estab- at the law school this year lished comfort zone. The current ed- about being exonerated itors said we like the “motivation be- after serving 20 years in hind the Program Houses,” and that prison for a crime he didn’t our own newspaper had published commit? Because he’s not an article that contributed less than extreme enough; not conOliver Renick helpful comments to improving race troversial and racially relations on campus. We received charged enough.

Executive Editor admonishment and disapproval Conway’s crime and Martin Luther King said that a from past Review editors. trial were finished decades At the same time, we condemned before any of the students attend- genuine leader is not a searcher for the use of a list-serve email by the ing Unity Hour were born – his in- consensus, but a molder of consenAkwe:kon Program House that in- troduction by the forum leaders as sus. The Cornell community will cluded a bigoted essay by a radical The Program Houses’ tendency to social activist and a link to a web- site that supported the freedom of support the causes of convicted murderers has not jailed murderers and terrorists.

The Program Houses’ tendency withered...It’s not a belief system that wishes to to support the causes of convict- examine problems objectively and realistically, it’s ed murderers has not withered.

Black Students United’s confer- one that is obsessed with justifying and rationalizence call last month with cop-kill- ing divisive behavior. er Eddie Conway during Ujamaa’s Unity Hour is a continuation of never reach a mutual respect for the closed-minded thought process a ’political prisoner’ is as subjective and understanding of differing eththat embraces only the most fringe and dishonest as any. Despite the nicities until the leaders of minorand radical beliefs. It’s not a belief fact that his crime was briefly menity and majority communities leave system that wishes to examine prob- tioned, the discussion’s objective belems objectively and realistically, it’s came clear from the reaction which their radical phases behind them. one that is obsessed with justifying it precipitated. Students who at- No more honoring of the Willard tended the event couldn’t recall Con- Straight Takeover, no more email and rationalizing divisive behavior. chains with anti-European essays, Welcoming a black man convict- way’s crime to The Review, and The and no more political discussions ed of murdering a white police of- Daily Stun, in typical goose-stepping with murderers. ficer to speak on race relations and manner, titled their coverage of the Last year we called out for the abour legal system is like inviting event ‘Political Prisoner Eddie Conway olition of fanatic ideologies on both Roman Polanski to discuss how best Speaks to Ujaama [sic].’

With this sort of misinformation sides of the spectrum and asked that to resolve the issue of sexual assault against women on campus. Or even disseminating throughout the stu- those students and administrators better, how about we invite Bernie dent body, compacted with the po- who perpetuate radicalism let their voices desist. The open hand that we extended to the residents of Ujamaa, Akwe:kon, and the administrators of the Program House system has not been met.

If Eddie Conway were released tomorrow, our stance on this topic would not change. As long as Ujamaa plays judge and jury to ‘political prisoners,’ we will stand in opposition. While we eagerly await the same hospitability from the Program Houses that we have extended to them, we do not expect it to come soon.

The events at October 24’s Unity Hour show that those who stand in opposition to The Review’s hope for tolerance are The Ujamaa Program House unwilling to abandon their own personal convictions for a more Madoff to discuss ethics in business? litically correct mentality that those welcoming campus environment.

The idea that Conway’s testimony as who challenge the minority coma ‘political prisoner’ has something munity are intolerant, how can CorOliver Renick is a junior in the Colto offer students is absurd. If the or- nellians expect to find a moderate lege of Engineering. He may be reached ganizers of this event really wanted and productive position on the race at ojr5@cornell.edu. a productive discussion about prison discussion?

The Review welcomes and encourages letters to the editor. Long, gaseous letters that seem to go on forever are best suited for publication in the Cornell Daily Sun. The Review requests that all letters to the editor be limited to 350 words. Please send all questions, comments, and concerns to thecornell.review@gmail.com.

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November 18, 2010

Campus

Student political leaders respond to the midterm election Sarah Greenberg

Lucia Rafanelli Staff Writer

Junior Editor-in-Chief OF

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he recent midterm elections drew attention and speculation nationwide, and were a particular source of excitement on Cornell’s campus. Here, some leaders of the campus political community share their reactions to the elections and their thoughts on what the results mean for the future.

Sam Ferenc

women in leadership positions was the defeat of Nancy Pelosi as the Speaker of the House. Women were already a mere 17 percent of Congress; the results of this election have caused this percentage to decline even further. The under representation of women in politics, both at the federal and state level is an unfortunate but recurrent theme. ProEditor-in-Chief OF vided the changes in leadership both at the federal and state level after the “There is a permanent conserva- elections, a big challenge for women tive voting bloc, a permanent liberal across the U.S. will be to understand voting bloc, and a group of indepen- who makes the decisions now and dents who vote based on the nation- how these decisions might (differental status quo and mood. Right now, ly) affect their lives and those of their the economy is doing somewhat families.” poorly, despite the efforts of President Obama. [On election day] Independents took out their anger about Peter Bouris the lack of economic improvement under a Democratic majority by voting for the opposite party, not because the Republicans have proposed any solutions that differ from the Democrats’ (they haven’t, aside from tax cuts for the rich), but because the Democrats’ solutions have not yet shown results with which independents are satisfied. I am confident that had John McCain been elected President and the Republicans had gained majorities in both houses in 2008, the country would have put Democratic majorities in both houses…I am also confident that were we in better ecoChairman OF THE nomic times, the Democrats would Cornell Republicans have seen a much larger majority retained in the Senate, and they may “The Republicans did so well behave kept the House as well.” cause the main concern of the elec-

Perla Parra

President of the

Institute for Public Affairs

Women in Public Policy and the Latino Graduate Student Coalition “As Congress shifted to the right with the elections of several Tea Party Republicans last Tuesday, there were heavy losses not just for the Democrats, but also for women. Nine women lost their seat[s] in the House, but the biggest loss for

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torate was the unsustainable nature of the nation's finances. While the Republicans were spendthrifts during the Bush years, the Democrats were even worse once they took power. This is why the Republicans were granted a sliver of power in [the] House. If they reduce the deficit and fulfill the mission voters had for them, they will get more in 2012.

How this will influence policy is entirely up in the air. If the old-guard of the GOP successfully tames some of the new Tea Party members, then my guess is that nothing will change and country will edge closer to bankruptcy. However, if the Tea Party members have their way, all hell may break loose in an attempt to rein in federal spending. So we will either have a perpetuation of the status-quo or the political battle of the century where the Tea Party faces everyone else (including some Republicans).”

