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The Corne¬ Daily Sun Vol. 129, No. 135
THURSDAY, APRIL 25, 2013
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ITHACA, NEW YORK
Int’l Applications To C.U. Grad School Decrease Slightly
Build it on up
By ELIZABETH KUSSMAN Sun Staff Writer
RYAN LANDVATER / SUN SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHER
Applications to Cornell’s Graduate School from international students –– who made up about 40 percent of the graduate and professional student body in Fall 2012 –– decreased about two percent in 2013 from 2012, according to Barbara Knuth, vice provost and dean of the Graduate School. The trend at Cornell bucks national figures. Nationally, the number of international applications to American graduate schools increased by one percent, Knuth said. Overall applications to Cornell’s graduate school are also down slightly from last year, falling one percent from 2012 to 2013, according to Knuth. This is the first year since 2009 that the graduate school has not seen an increase in the number of applicants, Knuth said. Until 2013, the number of applications for the graduate school had been rising steadily over the past five years, from about 14,880 in 2009 to
Jesella Zamrano ’13, a Sun photographer and co-president of Habitat for Humanity, takes part in Truss Days on Ho Plaza Wednesday.
See GRADUATE page 4
20 Pages – Free News Flipped Classroom
Cornell professors have started embracing a “flipped classroom” model that allows more class time to be spent on engaging learning activities. | Page 3
Opinion Connections That Matter
As Morgan Bookheimer ’13 looks back on her Cornell experience, she encourages Cornellians to form connections — even if it means becoming friends with your freshman hookup. | Page 6
Arts Thrilling Discoveries
Mark DiStefano ’16 reviews Room 237, a documentary that explores the perceived meanings in The Shining by Stanley Kubrick. | Page 8
Weather Partly Cloudy HIGH: 55 LOW: 34
Adidas Agrees to Pay Severance to Workers C.U.Student Jailed Agreement follows Cornell,other universities,severing ties to business
For $50K in Heroin Is Freed,Pens Book By JEFF STEIN Sun Senior Writer
Keri Blakinger ’11 had been arrested with $50,000 worth of heroin, sentenced to more than two years in jail and learned how female inmates make a dildo with little more than a toothbrush holder and Maxie pad. So nothing, at that point, seemed too out of the ordinary — even getting married in the visiting room of a county prison. “I was in an orange jumpsuit, and a guard was there as a witness. A very questionable clergy member, who was apparently on probation BLAKINGER ’11 IN 2010 himself, [officiated],” said Blakinger, who has since divorced the man. “It was regrettable all around ... probably not what my parents had in mind when they dreamed of their little girl getting married.” Much of Blakinger’s life has diverged from the course she and her BLAKINGER ’11 IN 2013 parents once envisioned. But now, about two years removed from her last hit and seven months since her release from prison, Blakinger — a former Cornell Daily Sun editor — feels her life has finally stabilized. See BLAKINGER page 4
By CHRISTOPHER YATES Sun Staff Writer
After facing mounting pressure from numerous universities — including Cornell — German sportswear manufacturer Adidas has agreed to pay severance to 2,700 Indonesian factory workers, the Cornell Organization for Labor Action announced Wednesday.
This marks a significant policy change for Adidas, which previously had refused to pay $1.8 million in severance allegedly owed to the workers of the PT Kizone supplier factory under Indonesian Labor Laws, according to Karen Li ’15, a member of COLA. “Adidas had been adamant about not talking to the union
Visiting Prof Encourages Vertical Farming in Bldgs By ALEXA DAVIS Sun Staff Writer
A few graduate students’ dream that skyscrapers will be filled with plants instead of cubicles may be becoming a reality. In a lecture Wednesday, Prof. Emeritus Dickson Despommier, Co lumbia University, environmental health sciences, spoke to an audience of 30 students about how groups are beginning to adopt vertical farming to solve the planet’s climate issues. Despommier said that the world’s cultures, ecosystems and economic systems currently face challenges obtaining a safe water supply, securing food safety, reducing dependence on fossil fuels
and restoring damaged ecosystems. Food producers have farmed 80 percent of earth’s available farmland, consumed 70 percent of available freshwater and 20 percent of the country’s fossil fuels, he said. Vertical farming, or the cultivation of plant life in skyscraper greenhouses, Despommier said, is the solution to these problems. By growing plants in “living buildings,” the agricultural industry can decrease its production of agricultural runoff and stop using fossil fuels and pesticides, according to Despommier. In addition to creating a positive carbon footprint, vertical farming would stabilize See DESPOMMIER page 5
representing the workers, and we’re so happy that they’ve finally come to the table,” Li said. Though the specifics of the settlement are still confidential, Li described it as “substantial” and said the union representing the workers “are very satisfied with the settlement.” “This is a monumental victory,” Li said. Workers at the factory,
which created collegiate apparel, were laid off two years ago and denied severance, according to Li. In response, President David Skorton announced last October that Cornell would sever its business contracts with Adidas at the recommendation of the Cornell Licensing Oversight See ADIDAS page 4
RYAN LANDVATER / SUN SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHER
Going green | Prof. Dickson Despommier, Columbia University, looks at a hydroponic bottle wall in Stella’s following his lecture in Milstein Hall Wednesday.