08-22-12

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Cornell Guts Portion of Financial Aid Guarantee

By AKANE OTANI

$5,000 — not the current $3,000 — in loans. The only group not affected by the changes are families making more than A previous version of this article appeared $120,000 annually, who, as in previous on cornellsun.com on July 8. years, will receive up to $7,500 in loans.

In an abrupt reversal after years of As the cost of attending college continexpanding financial aid, Cornell ues to rise, the cuts could drive deep into announced July 3 that, beginning Fall some families’ pockets. In 2002, the price 2013, it will no longer provide of tuition, room and board for loan-free aid packages to all stu- “It’s one of those a student at an endowed, or dents whose parents make under college was $36,374. situations where private, $75,000 a year.

Last year, it was $54,701 — a The policy — which will not it just comes 50-percent jump from 10 affect current students — marks down to the years ago. a reduction of some parts of the Additionally, under the University’s financial aid pro- dollars, and it’s new aid program, students gram, which was bolstered in ... difficult to who work part-time during 2008 to decrease the tens of the year will have to earn thousands of dollars in loans the make it work.” $2,500 — instead of the curaverage Cornell student graduat- Alex Bores ’13 rent $2,000 — as part of their ed with at the time. contribution to their aid packCornell had eliminated loans age. That amount, until now, for students whose families made under had not been raised for two decades, $75,000 a year, replacing them with grants according to the University. and work-study options. No more.

In a press release announcing the Beginning Fall 2013, only freshmen whose changes, Cornell administrators lauded the families earn less than $60,000 a year will University’s “historic” financial aid efforts qualify for loan-free aid. and promised that changes were necessary The revised aid policy will add thou- to ensure the “long-term sustainability” of sands of dollars more in loans for families. need-based aid.

Where they previously would have had to “We are making adjustments in our take out no loans, students whose families financial aid programs that will ensure that make between $60,000 and $75,000 annu- Cornell’s commitment to need-blind ally will now take out up to $2,500 in admissions and need-based aid is not only loans. durable but also enduring,” Provost Kent Other income brackets will be affected Fuchs said, according to the press release. by the policy, too. Those making between See FINANCIAL AID page 4 $75,000 and $120,000 will take out up to

Sun News Editor

CONNOR ARCHARD / SUN STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

President’s pledge | In an interview with The Sun, President David Skorton said that, despite the changes, Cornell remains committed to need-blind admission and financial aid.

Skorton: Reduction needed to save aid program

By AKANE OTANI Sun News Editor

Five years ago, President David Skorton went to the Board of Trustees with an extraordinary request: that Cornell draw from its endowment to eliminate loans for families making less than $75,000 a year.

The Board unanimously agreed.

A University press release at the time outlined the “sweeping new financial

News New Kid on the Block

The Sun sits down with Eric Bloom ’16, who is interested in sports writing and dreams of attending law school. | Page 3

News Go Green

The University created an environmental science and sustainability major, which will be offered in the fall of 2013. | Page 3

Opinion Definition of Greatness

Jon Weinberg ’13 questions whether the academic achievement of its students is what makes Cornell unique. | Page 7

Arts Singing in the Rain

Rebecca Harris ’14 reviews the Osheaga Music and Arts Festival, held over several days in varying weather conditions. | Page 16

Sports Cup of Champions

Hundreds of people showed up to see Los Angeles Kings player Dustin Brown bring the Stanley Cup back to Ithaca in July. | Page 24

Weather Sunny HIGH: 86 LOW: 57

initiative” that would allow lowincome students to graduate debtfree.

But by 2012, aid spending had expanded dramatically, and Skorton acknowledged that Cornell’s aid program was becoming unsustainable for the long term.

Despite aggressive fundraising and cost-saving efforts, the recession — which hit shortly after the See SKORTON page 4

Myrick ’09, Skorton Decry Bias Attack University, reportedly started yelling “derogatory, sexual and racial slurs” at the victims as Ithaca Mayor Svante they walked down the Myrick ’09 and street, according to President David Ithaca Police. Stephans Skorton released a joint then allegedly prostatement Monday ceeded to physicondemning an “Cornell University deplores cally strike and alleged verbal and push the victims physical assault of incidents such as this that without provocamultiple Cornell tear at the fabric of respect tion as he continstudents in ued yelling, police Collegetown early and inclusiveness.” said.

Sunday morning.

Susan Murphy ’73 Police said the In the statevictims then ment, which also addresses and welcomes of 200 Eddy Street at attempted escape by “newcomers to Ithaca,” 1:43 a.m. Sunday, entering a nearby resiMyrick and Skorton according to Ithaca dence, though the man reportedly still followed expressed “concern and Police.

Anthony K. the students and banged dismay” over the bias incident and said that Stephans, who is not See BIAS page 4 the case is “being associated with the

By JINJOO LEE

Sun Senior Writer

Fashion statement

addressed appropriately and effectively” by the police and the court.

Multiple Cornell students were yelled at, then physically struck and pushed in the area

FIONA MODRAK / SUN SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHER

Mary Andrews ’14 hands Bianca Silva ’16 a Class of 2016 T-shirt outside Clara Dickson Hall Tuesday.

Elderly Woman Killed in Car Crash Involving Cornell Grad Student

By UTSAV RAI Sun Staff Writer

A 94-year-old woman was killed after two cars collided Monday on Route 79 in the Town of Dryden.

The accident involved a Cornell graduate student.

Myra F. Moran was taken to Cayuga Medical Center, where she was declared dead. Two other passengers in the other vehicle were airlifted to hospitals nearby, according to New York State Police.

The State Police is

investigating the accident.

Neil Sexton grad was driving westbound on State Route 79 in a 2012 Chevrolet Equinox when he veered into the eastbound lane, hitting the 2002 Chrysler minivan Moran was riding in,

police said.

Sexton declined to comment on the incident in light of ongoing investigations.

“I’m not at liberty to comment on this at this time since the investigation is still ongoing and I have

been instructed not to talk to anyone [about this],” he said.

Sexton said he sprained his hip as a result of the accident.

“The pain kind of See CRASH page 4

2 THE CORNELL DAILY SUN | Wednesday, August 22, 2012

Today

DAYBOOK

Wednesday, August 22, 2012

Weird News

Daybook

Umpteen speedy televisions perused two sheep, then umpteen tickets towed Jupiter, and Dan untangles five progressive orifices. Umpteen quixotic aardvarks annoyingly bought two Macintoshes. Umpteen bureaux tickled two extremely putrid botulisms. Paul sacrificed one lampstand, then Jupiter marries the very quixotic pawnbroker. Five purple poisons laughed, yet umpteen chrysanthemums kisses five aardvarks. Batman noisily untangles one Jabberwocky. Two Macintoshes laughed, then one extremely schizophrenic Jabberwocky drunkenly untangles two sheep, however Quark telephoned umpteen obese Jabberwockies. Five irascible botulisms slightly lamely auctioned off the subway, and five chrysanthemums easily untangles one mostly speedy Klingon. Five dogs drunkenly perused Minnesota, however the mats ran away cleverly, although one partly progressive subway quite comfortably sacrificed

of the Week

Today Welcome Weekend: Picnic on the Plaza 11 a.m., Ho Plaza

Your Ad Here?

N.Y. Brothers Promote Toilet-Paper Ads

CALS Study Abroad 101 3:30 p.m., 170 Roberts Hall Exploring Cornell’s Rare Books and Manuscripts 3:30 p.m., Kroch Library Truman Scholarship Session 4:35 p.m., Barnes Hall “Midnight in Paris” Movie Night 7 p.m., Robert Purcell Community Center

Tomorrow Report From The 19th International AIDS Conference Noon, Bronfenbrenner Center for Translational Research Walking Tour of Olin, Kroch and Uris Libraries 3 p.m., Upper Lobby, Uris Library

RYE BROOK, N.Y. (AP) — Two brothers from a New York City suburb have an advertising concept that’s on a roll — a roll of toilet paper.

Bryan and Jordan Silverman are creators of toilet tissue printed with ads, and sometimes with coupon codes that can be read by cellphones. The JournalNews says in a story Sunday that the brothers expect their product to appear this fall in the Port ChesterRye Brook Public Library.

Twenty-two-year-old Jordan Silverman came up with the idea for Star Toilet Paper in 2010. His 18year-old brother tells the newspaper that he was initially skeptical but came to see it as advertising to “a really captive audience.”

The brothers from Rye Brook have entered their concept in a contest run by Entrepreneur magazine.

Dilmun Hill Work Party 4 p.m., Dilmun Hill Student Farm

Mass. Man Gets ‘Wrong’ Lottery Ticket, Wins $1M

Downtown Ithaca Summer Concert Series 6 p.m., Ithaca Commons

BRAINTREE, Mass. (AP) — When a store clerk gave a Massachusetts man a different kind of scratchoff lottery ticket than he asked for, he didn't make a big deal about the mistake; he said he just “rolled with it.”

It was a good decision: He won $1 million.

Welcome Weekend: Flicks Across Cornell University 7:30 p.m., Auditorium, Uris Hall

Richard Brown of Taunton said he went into Gulf Taunton recently and asked for a $5 “Blue Ice 7s” ticket, but the clerk was distracted and instead gave him a “Sizzlin 7s” ticket.

Brown selected the cash option on the prize and received a one-time lump sum payment of about $430,000 after taxes. He plans to use the money for a new roof on his home and to take a trip to San Francisco.

The store gets a $10,000 commission.

Conn. Town Settles Dispute Over Girl’s Pet Bunny NORTH HAVEN, Conn. (AP) — Officials in a Connecticut town have settled a zoning dispute over a local girl’s 20-pound pet bunny after receiving calls and emails from across the country demanding that the rabbit be allowed to stay.

North Haven First Selectman Michael Freda said Friday that the town will allow seven-year-old Kayden Lidsky and her family to keep the Flemish giant named Sandy and change the zoning rule that led to a cease-and-desist order three weeks ago.

The rule bars anyone from keeping rabbits and other livestock on properties smaller than two acres.

The town’s zoning enforcement officer issued the cease-and-desist order while investigating a neighbor’s blight complaint against the Lidsky family, whose property is less than two acres.

We’ve been reporting the news to curious minds for more than 131 years.

Sports

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THE CORNELL DAILY SUN | Wednesday, August 22, 2012 3

4 THE CORNELL DAILY SUN | Wednesday, August 22, 2012

NEWS

Skorton: Univ.Committed to Aid C.U. Aid ‘Unsustainable’ SKORTON

ple who should shoulder the brunt of the financial aid changes should not be families, but students.

“Is it an additional burden having more loan announcement of the bolstered financial aid program obligations, or ... covering more [of the] cost of edu— has brought along with it unforeseeable difficul- cation? Do we put that [burden] with the student ties, Skorton said. The severity and duration of the who is earning a Cornell degree and therefore will be recession was far worse than most had expected. out in the marketplace with a Cornell education and Skorton said that had the University not decided the quality that implies, or do we put the burden on this summer to resintate loans for some financial aid families?” Knuth said. packages, Cornell could have been forced to take Ultimately, University officials decided to increase more drastic measures: asking parents to significant- the loans students must take out to finance their ly increase their contribution, or eliminating need- Cornell degree — stemming from their belief that blind admissions altogether. the “obligation and responsibility for the Cornell Without “these modest changes, I believe a very education [should be kept] on the student who is few years from now, some University leader would then going to be earning that degree and having have to make the very hard decision to walk away increased marketability once they graduate,” Knuth from this commitment to said. student access,” he said.