Sees the Republicans’ electoral success as a result of poor Democratic campaigning tactics, rather than as a rebuke of liberal ideas. She advises Democratic candidates to “stop running on what [they] did not vote for” and to “discuss the issues,” such as healthcare reform. She further asserts that Democratic campaigns should be about accomplishments and should focus on recent progress the Democrats have made in addressing various issues.

Sam Moss

Cornell Democrat

Predicts that the content of national policy will not be significantly affected by the election results. This is due, in his opinion, to the continuing presence of the national debt, and the fact that the country still faces the “same fundamental problems” on many fronts that it faced pre-election.

Further, he asserts that the power gained by Republicans in the House of Representatives will be checked by a Democrat-dominated Senate.

Michael Cretz

Ray Mensah

President OF THE Cornell Libertarians

Vice President OF THE Student Assembly and a Cornell Republican “Like millions of Americans, I am very pleased with the outcome of the most recent midterm elections.

Some on the left are still scratching their heads about the election results, which they hoped would be far less severe. These individuals cannot comprehend that Americans from all walks of life, including many who supported Barack Obama during the 2008 campaign, turned against an administration and Congress that 'accomplished so much'. For me and other common sense conservatives, the outcome was not at all surprising. Indeed, when you disregard the will of the people on issues ranging from health care reform to higher taxes during a recession, people will hold you accountable at the ballot box. President Obama and the Democrats in Congress did just that. Instead of focusing on creating jobs in the private sector, they embarked on a radical agenda that threatens the American way of life as we know it.

Voters realized this and decided to give Republicans another shot at getting it right. I am hopeful that the most recent election is a step in the right direction in terms of returning this nation to a path of fiscal responsibility. Republicans have been given a second opportunity to do just that with this most recent election and they better not blow it."

“I think that the Tea Party definitely made an impact. Whereas the Republicans in recent years seemed to emphasize their social conservative values and foreign policy, this time around […] Republicans are winning primarily on fiscal responsibility; specifically spending cuts. As a libertarian, I am pleased to see that message seems to have resonated with the country. [… W]ith Democrats still wielding power, I think the Tea Party and the reinvigorated Republicans will only be able to move forward on issues [such as …] reducing taxes and spending. However, keeping in mind [that] the Democrats still control the Senate and the Executive, in the immediate term gridlock is probably going to be more the rule than the exception. […] I think that means a second stimulus package is almost guaranteed to fail, as are other possible major spending projects. With that, if newly elected Republicans and Tea Party candidates show the leadership this country needs, I think we can see some progress in regards to spending cuts. Already Ron Paul is poised to take over as chair of the subcommittee on monetary policy, something that will at the very least shed light on what actually happened with TARP and help everyone understand what the Fed has actually been doing. […] In sum, the government probably won't be doing too much over the next two years, which generally is fine by me, since an active government hardly ever seems to be a good government.”

Brendan McCauley Vice President OF THE Cornell Libertarians “In my opinion, the election results demonstrated that fiscally conservative Continued on the next page page

ILR Duo Trace the Legacy of the New Deal Alfonse Muglia Staff Writer

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he Robert R. Colbert, Sr. ’48 Lecture Hall in Ives Hall was at full capacity on the night of Monday, November 8, as members of the Industrial and Labor Relations family gathered for the annual Milton Konvitz Memorial Lecture. Professors Jefferson Cowie and Nick Salvatore of the ILR School were the event’s presenters. The duo discussed their forthcoming book titled The Long Exception: An Interpretation of the New Deal from FDR to Obama.

Continued from the previous page rhetoric can still win votes. However, the victorious Republicans' refusal to contemplate cuts in defense or entitlement spending ensures that America's fundamental budget crisis will not disappear anytime in the foreseeable future. Congress will no doubt spend the next two years in a state of salutary gridlock. To gauge the more proactive effects of the election, we must therefore look elsewhere. Particularly relevant to Cornellians will be the shift in the thinking of overwhelmingly Democratic left-wing college students that I believe will ensue. For the past two years, the archetypal college liberal has believed in an omnibenevolent government which, not coincidentally, contained a Democratic president and Democratic majorities in both houses of Congress.

By their definitions, any opposition to this government must be "conservative" and unpatriotic. I believe and hope that anti-government sentiment will once more become socially acceptable on campus now that students can blame the Republicans for the government's unpleasant actions.

If this occurs, we can expect to see a revival of the anti-war movement, a traditionally left-wing cause. Since anyone who is anti-war must to some extent be anti-government, criticism of operations in Iraq and Afghanistan during the last two years would have been seen as an attack on the Democratic Party in general and on President Obama in particular. Since this is no longer necessarily true, a resurgence in non-interventionist attitudes and other anti-government positions, such as opposition to the War on Drugs, would indicate a shift in the student body towards beliefs that are far more amenable to me in my capacity as Vice-President of the College Libertarians.”

Lucia Rafanelli is a sophomore in the College of Arts and Sciences. She can be reached at lmr93@cornell.edu.

The series of lectures was begun in 2006 in remembrance of Milton Konvitz, one of the three founders of the ILR School, who passed away in 2003.

The annual event has drawn keynote speakers over the years, including retired U.S. Supreme Court justice Sandra Day O’Connor in 2007.

This year’s lecture focused on the time period in American history from 1945 to 1968, looking at governmental policies and how they affected the ideology of the working class.

In the words of Professor Salvatore, this was a period in which government “used its resources on behalf of non-elite Americans.” During this period, the shared income of the top 1% fell, while the polarization between parties decreased.

On the other hand, America was simultaneously dumping immense resources on behalf of non-Americans in Europe and Southeast Asia.

Salvatore and Cowie chose to label this period “the long exception,” for it describes a time when everyone seemed to be on the same page – a phenomena the duo sees unlikely to happen again in the near future.

“This was truly a time of the liberal consensus,” added Cowie, quoting a paper by Godfrey Hodgson. As Salvatore summed up when interpreted the mindset of most Americans in the era, “The state has the responsibility to regulate the social power of the corporate business.”

Continued from the front page the system, very few people realized that the residential mortgage market could have the far reaching impact that it did. He also stressed the role of government policies that drove the American pattern of excessive consumption and little saving and encouraged the growth of the housing bubble.

Paulson was not shy about pointing the finger at Fannie Mae and Freddy Mac for their roles in the financial crisis. The government’s housing policies overstimulated the market for home ownership, and the issuance of sub-prime mortgage loans encouraged the growing bubble that eventually popped in 2008. Paulson pointed out that it makes no sense for Fannie Mae and Freddy Mac to operate like private businesses with private profits but an implicit guarantee of government assurance. Instead, that guarantee should be made explicit, and the two companies should have to pay for the assurance of government bailout. He was also realistic about the possibilities for reform, acknowledging that full privatization was simply not an option at this point, so instead they should be better managed like government utility companies.

