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News
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Denied
A Century of Plant Bio
Flying Colors
Sunny HIGH: 79 LOW: 55
The Student Assembly appropriations committee said one group would be ineligible for byline funding. | Page 3
Cornell’s Department of Plant Biology celebrated its hundredth year this summer. | Page 8
Cornell women’s cross country ranked No. 10 in a national 2013 preseason poll. | Page 16
Schumer to Forge Cornell,Govt.Ties
MICHELLE FELDMAN / SUN STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Pledges to help C.U.become site of first dairy food safety center By ALEXA DAVIS Sun Staff Writer
During a tour Tuesday of Cornell’s Stocking Hall, the new home to a food science facility and the reopened Dairy Bar, Senator Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) pledged to help Cornell become the site of the nation’s first dairy food safety center. Schumer, who hopes to urge the federal government to bolster its partnerships with the University, said a dairy food safety center would provide a platform for an upstate N.Y. dairy and food region initiative: a project that would stimulate growth in dairy and food industries in the state. Schumer, joined by Cornell administrators, local elected officials, faculty and dairy industry partners, said such an establishment would bring Cornell’s research to a national stage, increase the amount of funding received by the University and create new economic opportunities within the state. Ithaca would be an ideal location for a national dairy food safety center because both Cornell and upstate New York have a reputation for being leaders in the dairy industry, according
to Schumer. The recent $105 million renovation of Stocking Hall, coupled with strong industry support for dairy programming from companies like Wegmans, are only two of many qualities that make Cornell’s dairy program unparalleled by programs at other universities, New Schumer said. “Dairy safety is a very steps| See DAIRY page 4
Senator Schumer speaks about his plans to help the University create a dairy food safety center at Stocking Hall Tuesday.
County Judge Hopefuls Make Their Case Cmail Not at Risk of By TYLER ALICEA Sun Senior Writer
Just one week before the Democratic primary election for Tompkins County Judge, candidates — including two Cornell alumni and the defense attorney in the criminal trial of three former Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity pledges — spoke about their qualifications at a public forum at Tuesday. The four candidates are Pamela Bleiwas ’87, Joe Cassidy, Kelly Damm and Seth Peacock J.D. ’01. The elected judge will serve for 10 years and act as a magistrate for county, surrogate and family courts, according to a press release from the
Tompkins County Public Library. Kay Sharp, president of the Tompkins County League of Women Voters — which is a sponsor of the event — moderated the forum, which took place at the Tompkins County Public Library. Bleiwas, who has been practicing law for 22 years, said her experience — which she said is nine years longer than other candidates — makes her an ideal candidate for the job. She added that family court is her specialty. Peacock, who moved to Tompkins County to attend Cornell Law School, said he wants to be a See JUDGES page 5
MICHELLE FELDMAN / SUN STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
The candidates speak | Tompkins County Judge candidates spoke about their qualifications at a public forum at Tompkins County Public Library Tuesday. The candidates from left to right are Joe Cassidy, Pamela Bleiwas ’87, Kelly Damm and Seth Peacock J.D. ’01.