At least in recent years, num“To future generations, I want Instead, from Fall bers seem to support the value of 2013, families making less to make a promise ... that we a Cornell degree. A report than $120,000 but more have a sustainable commitment released last year indicated that than $60,000 a year will for the third year in a row, the have to take out thousands to ... financial aid.”

University saw an increase in the of dollars more in loans. It President David Skorton number of students who reported is a change other schools finding employment within six including the — months after graduation.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology — have made “With those things in mind,” Knuth said, “yes, we in the past few months. will continue to monitor … what the impact [of the Skorton described the changes that will go into change] is on middle to low income student enrolleffect next fall as being “modest.” ment. But given that there could’ve been more sigHalf of all Cornell students do not graduate with nificant changes for families, we need to expect that debt, and among those who do, the median debt is any negative impacts are going to be limited.” slightly under $14,000, compared to the national Although it seems doubtful Skorton will again ask median of $20,000 to 25,000, according to Barbara the University to dip into its endowment for aid, as Knuth, dean of the graduate school. he did in 2007, the president restated his commitSkorton said he himself “borrowed much more ment to providing financial aid for current and future money than we’re asking students to borrow current- Cornellians. ly,” taking 21 years to pay off his own loans after he “Even though current students … will not be finished school. affected by these modest changes, to future generaIn comparison, Cornell’s aid packages offer, “I tions I want to make a promise that my successors believe, handleable amounts of loans,” Skorton said. can keep: that we have a sustainable commitment to The decision to increase loans in financial aid need-blind admission and need-based student finanpackages was carefully calculated, Knuth said. cial aid,” Skorton said.

Knowing they had to rein in ballooning financial aid expenses, administrators deliberated over where Akane Otani can be reached at to scrimp and save. Ultimately, they decided the peo- aotani@cornellsun.com.

Continued from page 1

Administrator Condemns Incident BIAS

Continued from page 1

on the house’s door. Before the officers reached the scene, Stephans was physically removed by his friends, according to Ithaca Police.

As the officers were investigating the incident, the victims spotted the man and he was

taken into custody.

Stephans will return to Ithaca City Court on Aug. 29 for further legal action. The students were contacted by crisis managers from the Dean of Students office and are receiving “our full support,” according to the University statement from Susan Murphy ’73, vice president of student and academic services.

Murphy condemned the incident in the statement, saying that “Cornell University deplores incidents such as this that tear at the fabric of respect and inclusiveness that we value so highly and work continually to maintain.”

Jinjoo Lee can be reached at jinjoolee@cornellsun.com.

FINANCIAL AID

Continued from page 1

The University noted that, since 2008, Cornell’s financial aid spending has grown nearly 20 percent every year while tuition has grown for some colleges about 4.6 percent annually in that same period.

Barbara Knuth, vice provost and dean of the graduate school, said that even with the changes, the net attendance cost for many students qualifying for financial aid will be lower than it would have been in 2007-08. Before then, some families making under $60,000 still had loans in their aid packages. “[Cornell] is spending more on need-based financial aid and benefiting more of its students than ever in its history,” the press release stated. The University spent an all-time high of $224.5 million on financial aid in 2011, and 2,900 more students received aid in 2011 than they did in 2009.

Student Trustee Alex Bores ’13 also noted that Cornell expanded its financial aid offerings amid the recession — even drawing from its endowment to do so — as other schools “pulled back” their spending on aid.

Over the long term, this expanded financial aid policy was “unsustainable” for Cornell, Bores said, forcing administra-

tors to reconsider its scale.

“It’s one of those situations where it just comes down to the dollars, and it’s incredibly difficult to make it work,” Bores said.

Those dollars, Bores said, were not tied to the University’s $2-billion tech campus that will rise on Roosevelt Island over the coming years. Although the most expensive undertaking in Cornell’s history, the tech campus will be “100-percent paid for by philanthropy for the first 10 years and even beyond that,” Bores said.

Conceding that “nobody likes announcing a decrease in financial aid,” Bores said that both the Board of Trustees and the administration did not make the decision to alter the University’s financial aid lightly.

He added that administrators will be watching enrollment demographics “incredibly closely” to monitor how Cornell’s financial aid affects its socioeconomic diversity.

“If we think it has an effect on who will come [to Cornell], we will reevaluate it,” he said. “I think everyone in the administration and on the Board understands the importance of financial aid — not just that it’s the right thing to do, but also in terms of making sure Cornell has a diverse population.”

Akane Otani can be reached at aotani@cornellsun.com.

Two People Airlifted to Hospital CRASH

Continued from page 1

sucks, but I have Advil,” he said.

According to Claudia Wheatley, director of press relations, “University officials are aware of the incident and are providing support to the Cornell students and staff who were involved.”

Laraine Ericson, her son and Moran were in the minivan at

the time of the accident. While Moran sustained fatal injuries as a result of the crash, Ericson and her son were transported to Robert Packer Hospital in Sayre, Pa., to be treated for abdominal pain and a fractured wrist, according to police.

Two other passengers were in Sexton’s car at the time of the accident. While Sexton was taken to Cayuga Medical Center due to abrasions to his legs and hips, the other two passengers were airlifted via helicopters to Upstate Medical Center in Syracuse and Robert Packer Hospital for injuries to their backs, tailbones and torsos, police said.

The ongoing investigation is being carried out jointly by the Tompkins County Sheriff ’s Department, the fire departments of Brooktondale and Ithaca and Bangs and Slaterville Ambulances.

Utsav Rai can be reached at urai@cornellsun.com.

THE CORNELL DAILY SUN | Wenesday, August 22, 2012 5

NEWS

Univ. Unveils New Sustainability Major

Tree dwellers

By REBECCA HARRIS Sun News Editor

FIONA MODRAK / SUN SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHER

Members of Cornell Outdoor Education give tree-climbing demonstrations on the Arts Quad Tuesday to advertise their classes.

Bloom’16 Hopes to Expand Horizons as Cornell Student

By HARRISON OKIN Sun Staff Writer

This is the first article in a series profiling a variety of students across campus.

As fall classes start Wednesday, lecture halls will be filled with the University’s most selective freshman class yet. But Eric Bloom ’16 says he is not fazed by the sense of fierce competition among his classmates.

Instead, he said, he is eager to take on the challenge of juggling academics and extracurriculars with a social life and athletics.

“So far, everyone has been friendly and I haven’t really gotten that sense of competition, but I am sure that will change once classes start,” Bloom said. “It will definitely be a tough adjustment being around kids who were all at the top of their classes, but I’m hoping to work with them and trying not to compete. I think that makes for a better atmosphere and learning BLOOM ’16 experience.”

Hailing from Sharon, Mass., Bloom said he has known for years that Cornell was his first choice for college. His dreams came to fruition last fall when he was accepted early decision to the School of Industrial and Labor Relations.

“There was really no other school out there like Cornell,” Bloom said. “It’s a perfect program within a perfect school.”

Bloom is particularly interested in writing, reading and the social sciences, and hopes to attend law school after graduation.

While in high school, Bloom said he pursued a wide variety of his interests that he hopes to further explore during his time at Cornell.

In addition to participating in mock trial competitions, Bloom was the editor-in-chief of his high school newspaper. He aims to pursue extracurricular activities across different organizations for students interested in law and writing.

But in high school, Bloom was more than just an athletic observer: He played on both soccer and tennis teams in his hometown. He hopes to create a balance between a rigorous academic schedule and his desire to remain involved with club or intramural sports at Cornell.

“Even on such a big campus, hopefully I can make my own impact somehow,” Bloom said. “It’s just a matter of finding that one club or activity that really interests you.”

Bloom said he was particularly attracted to Cornell because of its large and beautiful campus, which he said encompassed not only a highly diverse population but also a wide selection of programs and schools.

Despite Bloom’s desire to continue being involved in the activities he pursued in high school, he said he wants to explore groups he was not familiar with before coming to Cornell.

“I’ve had the same friends since I was four years old,” Bloom said.

“I’m definitely trying to take advantage of this amazing opportunity and branch out to meet new people.”

A previous version of this article appeared on cornellsun.com on June 11.

In the latest effort to bolster an environmentally friendly image, the University announced in May that it will launch a new major in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences — a move administrators hope will “significantly raise [Cornell’s] profile as a leader among ‘green’ campuses,” according to Prof. Max Pfeffer, developmental sociology, senior associate dean of CALS. The new major — called environmental science and sustainability — is intended to “make environmental sciences more visible to Cornell students and give students more direct access to the breadth of environmental sciences at Cornell,” Pfeffer said in an email.

He added that the University “anticipate[s] that the new major will be very attractive to prospective students.” The Class of 2017 will be the first students eligible to enroll in the program beginning in fall 2013.

The move comes after a recommendation made by the Environmental Sciences Planning Committee — a faculty body formed as a part of Reimagining Cornell, a University-wide strategic planning initiative — to administrators in May 2010, and follows other recent steps Cornell has taken toward becoming a frontrunner in environmental education.

For instance, in October 2010, an $80 million donation — the largest individual gift ever given to a university to fund sustainability research — led to the establishment of the David R. Atkinson Center for a Sustainable Future.

In January, the University was awarded a gold rating by the Tracking, Sustainability, Assessment and Rating System, an Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education initiative which recognizes eco-friendly efforts on college campuses.

Although Cornell scored high in relation to its peer institutions, one its weakest STARS ratings fell into the category of education and research, according to Darrick “Nighthawk” Evensen grad, grad-

uate student trustee.

“Cornell needed an interdisciplinary environmental program like other top environmental programs in the country,” Evensen said of the new major. “Professors have an interest in shaping an evolving field.”

The ESS major will replace and incorporate the curriculums of two existing CALS programs — natural resources and science of natural and environmental systems — between which there is “a great deal of overlap,” Pfeffer said.

“The new [major] is not very different from either of the other two, which were similar to each other from the start,” Prof. Lars Rudstam, natural sources, said.

“It’s not a big change, it just kind of streamlines the environmental science majors on campus.”

Current natural resources and SNES majors will be permitted to graduate with degrees in those programs, but the two majors will no longer be offered to incoming students. The new major will fall under the Department of Natural Resources, according to a University press release.

Pfeffer emphasized that the consolidation of the two majors will not result in cuts to faculty positions. Professors from both the natural resources and the SNES majors — as well as faculty members spanning 15 other departments — backed the move and will become the faculty of the new program, he said.

“The new curriculum will not result in faculty changes in departments,” Pfeffer said. “We anticipate that additional Cornell faculty members will want to affiliate with the major in the future.”

Dean of CALS Kathryn Boor ’80 said she hopes that the new program will spark excitement among “current and prospective students, current and prospective faculty and our staff” as environmental issues gain increasing attention on an international scale.

“This new major is emerging as a faculty-driven effort to evolve our curriculum to provide our students with the best possible education to address some of our globe’s most pressing environmental problems,” she said in an email.

According to Pfeffer, the ESS curriculum will integrate physical, chemical, biological and social sci-

ences with humanities to give students a broad education in sustainability issues from various perspectives.