When asked about the concept of “too big to fail,” Paulson pointed out that while in 1990 the top ten financial institutions made up 10% of the

The catalyst for this type of government was the Great Depression, which propelled activism by the central government. Similar circumstances would occur twenty years later when Lyndon B. Johnson’s Great Society came about “as a byproduct of JFK’s assassination,” remarked Cowie. “Still, it remained on the margins of FDR’s vision.”

By the 1980s, however, Americans were rejecting the government’s large presence in their lives throughout this period. Parties became more polarized, leading to our current political atmosphere.

In 2008, the media appeared ready for a return to New Deal politics.

“To say [Obama’s] expectations were high is an understatement,” declared Salvatore. After years of a return to limited government, the media ate up the idea of the return of a New Deal president. Cartoonists, like those at Time Magazine, portrayed the president-elect as the second coming of FDR. However, both Salvatore and Cowie spoke of the “failure of the Obama-FDR comparison,” pointing to the different political cultures.“The rhetoric of FDR’s inaugural address is unmatched in our times,” commented Cowie. “[The president] exists in his own political culture.” An example Cowie gives is how FDR seldom consulted advisers, while Obama has frequently sold-out to the advice of others.

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This acknowledgement that Obama will not be the second Roosevelt and restore America to its “liberal consensus” came in a disheartening tone. “The Democrats have shifted to

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Campus

the other guys’ playing field,” concluded Cowie.

In reaching such a conclusion, the duo expressed the need to view and interpret a president in relation to the political atmosphere in which he resides. Obama’s inability thus far to swing the nation back to the left, as evident in the midterm elections, shows just how “exceptional” and distinctive the period of the liberal consensus was.

Alfonse Muglia is a freshman in the ILR school. He can be reached at arm267@cornell.edu.

market, that figure is now close to 60%.

Paulson noted that more regulation is not the be all and end all answer to dealing with these large financial institutions— regulators can’t monitor everything or anticipate every problem that might arise. Instead, Paulson said that we need a system where every big bank, if it A relaxed Henry Paulson addresses Bailey Hall. fails, can fail in such have been trying to avoid criticizing a way that doesn’t take down the rest those who are doing the same diffiof the financial system in the process. cult job he had less than two years One way of doing this would be to ago, it is also possible that Paulson require every bank to write a kind of was keenly aware that his statements “living will” plan for liquidating all could have serious reverberations in of its assets in the event of a major financial markets. crisis.

The former Treasury Secretary The most interesting moment of ended on a positive note, praising the talk came when a student asked Cornell for its beautiful campus Paulson directly whether he thought campus and the great sense of vivacthe United States was in a liquidity ity and potential he felt amongst the trap— a situation where monetary student body. “What an interesting policy is unable to stimulate the econ- time it is to enter the workforce,” he omy. Paulson completely jumped remarked to laughter from the audiaround the question, instead talking ence. Well said, Henry. about how much respect he has for Dennis Shiraev is a junior in the Ben Bernanke and how Americans College of Arts & Sciences. He can’t expect the Chairman of the Fed to solve all of the structural problems may be reached at des255@corof the US economy. While he may nell.edu.

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November 18, 2010

Election

Old, Rich Racists Afraid of Change: or, Brendan Patrick Devine Campus News Editor

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saw their political hegemony disappear in 2006. Professor Sanders’ version of the election was echoed by many in the mainstream in anticipation of a shift in power, but this analysis hides the whole of the story. Republicans lost the mid-term election in 2006, when President Bush was in his second term. During Bush’s first mid-term election, the GOP actually gained seats. In just two years, President Obama has reached the nadir of public opinion that Bush only fell to after six.

The President’s aimless and deleterious spending habits have angered the people whose money he has wasted on unproductive measures such

Manchurian conspiracy, the Tea Party will likely dissipate into oblivion once the 2012 election is over... and, if the Left’s characterization of the Tea Party is accurate, its members can return to their Klan meetings.

The Republican win this November is unprecedented. The GOP picked up over 60 seats, a greater gain than was made in 1994 under Newt Gingrich’s “Contract with America.”

The GOP and America have made an unwritten contract, one of fiscal responsibility. This contract amounts to Like other sound doctrines, this nothing less than a full mandate to message has a diverse and dedicated desist with the undirected and rootrange of preachers. The Republican less public spending that has kept the party is going to look very different country mired in the worst financial in the coming decade after this eleccrisis in eight decades.

For those who doubt that this election is anything more than frustration with the Democrat agenda or that the Republicans merely benefited from an off-year, I leave you with the words of Barack Hussein Obama: “We won.”

Now that he is going to be Speaker, John Boehner will have to deliver something that has never really existed before: a fiscally responsible Congress. On the evening of the election, Boehner proclaimed, “the President will find in our new majority the voice of the American people as they’ve expressed it The Good Book: President Barack Obama holds up a document of Republican solutions given to him by House Minority Leader John tonight: standing on Boehner of Ohio before speaking to Republican lawmakers at the GOP House Issues Conference in Baltimore. principle, checking Washington’s power, President Obama (“We are the people as unemployment checks and plant- tion. This cycle saw dozens of black and leading the drive for a smaller, we’ve been waiting for”!) would find ing flowers on highways. While up- Republicans run for national office at less costly, and more accountable govhimself in the un-salvageable 20% wards of 80% of Tea Partiers describe a rate unseen before. The most prom- ernment.” Boehner, who grew up in range that Harry Truman fell into themselves as “very conservative,” the inent of which, Allen West (Florida) abject poverty, took a menial job in a and Tim Scott (South Carolina), fig- plastics company until he became its when he fired his commanding general during a war… oh wait, Obama ure to linger in the GOP spotlight for president. Since then, Boehner’s pohas done that, too. Washington Post years to come. The GOP also signif- litical platform has revolved around columnists and President Obama icantly expanded its Hispanic base, the dual dogmas of small-business alike attempted to spin this the same which drifted away in significant por- and fiscal responsibility. Unlike his way: “Too many Americans haven’t tions two years ago, with superstar Aesopian counterpart in the Senate, Mitch McConnell, Boehner may acfelt [enough] progress yet and they Marco Rubio’s successful Senate bid tually believe what he preaches. If told us that yesterday.” in Florida and Susanna Martinez’s Speaker Boehner follows through Spendthrift lunatic extraordinaire election to the governorship of New with his promise to defund Obamand part-time political scientist ElizMexico. All of these emerging stars acare and prevent any more governabeth Sanders opined to the coterie won on fiscally conservative tickets, ment debt, then the GOP’s momenof political junkies watching election indicating a general move towards tum may well carry over into 2012. night returns that Democratic poliwhat one commentator called “matu- All the while, President Obama is left cies may not have been given ample rity” with regards to economic policy. to wonder whether he will be able to opportunity by the voters: “In ten What is the future of the Tea Party, recover or if he is the second Jimmy years we may look back at this and that cadre of rapscallions whose pro- Carter, an impotent lameduck under say ‘we didn’t spend anywhere near testations and public dissension so whose reign we enjoyed two recesenough.’” Continuing her unabashed acutely shaped the field of candidates sions and copious inflation until a sympathies with the out-going party this election cycle? The Tea Party man of greater imagination took his of thieves, the professor perpetualgravamen of their discontent reflects members, as are most libertarians, place. ly insisted that the Democrats’ loss Brendan Patrick Devine is a junior in of the House was nearly inevi- the general reason Republicans won are mad. Stark, raving, metaphysithis past election: the gospel of fiscally mad.