Google Data Mining By JONATHAN SWARTZ Sun Senior Writer
As anger grows over the National Security Agency’s mass surveillance programs, which have given it access to Gmail users’ emails, Cornell officials said students using their University-affiliated email accounts are not at risk for data mining by the Internet giant. Privacy advocates expressed outrage when Google stated in a June 13 court filing that Gmail users should have “no legitimate expectation[s] of privacy in information he [or she] voluntarily turns over to third parties.” In the last few months, Google, along with other tech companies like Facebook and Verizon, has faced increasing pressure from the public to explain its role in the National Security Agency's mass surveillance of U.S. citizens and foreign nationals. Despite the concerns civil liberties organizations, politicians and journalists have raised over the NSA’s surveillance program, University officials said
students and community members are safe using their Cornellaffiliated Gmail accounts. According to Tracy Mitrano J.D. ’95, director of IT Policy, the University has an enterprise contract with Google that offers a greater degree of privacy protection than the “Our contracts enterprise most concontract sumers have with prohibits data Google. Under the mining except Univerfor internal sity’s contract, stu- purposes such dents and as indexing.” faculty are protected Tracy Mitrano f r o m J.D.’95 Google’s data mining and advertisements. “Our enterprise contract prohibits data mining except for internal purposes such as indexing –– a function that all users appreciate when they look for specific emails,” she said. “Also, while a student is at Cornell, advertisements are not See GOOGLE page 4
2 THE CORNELL DAILY SUN | Wednesday, September 4, 2013
Today
Wednesday, September 4, 2013
Weird News
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
Daybook
of the Week
Today Churchill Scholarship Information Session 12:15 - 1:15 p.m., 103 Barnes Hall
UMass Students Feast On 15,000-Pound Fruit Salad
New Student Welcome at Mann Library 1 - 3 p.m., Mann Library Lobby Dilmun Hill Work Party 4 - 6 p.m., Dilmun Hill Student Farm Got HILC? Information Session and Welcome Reception 7 - 9 p.m., Holland International Living Center, HILC Main Lounge
Tomorrow Reppy Institute Meet and Greet 12:15 - 1:30 p.m., G08 Uris Hall C.U. Music: Midday Music at Lincoln 12:30 - 1:15 p.m., B20 Lincoln Hall
AMHERST, Mass. (AP) — In what’s become an annual tradition, the University of Massachusetts celebrated the start of the new academic year with a delicious, healthy, record-breaking dish. About 500 students and staff at the Amherst campus on Monday sliced, diced, pitted and peeled 150 varieties of fruit to create a salad weighing more than 15,000 pounds. The salad was mixed in a 15-foot diameter swimming pool. It included 20 varieties of apples weighing more than 3,600 pounds; 19 varieties of melon weighing more than 2,500 pounds; peaches; bananas; oranges; berries; and more exotic fruits including quince, passion fruit and rambutan. A Guinness World Records representative certified the record. UMass in recent years has started the semester with record-breaking seafood stews and stir fries.
Workshop: Introduction to Bloomberg 3 - 4:30 p.m., Mann Library I Want to Go Home! 6 - 9 p.m., Robert Purcell Community Center, TV Lounge
Ohio Man Who Threatened Police Holds ‘Idiot’ Sign CLEVELAND (AP) — A man who threatened officers in Cleveland is making a court-ordered public apology by standing near a police station with a sign describing himself as an idiot. A judge had ordered 58-year-old Richard Dameron
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to stand outside a local police station with a sign bearing an apology. He began the vigil Monday and must stand outside for three hours each day for the rest of the week. Dameron was convicted of threatening officers in 911 calls. His public shaming isn’t the first of its kind in the city. The Cleveland judge who sentenced Dameron previously made a woman wear an “idiot” sign in public for driving around a school bus.
London Skyscraper Accused of Melting Jaguar LONDON (AP) — Motorists may want to think twice about parking in front of the half-built London skyscraper known as the Walkie-Talkie. That’s because the glare off the skin of the new building is so intense that at least one Jaguar owner says it caused part of his vehicle to melt. And that’s not all: Locals say the building’s heat also burned a hole in the welcome mat of a barber shop across the street. “We were working and just saw the smoke coming out of the carpet,” said shop owner Ali Akay. “This is a health and safety issue. They should have looked into this before they built it.” Similar problems have plagued other modern buildings, including in Los Angeles, when neighbors of the Frank Gehry-designed Walt Disney Concert Hall reported heat buildups that required corrective measures.
THE CORNELL DAILY SUN | Wednesday, September 4, 2013 3
NEWS
Orgs. Make Cases For Byline Funding
Going underwater
By DARA LEVY Sun Staff Writer
OMARI POWELL / SUN STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
David Kelly ’14 speaks to a sophomore about Cornell University Autonomous Underwater Vehicle, one of several student engineering project teams on campus.
