INDEPENDENT SINCE 1880
The Corne¬ Daily Sun Vol. 129, No. 122
MONDAY, APRIL 8, 2013
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ITHACA, NEW YORK
16 Pages – Free
Stripping for a good cause
Alleged Rapist Pleads Not Guilty In Ithaca Court Mesko’13 suspended from Cornell
By KERRY CLOSE Sun Senior Editor
A Cornell student accused of raping another student pled not guilty of the charge in Ithaca City Court Friday. Peter Mesko ’13 was arrested and charged with firstdegree rape on Tuesday. He was released on $5,000 bail. Mesko has been suspended from the University pending the results of the criminal investigation, according to The Ithaca Journal. Mesko is accused of raping a female student in her girlfriend’s bedroom early in the morning of March 30. Her girlfriend, who was in the room with her, helped her fend off the attack before the two fled to an upstairs bedroom, according to court documents obtained by The Journal. Several minutes later, the victim’s girlfriend returned downstairs to take pictures of the assailant, who was lying on her bed with his jeans “slightly pulled down,” according to court documents. After the victim and the partner left the house, they later identified him on the website of Cornell’s athletics department. On Friday, Judge Judith Rossiter J.D. ’86 said she would not issue an order requiring Mesko stay inTompkins County, allowing Mesko to return to his family home in Honesdale, Pa., until his trial. Kerry Close can be reached at kclose@cornellsun.com.
News Big Red Winners
A collective $2,000 was awarded to three distinct projects aimed at bettering both the Cornell and global community at large at the Big Red Ideas Festival Saturday. | Page 3
Opinion Growing Pains
Aditi Bhowmick ’16 takes a look back at her freshman year and likens one’s four years of college to a chrysalis with distinct stages. | Page 9
Arts
Sports A Leap of Faith
Nick Huber ’12 and Dan Hagberg ’12, former Cornell track members, continue to develop their company, Storage Squad, which they launched as Cornell students. | Page 16
Weather Rain HIGH: 70 LOW: 48
C.U.Adopts Virtualization Technology By JONATHAN SWARTZ Sun Senior Writer
Because “faster” means “better” in an efficiencyobsessed culture, businesses have embraced virtualization technology, which makes it possible to quickly and cheaply connect a lot of people and information over a broad array of devices. Following this trend, Cornell has set up its own infrastructure virtualization program to reduce its spending, open physical space and create a stronger IT infrastructure, according to University officials. Through virtualization, businesses can package
applications up as “virtual machines” and ship them off to a cloud computing data center at sharply discounted rates. The technology, which allows businesses to move their email and calendar systems from a local server to an online “cloud,” is leading groups like the University to ask themselves why they should pay more to possess their own equipment, according to Prof. Ken Birman, computer science. “When we say cloud computing, we really have this bigger picture in mind,” Birman said. “The See VIRTUALIZATION page 4
South Asian Council Marks Inauguration By NOAH RANKIN Sun Staff Writer
On Sunday, the South Asian Council was officially inaugurated as the fifth umbrella organization — an organization that provides funding and support to its member organizations — under the African Latino Asian Native American Students Programming Board. In addition to the SAC, ALANA includes Black Students United, La Asociacion Latina, Native American Students at Cornell and the Cornell Asian and Pacific Islander Student Union. Each organization receives an allotment of University funding.
Hip Hop History
Articles and artifacts pertaining to the evolution of hip hop music and cullture are displayed in Kroch Library as part of the “Now Scream!” exhibit. | Page 10
ESTHER HOFFMAN / SUN SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHER
In a 5K event hosted by GlobeMed, an organization that aims to promote global health equity, runners wear their old clothes, stripping each layer as they reach checkpoints on the run. The stripped clothes will be donated to a local charity in Ithaca.
See COUNCIL page 5
JEEVAN GYAWALI / SUN STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Showcasing South Asia | Students showcase traditional garments at the South Asian Council’s inauguration on Sunday.
Statistician Nate Silver Reflects on Future of Prediction By AKANE OTANI Sun Managing Editor
It could be easy for a man who catapulted to fame with a 50-for-50 election forecast to become overconfident. But statistical savant Nate Silver, who spoke at a packed Statler Auditorium Friday, impressed that modesty goes a long way in the field of big data. Stepping out from behind the podium, Silver — named one of
the 100 most influential people in the world by Time in 2009 — introduced himself as a simple man. “I’m from the Midwest. We don’t deal with that much praise or technology,” he said, gesturing at the screen behind him which briefly showed a panned-in shot of his face. Despite his self-described humble beginnings, Silver has seen praise heaped upon him since he accurately predicted the
winner of all 50 states in the 2012 U.S. presidential election. While some skeptics have questioned Silver’s methodology, the 35-year-old writer-statistician has been described by media outlets as “America’s Chief Wizard,” a “mathematical wunderkind” and a pollster genius — something that has not been lost on him. “It seemed really out of whack to me that a Google search for my name resulted in more hits
than searches for Vice President Joe Biden — humble-brag! I had to wonder, why is a data geek getting this much love?” Silver said. “Fortunately for America, Justin Bieber still has 100 times more traffic than Vice President Biden and I,” he added. Silver said the election forecast model on his New York Times blog, FiveThirtyEight, is relatively simple: its methodoloSee SILVER page 4