Unless Glenn Beck sucthe College of Arts and Sciences. He can table, after all the Republicans cal responsibility. If the hypothesis ceeds in uncovering a deeply rooted be contacted at bpd8@cornell.edu.

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emocrats lost this election because American voters, and the Tea Party in particular, are a bigoted lot, who out of their malice for President Obama’s skin color feigned objections to Congress’s prescient spending policies and swept far right extremists into office.

Back in reality, Obamacare receives a 36% stamp of approval from the public at large. President Obama’s fiscal policies, which resemble those of an infantryman at a strip club, are met with favor by just 38% of Americans. And the Obama’s overall approval rating, which was 67% when he was immaculated inaugurated president, has slipped into the low 40s. If not for his great humility,

Why We Won the Election

Unless Glenn Beck succeeds in uncovering a deeply rooted Manchurian conspiracy, the Tea Party will likely dissipate into oblivion once the 2012 election is over.

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postulated by the left is true, then the Tea Party movement should never have existed, or rather it would never have needed to exist. Yet it did exist and continues to. Mere frustration does not explain why a major political movement was born in the United States, one comprised of people mostly over 45 years of age and wealthier than the national average. Educated, financially sound, and middle-aged do not sound like components in a mobile and vociferous demographic.

Campus

November 18, 2010

7

The Border, the Wall, and Identity

American Indians Speak on Arizona Immigration Law

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elcome to a new world in which Thanksgiving has been cancelled. It has been thrown out in favor of Thankstaking. In this world, Americans and even Canadians are now identified as members of the “settler society”, and U.S. democracy is now synonymous with “settler colonialism”.

This world exists in the minds of Dr. Margo Tamez, Michael Flores, and Dr. Alan Eladio Gómez, the three panelists at an event presented by the Cornell American Indian Program called “Arizona SB1070 and Its Impact On Native Peoples.” On Wednesday, November 3rd in a Goldwin Smith lecture hall, these three panelists presented their opinions and responses to the Arizona immigration law passed last April. This law makes it a crime to be in the state illegally and gives police the authority to inquire about a person’s immigration status during a lawful stop, detention, or arrest.

However, the panelists feel that SB1070 has already had a negative impact, even though the law has yet to be fully enforced due to a federal court injunction. Flores, a community organizer for his Tohono O’odham people, said, “If you’re there anywhere in Southern Arizona, you can see the changes that have taken place.” One such change he railed against was his observation that since the passage of the law, he has seen all the native employees disappear from local McDonald’s restaurants, and now only sees white workers staffing the restaurants. He claims this has decreased the quality of the food and service, saying, “It takes a non-Indian person ten minutes to make a Big Mac.” Flores continued by taking on the Border Patrol and Arizona law enforcement, noting that people are “getting pulled over because of the

color of [their] skin”. When this happens, he exhorts his people to identify themselves as members of an Indian nation. “They [Law Enforcement] insist on you identifying yourself as a U.S. citizen,” he noted, claiming that this constitutes “blatant racism” on the part of the law officers. Tribal membership documentation is a valid form of identification under SB1070.

He then compared the situation in Southern Arizona to that of the Palestinians in Israel, empathizing with the former by saying to the audience, “If any of you are descendants of Palestinians you know how it feels. […] It is the same—the mental attitude is the same.” He also emphasized with Mexicans illegally entering the U.S., lamenting SB1070’s clauses making it illegal to aid or assist illegal immigrants, but nevertheless claiming, “We do what we can to help the people coming through [because] they also worship the sun and the moon like us.”

Unlike Flores, Dr. Tamez, a professor of women’s and indigenous studies at the University of British Columbia, used her speaking time less to examine SB1070 than to examine her perceptions of the U.S.Mexico border. She is helping to lead an ongoing Indian resistance to what she called the “numerous kinds of destructions to our lives, our bodies, and our communities,” Dr. Tamez’s main concern is a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border that runs through the tribal lands of her Lipan Apache people, saying that these tribal lands span the border and that the wall divides them artificially.

Her response to this has been to organize her people, specifically Apache women and homosexuals, to “expose and resist the violence which the U.S.-Mexico border imposes on indigenous peoples specifically,” and to combat the threat she sees in the “homophobic tendencies” of the Border Patrol. She regards the

U.S. government and society as the historical root of most problems amongst her people, saying, “Our political, spiritual, intellectual, economic, social, and political reality is deeply defined by racist settler societies in the ongoing wars perpetrated against our bodies, families, cultures, and futures,” and that “everyone else is second-class citizens except whites.” Tamez feels that negative American influence is the root of problems ranging from persistent poverty to the decline of the Apache culture to the prevalence of “boss politics and violent masculinities”.

Tamez’s train of thought was continued by the final speaker, Dr. Alan Eladio Gómez, a professor in the School of Justice and Social Inquiry at Arizona State University. He summarized the state of American-Indian relations as “an everyday, highintensity war”. Regarding SB1070 in this context, he feels that “Arizona is a front, but this is a war with no fronts.” He proceeded to present his analysis of this “war”, decrying an American presence in the West that carries with it “conquest and killings and genocidal logic”. At the same time, he claimed, “It’s not the immigration from the South that is the problem, it’s the 200 years of migration from the Midwest that have been the problem.”

Gómez also attacked SB1070 as, “making it against the law to exist in a certain place,” and as an “attack on the 14th amendment”. Gómez’s plan to fight back in this war begins with changing the language of the debate.

