INDEPENDENT SINCE 1880
The Corne¬ Daily Sun Vol. 128, No. 136
FRIDAY, APRIL 27, 2012
Interest Rates May Double for Loans
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ITHACA, NEW YORK
20 Pages – Free
Too much of a sweet thing
Students may face increased debt load
By MARGARET YODER Sun Staff Writer
Thousands of Cornellians may face higher debt loads if a bill that supports subsidized Stafford loans expires on July 1, which will cause interest rates on the loans to double from 3.4 to 6.8 percent. In the 2010 - 11 academic year, 3,340 undergraduates at Cornell received subsidized Stafford loans — need-based loans on which the government pays interest while students are enrolled in college. If Congress does not intervene, all loans taken out after July 1 will carry an interest rate of 6.8 percent, which will cost students repaying their loans after graduating from Cornell about $1,000 per loan, according to Prof. Steven Kyle, applied economics and management. To prevent the interest rate from increasing for one year — which will cost approximately $6 billion — Congress must create and pass a new law by July 1. The House will vote Friday on a Republican bill that would keep interest rates at 3.4 percent for one year by cutting money from President Barack Obama’s healthcare law. Democrats in the Senate hope to advance their own plan, which would keep the interest rates at current levels by increasing payroll taxes for some corporations. Financial aid advocates — including Cornell students and staff — have been fighting the interest rate increase for months. President Barack Obama gave speeches at colleges in Colorado, Iowa and North Carolina pushing Congress to keep the interest rate of the subsidized Stafford loans low, while 11 Cornellians went to Washington, D.C., to lobby members of Congress to support student aid, The Sun reported in March. Adam Raveret ’12, one student who travelled to D.C. on the trip, said that he “can only think of negatives to doubling the interest rate.” “It will make college unaffordable for low-income [students], which I think is a shame,” he said. Raveret said that the federal government should invest in educaSee LOANS page 4
Gateway to the future | Professors say they look forward to increased collaboration with each other when Gates Hall is complete.
MATT MUNSEY / SUN STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Denice Cassaro is pied in the face by Steven Hyde ’14, president of Alpha Epsilon Pi, during its “AEPi Off” at the Israel Day celebration outside Anabel Taylor Hall on Thursday.
AAP Boosts Graduation Rate By KAITLYN KWAN Sun Staff Writer
After just 66.7 percent of the students entering Cornell graduated from the College of Architecture, Art and Planning in 2003 — the lowest rate for all colleges that year — AAP took several measures to improve its graduation rate. Of students entering Cornell in 2005, the most recent year for which numbers are available, 93 percent graduated from the college in six years. Many of the changes were made to the graduaCOURTESY OF CORNELL UNIVERSITY
By SHANE DUNAU Sun Staff Writer
Since ground broke on Gates Hall in March, professors said they are eagerly awaiting the new $60 million computing and information sciences building, which they hope will promote greater collaboration between the Departments of Computer Science and Information
Science. “I think everyone is super excited; we’re watching the hall as it goes up out of our windows,” Prof. Eva Tardos, computer science, said. Computer science professors said they are looking forward to the completion of Gates Hall because they will have See GATES HALL page 5
See AAP page 4
S.A. Decries Proposal To Change Calendar
News
By KERRY CLOSE
Opinion
Sun News Editor
As Ground Breaks, Profs See Bright Future in Gates Hall
tion requirements of the college’s five-year Bachelor of Architecture program, to which AAP Dean Kent Kleinman attributed AAP’s low graduation rate. For instance, Carly Dean ’13, an architecture major, said approximately 10 people in her 60-person first year class transferred into another college. To help increase the graduation rate of architecture students, Kleinman said that he adjusted requirements for students’ mandatory thesis in 2009, so students would be more likely to graduate
As the Calendar Committee prepares to present its proposed changes to the academic calendar to the Faculty Senate, the Student Assembly unanimously passed a resolution Thursday decrying both the changes and the lack of student input in the discussion leading up to the recommendations. Thursday’s resolution slammed the committee’s proposal on the basis that it did not adequately take into account student opinion. “[This resolution] shows our displeasure with the way the Calendar Committee is
moving,” Block said. “We felt they hadn’t done a good job at finding student input.” Overriding the disapproval of its undergraduate members — S.A. President Natalie Raps ’12 and Geoffrey Block ’14, at-large representative for the S.A. — the Calendar Committee recently passed a number of changes that it will present to the Faculty Senate for approval on May 9. These changes include the addition of two vacation days in February; condensing exam study period from seven days to four and exam week from eight days to six; shortening Senior Week from seven days to See S.A. page 5
Racing to Victory
Cornell’s Baja SAE Racing Team claimed first place in an international competition against 88 other teams this weekend. | Page 3
Two Worlds Collide
Abdiel Ortiz-Carrasquillo ’13, discussing the paradoxical combination of poverty and paradise in Rio de Janeiro, concludes that Rio’s shanty towns are integral to its culture. | Page 10
Arts Mayoral Picks
Mayor Svante Myrick ’09 tells all arts-related, from his favorite music event in Ithaca to who he would cast to play himself in a biopic. | Page 11
Sports Gearing Up
The Cornell football team is set to play in its first scrimmage of the season this Saturday at Schoellkopf Field. | Page 20
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