INDEPENDENT SINCE 1880
The Corne¬ Daily Sun Vol. 130, No. 102
FRIDAY, MARCH 7, 2014
News
Arts
Sizzlin’ Things Up
Cats at the Haunt
Willard Straight Hall’s Student Union Board hosted their 10th annual Chili Cook-Off Thursday. | Page 3
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ITHACA, NEW YORK
James Rainis ’14 positively reviews punk rock band Perfect Pussy’s concert at The Haunt. | Page 8
Cornellians Say Redesigned SAT Increases Access
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Sports
Weather
Winner, Winner
Partly Cloudy HIGH: 37° LOW: 19º
The men’s track and field team won its second consecutive Indoor Heps title this past weekend. | Page 16
Snaps all around Guest speaker Sangu Delle reads several of his poems about Ghana to celebrate the 57th anniversary of its independence at Goldwin Smith Hall Thursday.
By ANUSHKA MEHROTRA Sun News Editor
Though some students said the newly redesigned Standardized Achievement Test enables increased accessibility to low-income students, other members of the Cornell community criticized the College Board’s elimination of a mandatory essay in the exam. Beginning in Spring 2016, the SAT will revert back to a 1600-point scale, make vocabulary more relevant and eliminate the guessing penalty, the College Board announced Wednesday. The SAT currently consists of three parts — critical reading, math and writing — and is one of two exams prospective students have the option of tak“My personal preference ing to gain admission to the would have been to keep University, according to the Cornell admissions website. the writing section Provost Kent Fuchs said the exam’s writing section mandatory.” promotes the development Provost Kent Fuchs of critical skills. “My personal preference would have been to keep the writing section mandatory in both the ACT and SAT, due to the importance of composition and critical reasoning,” Fuchs said. “The other changes in the SAT, such as changing the focus of vocabulary and math questions and not penalizing for guessing, seem reasonable.” Fuchs said the University is still discussing whether the changes to the exam will affect the admissions process to the seven colleges. “It will take some discussion and planning in the admissions office and in the colleges and schools before we will decide if the SAT changes will influence our admissions procedures and requirements,” he said. Yamini Bhandari ’17 also said she was opposed to the College Board making the essay component optional. “The essay portion actually challenges students to think outside the box on issues and craft their own viewpoint,” she said. See SAT page 4
RULA SAEED / SUN STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Law Professor Will Appear on New CNN Program Sunday By JINJOO LEE Sun Senior Writer
In 2012, 53-year-old Edward Lee Elmore walked out of prison, having spent three decades behind bars, most of which he spent on the death row. Despite evidence showing his innocence, Elmore had been convicted three times for sexual assault and murder. Without the perPROF. BLUME sistence of Prof. John Blume, law, defense attorney Diana Holt and litigator Chris Jensen, Elmore may have never left prison.
Proposed Memorial Would Honor Civil Rights Activists By ALISHA FOSTER Sun Staff Writer
The Student Assembly voiced their support Thursday for the construction of an outdoor memorial for three young men — including one who attended Cornell — killed by the Ku Klux Klan 50 years ago. Current plans are for the memorial
Mississippi Burning | An existing memorial stained glass window in Sage Chapel honors the memory of three Civil Rights Movement activists murdered on June 21, 1964.
to be built in front of Anabel Taylor Hall. Michael Schwerner ’61, Andrew Goodman and James Chaney were killed on June 21, 1964 while registering black voters in Mississippi. All three were active participants during the Civil Rights Movement and worked diligently for civil rights across racial, religious, and regional lines. Project Coordinator Bill Schechter ’68 said the memorial should be a source of pride for Cornell. “Now we want them to stand together on this campus,” he said. See MEMORIAL page 4
Elmore’s story, told by Blume and others involved in the case, will be featured in the first episode of CNN’s new series, Death Row Stories, which will premiere Sunday. The series, directed by Academy Award-winning directors Alex Gibney and Robert Redford, will reveal “America’s most compelling capital murder cases,” according to CNN. Blume, who argued for Elmore’s third direct appeal, said the case showed everything that was wrong with the American death penalty system: incompetent counsel, racial bias, prosecutorial misconduct and what Blume described as “junk” forensic science. Blume was an executive director of South Carolina Death Penalty Center when he assigned See BLUME page 4
Facing the issues
SONYA RYU / SUN STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Prof. David Levitsky, nutrition, moderates a discussion about health care issues and solutions to obesity in Goldwin Smith Hall Wednesday.