“Today,” he said, “all we hear is illegal, illegal, illegal.” He wants to begin “asking questions in a new way” and believes that “we have to use a different language—more accurate language.” To do this, he would begin with education, changing the teaching of American history to display a more stark conflict between the expanding America and indigenous peoples, with the goal of exposing

the United States as a “settler society” that practices “settler colonialism” and conquest through attrition.

Dr. Tamez’s related comment on this topic was that, “attrition is really just another word for genocide and extermination.”

While speaking, the three panelists frequently charged the audience with helping to carry out their mission of preserving native culture and lands and combatting common conceptions of America. Speaking of Cornell’s role in this venture, Dr. Tamez noted, “This university is on Indian lands, first and foremost!” Dr. Gómez begged the audience to support and expand the program houses and the social movements they represent. However, while the three panelists had hoped to gain student support, the student reaction to some of their words were less than positive.

“My first response was ‘xenophobic,’” said freshman Eric Bellin about the attitudes of the speakers. He also found some of the panelists’ com-

“It takes a non-Indian person ten minutes to make a Big Mac.” ments “anti-American”. In response to Mr. Flores’s anecdote about the McDonald’s employees, Yi Zhou ’14 asked simply, “Is that a joke?” while Bellin succinctly observed, “It just sounds like racism.”

Noah Kantro is a freshman in the College of Engineering. He can be reached at nk366@cornell.edu.

© LUCAS POLICASTRO (LJP74)

Noah Kantro Staff Writer

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November 18, 2010

Campus

Students, Faculty, and Staff Touching Work to Promote Mental Health on the L

ast winter, the suicidal leaps of three Cornell students shook and saddened the campus. Students, who had strolled blithely through the academic Eden that is Ithaca, were made to confront cold reality.

Thurston Bridge, once a spot of picturesque beauty, became inevitably associated with tragedy. The administration, faculty, and student leadership all took responsibility to make sure such incidents would not happen again.

Perhaps the most visible initiative that the university has put forth is the construction of fences on all bridges overlooking the gorges. The fences, the university hopes, will cause potential suicide victims to delay their jump long enough to reconsider and get help. According to Dr. Gregory Eells, Associate Director of Gannett, there is solid research to show that “restricting lethal means” is one of the most effective methods of suicide prevention. Most of this research was done in the past few years, and it factored heavily in the administration’s decision to erect the fences.

The fences have become one of the most controversial aspects of the university’s suicide prevention campaign. In order to protest the university’s actions, an anonymous group of students plastered the fences with nametag-sized stickers reading, “Ithaca is Fences.” The slogan sought to highlight how Ithaca’s scenery has been marred by the erection of the barriers. Many students believed that these stickers were offensive to those who had lost family and friends last year.

The first stickers have now been replaced by another set of stickers, in which numerous students voice their diverse opinions on the issue. Some contain slogans that are short and to the point: “I feel like I’m in an insane asylum!” “I don’t like the fences, but they serve a purpose.”

Others are laundry lists of suggestions for the University and require a magnifying glass to read. One student argues (in 8-point font) that RA’s should make themselves more available to the residents on their floor.

Another tome expresses the opinion that the university is putting too much pressure on the RA’s. “They are students just like us . . . ” It may be best to let some stickers speak for themselves: “The fences make me feel like killing myself. I am ashamed that I ever came here. If I knew the university would respond to the disaster so terribly, I would not have come to it.”

Some students feel that these stickers too are offensive, and have covered them with stickers reading, “Why are tiny stickers an acceptable medium for debating the worth of human lives?”

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While students engage in fence wars, the administration is working to promote many initiatives to ensure student well-being. President Skorton constantly stresses, however, that mental health initiatives should incorporate the entire community and not just the administration: “We want to have a leader who can articulate direction, but we don’t want the top to dictate everything.”

This is why many of President Skorton’s initiatives have involved the entire campus. Through “Notice and Respond,” Gannett Health Services is seeking to provide students with the tools they need to recognize and assist friends in distress. The “Notice and Respond” website contains a lot of pertinent information, including suicide hotline numbers, a guide for recognizing the signs of stress, and a self-help guide for living a balanced life.

Vice President Susan Murphy and Dr. Janet Corson-Rikert are working to establish a mandatory class for freshmen that addresses career goals as well as mental health issues. Such a program has already been implemented in the engineering school, and they hope to extend it to the rest of campus. They are also looking to establish mandatory meetings between students and their faculty advisors, so that the advisors can more easily check up on the students.

These initiatives have received mixed reactions from students. Many engineers have found the freshman class helpful in adjusting to college, and they can see the benefits of extending it to the rest of campus. Other students wonder why they would have to attend mandatory advising sessions that they don’t really need.

President Skorton himself admitted that “not every student and faculty member agrees that students and advisors should sit down together.”

Most recently, the SA has sought to reduce the number of “hell weeks” in the semester through a new resolution. This resolution would require professors to grant extensions to students who have more than 2 large projects or exams due within a four day period. Roneal Desai, a sophomore in ILR and a member of the SA, is one of the biggest proponents of this initiative. He believes that the resolution would give students more time to study, which would help students retain the knowledge they learn. He also believes that the initiative would help students manage their time better. “At college, we learn to balance our social and academic lives,” he said. “This plan is designed to reduce stress from quantity of work.”

President Skorton agrees that it is important that the university work to create a less stressful environment at Cornell. “We always need to spend

more time thinking about climate on campus,” he said.

Others feel differently about such initiatives. “I don’t know what they’re thinking,” a retired Cornell employee and former Marine retorted. “[I wish] they’d just let the professors do their thing. Once these [students] enter the real world and there’s no one to hold their hand, they aren’t going to know what hit ‘em.”

The faculty, administration, and student leadership at Cornell is working hard to produce effective strategies to address mental health concerns on campus. They want to include the entire community in an effort to promote the students’ wellbeing. Students, faculty, and staff have differing opinions on the best way to do this, but with trial and error they all hope to determine the proper path.

Sam Pell is a sophomore in the College of Arts &Sciences. He can be reached at sep87@cornell.edu.

SAM PELL

Sam Pell Staff Writer

Cornell students doing what they do best: talking about their feelings and defacing stickers they find offensive.

Issue

Continued from the first page every student should be required to take an FGSS [Feminist, Gender and Sexuality Studies] course to force him (or her) to respect gender and “different types of thinking”. In addition, he claims that Cornell is too cozy with fraternities, who embody this culture of disrespect, and that the school should go after them and crack down on fraternity-based bias incidents.