“Overall, the curriculum seeks to advance students’ ability to solve real-world environmental policy, resources management, biodiversity conservation and human health,” he said.

The core curriculum will include 18 required courses, including introductory biology, mathematics, statistics, chemistry, physics, ethics, economics and sociology, according to a University press release. Nine of these classes will meet CALS distribution requirements.

Additionally, ESS students will choose one of four concentrations, in which they will be required to take five courses.

Students will also be permitted to design a concentration to cater to their own academic interests.

Initial proposed concentration areas include environmental biology and applied ecology; environmental policy and governance; biogeochemical sciences; and economics, environmental according to a University press release.

Prof. Joseph Yavitt, natural resources, and director of the interdisciplinary program within science of natural and environmental systems, said a consolidated curriculum may make it easier for incoming students to settle on an environmental major after exploring different options within the discipline.

“There were redundancies among some of the environmental majors,” Yavitt said in an email, “and redundancies can cause confusion. We hope to eliminate confusion with one combined approach.”

Still, Evensen cautioned against designing the new curriculum to be overbroad.

“Even though [the two majors] were both environmentally-based majors, there were differences.

SNES was more physical sciences and natural resources had more applied ecology with some social sciences and a bit of a humanities focus,” he said. “You can’t focus on everything or you end up being skilled at nothing.”

Rebecca Harris can be reached at rharris@cornellsun.com.

SUN FILE PHOTO

Support for sustainability | Students promote sustainable agriculture on Ho Plaza on Earth Day 2009. Cornell Harrison Okin can be reached at hokin@cornellsun.com.

announced this summer that students will be able to major in sustainability.

OPINION

The Corne¬ Daily Sun Independent Since 1880 130TH EDITORIAL BOARD JUAN FORRER ’13 Editor in Chief

HELENE BEAUCHEMIN ’13

JEFF STEIN ’13

Business Manager

Managing Editor

RUBY PERLMUTTER ’13

JAMES CRITELLI ’13

Associate Editor

Advertising Manager

LAUREN A. RITTER ’13

JOSEPH STAEHLE ’13

Sports Editor

Web Editor

ANN NEWCOMB ’13

ESTHER HOFFMAN ’13

Design Editor

Photography Editor

ELIZA LaJOIE ’13

BRYAN CHAN ’15

ZACHARY ZAHOS ’15

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KATHARINE CLOSE ’14

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REBECCA HARRIS ’14

News Editor

News Editor

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DANIELLE B. ABADA ’14

Associate Multimedia Editor

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SCOTT CHIUSANO ’15

Assistant Sports Editor

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Assistant Design Editor

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Science Editor

Bringing Collegetown Out of the Dark I

am currently living without electricity. No, I am not still on a pre-orientation outdoor odyssey trip, nor am I trying to experience the Amish way of life. I am living in the middle of Catherine Street in Collegetown, and my house has no electricity. Let me explain.

I received a call from the electricity company in July, asking when they could come reset my meters. I told them anytime would be fine. They showed up on August 1, but discovered that my circuit breakers were still on. Not wanting to get electrocuted, they decided to come back at a later date, once I had given them per-

seen more businesses close than open, more decay than renovation and a growing stream of partying in Collegetown, especially after new university rules banned freshmen from attending Greek parties.

My two most recent predecessors as undergraduate student-elected trustees both took this issue quite seriously. In fact, both of them made their last presentation to the Board of Trustees about Collegetown (and seeing as my last full presentation will be this January, it will likely be mine as well). In February, I proposed that Cornell act as a clearing

Dining Editor

JOSEPH VOKT ’14

MAGGIE HENRY ’14

Assistant Web Editor

Outreach Coordinator

SEOJIN LEE ’14

Alex Bores

AUSTIN KANG ’15

Marketing Manager

Assistant Advertising Manager

ERIKA G. WHITESTONE ’15

HANK BAO ’14

Social Media Manager

Online Advertising Manager

JESSICA YANG ’14

KATERINA ATHANASIOU ’13

Human Resources Manager

Senior Editor

DAVID MARTEN ’14

Trustee Viewpoint

JACOB KOSE ’13

Senior Editor

Senior Editor

JAMES RAINIS ’14

PATRICIO MARTÍNEZ ’13

Senior Editor

Senior Editor

DANIEL ROBBINS ’13 Senior Editor

WORKING ON TODAY ’S SUN Assistant DESIGN EDITOR DESIGN DESKER PHOTO NIGHT EDITOR NEWS DESKERS SPORTS DESKER ARTS DESKER SCIENCE EDITOR NEWS NIGHT EDITORS

Rebecca Coombes ’14 Jyant Mukhopadhaya ’15 Megan Zhou ’15 Fiona Madrak ’14 Zac Peterson ’12 Akane Otani ’14 Kerry Close ’14 Haley Velasco ’15 Daveen Koh ’15 Nicholas St. Fleur ’13 Harrison Okin ’14 Utsav Rai ’15

Editorial

Taking Responsibility For Stopping Hate Crimes

THE INCIDENTS OF HATE THAT HAVE OCCURRED in our community, both during finals period and during Orientation Week, are very troubling. First, an individual not affiliated with Cornell threw bottles at black students during finals week, yelling racial slurs. Second, this weekend, an individual allegedly verbally and physically assaulted a group of students, yelling slurs against members of the gay and minority community. It is little consolation to know that Cornell students were not the ones who were accused of these heartless actions. This can, and must, stop.

According to police, the harassment allegedly continued as the victims were pursued down the street. In May, the student throwing bottles on the roof was told to stop by the victims, but initially continued the harassment without interference, according to witnesses. Those who witness this sort of behavior and allow it to proceed without intervening are complicit in the act.

The actions that the University has taken in response to the incident at Sigma Pi are promising. One complaint voiced in the wake of the events at Sigma Pi was that every time events like this happen, University officials make statements condemning the attack and then do little else to resolve the issue in the long term. This time, the University seems to be taking action.

One concrete action that the University took in response to this incident was a decision to keep Sigma Pi on provisional status for the upcoming year. The administration said that the fraternity is at least partly responsible for the actions of its guests instead of simply dismissing the incident as unrelated to Cornell students. This sends the message that we as Cornellians have a responsibility to stop these actions, even when they are committed by people who are not members of the community.

Additionally, the creation of a new staff position that will oversee diversity initiatives throughout the Greek system shows that the University is willing to make a meaningful investment in creating a climate where these types of behaviors do not occur at all. The University has also pledged that the Center for Intercultural Dialogue will lead ongoing, campus-wide conversations on multicultural awareness. It is our hope that this new position and this dialogue will be able to maintain the focus on this issue.

We hope that this same proactive approach to the problem will also be taken in response to the incident this weekend in Collegetown. It is unfortunate that we need incidents like this to remind us that we need to work actively to address the problem. We should not have to rely on these painful reminders to do something.

mission to turn off the breakers.

I would have gladly granted that request, except that I did not hear about it. The company never called me back, and the next time I spoke to them was on August 20 when I called to ask why I had no power. They promised to send someone over as soon as they could, which, according to them, is next Monday.

Now, granted, I still have heating and water, and luckily I am not living in a tent, as one Cornellian was forced to do three years ago. Plus, these nine days give me an incredible opportunity to learn how to cook over an open flame (if my landlord is reading this, I am joking).

Nevertheless, when I come home at night to a pitch-black apartment, I am reminded that the Collegetown landlords, permanent residents and representatives are not the only ones with gripes.

Recent reports in The Cornell Daily Sun have quoted multiple Common Council members asserting that Collegetown residents have “widespread and blatant disregard for the community” and “a sense of entitlement,” but, conversely, that “we have to get away from finger pointing.”

If they want a quieter (and darker) environment, they are welcome at my house.

Every year Ithaca goes through a charade where permanent residents call this the worst year ever, Cornell students assert that their living conditions resemble those of a third-world country (see the opening paragraphs) and everyone resolves to do something about it. But nothing gets done.

The problem is, Collegetown is getting worse. In my three years here I have

house, holding landlords and students accountable, building off an initiative of Georgetown University. But sadly there has been little progress.

I have often made the tongue in cheek joke that Collegetown is to student trustees what the Middle East peace process is to U.S. Presidents — the issue they start working on too late in their term when they are trying to build their legacy.

I want to ensure that history does not repeat itself. If you have a way to improve Collegetown, please email me. (If you have suggestions on where I can buy cheap candles, that would also be welcome.)

The major obstacle to changing Collegetown is that solutions take time, and students usually only live there for a year or two. But let’s resolve that this is the year we start fixing Collegetown.

That next year, Common Council members will be commenting that orientation week was better than in years past, even if it was still a little loud for their liking.

That by our sesquicentennial we will have business in the old CTP, Green Cafe, Dino’s and Kraftees. And let’s resolve, at the very least, that when I come back for my five-year reunion, there is electricity at every house in Collegetown.

Alex Bores is the undergraduate student-elected trustee and a senior in the School of Industrial and Labor Relations. He may be reached at awb78@cornell.edu. Trustee Viewpoint appears alternate Tuesdays this semester.

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E-mail opinion@cornellsun.com for details.

Prior journalism or media experience preferred.

THE CORNELL DAILY SUN | Wednesday, August 22, 2012 7

OPINION

Any Person, Any SAT Score T

oday the Class of 2016 begins its formal Cornell journey, but the newly minted freshmen made their first statement on campus well before arriving on East Hill. That statement was made by virtue of their acceptance to the University as part of its most selective class yet.

Statistical profiles of incoming classes increasingly serve as a bellwether of prestige and quality for American universities, and the numbers for Cornell’s newest class are about as impressive as can be. But the recent revelation of false admissions data publicized by Emory highlights the corrupting effect of placing such an emphasis on numbers.

Numerical selectivity can be dangerously conflated with the overall mission of our University.

Cornell’s founding purpose, best exemplified by our motto, “I would found an institution where any person can find instruction in any study,” is something I care deeply about. New readers of my column will notice one enduring theme in my pieces — love for and pride in our alma mater.

My goal in writing In Focus is to highlight issues relevant to our community Far Above Cayuga’s Waters, whether they are local or global in scale. A student perspective on such topics is second to none in importance, and my hope is that reading this column leads you to develop and voice your own opinion.

The student opinion regarding selectivity is generally one of excitement and pride, which is why the recent scandal at Emory is so disconcerting. Last week, the school disclosed that administrators deliberately misreported data for over a decade. According to Emory’s press release, “…both the University’s Office of Admission serving Emory College, and the University’s Office of Institutional Research, annually reported admitted students’ SAT/ACT scores to external surveys as enrolled student scores, since at least the year 2000.” In addition, class ranks were misreported and data from the bottom ten percent of enrolled students was systematically excluded from reporting.

It’s all too telling that many of the “Questions and

Answers About Data Reporting” included with the press release relate to the annual US News & World Report college rankings. It’s arguable that these rankings are the standard by which most Americans judge the quality, rigor and reputation of universities. Since SAT and ACT scores are a large determinant, they by extension define a university’s standing. In other words, Cornell is judged more by how well we did on standardized tests than what we learn, how happy we are or the experience we have as undergraduates.

That’s why Emory misreported data. And it represents a failure on our part to appreciate what really matters about the college experience.

Cornell’s data for incoming students is indeed very impressive. The acceptance rate for the Class of 2016, 16.6 percent, is the lowest on record. And the number of applicants was a record high.