Schwab to Step Down as Law Dean University official says new dean likely to start this July By GABRIELLA LEE
Siliciano added, however, that the next dean will build on the current strengths and foundations of the law school. Prof. Stewart J. Schwab, law, dean of the “Dean Schwab has left the law school in a very Cornell Law School, will step down as dean at the strong position,” he said. end of the academic year — leaving a position he During his tenure as dean, Schwab oversaw a has held since 2004. number of developments in the law school, Though his second five-year term as dean ends including major renovations to Myron Taylor in December, Schwab has agreed to remain until Hall, the most successful fundraising year in the the end of June 2014, when a new dean will like- history of the law school in 2012 and the renewal ly have been named, according to a and growth of the law school’s faculty, University press release. according to a University press release. In preparation for Schwab’s deparSchwab has been a member of the law ture, the University’s Office of the faculty since 1983 and has held the posiProvost has assembled a search comtion of dean for more than a decade. After mittee, which will be chaired by John stepping down as dean, Schwab plans to Siliciano ’75, senior vice provost for take a sabbatical and return as a faculty academic affairs. The committee will member for the 2014-15 academic year. also be aided by the outside firm The search committee for the next Spencer Stuart, which has helped dean, which consists of nine law faculty DEAN SCHWAB Cornell with searching for several members, in addition to Soumitra Dutta, deans in the past, according to Siliciano. dean of the Johnson Graduate School of Schwab said that he enjoyed his tenure as dean Management, has already begun soliciting nomiand highlighted the dedication of the law school’s nations and applications for candidates across the students and faculty to improving the school. nation. According to Siliciano, they will meet and “Cornell Law has a collegial faculty that sees confidentially review files beginning in a few the best in each other; students who are talented, weeks. hardworking and enjoy learning the law; and loyal After narrowing down the selection to approxalumni who lead lives of distinction and are dedi- imately eight or 12 potential candidates, the comcated to improving the school,” he said in a mittee will conduct several preliminary interviews University press release. “These factors have let us in October. Following the interviews, the comaccomplish many things over the last decade.” mittee will then bring three to five finalists to In the search for a new dean, Siliciano said the campus to meet with a larger group of people, committee aimed to find a candidate that had including President David Skorton, Provost Kent “very strong academic credentials, whose mission Fuchs, students and staff members. [was] to support the education of the students Ultimately, the search committee aims to make and the research of the faculty, but [who was also] a recommendation to Fuchs in early spring of going to be good at management skills and next year and have a candidate ready to take over fundraising.” once Schwab steps down. Speaking more specifically about the consider“The goal is to have the dean start on July 1,” ations for the new dean of the law school, Silicano said. Siliciano said the committee would also have to account for “the changing nature of the profession [of law] and how the educational mission of the Gabriella Lee can be reached at glee@cornellsun.com. school should respond to it.” Sun Staff Writer
Arts Quad Schenanigans
Larceny on West
An officer was dispatched to take a report from a student whose backpack and MacBook laptop were taken. North by North Wasted
Over the weekend, CUPD reported instances of unlawful possession of alcohol in three different North Campus Dorms:
Dara Levy can be reached at dlevy@cornellsun.com.
Decisions, decisions
Police Report The Cornell University Police reported at least four incidents of unlawful possession of alcohol on the Arts Quad on Saturday.
The Cornell Forensics Society will be eligible to apply for byline funding for the 2014-2016 cycle, the Student Assembly appropriations committee determined Monday. The Club Sports Council, however, was denied eligibility — leading members to express disappointment with the decision. Byline funding eligibility means that the Forensics Society, along with 30 currently byline-funded student organizations, will be able to apply to the Student Assembly’s appropriations committee for a direct allocation of the student activity fee — something every undergraduate pays to support student programming. Being deemed eligible for byline funding is the first step in becoming a byline-funded organization, according to Geoffrey Block ’14, vice president of finance for the S.A. In order to be eligible for byline funding, student organizations must prove they meet certain requirements — mainly that they benefit the entire undergraduate Cornell community and allow equal access to their activities to all students. The appropriations committee expressed concern in a report published Monday about the Forensics Society’s limited ability