If you, as the reader, are curious as to how these onerous regulations would at all stave off crime, you are not alone. There is absolutely no evidence that any of these forcible touching incidents are perpetrated only by Cornell students, and even if they were, trying to indoctrinate students under a false guise of “respect” would be not only unethical, but ineffective. A simple class rarely, if ever, stops someone who has a sick obsession with violating women from doing so. Shelley Feldman, director of the FGSS department at Cornell, was unable to be reached for comment on Professor Cheyfitz’s idea.

For the short term, the professor did give some more workable ideas, such as a transport system so that women could get rides home similar to those that exist at some other schools, using a buddy system to travel at night, and to face up to the administration that Ithaca may not be as safe as we think it is.

When the idea of allowing students to carry pepper spray on campus was mentioned, much like in the S.A. bill recently put forward by Vice President Ray Mensah ’11, it was met with skepticism, but not outright hostility. One person asked, “why should women even live in an environment where they need to carry pepper spray”, while others said that allowing students to carry the defense mechanism “misses the point” of creating a more female-friendly environment. It is hard to disagree with the assertion that in a perfect world, women would not need to defend themselves using pepper spray. However, the sad reality is that some people have no care for the sacred right of women to be safe with their own bodies, and thus to deprive women of the ability to defend themselves from attack simply empowers the very people the community wants to defeat. Perhaps, then, it is our community that “misses the point” on crime.

Joseph Bonica is a junior in the College of Agriculture & Life Sciences and can be reached at jmb582@cornell.edu.

Campus

Iconic Barton Hall Breathes New Air Renovations nearing completion Oliver Renick Executive Editor

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arton Hall, the multipurpose century-old castle that has acted as a student group stronghold despite weathered interiors and crumbling walls, is nearing the end of a three-year renovation that chalked up an estimated cost of almost $9 million.

The project has been one of massive overhaul – a long overdue renovation that sought out to refurbish masonry and replace the roof and the upper-level windows. The Review first highlighted the building’s many problems in August of 2008, calling it a ‘house of horrors.’ At the time, the building ailed from cracked sections of the Northwest and Southwest towers, displaced stone, and broken joints. Barton Hall was declining quickly, with many sections exceeding their design life. Today’s renovation has been vital to maintain the building’s structural integrity.

Although originally scheduled to reach completion in November 2010, the project has sections that will linger on, according to Darrell Reynolds ’06, the project’s coordinator.

“The main masonry restoration project will be completed this month. However, during the reroofing project last year, we needed to redesign the lower roof gutter due to unforeseen conditions with the

OJ RENICK

Before & after:

existing copper roof gutter system,” Reynolds said.

“The roof gutter design was completed during the winter of 2010 and we began construction of the new copper gutter system in the summer of 2010,” said Reynolds. “The lower roof gutter construction is expected to be completed in winter 2011, weather permitting.”

While the funding for the project began with a $3 million allocation in March of 2008, Facilities Services’ estimation of $5-11 million has proven to be accurate. According to Reynolds, the long list of operations reached a total cost of $8.9 million.

The drill hall roof has been reinforced, new vented insulation panels have been installed, and the North and South towers that once had gaping cracks are now completely refurbished. For the many student groups that call Barton home, the improvements are making a noticeable impact.

Konstantin Drabkin ‘11, a midshipman in ROTC, has trained in the building throughout his time as a student.

“There was one time we had a small flood on our hands, but the construction has definitely solved those problems, and we’ve definitely seen those results,” he said. “It’s a different place than it was when I started doing ROTC four years ago.”

The project’s amendments are not limited to structural improvements, however. Some of Barton’s rooms have undergone paint and lighting upgrades, and Cornell’s Amateur Radio Club and the Police Department received new antennae installations. From restored parapets and stairwells to repainted classrooms and balconies, the expensive project is coming to a close.

But Cornellians can’t expect to immediately see the massive multipurpose room completely free of construction. To date, the roof

November 18, 2010

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gutter installation is 50% complete and should be finished by winter of 2011.

For a building that’s welcomed everyone from Olympians and rappers to soldiers and Deadheads, its history predicts a useful future. For those training ROTC members worried about keeping their boots dry, they can expect at least another 50 years before the next renovation, according to Reynolds.

Oliver Renick is a junior in the College of Engineering. He may be reached at ojr5@cornell.edu.

Capitalize the Campus Kathleen McCaffrey Staff Writer

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or as long as I can remember, I have been an ardent contrarian. It came as no surprise to my parents, then, when I told them I decided to forgo traditional student jobs, and incorporate a political consulting firm with my great friend from high school instead. Rogers & McCaffrey (R&M) Political Group, LLC, has existed in some form or another for the past two years. We specialize in providing strategy for a number of campaigns, both political and socially-oriented, and own The Politicizer, a website that amalgamates opinion pieces from college students across the political spectrum.

R&M and The Politicizer will certainly not comprise my career, but they offer services that I know I can deliver right now – expertise on the pulse of the youth, and insights from clever students. To this end, though, I have also developed some skills that I trust will serve me well as I enter the workforce. For instance, juggling schoolwork and “work-work” has forced me to adapt a disciplined set of priorities. While some nights I would love to complete a project for work, I may have to read a few chapters of Plato instead. When those issues arise, I have to rely on my coworkers to get a job done. Having a company has led me to attune myself to other’s strengths and weaknesses, and also helped me explain my ideas so that others can seamlessly pick up a project and contribute when scheduling goes awry. Though the nature of my development has been quite different, I have probably grown just as much through my experiences with entrepreneurship as I have in my college classrooms. I would encourage all my peers to try their hand at something similar before they embark upon “the real world.”

Many universities have whole programs devoted to fostering a sense of entrepreneurship around their campus. Cornell’s own Entrepreneurship@Cornell boasts 150+ courses, an “eLab” business incubator, and over sixty students participating in their internship program. It also hosts networking programs to help ideas come to fruition and foster the spirit of innovation amongst peers. College is a

unique opportunity to try a hand at starting a business by virtue of its low risk. After all, boarding is included in tuition and colleges are saturated with experts in any conceivable field.

From a libertarian perspective, there is another potential benefit to an uptick in entrepreneurs. It is my contention that entrepreneurship has the potential to enlighten those who are averse to words like “capitalism.”

Experience may be the most convincing testament that voluntary association is the most humane form of interaction. Lately, the financial crisis, as well as the widening gap between worker and executive compensation, have quelled public confidence in capitalism. In a world of insipid Oliver Stone films, the best hope we have to restore this confidence are initiatives like FLOWidealism, founded by Michael Strong and John Mackey, the CEO of Whole Foods. This project promotes entrepreneurship and the principles of capitalism by supporting “massive entrepreneurial creation through microfinance, De Soto property rights reforms, [and] free enterprise zones around the world.” It also encourages the concept of “conscious capitalism” by endorsing business models with a stakeholder orientation (not “charity”) without sacrificing incentives, as well as implementing ethical objectives behind every business.