The Cornell Chronicle noted that “there are also more Cornell freshmen with high SAT scores — 73.4 percent of incoming students scored 650 or higher (out of 800) on the critical reading portion of the test, up from 69.3 percent in 2011; and 84.9 percent scored 650 or higher on the math portion, compared with 83.6 percent of freshmen last year.” In some respects, this means that the newest Cornellians are some of the most capable students to ever grace our campus.

But does this numerical selectivity indicate that Cornell is in any way a “better” institution? In my opinion, what really makes Cornell great is its sense of community and diversity of people, opinions, interests and experiences. The words of Ezra Cornell from 1868 still hold true today, as there is certainly a place for every type of student here.

Emphasizing quantifiable qualifications, however, runs the

risk of precluding the development of a well-rounded student body. At Cornell, if not Emory, the bottom ten percent of test scorers matter and are as much a part of the community as the top ten percent. Of course, it’s good that the University is in the position of being selective. But it is imperative that incoming classes contribute as much to our clubs, class discussions and community as much as they do to our US News rank.

I have no doubt that the Class of 2016 will make a valuable contribution to our campus. It’s promising that the University has highlighted its racial, economic, geographic

Jon Weinberg In Focus and gender diversity. Those are the statistics that matter, much more so than their SAT scores. We should be proud of the fact that “any person” can succeed and contribute at Cornell, and change the national discussion from what US News finds valuable to what we know matters most about college. It’s impossible to quantify the experiences that have defined our time at Cornell, and we all know our SAT scores in no way define us as people. Emory, US News and the American public should take note.

Jon Weinberg is a senior in the School of Industrial and Labor Relations. He may be reached at jweinberg@cornellsun.com. In Focus appears alternate Wednesdays this semester.

The Truth, the Whole Truth, And Nothing but the Truth M

ost men, when going through their fabled mid-life crisis, make flashy purchases that, although they are intended to make the purchaser feel young and spry, often serve to remind the casual onlooker of the man’s age and lost youth. My father was slightly different in his own mid-life crisis. Instead of buying a garish sports car to cruise in style to Trader Joe’s, he pur-

owned this car for five years until he realized that it did not navigate the snowblanketed streets of upstate New York.

However, before he sold the car, I learned a valuable lesson about honesty and integrity.

Once, in Stuyvesant Plaza, a shopping center where we were eating lunch, I opened the passenger-side door of my

David Fischer Fischy Business chased a Volkswagen Beatle convertible.

And yes, for anyone who’s familiar with the flower holder on the dashboard of VW Beatles, he always kept a fresh flower in the car.

His favorite aspect of the car (much to my bewilderment) was its manual transmission. He always said that it was a departure from the unnecessary complication of the automatic transmission that had corrupted his driving experience (yeah, I never got that part either). He

mom’s car a bit too rapidly and without really thinking about the distance between her car and the VW. I was about nine-years-old and I had no idea how to deal with putting a dent in the deep blue exterior of my dad’s beloved automobile.

So I entered the restaurant without mentioning anything to my dad. I remember hoping, foolishly and futilely, that perhaps my dad would not notice the circular blemish in the otherwise gleaming exterior.

He did notice. He was also puzzled by the sudden appearance of the large dent.

I was still afraid to tell him that I had made the dent so I pretended not to hear about his discovery until he started wondering who had dinged his car and left no note. I realized that I could not let an anonymous bystander take the fall for my folly so I was forced to come forward and tell my dad of my culpability.

Predictably, as the loving and kind father that he has always been, he was more disappointed in my not telling him of the ding in the first place than he was angry about the dent itself. I was also punished for my dishonesty, and although I don’t remember said punishment (likely a grounding of some sort), the event has become an indelible experience that has influenced the way that I present myself and also how I view the world. It taught me the value of honesty and not only about the unacceptability of practicing dishonesty but also the negatives of not saying anything at all.

It is this event, and the resultant lesson that I plan to keep in mind while writing “Fischy Business.” I plan on telling, in the words of the oft-quoted oath used to usher in sworn testimonies in United States courthouses, “the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the

truth, so help me God.” Of course, this is an opinion column so my commitment to the truth means a commitment to portray my true thoughts and opinions without adulteration, as befits a column running in the Nation’s oldest continually running college daily (fun fact for the week).

I plan on focusing on social commentary not centered specifically on any region. One week I could discuss the steady collapse of the European economy while the next I could abhor Fried Food Fridays at the RPCC dining hall (fried broccoli is one of the most disturbing concepts for food that I could ever think of ). And of course, I would be seriously remiss if I didn’t attempt to tackle some political commentary as well in an election year marred by increasingly negative advertising and extreme corporate funding. Finally, I am extremely excited to write this column, and I would like to invite you, the reading public of The Sun on an adventure that we will hopefully both enjoy.

David Fischer is a sophomore in the College of Arts and Sciences. He may be reached at dfischer@cornellsun.com. Fischy Business appears alternate Wednesdays this semester.

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8 THE CORNELL DAILY SUN | Wednesday, August 22, 2012

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10 THE CORNELL DAILY SUN | Wednesday, August 22, 2012

SCIENCE Two Cents: The Cur What is Curiosity’s goal? How will it accomplish its mission?

The goal of the Mars Science Laboratory, Curiosity, is to study the past habitability of Mars. This means investigating whether there existed environments that could have supported life. It is not an actual search for life or for fossils. Thus, the goal is to interpret as much of the geologic record of past Martian environments as possible, with an emphasis on the factors that might support life, such as water, proper temperatures and suitable chemistry. The mission will do this by determining the composition, mineralogy, and geological structures along a 20 or more kilometer traverse.

–– Prof. Peter Thomas, planetary sciences COURTESY OF NASA

By NICHOLAS ST. FLEUR Sun Science Editor

Curiosity, NASA’s third generation Mars Rover, successfully landed on the Red Planet after a journey through the depths of space. Using a novel landing mechanism known as the ‘Sky Crane,’ the rover touched down on the surface of Mars’ Gale Crater.

NASA scientists now have another opportunity to find out more about Earth’s mysterious cosmic neighbor — and, potentially, determine if Mars ever hosted life. This week in Science, we ask Cornell experts about Curiosity and its historic landing.

PETER THOMAS Planetary Sciences

SHOSHANNA COLE Astronomy Graduate Student

ALEX HAYES Astronomy

DON BANFIELD Astronomy

JONATHAN LUNINE Astronomy

RYAN ANDERSON Astronomy Graduate Student

MELISSA RICE Recent Astronomy Graduate Student

MARY BETH NORTON History

COURTESY OF NASA

Why, again, did we send a rover to Mars?

Because there’s so much more to learn about Mars! We’ve only been to a handful of places there, and it’s a whole planet, with diverse geology, and — once upon a time — diverse environments. Mars has the same dryland area as Earth. Each landing site tells us a different part of the story.

This is a great time for me to describe what Mars scientists mean when we talk about “water.” We consider “liquid water” to be any aqueous fluid — i.e., any fluid that has H2O in it. An aqueous fluid that’s way more acidic than battery acid would count as water, as would a brine so salty that it couldn’t freeze, or a fluid with a pH of 14 (or above!) that could easily turn you into soap. So, we’re not talking tap water, or even something that would be okay for you touch. Also, the “ancient” watery environments we study existed about 3 billion years ago. To put that in perspective, most of the earliest multicellular life forms you've heard of began about 600 million years ago.

–– Shoshanna Cole grad Why was the Gale Crater chosen as the location for Curiosity’s landing?

Gale crater was chosen because it is a very old, very deep crater with a giant mountain of layered rocks in the middle named Mt. Sharp.

Geologists love layers because they capture the changing environments where they formed, so with the right tools and expertise, we can read the layers of rock like pages in a Martian history book.

–– Ryan Anderson grad The main attraction is the 5km-high “mound” in the middle of the crater, which is called Mt. Sharp. It’s made up of layers that were deposited over many millions of years of Martian history; it's analogous to the layering you can see in the Grand Canyon, but about three times as thick. Because layers are deposited on top of each other (younger layers sit atop older layers), as Curiosity ascends the mound, it will in a sense travel through Martian history, observing the environmental changes that took place here billions of years ago. We know from orbital data that the mound records some major climatic changes, and data from Curiosity will show us the specifics.

Scientists literally spent years deciding on Curiosity's landing site. We’ve got some amazing cameras and detectors in orbit around Mars, which actually made it harder to pick the site because there were so many great candidates.

–– Shoshanna Cole grad What were the steps involved in Curiosity’s landing?

The sky crane sounds incredibly complex, and when I first heard its full description I thought that that can’t work. In fact, I was quite skeptical until it actually came down two weeks ago. The airbags used for the previous three rovers couldn’t handle as large a rover as

Curiosity ... They also didn’t want to simply lower Curiosity down on retrorockets; as, when they neared the ground, they could kick up so much debris that they could damage the rover, and then you’d also need to shed the extra weight of the retrorockets and they might get in the way. So the sky crane was invented.

The first big difference for Curiosity was that it used guided entry. That is, rather than preprogram the “attitude” — the specific orientation of the spacecraft — as it entered, the attitude was actively adjusted, based on the rover’s best estimate of where it was in the atmosphere, to allow it to come as close as possible to the target landing site. You can think of this like a frisbee that can modify its pitch in flight to best land in your friend’s hand. Previous landers at Mars were more like normal Frisbees we throw; that is, you better throw it right to get close to the target.

Curiosity was like a frisbee that adjusted its pitch and yaw to best fly to the target. This allowed Curiosity to come within about one mile of its planned target (after traveling 350 million miles!). This is akin to sinking a free throw from the opposite side of the earth.

Once guided entry was complete, the spacecraft had decelerated from 13,000 mph to about 1,000 mph. Still quite fast.

Curiosity then used a supersonic parachute to decelerate some more, down to about 200 mph. But because Mars’ atmosphere is so thin, the parachute wasn’t going to slow it down much more than that. So the parachute was cut off, and retrorockets slowed it down to only a few mph, and brought it to within about 60 feet of the surface (as judged by an on-board radar, that figured out not only the height of the spacecraft, but also its sideways motion, from winds, and canceled that out too). Finally, at this 60 feet altitude, it started lowering the rover down on a 20 [foot] tether and very slowly descended until that touched down.

Once the rover felt weight on its wheels and the tether go slack, it cut the tether, and was ready for exploring! But before it could do that, the hovering retrorocket sky crane had to safely move away from the rover (to not fall back on it).

Fortunately, this ALL worked as planned.

Quite amazing.

–– Prof. Don Banfield, astronomy COURTESY OF NASA

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THE CORNELL DAILY SUN |WWedneday, August 22, 2012 15

uriosity Mars Rover Mission How will data from Curiosity be analyzed?

Data arrive in many forms: images, spectra returned from laser probing, and compositional data from materials picked up, as well as from scattered neutrons, among other methods of investigation. The analysis primarily consists of determining what is present (the compositional data) and the context, such as geologic structures indicating the manner of deposition. No samples are returned by Curiosity. That would be a vastly more difficult and expensive enterprise, one that is well into the future.

–– Prof. Peter Thomas, planetary sciences Every day Curiosity beams its data back to Earth, where it is received by the “Deep Space Network” which is a worldwide network of radio telescopes used to listen for signals from NASA missions. The data gets sent to NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, and from there it is distributed to the science team. Each instrument on the rover has its own team who are experts in that particular type of data, and so they interpret the data and share their results with the broader science team.