to bring students to competitive tournaments but unanimously approved the society for funding on the basis that its public debates promote conversation about controversial issues on campus. The committee also applauded the Forensics Society’s efforts to work with other groups on campus — ranging from the Cornell University Police Department to the Board of Trustees — for its public debates. With byline funding, the Forensics Society plans to increase the number of public events it holds each semester on campus while improving the quality of speakers and by being able to afford security for its more controversial debates, according to Kirat Singh ’14, president of the Cornell Forensics Society. Singh said that the Forensics Society is looking forward to having an opportunity to further engage Cornell through public debates. “Speech and debate are critical components of a healthy intellectual community,” Singh said. The Club Sports Council was denied funding with a vote of 6-7 because the appropriations committee found that the council — which it said only engages athletes — did not benefit all undergraduate students, according to the committee’s eligibility report. However, some committee members said in the report that they thought the council’s large membership of about 1,000 students and its goal to expand by creating new sports teams allowed it to meet the eligibility requirements. Ashley Benson grad, president of the Club Sports Council, said the council was disappointed by the appropriations committee’s decision. “It is a big setback towards supporting and improving club sports on campus,” Benson said. “As the second largest community of students on campus, CSC club sport athletes represent Cornell across the country, defeating varsity programs and winning championships with little or no coaching support.” With byline funding, Benson said the Cornell Sports Council would be able to create more opportunities for athletes, lower its membership dues and improve athletic fields on campus. In its appeal, the Cornell Sports Council plans to emphasize club sports’ accessibility and benefits to the entire undergraduate population and stress the interactions between the council and other student organizations, according to Benson. The Cornell Sports Council said on Monday that they would be appealing their eligibility decision in front of the entire Student Assembly on Thursday. An organization needs a twothirds vote by the general body of the S.A. to override a decision presented by the appropriations committee.
Mary Donlon Hall, High Rise 5 and Jameson Hall. I-ves Got to Trespass
Two students were referred to the Judicial Administrator after being found trespassing at Ives Hall Saturday. Unlawful Urinations
Two individuals were referred to the Judicial Administrator after they publicly urinated — one on Ho Plaza and another on College Avenue. — Compiled by Caroline Flax
ZAC PETERSON / SUN STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Student Assembly members sit down for their weekly meeting. They will be meeting to allow Cornell Sports Council to make an appeal.
4 THE CORNELL DAILY SUN | Wednesday, September 4, 2013
NEWS
Sen.Hopes to Bolster C.U. Research ‘Cmail’ Exempt From DAIRY
dairy food safety center and Ithaca gains the ability to produce top-notch dairy products with an exceptional safety record, upstate New York may be able to serious issue,” Schumer said. “The number of people break into export markets, Boor said. who get ill and die from food safety products is Access to such export markets, she added, would declining, particularly from products produced in create another 500 jobs over five years. This expanAmerica. I believe that it is time we have a national sion of the economy would also stimulate job growth one-stop-shop for dairy farmers to turn to when it in lab and field services, dairy research and developcomes to accessing top notch information, resources ment and the production of food safety equipment and training when it comes to and supplies. safety.” officials begin plan“I believe that it is time we ningBefore The creation of a dairy food the construction of a have a one-stop-shop for national dairy food safety center safety center would not only improve the health of dairy con- dairy farmers to turn to ... in Ithaca, Schumer must consumers, but also the health of vince both the United States when it comes to safety.” Department of Agriculture and New York’s economy, according to both Schumer and University offithe Food and Drug Sen. Chuck Schumer cials. Administration to forge an Kathryn Boor, dean of College alliance with Cornell for dairy of Agriculture and Life Sciences, said the dairy indus- and food safety research. try — which was responsible for about $2.6 billion in Schumer said that another challenge associated revenue in 2012 and thousands of jobs in New York with the plan to create a national dairy food safety State — is the backbone of state’s agricultural indus- center is obtaining qualified labor. He expects that try. changes in immigration reform, which he has worked “Based on estimates from Cornell, jobs in the with other Senators to devise, will be a solution to this dairy industry have a multiplier of 5.6, suggesting problem. that the 8,000 jobs in dairy manufacturing in New Officials could not confirm an exact number for York create approximately 45,000 additional jobs in how much the project is estimated to cost, but assured surrounding communities that support or augment that it would not be higher than “tens of millions.” the industry as a whole,” Boor said in a proposed outline of the Cornell University dairy food safety center Alexa Davis can be reached at distributed at the event. If Cornell becomes the site of the first national adavis@cornellsun.com. Continued from page 1