Capitalism may seem like a synonym for a Hobbesian state of nature, but consider these points about countries who have a free market: When measures of both economic freedom and democracy are included in a statistical study, economic freedom is about 50 times more effective than democracy in diminishing violent conflict, and nations with low economic freedom are fourteen times more prone to conflict on average. A peaceful market of supply and production can yield cooperation where everyone benefits and standards are raised uniformly. What could be more a more valiant means of self-discovery than to contribute towards that?

Kathleen McCaffrey is a junior in the College of Arts and Sciences. She can be reached at kam424@cornell.edu.

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November 18, 2010

National

D E F COM 1

A plan to fix America's fiscal mess

By John Farragut

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n February of this year, President Obama signed an executive order creating the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform, the so-called deficit commission. The bipartisan commission, co-chaired

by Democrat Erskine Bowles and Republican Alan Simpson, recently released its report.

Recommended are across-theboard income tax cuts, with the top rate falling to 23% from the current 35%. Tax revenue would be capped at 21% of GDP. Despite the substantial drop in rates, receipts are expected to increase under the plan due to the elimination of all tax credits and exemptions such as the child tax credit and mortgage interest tax deduction.

Social Security cost of living adjustments would be scaled back, with the age of eligibility reaching 69 by the year 2075; currently, it’s 67. Medicare growth rates would similarly be cut. Discretionary domestic spending, defense spending, and foreign aid would all be reduced. The plan, if enacted, would reduce the deficit by $4 trillion by 2020, according to its authors.

The proposal is a good one. There are disagreements over the truths of Keynesianism and the possible merits of sustaining a deficit in the short term in light of the weak economy.

But there can be no debate that, if our current trajectory of taxes and spending levels is maintained, there will be a fiscal crisis within the century; that is a simple fact of numbers.

When it comes to the long term debt level, rates are what matter.

Medicare spending was approximately $450 billion in 2009, and is currently growing at 8-9% annually.

If that continues, in the year 2050 Medicare expenditures will be approximately $14 trillion, while GDP, growing at 3.5% annually, will be $55 trillion. Medicare expenditures are currently 3% of GDP; in 2050 they’ll be 25%. Obviously this is not a sustainable path. Medicare has to be paid for by way of taxes; it is simply impossible for the government to collect 25% of GDP as tax revenue for a single program. With a 5% growth rate, Medicare will be 6% of GDP in 2050. The deficit commission’s plan rightfully addresses reducing rates as most important.

Lower Medicare outlays in the future will have real human costs; it won’t be possible to maintain current levels of coverage for all of our seniors. But these are not “draconian cuts”—this is simply a reflection of the reality that current Medicare spending is unaffordable. Many people spent more money on housing than their budgets realistically allowed, and they are now being forced to scale back—see: the housing crisis.

So too did the United States Congress spend more money on Medicare than realistically feasible, and our fiscal chickens are coming home to roost.

A similar reduction in Social Security spending is also necessary, and for the same reasons, although the impending crisis is not as drastic here.

The other major component of the commission’s proposal is a simplification of the tax code, and with it a drop in marginal tax rates at all income levels. This is a good idea for several reasons. First, a simpler tax code means lower administrative costs associated with collecting revenue. The second reason has to do with the long term growth of the economy. Taxes are frequently talked about in terms of fairness, with phrases like “tax breaks for billionaires” and “handouts to the poor” thrown around by people on each side of the argument. Fairness, whether that means people can keep what they earn or that the poor are guaranteed a minimum standard of

Olbermann Earns Two Day Suspension for Being, Well, Olbermann Little known propaganda outlet taking the situation very seriously Michael Alan Staff Writer

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Not only is it the communications arm, Fox News is also the fundraising arm of the GOP!” This is what Keith Olbermann ’79 had to say about his cable news competitor, which just so happens to have roughly triple the audience of his own, just a few short weeks before it was revealed that Olbermann had donated the maximum allowable contribution of $2,400 to three Democratic Congressional candidates, including Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords M.U.P. ’96 (D-AZ), that had appeared on his show.

NBC News has a written policy that if an employee is going to make a donation to a political campaign that they must report that donation, a part of the outlet’s pathetic attempt to appear objective in the increasingly partisan world of twenty-four hour cable news.

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Phil Griffin, the President of NBC News, stated that as soon as he found out about Olbermann’s contributions he immediately suspended Olbermann without pay “[in keeping with] NBC News policy and standards.” The left, eager to defend their comrade, quickly stepped into action. Rachel Maddow, an Olbermann protégé and the host of the program following Olbermann’s on MSNBC, was his fiercest defender,

noting that Fox News’s Sean Hannity both donates to and allows conservative candidates to solicit contributions on his air. It should be noted, however, that Hannity never claims to be anything but an opinion program whilst Olbermann calls himself “the modern day Edward R. Murrow.”

One of the more notable candidates Olbermann contributed to was Kentucky’s Attorney General

living, is obviously important and a valid criterion to consider.

But what is often forgotten is the trade-off between a social safety and long term economic growth. High marginal taxes discourage the investment of human capital in production. Taxes on the wealthy and transfers to the poor may reduce poverty today, but they significantly increase what the poverty rate will be fifty years from now. The reason people are better off at all income levels now than they were in 1810 has nothing to do with social safety nets; it is simply a function of economic growth.

Unfortunately, the deficit commission’s proposal has little chance of gaining any serious traction in Congress. Nancy Pelosi has called the spending cuts “simply unacceptable,” which doesn’t bode well for legislative success. And conservatives will be wont to remove tax breaks like the child tax credit. Neither side of the aisle will want to take away their constituents’ goodies, whether they are free health care or special tax exemptions.

That’s too bad, because the proposal would likely get America’s longterm fiscal house in order. In any case, one way or another we’ll eventually have to pay for the excessive consumption of government treats we enjoy today.

