INDEPENDENT SINCE 1880
The Corne¬ Daily Sun Vol. 129, No. 93
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2013
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ITHACA, NEW YORK
16 Pages – Free
Students Travel to D.C.to Participate in Environmental Rally By NOAH RANKIN Sun Staff Writer
Cornell students joined about 35,000 activists from across the country in Washington, D.C., Sunday to protest the Keystone XL Pipeline and persuade President Barack Obama to publicly reject its construction. Nearly 100 Cornell students attended the “Forward on Climate” rally, according to estimates from rally attendees. The Keystone XL is a proposed pipeline system that would run from Alberta, Canada, to the Gulf “[The Keystone XL Coast, transporting a form of crude oil known as oil sands or tar sands. Pipeline] is The nature of tar sands makes the a “global threat,” according pipeline a global threat.” to Kelsey Erickson ’13, a member of environmental group Kyoto NOW! Kelsey Erickson ’13 who attended the rally. “The tar sands of Alberta are situated right underneath vast arboreal forests and wetlands,” Erickson said. “If the tar sands were to be built, all of that would be destroyed. Tar sands are one of the most inefficient and unprofitable forms of oil extraction. It’s horribly dirty and would emit up to three times as much carbon dioxide as normal oil extraction.” Proponents of the Keystone XL Pipeline say its construction will create 20,000 jobs and benefit the economy, according to CBS News. Though workers have begun constructing the southern segments of the pipeline, for more than a year protesters have maintained efforts to shut down the project. In August 2011, more than 1,200 protesters, including Erickson, were arrested at a sit-in rally against tar sands. See KEYSTONE XL page 4
FIONA MODRAK / SUN STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
A fresh start | The Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity, which came back to campus in January of this year, will return to its house at 17 South Ave. in Fall 2014.
No Pledging for New Members of Pike Recruitment efforts lead more than 60 students to join chapter By TYLER ALICEA Sun Staff Writer
The Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity, which was expelled from Cornell’s campus in 2010 after a recruitment event sent three students to the hospital, has recruited more than 60 new members since its return in late January. In January, the national fraternity sent two consultants to Cornell to help “recolonize” the chapter with new members. These consultants
will fully train the members of Pi Kappa Alpha — also known as Pike — to recruit new members and run their fraternity, according to Michael Monnette, one of the consultants. The training should be completed by March 11, when the consultants leave Ithaca, he said. The fraternity met with more than 200 candidates and has been growing at a rate of about five new brothers each day since returning to campus,
Whistleblower Class Aims to Promote Legal Integrity By SARAH MEYERS Sun Staff Writer
LAW 6951: Whistleblowers and Business Integrity, a new class in the Cornell Law School, aims to change society’s typically negative perception of whistleblowers and mold future generations of lawyers, according to Dean of the Law School Stewart Schwab. “There’s a lot of negative synonyms for
‘whistleblower’ and very few positive ones –– ‘snitch,’ ‘weasel,’ words like that ... The easiest thing is to do nothing and turn a blind eye. To step up and say ‘This is wrong’ is very difficult, and there are very frequently personal consequences,” Schwab said. “There’s no doubt that this is a major issue in this country, and I hope that our law students will be aware of that as they go out and start their careers.” Schwab said he hopes to introduce students
JOY CHUA / SUN STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Fraud law lecture | A panel of lawyers speaks about the history of fraud legislation to students in the Whistleblowers and Business Integrity class in the Law School Monday.
to the emerging field of fraud law and encourage students to uphold a high level of corporate and legal integrity. “[Fraud law] is a growing and important area of the law and legal practice –– the amount of fraud against the United States government is estimated to be around hundreds of billions of dollars,” Schwab said. “The IRS has an estimated $400 billion in unpaid taxes each year. So one of the main focuses of the class is involving public citizens in public law enforcement.” Schwab said that “technical details” are a focus of the class; students analyze and compare different instances of whistleblowers who claimed government fraud and listen to panels made up of attorneys and whistleblowers. Schwab also emphasized that “the underlying issue [of the course] is promoting corporate integrity — ensuring that businesses do follow the law and don’t engage in fraudulent schemes against the government.” The class has been in the works for the past few years, according to Schwab. He said he and Neil Getnick ’78 both thought “that [the Law School] should teach a class like this.” “Things kept getting in the way, but we finally decided to do it,” Schwab said. Schwab said the class has tried to include a variety of different perspectives, including “the lawyers who represent the whistleblowers, the lawyers who defend the companies accused of fraud and government lawyers who get See WHISTLEBLOWER page 4
See PIKE page 5
News Grad Student and the City
Mitch Paine grad was appointed to the Board of Public Works earlier this month, making him the only student on the committee. | Page 3
Opinion The Cruellest Month
Deon Thomas ’15 says he is glad that February is the shortest month of the year, and calls for an end to Black History Month. | Page 7
Arts Dancing on My Own
In light of the Harlem Shake dance craze, Arielle Cruz ’15 makes the case for dancing just because. | Page 9
Sports Pinning It
After two wins this weekend, the wrestling team advances to the National Duals’ Finals, which will take place next weekend. | Page 16
Weather Sleet HIGH: 39 LOW: 21