www.cornellsun.com
Google’s Data Mining GOOGLE
Continued from page 1
allowed in the enterprise Gmail system.” In April 2009, the University’s legal contract office signed a contract with Google to transition all students to the Google Apps Education Edition Gmail servers, or Cornell’s “Cmail,” according to Mitrano. Mitrano said that, when signing the contract with Google, the University needed to be certain that its enterprise contract provided all the foundational rights and privileges to students under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, which protects a student’s education record. According to Mitrano, although the University’s Google Apps and Gmail systems are protected from Google’s data mining, Google and the University are nonetheless subject to disclose information when presented with government search warrants. “Cornell and Google alike are subject to NSA letters, warrants under the electronic communications privacy act or Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act and subpoenas,” Mitrano said. “Essentially, there is no difference in terms of legal process for Cornell or Google as recipient of those legal papers.” Mitrano said that a distinction between consumer privacy and privacy under the Fourth Amendment needs to be made to understand Google’s data mining practices. According to Mitrano, under the Fourth Amendment, the government needs a search warrant with probable cause to search a person’s private property. However, in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, former president George W. Bush enacted the USA Patriot Act, increasing the ability of law enforcement to search email and telephonic communications. “People are confused. Most people don’t have enough information to think through the distinction between fourth amendment surveillance … and consumer privacy. Everyone is talking about these issues and are curious because they don’t understand how [privacy laws] function,” Mitrano said. According to Google, under its typical consumer privacy policy, Google collects and analyze large amounts of its users’ email data. Gmail users should assume that any electronic correspondence that is passed through Google’s servers can be accessed and used for an
array of options, such as for selling advertisements to customers, according to the court brief Google submitted. “Just as a sender of a letter to a business colleague cannot be surprised that the recipient's assistant opens the letter, people who use web-based email today cannot be surprised if their emails are processed by the recipient's [email provider] in the course of delivery,” the motion states. Mitrano, however, said she is confident that Google will protect Cornell students from excessive government surveillance. “Google has a good track record with respect to protecting users’ mail against government surveillance and has always been at the forefront of fighting for Fourth Amendment rights for its users,” Mitrano said. According to Wyman Miles, director of Information Technologies Security, email generally does not have the safeguards to make it an appropriate vehicle for sensitive communications. “It's just much too porous and open,” he said. “There are training and awareness issues around the handling of e-mail, such as what not to forward, risks of mailing lists, use of the BCC field [and] ease of forged communications … that greatly increase the likelihood of unsafe information handling practices.” Justin Schindler ’15 said that most students do not think about email privacy when writing emails. “Email privacy is like avoiding getting mono. You know that you need to pay attention to its risks, but most of the reflection is done in hindsight, after harm has already been done,” he said. Mono, or mononucleosis, is a virus that is spread by saliva and close contact and causes symptoms such as fever, sore throat and swollen lymph nodes, according to the National Institute of Health. Michael Patashnik ’16 said during the social networking age, facts about people are easily accessible to anyone willing to pay and said that factor will not change even if people completely removed themselves from digital society. “I have no reason to think that some company that has my complete biography will use it to hurt me. It's much more likely they'll try to use it to sell me something.” Patashnik said. “That said, maybe you should forsake your email and use pen and paper instead for your next love letter.” Jonathan Swartz can be reached at jswartz@cornellsun.com.
THE CORNELL DAILY SUN | Wednesday, September 4, 2013 5
NEWS
SAE Defense Attorney Runs for County Judge JUDGES
Continued from page 1
Tyler Alicea can be reached at talicea@cornellsun.com.