John Farragut is a senior in the College of Arts & Sciences. He may be reached at jdf222@cornell.edu. and failed Senatorial candidate Jack Conway. Conway, who made a name for himself with his television ads calling into question the Christian faith of his competitor, appeared on Olbermann’s show in May to rally the progressive activists that watch Countdown and contribute to Democratic candidates. Conway later lost to Rand Paul, the son of libertarian Congressman Ron Paul (R-TX), but MSNBC continued to bolster the smears about the Senator-Elect. In the network’s election night coverage, Larry O’Donnell, who recently “came out” on his other MSNBC program as a “socialist, not a liberal, a socialist”, said that the election of Rand Paul to the Senate could “collapse the world economy if he were to filibuster an attempt to raise the cap on the debt ceiling.” Chris Matthews even compared Paul supporters to Nazis in 1930’s Germany.

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Griffin must have realized that, given all of this, it made no sense to put on any more displays of objectivity and put Olbermann back on the air after only two days. To his credit, Olbermann did apologize for the incident. But, in keeping with the host’s reputation, he added that “the policy needs to be reviewed to make sure it keeps up with 21st century journalism.” Journalism like Keith Olbermann’s.

Michael Alan is a freshman in the ILR school. He can be reached at mja93@cornell.edu.

Blog

November 18, 2010

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CORNELLINSIDER.com

a blog by the writers of the Cornell Review

Hotel Professor Erupts: 'YAWN OUTSIDE!'

Posted by OLIVER RENICK

Most kids know from a young age not to sleep in class. But if you’re in Professor Mark Talbert’s lecture hall, you better not even yawn.

A video has surfaced this past week of the Hotel Administration professor yelling at an unknown student in his Business Computing class (HADM 1174) for yawning, calling the perpetrator names and commanding them to leave.

“If I hear one more of these overly loud yawns… get up and walk the hell out! Yawn outside!” says an irate Talbert.

“Stay out of class, whatever it is you need to do to get over it, I want to know why 220 other people don’t find the need to do that. And you should be asking yourself, why am I the one loser who has to do that?”

When the serial yawner refuses to show himself, Talbert challenges the class to a psychological duel.

“We’ll stay here until that person admits who it is or the person sitting around them tells me who it is,” he says.

After a brief moment of silence, he pauses from his iClicker quiz to go on a brief quest throughout the classroom to find the student, iClicker in hand. Then a female student in the back tells Talbert that it came from somebody in the hallway. But she can’t fool Professor Talbert.

“I’ve been hearing it in this room, like, regularly,” he tells the student. “And I’m not sure I believe that.”

Talbert doesn’t plan to give up that easily though, as he proposes another solution after sending a warning to the class.

Talbert’s Business Computing class might be the most stressful one in the Hotel School each semester it’s offered. With last spring’s median grade of a B-, the lowest in the school, HADM 1174 apparently brings out the worst in everyone.

“Let me tell you something, guys, my bad side is as bad as my pleasant side is pleasant, don’t push me that way… By the way if somebody wants to anonymously tell me who it is, please do.”

Even after the class ends, Talbert extends one final offer to the trouble-maker.

“I will accept an apology now from whoever interrupted my class, if he has the guts to come up and do that,” he says at the end of the video.

According to submissions on RateMyProfessors.com, a website used by students to anonymously comment on a course or instructor, Talbert has a reputation for off-color comments and outbursts. His low rating of 2.2/5 comes from contributors saying that Talbert is “not helpful at all” and “extremely arrogant.” One person recalled a time when “he yelled at us for not saying ‘bless you’ after he sneezed,” and another said “he patrols the class like we are in 5th grade.”

But students in Talbert’s higher-level classes were surprised that he lost his cool. Milan Thakkar ’12, an AEM major in Talbert’s Visual Basic for Applications (HADM 4476) course, thought the outburst was uncharacteristic.

“This is extremely surprising, he’s one of the coolest professors I’ve ever had,” he said. “He’s never lost his cool before, not even close. It doesn’t seem like he has a temper.” iClicker question from Talbert's lecture - presumably Professor Talbert’s video comes on the heels of the administration and the the source of the serial yawner's exhaustion.

Student Assembly’s ongoing efforts to improve mental health and relationships between professors and students on campus. Earlier this week, the SA hosted Cornell Caring Community week, an event aimed at improving student mental health.

“I’m willing to let it go,” Talbert told The Review on Monday. “[The yawner] also ceased interrupting my class. That was the last time he did it.”

While the professor assured The Review that “everything’s fine,” he maintained his staunch disapproval of the student’s actions.

“It wasn’t a yawn, it was a loud yawning sound, you know, like when somebody wants to put out the message to the auditorium that he’s bored. Everybody’s yawning, including me; it wasn’t a ‘yawn,’ it was somebody making an intentional loud bored noise week after week after week. It’s like, look, you don’t have to come if it bothers you.”

SOUTHALL PAKISTAN FLOODS APPEAL

Talbert, who hasn’t received an apology from the yawner, is convinced it wasn’t just a tired student. “It was someone systematically interrupting my class for six weeks, and finally pushed my buttons… obviously it wasn’t my finest moment.”

When it comes to handling student stress and mental health on campus, Talbert provided some advice. He said that his Business Computing class, although demanding and difficult, is very accommodating to student needs.

cornellinsider.com

“I think the best thing people can do is to get prepared for things. This is no secret: exams are a lot less stressful if you put some time in preparing for it. We push due dates back if we feel like there’s a lot falling on one week.

We have extra credit opportunities for students.”

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November 3, 2010

Wisemen & Fools We didn't lose because of me.

Nancy Pelosi We have to pass the bill for you to find out what’s in it.

Nancy Pelosi Criticism may not be agreeable, but it is necessary. It fulfill the same function as pain in the human body. It calls attention to an unhealthy state of things.

Winston Churchill Each administration since President Carter's has chosen to ignore or pretend that the Iranian theocracy is

not behind the repeated acts of terrorism or combat killings of hundreds if not thousands of our military and civilian personnel.

Never has there been such a stain on our honor.

Admiral James A. Lyons God bless the America we are trying to create.

Hillary Clinton I did not have sexual relations with that woman.

Bill Clinton I totally respect abstinence.

I mean, it actually has the word abs in it.

The Situation Back in the thirties we were told we must collectivize the nation

because the people were so poor. Now we are told we must collectivize the nation because the people are so rich.

William F. Buckley Jr.

feminine upheaval. Social progress can be measured exactly by the social position of the fair sex, the ugly ones included.

Karl Marx

The one time-consuming part of the application was filling out the blue card that asked you to list relatives who were alumni.

George W. Bush on applying to Yale

What is conservatism? Is it not adherence to the old and tried against the new and untried?

Abraham Lincoln

Let me help you pack.

Chris Christie speaking to New Jersey administrators Anyone who knows anything of history knows that great social changes are impossible without

Change change change change change change change change change change change change change change change change change change change change change

Barack Obama

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