–– Ryan Anderson grad

the 000 uite fast. hute out sphere is low arad it t to (as ured aft, nds, this the very wn. and and it could ane (to ned.

omy ASA

When Curiosity flew from Earth to Mars, it was safely inside a capsule that had a similar shape to those used in the Apollo program.

The capsule’s heat shield took the brunt of the heating that occurred when the spacecraft entered the Martian atmosphere. After a few minutes, a huge supersonic parachute was deployed, which slowed the capsule down.

These parts of entry and descent were similar to what Spirit, Opportunity, Pathfinder and the Viking and Phoenix landers used. The next part was novel: The rover dropped its heat shield, activated its radar, let go of the parachute and turned on its descent stage’s retro-rockets. The rover was attached to the underside of the descent stage by the Sky Crane, which is a giant winch. Once the descent stage was essentially hovering close to the ground, the Sky Crane lowered the rover the last few dozen meters. When the rover detected that its wheels were on the ground, it cut the lines to the Sky Crane, and the descent stage flew off and crashed a safe distance away from the rover.

–– Shoshanna Cole grad What types of equipment and instruments does Curiosity have to help it complete its mission?

Curiosity has a wealth of cameras, some to just help it drive safely, others to survey the area and still more to scientifically probe the rocks it finds. The science cameras use carefully chosen filters to study the precise color of the rocks to help understand what minerals they are. There is also a camera that is set up to act like a hand-lens that geologists typically carry in the field to better study the mineral samples they find. It also has two other instruments to help it understand the mineralogy of the minerals by looking at the results when the rocks are irradiated with Alpha particles or Xrays. Probably the coolest instrument is one with a laser to vaporize rocks from a distance, and then analyze the spectrum of the plasma that is produced. Again, this one helps identify the make-up of the rocks, but in this case

from 10 meters away, so investigation of a particular location can proceed much faster and more efficiently. Finally, once a very interesting sample is identified, it can be brushed or the surface ground off of it and samples obtained from it (even drilled into to get samples a few cm deep). These samples are then put in a sample analysis suite which is a mass spectrometer/gas chromatograph coupled with a tunable laser spectrometer. This instrument is mainly focused on understanding the organics contained in mineral samples, but can also sample the atmosphere of Mars.

There are also instruments to understand the weather on Mars. Curiosity has landed in a crater and will be climbing up a mountain, so the local “micro-climatology” of the area may prove to be interesting as it moves. The weather station measures wind, temperature, pressure, humidity, as well as the U.V. flux (to understand how that might present a problem to life near the surface of Mars). There's also an instrument that estimates the water in the soil under the rover, and finally one to understand the radiation environment at the surface of Mars (again to understand how hospitable it might be to life (astronauts or martians) at the surface of Mars.

–– Prof. Don Banfield, astronomy What types of cameras are being used on Curiosity?

By my count, Curiosity is boasting eighteen visible-light cameras scattered throughout the rover. The cameras generally fall into two categories: engineering and science, although both types will be used for scientific discovery on the Martian surface. It is important to remember, however, that cameras only constitute a small part of Mars Science Laboratory’s (MSL) considerable scientific capabilities.

The rover also includes an x-ray diffraction instrument, x-ray spectrometer, mass spectrometer, neutron detector, cosmic-ray detector and meteorological station. MSL is the largest and most complex spacecraft ever sent to the surface of another planet.

–– Prof. Alex Hayes, astronomy

Why were the first images coming back from Curiosity low-resolution?

The first images that were beamed back by Curiosity were thumbnails, low-resolution previews analogous to the icons you see when you look at a folder full of images on your home P.C. Thumbnails take up significantly less data volume and can be transmitted between Mars and Earth much more quickly than full-resolution images.If you were watching the news coverage of the landing, you may have noticed that higher resolution versions of the same images followed soon after the thumbnails were released. During rover operations, thumbnails are a great way for scientists and engineers to know whether or not a particular imaging sequence completed successfully. With so many high resolution cameras and other data-intensive instrumentation, data volume is a valuable commodity on the spacecraft. Data products are temporarily stored on-board the rover and downlinked to earth based on assigned priorities. Thumbnails are a great way to verify that a lower-priority image, which may not be downlinked for a while, was taken successfully.

How is Curiosity powered?

What is its fuel source?

Curiosity has a “radioisotope thermoelectric generator” (RTG) on its back that provides the power it needs. This is a can containing plutonium (about 4 kg), that radioactively decays. In the process of that decay, it produces heat. The plutonium is surrounded by thermocouples that can generate electrical power from the thermal gradient that is produced by the internal heat source, and the relatively cold environment of Mars. Apparently Curiosity's RTG producers only about 100W, i.e., that of a strong light bulb. All of the rover's activities: driving, grinding and drilling rocks, running lasers and cameras, radio-ing data back to Earth and just staying warm through the very cold martian nights is all done off of this tiny 100W. –– Prof. Don Banfield, astronomy

COURTESY OF NASA

What are the differences between Curiosity and revious Mars rovers?

Every aspect of Curiosity is bigger and more complex than Spirit and Opportunity. Curiosity is five times heavier and almost twice as tall — it’s the size of a small car (the previous rovers were more golf-cart sized). The scientific instruments are far more sophisticated. With this rover we’ll be able to determine the mineralogy and chemical makeup of rocks and soils much more precisely, and take pictures with a much higher resolution. We can perform new types of investigations, such as searching for organic materials, measuring radiation, and monitoring winds. While Spirit and Opportunity relied on solar energy, Curiosity has a nuclear power source, so it can operate at night and keep driving after she gets caked in dust. The landing mechanism is also brand new; too big for the previous airbag system, Curiosity was lowered to the Martian surface with a “sky crane.”

And that’s just the hardware. Operating this rover is a bigger and more complex task as well.

We have 400+ science team members working on the mission here at JPL, and that doesn’t include the engineers. Instead of a single Principal Investigator (PI) for the mission (Steve Squyres’ role for Spirit and Opportunity), the highest-level decisions are made by a “Project Science Group,” a committee which includes PI’s of each of the 10 rover instruments and other scientists.

–– Melissa Rice grad What constitutes evidence of life on Mars?

First, you must define whether you are looking for existing — “extant” life — or evidence of past life on a now-dead planetary surface.

Mars’ surface is so inhospitable to even the chemical building blocks of life--organic molecules--that if life exists today it must be deep beneath the surface. How can we tell if such life exists by making surface measurements? One way is to look for gases in the air that might be produced by life beneath the surface, gases that are not chemically stable under the strong ultraviolet light from the Sun. The best candidate is methane, and some measurements of the Martian atmosphere suggest tiny amounts of it are present thereby implying an active production of methane somewhere. But is it life producing the methane, or simple chemical processes in the interior? To determine this requires measuring how much of each stable isotope, carbon-12 and carbon-13, are present in a sample of the methane gas. Given the tiny amounts in the Martian air, this will be very difficult to do. For extinct life, the Martian surface is so oxidizing that any chemical traces of such life are destroyed quickly. The only hope would be to find fossil imprints of once living organisms in sediments, something we don’t expect to see. But we could be surprised.

Curiosity isn’t designed to search for life. Its instrument payload is designed for a different purpose: to determine how long Mars had an environment suitable for life.

–– Prof. Jonathan Lunine, astronomy What is the significance of the Curiosity Mars Rover Mission?

I am a historian, so first I will make historical points. Let's remember — as NASA reminds us on its web site — that most attempts to land on Mars have failed. Let’s also remember that during what might seem like a comparable feat — the moon landing in 1969 — problems arose at the last minute and Neil Armstrong had to take over manual control of the Eagle lander to avoid disaster. No such human fallback was available for Curiosity.

Everything had to work perfectly, and it did.

That engineers were able to pull off such an extraordinary feat as successfully landing such a large instrument on Mars bodes well for the future of human exploration of space.

–– Prof. Mary Beth Norton, history Nicholas St. Fleur can be reached at science-editor@cornellsun.com.

16 | The Corne¬ Daily Sun | Wednesday, August 22, 2012

A&E

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT Osheaga2012: Fun in the Sun, Mud and Rain

PHOTOS COURTESY OF OSHEAGA FESTIVAL

BY REBECCA HARRIS Sun News Editor

This article first appeared on cornellsun.com on August 10.

With 400 miles of interstate highway and the American-Canadian border behind us, we were craving fresh air and live music, and badly. We were ready for Montreal, and Montreal was ready for us. When the Osheaga Music and Arts Festival opened its gates last Friday, the city was already braced for the sudden influx of hipsters.

The concierge at our hotel had a stack of pre-printed maps at the ready; police officers herded kids like cattle into the proper subway cars. Actual Montreal residents were conspicuously absent. Despite the high volume of attendees — a whopping 120,000 people in and out of the festival over three days — it took just minutes to get to the venue, whose entrance was located mere feet from the metro stop. Color me impressed. Or to quote Florence + The Machine’s leading lady: “We fucking love Canada.”

Osheaga’s island locale, Parc Jean-Drapeau, is a sort of wooded fairyland. Inside the park, the two main stages stand side-by-side overlooking a massive gravel lot, peppered with patches of turf for lounging and a large grassy hill. It is nothing spectacular.

But trekking a bit further in, battling hordes of wandering concertgoers, the magic of the venue quickly becomes apparent, with stages and tents hidden among trees, streams and winding trails.

Early on day one, Icelandic sextet Of Monsters and Men performed on a stage deep within the park, playing to a massive yet mellow crowd in a sun-drenched, meadowy clearing in the woods. Pairing male and female lead vocals with folksy instrumentals to produce the flighty melodies that make up whimsical hits like “Little Talks” and “Mountain Sound,” the band’s set epitomized the spirit of the festival. On a nearby side stage in a shrouded clearing, smaller acts like the Jezabels and Dum Dum Girls entertained chiller audiences throughout the day and provided music-on-the-go for hordes of fans traveling between

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

stages.

Later in the evening, Florence + The Machine was as stunning as ever, with an eerily, hauntingly beautiful sound and one of the most enthusiastic performances of the weekend. Singer-songwriter Florence Welch drew screaming approval from the audience with each drawn-out high note, and her youthful exuberance — she literally jumped up down, galloped back and forth and clapped her hands excitedly — was contagious. Opening with “Only If For A Night” and closing with hit singles “Shake It Out” and “Dog Days Are Over,” Welch and tremendously talented keyboardist Isabella Summers knocked it out of the park.

The slow, drowsy stylings of Sigur Ros arrived just after sunset and seemed to lull some weary fans into a daze. The band’s full-hour set in all its serenity seemed a strange choice as the lead-in for day one closer Justice, the French D.J. duo whose electronic mixes have become a dance party staple. Nonetheless, thousands of people had no trouble rallying for Friday night’s final act, brandishing glow sticks and dancing until the finish.

Day two isn’t worth dwelling on beyond the notable vocals of Young the Giant’s Sameer Gadhia. Unless you’re a serious Feist fan (I’m not) or you were dying to see the artist formerly known as Snoop Dogg attempt reggae (I wasn’t), Saturday failed to offer much else.