The Corne¬ Daily Sun
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judge who helps “teenagers who [have] made a mistake” and those “struggling with addiction.” Peacock also said he wants to focus on “innovation and humility” and discussed various ideas, including creating a youth court that would allow fellow peers of a young person accused of a crime to serve on the jury for his or her case. Peacock added that he wishes to remain humble if elected to the magistrate so that he can continue to fully understand arguments from both sides. Damm said that she has been practicing law in the county for 14 years and said she is the only candidate to have been president of both of the Tompkins County Bar Association and the Finger Lakes Women’s Bar Association. She said she believes these ties to the community will help her if she is elected judge. “It is important to have the community ties, community action and have community support when running for county court,” she said. Damm was also the defense attorney for members of Cornell’s former Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity in the 2011 hazing case involving the events leading up to the death of George Desdunes ’13. Cassidy said that he has “significant experience in all of the fields” that a county judge would handle. He said that he has been
endorsed by 46 local lawyers. When asked whether or not such endorsements were ethical, he said that they were not only appropriate, but also encouraged. “Lawyers are in the best position in the community to evaluate judges,” Cassidy said. Bleiwas, however, said that while such an endorsement is not unethical, she does not believe it is appropriate. She said that she did not want any attorneys to expect favors, which is why she did not solicit donations during her campaign. At the forum, all of the candidates threw their support behind alternative solutions to incarceration. Cassidy said that such alternatives reduce revisitation — when people are sent back to jail after they are already released — and said that he has experience working with alternatives to incarceration. All four candidates added that they hope Cornellians vote in the upcoming primary. Peacock said that he wanted to expand the role of county judge by increasing the job’s involvement in the community. He said that inviting local students on field trips to the court could be a way to “expose people to what [he does] in the legal world.”
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OPINION
David Fischer |
The Corne¬ Daily Sun
My Harry Potter Bar Mitzvah
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H
ello everyone, welcome back to the Hill! My name is David Fischer. I’m a junior in the College of Arts and Sciences and when I was 12 years and 11 months old I became a man. For all of you who haven’t attended these middle-school frat party equivalents, a typical, modern Bar or Bat Mitzvah is broken up into two very different components. The first consists of a service led by the lucky 13-year-old, complete with an excerpt from the Torah (a scroll written entirely in Biblical Hebrew) that must be read and discussed by said 13-year-old. The second portion of this coming-of-age extravaganza consists of a party in which the newly christened man or woman awkwardly lights candles, greets half-remembered relatives and stands on the opposite side of the dance floor from members of the opposite sex. Essentially, the entire thing, in all of it awkwardness, is the manifestation of middle school crammed into one day. So, after that gripping summary of a typical Bar or Bat Mitzvah, you may be wondering why I would write about mine in my first column of the school year. Well, even years after my Jewish coming-of-age, I find myself still gleaning important life lessons from my ceremony — lessons that continue to shape me today. Throughout high school I would never divulge the theme of my Bar Mitzvah to my friends. Frankly, it didn’t come up in conversation that often (for some reason “What was your Bar Mitzvah Theme?” isn’t a popular conversation starter) and I was also a bit embarrassed about it. However, Cornell community: I feel comfortable enough with all of you to confess that the theme of my Bar Mitzvah party was “Harry
Potter.” A “magician” named “Merdwyn” presided over the festivities. Everyone in attendance was seated at four long tables and sorted into the four Hogwarts houses. Like I said, it was the manifestation of my middle school years — you can maybe see why I didn’t mention it during high school. The Bar Mitzvah years were clearly one of the more awkward phases in my life — I don’t think even the harshest Sun website trolls can argue with that (in fact, I’m sure it will be great fodder for comments on future columns). However, these years were instrumental in my transition into the (mostly) socially-adjusted person that I aspire to be today. Freshmen, I can bet that for the two short weeks that you’ve been in the lovely “City” of Ithaca, New York, you have had more than 18 people encourage you to become involved on campus. I would argue that isn’t the most important thing that you should be focusing on. While you are in the midst of this oasis of activity, I charge you to not only remember your past but also to embrace it. There was no reason that I needed to relate the tale of my faux coming-of-age. I could just pretend that I had a “Sports” or an “Around the World” themed Bar Mitzvah, but my love of the Harry Potter series (which is still going strong, by the way) has shaped my interests in inexplicable ways. So, freshmen: Don’t forget who you are and why you’re here and you’ll have the best four years of your life.
David Fischer is a junior in the College of Arts and Sciences. He may be reached at dfischer@cornellsun.com. Fischy Business appears alternate Wednesdays this semester.
