INDEPENDENT SINCE 1880
The Corne¬ Daily Sun Vol. 130, No. 79
FRIDAY, JANUARY 31, 2014
!
ITHACA, NEW YORK
16 Pages – Free
News
Arts
Sports
Weather
Talk It Out
At College
A Good Cause
Partly Cloudy HIGH: 32° LOW: 26°
Newly resurrected dinner series will foster discussion about religion, culture, traditions and customs. | Page 3
Zachary Zahos ’15 says At Berkeley is an exploration of the flaws of one university and a nation. | Page 8
The women’s hockey team will host events with Athlete Ally and Do It for Daron this weekend. | Page 16
Gannett Health Services to Expand by 2017
Changes include redesigned lobby area,new exam rooms By NOAH RANKIN Sun Senior Writer
With Gannett Health Services currently unable to “accomodate current campus health needs,” the University plans to more than double the overall size of the center by 2017, according to University officials. The University will expand the center’s usable space from 25,000 square feet to 52,000 square feet and update the facility to comply with current health standards. As part of a $55 million renovation, the expansion will allow space for patients in crisis, according to Sharon Dittman, associate director for community relations at Gannett. Gannett’s current building, which dates back to 1956, will expand primarily in the back of the building, Dittman said. Other renovations will include a redesigned lobby area for general information, new visiting and examination rooms and a renovated and relocated entranceway facing Ho Plaza. The additional space will increase the size of waiting areas, offices and exam rooms, since many existing spaces are too small to accommodate Cornell’s student population, according to Dittman. Ithaca’s Planning and Development Board reviewed the sketch plan for the renovation — which includes a summary and renderings of the project — Tuesday. The final plan will be reviewed in April, and construction will begin in March 2015 and end in Aug. 2017, according to Dittman. Dittman said the University has been exploring
COURTESY OF CHIANG O’BRIEN ARCHITECTS
Healthy changes | Renderings of the proposed addition to Gannett Health Services depict (above) a view looking southeast up Campus Road and (below) a view from the Ho Plaza promenade, including part of the existing building.
options to improve the health services facility “since the middle of the last decade,” though the project was originally tabled in 2009 due to the financial crisis. “The pressures on the Gannett facility had required several health services departments to move out of the building, staff in the building to work in increasingly tight spaces [and] the growing number of patients and clients to crowd into tighter waiting areas, exam rooms and counseling offices,” Dittman said. According to Dittman, Gannett was last renovated in 1979, when there were 5,000 fewer students, demand per student was lower and there were fewer regulatory See GANNETT page 4
East Ave.Closure Will Affect C.U.Events NPR Host to Give Events such as Dragon Day, Cornell Days to experience minor changes By SOFIA HU Sun Staff Writer
Students may have adjusted their routines to the partial closure of East Avenue, but those planning major events on campus may find the closure to be more of a roadblock, student leaders say. The closure of the road’s southbound lane until April 2015 may
cause minor changes to University traditions such as Dragon Day and Cornell Days, according to students involved with the events. The Dragon Day parade — which occurs in March — traditionally passes through East Avenue towards the Engineering Quad. With construction and road closures, however, the freshman architecture students who traditionally
RYAN LANDVATER / SUN STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Road closed ahead | The East Avenue road closure may potentially affect the operations of some University events, student leaders say.
organize the event are considering other options, according to Aya Maers ’18, co-president of the Dragon Day committee. The event’s organizers may be required to work with the University to potentially open the northbound lane, Maers said. “[We] are looking into alternate routes and seeing if there are people we can contact to see if an exception can be made,” she said. “Hopefully, the closure does not have a big impact on the route of the dragon ... it is really too early to tell at this point.” Because the dragon is made on a rolling frame and must travel along a flat road, East Avenue is a “critical part of the [parade’s] route,” Christopher Andras ’18, president of the freshman architecture class said. “Usually, the procession on East Avenue allows spectators to sit on the hill to the East and see the Dragon, but changing the route might do away with this,” Andras See EAST AVE. page 4
Lecture at Cornell By SARAH CUTLER
to a spin-off blog called “The Race Card Project,” according to Norris’ webMichele Norris, the for- site. mer host of the National Kenneth Clarke, direcPublic Radio tor for the evening news Center for program, “All C o r n e l l T h i n g s U n i t e d Considered,” Religious will take to Works, one of the podium in the campus Sage Chapel organizations Tuesday to tell sponsoring the story of the lecture, writing her said Norris self-described “ s p e a k s NORRIS “a c c i d e n t a l poignantly to memoir.” the issue of race” in her Her book, The Grace of book. He aniticipates “a Silence, was named one of fair amount of interest” in the year’s best books by The Norris’ visit. Christian Science Monitor, “I think she is going to the book began as a quest to be a very compelling speakuncover how Americans er,” Clarke said. “She’s talked about race in the somone many people are wake of the Obama presidential election, and has led See NORRIS page 4
Sun Senior Writer