Rather it was Osheaga’s third and final day that boasted — and delivered — a stellar lineup. Artist after quality artist took the stage in quick succession on Sunday, drawing and maintaining a staggering audience at the island’s two side-by-side main stages until the bitter end. And this in spite of the torrential downpour that turned Parc Jean-Drapeau into an enormous mud puddle and led festival staff to pack up their giant hoses,

which they had used on the crowd to help battle the blazing heat on Friday and Saturday.

The first storm on Sunday began — and ended abruptly minutes later — in the middle of what became a ragingly fun set by electro-pop sensation Passion Pit, whose synthesized sound provided fodder for an impromptu dance party in the rain. The only disappointment of the act was its brevity.

Electronic pop songstress Santigold took the stage shortly after for a similarly high-energy, danceinspiring set. Decked in neon and gold sparkles and accompanied by her two outrageous, signature backup dancers — and, at one point, inexplicably, two people in a horse suit — the Philly native’s performance was as out there as her arguably genreless music.

The Shins, Sunday night’s penultimate act, powered through the second wave of the storm, which hit just as the band’s set got underway. But despite the rain — and by rain I mean thunder, lightning, massive gusts of wind and buckets of cold water besetting concertgoers for several consecutive hours — the crowd hardly seemed to thin all night. By the end of day three, garbage bag ponchos were as prevalent as vintage denim and floral Keds. The masses stuck it out because, ultimately, Osheaga organizers seemed to have saved the best for last.

The festival’s final act, The Black Keys, closed out the weekend with a well-earned, phenomenal 90minute set. The dynamic rock duo delivered sharp, clean vocals and instrumentals throughout, performing with the seasoned maturity of a band that’s been on the scene for a decade. The Black Keys kept it simple: At one point, lead singer and guitarist Dan Auerbach went rogue, along with Patrick Carney on drums (for the win), ditching their backup guys for several beautiful numbers. It’s no wonder that The Black Keys hit a trifecta of festival gigs in 2012, also featuring prominently on the rosters for Coachella and Lollapalooza this yar.

The band’s straightforward delivery at the end of day three was somewhat of a welcome departure from the less traditional, albeit entertaining, performances of the newcomers that dominated Osheaga 2012.

Rebecca Harris is a junior in the College of Arts and Sciences. She is The Sun’s News Editor. She can be contacted at rharris@cornellsun.com.

A&E

Wednesday, August 22, 2012 | The Corne¬ Daily Sun | 17

A Brilliant Thriller From a Promising Alum

BY KAI SAM NG Sun Staff Writer

This article first appeared on cornellsun.com on June 24.

How can you make yourself stand out from the rest? Some authors have used blood and gore. Others have gravitated towards the psychological thriller. In his debut novel The Calypso Directive, Brian Andrews ’03 wants us to use our brains.

Andrews, a graduate of Cornell’s Johnson School, uses a combination of social commentary and medical information to appeal to a traditionally skeptical audience without forgetting who his core audience is. In the novel, Vyrogen Pharmaceuticals seeks a miracle gene that, combined with gene therapy, could drastically enhance the immune system. Andrews lays down the medical groundwork behind the mechanism, from gene mutations to lymphocytes, without sounding too technical or forced. The gene also has the potential to generate millions of dollars, and Andrews explains gene patenting and the grueling process of acquiring Federal Government contracts without being too politicized or overwhelming.

Referencing facts to make thrillers more plausible has been done before (think The Da Vinci Code), but so far they have often been twisted or cherry-picked to fit the plot instead of the other way around. The Calypso Directive’s plot molds around unaltered facts.

It is not hard to tell why the thriller genre has had an aversion to the latter direction: though having a plot based on untainted facts is the holy grail of the plausible thriller novel, facts are naturally antagonistic towards the adrenaline-pumping stories that

help thrillers sell. No one will find sequencing a genome as exciting (unless you’re a graduate student) in the same way as a freefor-all gunfight. Artistic liberty must still be used, but used carefully. Few authors have been able to manage it because this is a difficult approach to take.

So The Calypso Directive still has those unbelievable moments. Will Foster, the only person in the world to carry the miracle gene that protects against all disease, is escaping from Vyrogen and other parties who see him as a walking gold mine. There are ruthless mercenaries who make Foster’s capture personal. The shadowy Think Tank deploys hardened agents equipped with button-size wireless microphones and robot spiders who are aided by the upper echelons of government. Foster turns to a former girlfriend microbiologist for help and the two rekindle their love as they avoid pursuit and seek answers. Fight scenes, snappy dialogue and larger-than-life characters: it’s all there.

Thankfully, Andrews balances mellow truth and sensational fiction to ensure that neither overwhelms the other, using either only when appropriate. He brings up serious issues that are often ignored without compromising the narrative’s pace. When he inserts his opinions on gene patenting, he avoids taking the lazy route of the sermon.

Criticisms of gene patenting are often intertwined with a basic story of greed, but Andrews’ use of the thriller template makes his arguments resonate. Thriller novels typically have a clear good and evil side polarized to an extent found only in video games, but Andrews devotes large amounts of space to the other parties’ candid and sinister moments so that no side is completely good or bad. Greed is everywhere because it

comes from everywhere. Pivotal moments in The Calypso Directive, especially the ending, use this to deliver twists. They not only move the plot along, but also make the reader selfaware of the twist that further reinforces the commentary.

The Calypso Directive drives home the point that it is not what you write about that matters, but how you write it.

Mimicking whatever is currently featured at The Strand does not guarantee good writing. Working with something that literary snobs look down upon has the potential to be good. Sadly, this is problematic for the book because the marketing focuses too much on the thriller elements at the expense of the things that set the book apart. It presumes that the book is compelling because of its place in the genre, and not the book itself. One has to wonder whether Andrews was part of the marketing process at all; the title of the book is mentioned once and never again, which is odd since it is the name of the initiative that sets the book in motion in the first place.

Disregarding the disparity between the cover and the pages, The Calypso Directive shows that thrillers don’t have to be brainless and political commentary doesn’t have to be pedantic; they can co-exist peacefully and even synergize. Andrews excises the kitsch from the kitschy thriller novel without losing focus on the basic thriller elements that ground the book’s identity. Modifying an existing template is much harder than creating an entirely new one, but Andrews succeeds in introducing new elements that reinforce each other to create an informed work.

Though the marketing of the book ignores these things, it’s hard to blame the book for these faults — after all, Andrews just started and he needs to sell books. Going after a preexisting demographic makes sense.

Andrews, however, is headed in a promising direction that has the potential to expand beyond. Even if you’re not into thrillers, keep him on your radar because in the future you might just pick up a book that has his name emblazoned on the cover without even realizing it.

Kai Sam Ng is a junior in the School of Industrial and Labor Relations. He can be reached at kng@cornellsun.com.

The Greatest Films of Me Time

T

he years drag by on this special August day. We can Sight & Sound clones declaring their final list as recite by heart the rankings last time around, but we fact. I think it would be irresponsible as a critic to hear a potential contender has a chance to topple the hold a select few titles above all else just because king. This time, the two will go face-to-face. The moment they introduced this technique or inspired that of truth has arrived. Spectators across the world open a new director. Intuition, recognized through emotional Internet tab and … check Twitter? Well, yes. This is not the response, should rule the sorting of great art. A masOlympics and the contestants are not Michael Phelps or terpiece should strike an initial impression of awe, Ryan Lochte. This is cinema as filtered through the British love, fear or even downright resentment, only for a Film Institute’s decennial Sight & Sound Poll and Alfred closer read to enhance or reverse these feelings. The Hitchcock’s Vertigo is set to seize the throne from Orson worst offense is causing no offense.

I both criticize and defend the Sight & Sound Welles’ Citizen Kane as the de facto “Greatest Film of All Time.” And it did, as revealed by Sight & Sound’s Twitter Poll. It settled on some truly wonderful films, like Yasujiro Ozu’s Tokyo Story, ranked at number three. account on August 1.

This is how it goes: Every ten years, the magazine Sight & I finally saw it because of its placement. The poll is Sound polls an exclusive list of critics, historians, theorists, more a glorified list of movies to watch for budding distributors, exhibitors and other legit types on their picks for cinephiles than any stone tablet of truth. You would the ‘Top 10’ films. There were 846 voters in total (my be a fool to take any of it for granted. I personally employer at distributor Milestone Films was one of them) and disagree with some of their choices, namely Vertigo they do not fall for the politics or marketing campaigns that as the number one pick. It is a haunting, dense work, one plague the Oscars. The poll is, as Roger Ebert summarizes, worth exploring in one of the many film courses you can take here at Cornell. But it is also a cold and distant study of “the only one most serious movie people take seriously.

So, the displacement of Citizen Kane from “Greatest obsession and creation, telling the story of a man who strugEver” status — which it held for five decades — in favor of gles and fails to craft the perfect woman from a memory at odds with her very flawed realVertigo means sacred ity. No wonder it is the critics’ ground has been favorite; it tells their story. The plowed, tilled and Rules of the Game, number declared sacred four on the list, survives today anew. But not really, as a fascinating and witty porof course. There is trait of pre-war bourgeois no official “greatest” ideals, though I question anyfilm, just as there is one it touched on a personal A Lover’s Quarrel no greatest song, level. Same goes with The painting or aleatory With the World Battleship Potemkin and much cut-up poem. The of Jean-Luc Godard’s work; best these academics can do is talk amongst and with themselves to decide which they innovated the art form but should be remembered most groundbreaking film broke more ground than that other for the more engaging fare they inspired.

This is all my opinion, of course, and that is the point. groundbreaking film, or which artistic feature packed more beautiful art than that other artistic feature. It is quite silly The logical fallacy the horrid Rotten Tomatoes community always shrieks — “You did not like Classic A so your opinion and arbitrary when viewed from afar.

Considering that we witness every action and absorb is invalid” — only elevates my respect for the targeted critic every expression through our own eyes, it is impossible to (often Dave Kehr or Armond White). There is no perfect divorce emotion from judgment, lest we become readymade movie, and we should revisit these monuments and check if

Zachary Zahos

ZANDER ABRANOWICZ / SUN STAFF ILLUSTRATOR

their architecture really is sound. Admiration for art should come from within, not egged on by external pressures.

The line between “favorite” and “best” in these circumstances really is thin, if not existent. “Guilty pleasures” are a whole other thing — Rush Hour 2 would not be caught within a million miles of my Sight & Sound list, though I still deign to watch it with a smile. But for someone who has watched dozens if not hundreds or thousands of quality films, why reiterate the standards when you have the rare moment to reflect and think yourself? Think back to the moments that took your breath away and raised the hairs up on the back of your neck.

For me, those are HAL’s “Daisy” from 2001: A Space Odyssey, the “Ride of the Valkyries” in Apocalypse Now, Susan’s opera in Citizen Kane, Marge’s “It’s a Beautiful Day” speech from Fargo, the father’s visit in La Dolce Vita, the final frames of City Lights, the duster attack from North by Northwest, the U.S.S. Indianapolis story in Jaws, “La Marseillaise” from Casablanca and the Creation From The Tree of Life. There are some unimaginative picks as well as some disagreeable ones. But the list is mine, me, myself.

Zachary Zahos is a sophomore in the College of Arts and Sciences. He can be reached at arts-and-entertainment-editor@cornellsun.com. The Third Man runs alternate Wednesdays this semester.