Shivang Tayal & Binoy Jhaveri |
Standard Issue
THE CORNELL DAILY SUN | Wednesday, September 4, 2013 7
OPINION
Rebecca John | Mushroom Rage
Rethinking Sex-Positivity S
ex positivity: The sacred tenet of liberal, white, feminist dogma that no one has dared to question. Sex-positivity is an attitude that embraces and promotes the open expression of sex. A lot of women of color have ventured to question inherent whiteness in the way sex-positivity is imagined in our culture. One recent example of this questioning of the widespread acceptance of sex-positivity was a group of women of color’s critique of the Slut Walk movement. “Slut” is a racialized term that not all women can “reclaim” and “liberate themselves” from as easily as white women can. In this way, the Slut Walk movement, though motivated by principles of gender justice and sexual liberation, actually reproduced a lot of racism. You can read about this critique and online dialogue through a simple google search. On a personal level, however, I have always felt that sex-positivity was inadequate. For one thing, it universalizes a narrative of sexual liberation. The more sex you have, the more “liberated” you are. The less sex you have, the more “repressed” you are (and perhaps, in dire need of some liberal feminist saviors to save you from this state of being). This is the dominant and overarching theme of sex-positive rhetoric. So, what’s wrong with the generalization that more sex = liberation? It locates sexual liberation in an experience of white heterosexual femininity. It does not take into the account the different experiences of racialization and sexualization of women, queer and trans people of color. For example, while, straight, middle-class women have been stereotyped as pure, asexual virgins, while women of color
I feel like feminism has allowed me to replace one kind of self-hatred with another. It has replaced my internalized misogyny with internalized racism and coloniality. have been hypersexualized as exotic, erotic beings (see: Hottentot, harem girl, lotus blossom, fiery Latina, squaw, etc.) For racialized people, adopting a sex-positive attitude does not “liberate” them of such stereotypes, in fact, it fuels them further. In addition, the framework of sex-positivity does not offer a critique of capitalism and the way our sexualities are commodified and exploited, preventing the “free expression” of sex, in the favorite words of sex-positive feminists. Sex-positivity is also ahistorical; it does not take into account the ways attitudes about sex are related to histories of colonialism, especially the colonial imposition of gender and sexual norms. None of this is a particularly new way of thinking by the way, many feminists of color have critiqued sex-positivity for similar reasons. What if it’s hard to discern the difference between your desire/attractionality and your oppression? In fact, what if our desires are enablers, through which such oppression takes place? Sex-positivity ideology tells us to blindly submit ourselves to such constructs, rather than interrogating and critically exploring them, seeking out our own unique paths toward true sexual liberation. After all, sexual liberation does not exist in a vacuum; it is entangled with the ongoing project of liberation from coloniality. I don’t even want to call it sexual “liberation,” because that word suggests that there is a magical point when we will be “free.” There is not such a “point;” if coloniality is ongoing, then “liberation” is ongoing as well. Thinking about sex-positivity in this way has made me scrutinize liberal feminism, in general. I feel like feminism has allowed me to replace one kind of self-hatred with another. It has replaced my internalized misogyny with internalized racism and coloniality. I have always deeply believed that justice is an imaginative project, a project of re-interpretation that allows us to imagine new ways of being, thinking, believing and existing in those ways. A liberal feminist narrative that uncritically embraces sex-positivity as the single path to liberation is no longer that space of re-imagination for me, though I don’t know where that space is, or if it has ever existed in any ideology. I’m not arguing for an attitude of “sex-negativity” as much as I’m hoping for a world where we can all be more “sex-critical.” I know, deeply, the harmful attitudes about sex, sexuality and gender in my own culture that are pervasive. Many of them exist because of colonialism and neocolonialism, many of them exist as inadequate responses to ongoing colonization too. But most of all, they exist because we aren’t willing to do the imaginative work of rethinking what “sexual liberation” — if we even want to call it that — would look like in a neo-colonial and capitalist world. We simply would rather not talk about sex at home, and then allow the white man/woman’s language to speak for us when we are outside the home. Yet, as we all know but are unwilling to confront, the revolution starts at home. And I mean home in the most broad sense — the home, the family, the nation, the community or the place inside of you where all of these ideas and messages and expectations collide. Rebecca John is a senior in the College of Arts and Sciences. She may be reached at rj224@cornell.edu. Mushroom Rage appears alternate Wednesdays this semester.