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

18 THE CORNELL DAILY SUN | Wednesday, August 22, 2012

Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis

ACROSS 1 Run headlong into 4 Leave in stitches 8 Soupçon 11 Ostrich cousins 13 Henchmen 14 Printing measure 15 Speech therapist’s concern 16 Certain music teacher 18 Keen on 19 Je ne __ quoi 20 Freebies near the register 21 Outmoded street fixture 24 Play a good joke on 25 Moose feature 28 Word with tie or cord 31 It may be bleeped out 34 Write to a disk 35 News initials 36 Succulent part of a rack 39 Mario Brothers letters 40 “The Mod Squad” role 42 “Way to go!”

43 Insurance worker 45 Study intently 47 “The Simpsons” shopkeeper 48 International Tennis Hall of Famer who won consecutive US Opens in 1997 and 1998 55 __-load: prep for a marathon 57 Liposuction target 58 Overdue book penalty 59 Louisiana nickname 61 “Absolutely!”

62 Upbeat 63 Farm girls?

64 Telegram 65 Fleur-de-__ 66 Cabled carrier 67 With “the,” muchwatched index, a different component of which is hidden in 16-, 21-, 36-, 48and 59-Across

DOWN 1 Museum piece 2 Acid type 3 “__ paint you a picture?”

4 Sand bar 5 Desi’s daughter 6 Shocked 7 Maker of Opium, initially 8 “Unfaithful” Oscar nominee 9 Money in the bank: Abbr.

10 Curmudgeonly cries 12 Cleaning aid 13 Best Buy buy 14 Shows the way 17 “Hurry up!”

22 Okla., before 11/16/1907 23 “Good one!”

26 Square, moneywise 27 Sit for a spell 28 Juicer refuse 29 Mayberry boy 30 Napa equipment 31 Back-tied sash 32 “Breaking Bad” cable channel

33 Place to start a hole 37 Kind of verb: Abbr.

38 Bite with un aperitivo 41 Cantankerous 44 Belly laugh 46 Yours, to Yves 47 Chain with Market Fresh sandwiches

49 Lead-in to bad news 50 Silicon Valley’s Santa __ 51 Deejay Casey 52 Like a wallflower 53 Madrid month 54 Ask for more Money?

55 PC key 56 Shout between ships 60 London hrs.

ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE:

xwordeditor@aol.com

08/22/12

Sun Sudoku

COMICS AND PUZZLES

Puzzle #314 CLASSIFIED AD RATES Ads are accepted at The Sun‘s office at 139 W. State Street downtown, by phone or e-mail.

Deadline: 3:30 p.m. at The Sun‘s office on the day preceding publication. Monday’s deadline: Friday, 3:30 p.m. at The Sun office.

Fill in the empty cells, one number in each, so that each column, row, and region contains the numbers 1-9 exactly once.

Each number in the solution therefore occurs only once in each of the three “directions,” hence the “single numbers” implied by the puzzle’s name.

(Rules from wikipedia.org/wiki /Sudoku)

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THE CORNELL DAILY SUN | Wednesday, August 22, 2012 19

20 THE CORNELL DAILY SUN | Wednesday, August 22, 2012

THE CORNELL DAILY SUN | Wenesday, August 22, 2012 21

SPORTS

New Players Fill Holes Left by Seniors Former Nebraska W. SOCCER

Continued from page 24

Association of American Scholar All-American and a Maryland All-State First Team Selection last season. Cantor is a four-time Maryland Olympic Development Program player and competed with the Bethesda Freedom club team to win the US Club National Club X Regional Championship.

Maddie Dunn is a dual-position player for the defense and the offense and comes to the Red from Sherborn, Mass. Dunn was named as the Boston Globe’s Player of the Year in 2011 and earned a spot on the All-Scholastic Team for both the Boston Globe and Boston Herald. She also lettered for all four years in high school and helped lead her team to a Division III state championship.

“Maddie is a multi-positional player who will most probably compete as a target forward in 2012. In 2011, she was the high scorer in her class in the state after moving from central defense to central striker following an injury to a teammate," said Coach Farmer.

Caroline Growney is the fourth addition and will be an asset as a forward from Albuquerque, N.M. Growney helped Albuquerque Academy to win state championships all four years that she played there.

Michelle Manning is brought into the defense from Littleton, Colo. where she served as a versatile member of her high school team. Manning was named rookie of the year as a freshman at ThunderRidge high school and earned an all-league honorable mention as a sophomore. She grabbed first-team allleague honors as a defender during her junior season and earned all-league second-team honors as a senior but from the offensive line.

“Michelle is an athletic flank defender from Colorado who has spent the major part of the summer on campus taking classes,” said Coach Farmer. “She brings speed, agility, and defending impact to the back line and will be able to compete right away for playing time.”

Breanna Mockler is the fifth to be put on the roster and is from Davis, Calif. coming to the Red as a defender or midfielder. Mockler competed with the Olympic Development Program last season winning a Regional IV Championship.

Caroline Quentin is the first of the pair of goalies to join Cornell from Arlington high school in Poughquag, N.Y. Quentin was a four-year varsity athlete who helped her team to the state finals during both her junior and senior years. She was also an Olympic Development Program Select National Pool

Player for four seasons.

“Caroline is a strong goalkeeper. She is solid physically and technically in the goal and has good distribution. Caroline has very good communication with her back line that should help her transition to the college game, and she has a strong presence in the penalty area,” said Coach Farmer. ‘She will be one of the three goalkeepers who will compete for the starting role vacated by the two graduating seniors after the 2011 season.”

Amanda Symons is the second of the goalkeepers to join the Red. At 6’0” she is a forced to be reckoned with from Grand Blanc, Mich. after playing for her high school and the Elite Club National League.

Charlotte Tate comes to Cornell from Westlake, Ohio as a defender. Tate was named to the All-Ohio First Team and AllRegion IV First Team after her senior season as captain for Westlake high school. She helped Westlake win three district championships and is a three-time selection to the AllSouthwest Conference and All-District Greater Cleveland Teams.

“Charlotte is a fast, athletic defender from Ohio who will compete at the flank defender role in our preseason. She was a first team All-Ohio state defender last year in her senior high school season and was the 'shut down' defender for her team, assigned to the opponent's top frontrunner," said Coach Farmer.

Morgan Zaidel is the tenth freshman to round out the Class of 2016, as a defenseman from Basking Ridge, N.J. Zaidel led Gill St. Bernard’s in scoring during both her freshman and sophomore seasons and played club soccer with Matchfit Chelsea FC. The Red starts its season over Labor Day weekend at the D.C. Invitational. Both games of the contest will be played in the afternoon, with Georgetown — ranked ninth in the nation last year — on Sept. 1 and GW two days later.

The team will play its first game at its home facility against Sacred Heart on Sept. 14 . This game will mark the first-ever meeting between the two competitors. The Pioneers had a 10win season last year and advanced to the Northeast Conference semifinals so the matchup should be an interesting one for Cornell. Of the Red’s sixteen games of the season, seven will be played on its home turf at Charles F. Berman Field.

Ivy League play begins with an away match against Columbia on Friday Sept. 21 to continue a very interesting upcoming season for the Red. Haley Velasco and Dani Abada can be reached at sports@cornellsun.com.

Tough Fall Schedule Will Challenge Squad To Improve Upon Last Year’s Overall Record F. HOCKEY

Continued from page 24

starting goalkeeper, replacing Alex Botte ’12, who was the Red’s all-time leader in career victories. This summer, Horner was selected by US Field Hockey to represent Pennsylvania at the Women’s National Championship. In seven appearances in the net last season, Horner finished with a 2-1 record and a 1.47 goals against average.

Facing a tough 2012 schedule, the

Red will have to battle two teams who played in the 2011 NCAA tournament.

Five of the Red’s first seven games on their schedule will be on the road, where they will face off against powerhouse programs in North Carolina and Penn State. This will be the first time the Red is up against the Tar Heels, who made it to the NCAA championship game last season.

Ivy play kicks off on Sept. 15 when the Red will take on Penn at home, followed by matchups with Columbia,

Yale and Harvard. Cornell also looks to snap a streak of four straight losses to Princeton on Oct. 27 when it faces the Tigers at home. Coming off a 1-6 finish in conference play last season, the Red has the experience in a starting lineup full of returning players to make a successful turnaround.

Scott Chiusano can be reached at schiusano@cornellsun.com.

Basketball Star Alleges Attack

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A former University of Nebraska women's basketball star faked an attack in which she allegedly carved anti-gay slurs into her skin because she felt it would spark change, police said Tuesday.

Four days before Charlie Rogers crawled naked and bleeding from her Lincoln home, screaming for help, she outlined in a Facebook posting what investigators believe was her motive for faking the July 22 attack, Police Chief Jim Peschong said at a news conference.

"So maybe I am too idealistic, but I believe way deep inside me that we can make things better for everyone. I will be a catalyst. I will do what it takes. I will. Watch me," read the July 18 posting, according to police.

Furthermore, genetic testing on evidence gathered at the crime scene undermines Rogers' account of what happened, Peschong said.

Charlie Rogers, 33, pleaded not guilty Tuesday to making a false police report and was released on her own recognizance. She didn't respond to a message seeking comment left Tuesday at a number listed as hers, but her lawyer, Brett McArthur, said she maintains the attack happened and plans to vigorously defend herself.

"This has been a very traumatic event for her, and having the focus of the investigation turn toward her has been really hard," said McArthur, who described Rogers as reserved and soft-spoken, and not the type to seek attention.

"She has no reason to lie about what happened. She's pretty devastated, when you go to authorities and things kind of get turned around on you," he said.

Rogers, a lesbian who ranks second all-time in blocked shots for the Cornhuskers, reported the attack amid a charged debate in Lincoln over the city's proposed "fairness ordinance," which would ban discrimination against gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people. The City Council approved the ordinance in May, 5-0, but two conservative groups gathered enough signatures to force a popular vote on it before it can take effect.

According to police, Rogers said three masked men broke into her home, and that one of them pinned her down while another sliced a cross into her chest, cut the front of her thighs and shins and carved derogatory words in her arms and abdomen. She said they then rolled her onto her stomach and cut her buttocks, the back of her thighs and the back of her right calf. She also said they tried to burn down her house.

Rogers crawled from her home naked, bleeding and screaming for help, a neighbor told police. The community's gay community responded swiftly, and hundreds turned out for a rally that weekend outside the state Capitol.

Like Sports? Like to Write?

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Come join us in the Sun Sports Department contact: sports@cornelldailysun.com or call 273-3606 after 5 p.m.

22 THE CORNELL DAILY SUN | Wednesday, August 22, 2012

THE CORNELL DAILY SUN | Wenesday, August 22, 2012 23

SPORTS

MEN’S HOCKEY

Three Red Icers Selected During 2012 NHL Draft

By DANI ABADA

XIAOYU GUO / SUN STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Sun Assistant Sports Editor

The 2012 NHL Draft, which took place June 22-23 in Pittsburgh, proved to be an eventful weekend for the Red. Cornell had a strong presence at the draft, with three of its player being selected by NHL teams — a feat that no other team in ECAC Hockey can claim this year.

The first Red draft pick was incoming freshman Reece Willcox. The Philadelphia Flyers drafted the defenseman with the 141st overall pick in the fifth round. The Flyers have not drafted a Cornellian since 1997, when goalie JeanThe Red roster now boasts Marc Pelletier eight NHL draft picks for was drafted in the second the first time since the round.Willcox has spent his 2006-2007 season. last two season on the Junior A Merritt Centennials of the British Columbia Hockey League, where he came away with 10 goals and 27 assists in 105 games during that time. Not only was he named the team’s Top Defenseman last year, but he was also named a BCHL Second Team All-Star during the 2011-12 season. Additionally, Willcox played five games with gold medal-winning Team Canada West at the World Junior A Challenge in November.

In the sixth round, rising sophomore forward John McCarron was selected 153rd overall by the Edmonton Oilers. As a freshman, McCarron played on a line with Sean Collins ’12 and classmate Joel Lowry.

He had six goals and thirteen assists on the season,

Cornell’s Crosby? | Senior tri-captain and defensmen Nick D’Agostino was drafted 211th overall by the Pittsburgh Penguins in the 7th Round of the 2008 NHL Draft. including a power play goal in the Red’s NCAA Midwest Regional semifinal victory over top-seeded Michigan on March 23. McCarron follows in the footsteps of Riley Nash — the only other Cornellian to be drafted by the Oilers — who was selected before his freshman year in 2007.

The third Cornellian to round out the Red’s trio was when the San Jose Sharks selected Joakim Ryan, a rising sophomore defenseman, as a the final pick in the seventh round. He joins the Sharks’ current assistant captain, Cornellian Doug Murray ’03 who was drafted in 1999. Since the beginning of his time on East Hill — where he posted two goals and an assist in his first game on Oct. 29 against Mercyhurst — Ryan has been a valuable player to the team, playing on the top power play unit. He, too, came up big in the Michigan game, scoring a shorthanded goal on a two-on-one. With seven goals on the season, Ryan went down in history with the most goals scored by a freshman defenseman in program history.

With the drafting of Willcox, McCarron and Ryan, the Red roster now boasts eight NHL draft picks for the first time since the 2006-2007 season, five of which are defensemen.

OLIVER KLIEWE / SUN SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHER

Birch to Chi-Town | Senior tri-captain and defensement Braden Birch was selected by the Chicago Blackhawks as the 179th overall pick in the 2008 NHL draft.

Dani Abada can be reached at dabada@cornellsun.com.

Traditions of the Cup Whitney Signs With Everblades Experienced by Ithaca MEN’S HOCKEY

By HALEY VELASCO

Sun Assistant Sports Editor

Coming directly from graduation, Sean Whitney ’12 signed with the Florida Everblades for the upcoming 2012-2013 season. At 6’ 4” and 195 lbs. the Massachusetts native will follow in his brother and NHL veteran Ryan Whitney’s footsteps into the professional realm of hockey.

“Sean is a big-bodied, and very intelligent defenseman. He has the ability to stabilize our back end,” said head coach Greg Poss.

For the Red, Whitney was a pivotal part of the team’s past success. Overall he played 101 career games for the defense, earning an ECAC Hockey championship and three runs in the NCAA tournament during his time with Cornell. Together with Braden Birch ’12, the dynamic duo matched up against some of the best offensive lines in the country and the pair didn’t surrender a five-on-five goal until Jan. 28 of last season. Last season all

MIN BU / SUN STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Going pro | Sean Whitney ’12 signed with the professional hockey team, the Florida Everblades for the upcoming 2012-2013 season.

together, Whitney grabbed 11 points by scoring two goals and racking up nine assists. On the offensive end, Whitney scored both of his goals in the ECAC Hockey quarterfinal takedown of Dartmouth in March. His plus-10 rating on the year was the highest of his career, and his total of 11 points tied a career high. Over all four years with the Red, Whitney accumulated 30 points, thanks to seven goals and 23 assists.

Whitney may be new to professional play, but the Everblades’ home rink will be a familiar venue.

Previously, he had three assists in seven career games at the Florida College Hockey Classic, which gets played annually at the Germain Arena , as well as all home Everblades’ matchups. The Everblades will head into the team’s 15th season, with a Kelly Cup win under their belts and hopes for an upcoming winning season.

Haley Velasco can be reached at hvelasco@cornellsun.com.

the title left Brown searching for the right words to describe what he was feeling; however, the capcarried the Cup down the line tain recalled the emotions he felt of people still waiting, allowing from passing the Cup to his teameveryone to chance to touch it at mates.

“What’s pretty special for the least once — if they wanted to.

Many NHL players — as well as players is the tradition of one NHL hopefuls — are superstitious teammate passing the cup to about touching the trophy, as they another,” he said.

Another tradition, which many believe it is bad luck to touch it hockey fans love to ask players before winning it.

Brown’s thoughtful gesture did about is drinking out of the tronot go unnoticed by Anbinder, phy. While many players have which he described as “a classy been spotted drinking beer out of the trophy, Brown’s young sons were pho“It’s amazing to have that tographed drinking chocolate piece of history in your town.” During his staymilk. in Ithaca, Brown used Mark Anbinder the Cup as a large bowl to share frozen yogurt in with his friends and fammove.”

“It’s amazing to have that piece ily.

Before leaving Ithaca, Brown of history in your town,” Anbinder went on to say. “It’s real- offered advice to young athletes ly a meaningful trophy … [and] who have dreams of one day enterit’s really a great symbol of success. ing the world of professional In Dustin’s case it’s incredible how sports — have fun. Brown played he is able to be so successful with lacrosse, baseball and hockey while the Kings. He’s the captain and growing up, before eventually had an exceptional season. So hav- focusing on hockey. His advice is ing him bring [the Cup] home to for aspiring athletes to play the spend time with his family and sports they enjoy while they are younger, and focus more seriously friends was terrific.”

Anbinder and Liao were not on one sport as they grow older. the only ones who said that they struggled to find words to describe seeing the Cup in person. Lauren Ritter can be reached at Hoisting the Cup after winning sunsportseditor@cornellsun.com.

M. HOCKEY

Continued from page 24

Sports

The Corne¬ Daily Sun

WEDNESDAY AUGUST 22, 2012

24

MEN’S HOCKEY

Brown Brings Stanley Cup Home to Ithaca

By LAUREN RITTER Sun Sports Editor

On July 28, hockey fans from near and far gathered at Ithaca High School at 9 a.m. on a rainy Saturday morning to greet a much-loved hometown hero. Los Angeles Kings captain and Ithaca native Dustin Brown was back in town and everyone was eager to see the very famous companion which was by his side — the Stanley Cup. After winning the Stanley Cup Finals, it is tradition that every player on the team gets to spend 24 hours with the Cup. From the moment that Brown lifted the famed trophy over his head in June after the Kings beat the New Jersey Devils, it was clear that a trip to Ithaca would be in the Cup’s near future. Having the Cup in Ithaca is very special, according to Brown.

“Ithaca’s a pretty small, tight-knit community and big sports community especially with two colleges here and a lot of people interested in sports,” Brown explained. “I don’t know if there has ever been anything like this in Ithaca from someone from Ithaca. I’m being biased I’m sure, but if you want to bring a trophy to the town, that’s the trophy you want to bring.”

The Cup is no stranger to Ithaca, as it made an appearance in 1999 when former Cornell All-American Joe Nieuwendyk visited after the Dallas Stars won the Stanley Cup Finals. Nieuwendyk also won NHL titles in 1989 and 2003 with the Calgary Flames and New Jersey Devils,

SEYOUN KIM / SUN STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Sippy cup? | Brown shares funny story of his children drinking chocolate milk out of the Stanley Cup with fans.

respectively. While previously in Ithaca, the Cup has made appearances at Cornell, as well as local favorites such as Dunbars and the home of the famous Pinesburger Challenge, the Glenwood Pines where Nieuwendyk celebrated his 2003 victory while playing with the Devils, according to Mark Anbinder ’89.

“When I showed up to greet Dustin Brown and the Stanley Cup at 9 a.m., I was shocked by the amount of people there already. I would guess well over a thousand,” said Albert Liao ’14, a Sun Sports staff writer. “It was a great experience for me to see Dustin Brown and the Stanley Cup and I’m sure the other people who were there feel the same way.”

Over 2,000 people gathered to see Brown and the Cup, with hopes of having their picture taken with the winning

WOMEN’S SOCCER

captain and one of the most recognizable trophies in the sports world.

“It’s an incredible thing to see people’s reactions when they are around the Stanley Cup,” Anbinder said. “I can’t imagine any other sports trophy getting that kind of attention. One of the things that is amazing about is it that each player on the team gets to take the Cup home with them for the day. It travels the world to all corners of the planet to see it. Hundreds of hundreds of people waited in line to see it and take a picture with it and touch the Cup.” While not everyone was able to have their picture taken with Brown and the Cup, the captain made sure that

FIELD HOCKEY

Red Prepares to Bounce Back

By SCOTT CHIUSANO Sun Assistant Sports Editor

OLIVER KLIEWE / SUN SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHER

Fresh meat | Ten new freshmen are added to the roster in a multitude of positions to aid the Red.

Squad Adds Ten New Faces

By HALEY VELASCO and DANI ABADA Sun Assistant Sports Editors

There have been many changes for the Red this upcoming 2012 season. In addition to new head coach Patrick Farmer, there will be ten new freshmen – Joanna Barrett, Jenna Cantor, Maddie Dunn, Caroline Growney, Michelle Manning, Breanna Mockler, Caroline Quentin, Amanda Symons, Charlotte Tate and Morgan Zaidel – that will suit up for Cornell. The Class of 2016 will feature a multitude of positions – including a pair of goalkeepers – to help fill the holes of last year’s lineup and hopefully improve on its 2-13-1 record.

See M. HOCKEY page 23

Joanna Barrett is the first of ten who comes to the Red from nearby Lansing, N.Y. as an addition to the defense. She was named all-state second team defender and was twice named as an all-conference team defender.

“Joanna is a local player who is an athletic defender and brings a strong playing background into her freshman year,” said head coach Patrick Farmer. “Joanna will compete for a spot as flank defender at Cornell.”

Jenna Cantor is a midfielder from Winston Churchill high school where she was named a National Soccer Coaches See W. SOCCER page 21

After struggling through a rebuilding season in 2011, the women’s field hockey team is poised and ready to rebound.

With nine starters returning, the Red has a chance to return to its winning ways of two years ago, when the winningest class in women’s field hockey history led the squad to an 11-5 season.

The Red’s top two scorers from last season — junior Hannah Ballezza and sophomore Brittany Thompson — return to the starting lineup. Ballezza and Thompson accounted for 35 of the team’s 75 total points, Ballezza leading

the way with seven goals and four assists. Anchoring the midfield position will be junior Mallory Bannon, who, along with Ballezza, was selected to the second-team All-Ivy last year. Bannon rounded out the top five in the Red’s scoring with six points on the season and was also the team’s defensive MVP. Joining Bannon on the defensive end are backs Paige Mollineaux, Alexandra Robson and Keelin Bannon. All three were put into the starting lineup last season after the entire defensive starting lineup graduated in 2010. Junior Carolyn Horner will take over as the See F. HOCKEY page 21

TINA CHOU / SUN FILE PHOTO

Ready for revenge | After a rough season last year, Cornell is prepared to take this season by storm and bounce back with avengance in hopes to dominate the Ivy League.