Comment of the day Web
“Classes in our universities should reflect the U.S. population overall. They should reduce costs to include middle class students — those are the ones who don't qualify for aid and can't afford it. Once the federal government gets out of the aid business — and they probably won't — universities will have to compete for students. Hopefully, that's the point at which middle class students will be part of the ‘diversity’.” WorriedinVA Re: “University Officials: Diversity at Cornell Defies Study Conclusions,” News, published September 3, 2013
Matt Hudson |
Red in the Face
Through the Rearview Mirror I
had a moment to myself in a Spanish grove of Norway Maples, when even the birds and crickets seemed to leave me alone, a foreigner passing through unfamiliar woods. The fog against my face was like a forest of silk curtains, and the world was heavy, damp and silent. Since the start of my hike through Spain from southern France some three weeks prior, I had never felt so naked, so coldly scrutinized. Even the leaf-strewn ground seemed hesitant to answer my footsteps, and as if that quietness somehow twisted a dimmer switch, I began to miss everything. Reruns of Family Matters in the midday television slump, those red pagodas on Chinese takeout boxes, the cicada chorus rehearsing nightly in the shrinking marsh beyond my backyard; I saw tiny fragments of home, like objects vanishing in a rearview mirror. And now I see, with a gentle nudge from a Polish poet, how wise the auto manufacturers were in always printing that subtle phrase: “Objects in mirror are closer than they appear.” Adam Zagajewski wrote a rather Spartan fourline poem on the closeness of faraway things, entitled “Auto Mirror.” It came to me midspeech at my brother’s wedding a couple of weeks ago, and it keeps coming back to me on occasion for reasons I do not know. It follows: I saw in the rearview mirror suddenly, The bulk of the Beauvais Cathedral. Great things dwell in small ones
For a moment. Chances are slim that Zagajewski was secretly referring to Steve Urkel and cartons of Lo Mein, but here’s the point, as I choose to see it: The things we seem to leave behind are, much like the poem itself, larger, deeper and closer than they appear. Maybe antique bazaars and nicknack shops have it right. “Trinkets to treasures” is a genuinely awful slogan, but it seems to approach a sort of masked truth that belies the whole business of buying artifacts. Chipped matryoshka dolls and cobwebbed
a view of the end product. A glimpse in a mirror. The stone and glass used in Beauvais were inconsequential before the architects and laborers brought them together, but their sum became a wonder. And in belonging to a great something, each pane and chiseled block became, in a strange way, a treasure. The surface area of the human spirit is measured in wars and handpicked blueberries, in things incredibly vast and atomically small. That moment in the Spanish forest was one of incompleteness; separation from those little things left me feeling
The supreme importance of a day to a lifetime is, however oddly, analogous to a single proton in an atom. Miles Davis vinyls sit dormant and collecting dust, but even when abandoned they still boast a small hand in having shaped and cultured their owners. Memory gives them traces of meaning, their significance following long after being left behind, perhaps even outliving us. And that’s just it: We’re all impossible calculations of the moments and things we’ve had and known. Add Dragonball Z to the power of cranapple juice, divide by cushion fort, multiply by parenthesized stargazing and Scooby Doo slippers, ad infinitum. But who can possibly account for the importance of each of those tiny nothings? It takes a larger picture,
dry and withering like a tree stripped of its roots. In essence, I am nothing without the unseen things. “Nature” and “nurture” suffer from overuse in the human development lexicon, but the latter is, as I see it now, almost entirely made up of scraps of fluff and standalone nonsense. Am I really the blacksheep lovechild of Grover and a jar of peanut butter? Not entirely, but I’d hardly be the same without them. Relevantly, the central conflict of Franklin Schaffner’s 1978 sci-fi film, “The Boys from Brazil,” involves a secret test tube army of Hitler clones engineered by Auschwitz physician
and SS officer Joseph Mengele. Each replica is a child raised in conditions identical to the original (a coddling mother, an abusive father who dies when the boy is fourteen). The premise is shakier than a house of cards caught in a windstorm, and that is precisely because it is impossible to recreate someone’s entire existence. There are simply too many intangibles, too many brief and influential moments. Individuality cannot exist without them. Following that vein further, we find something a bit broader. The supreme importance of a day to a lifetime is, however oddly, analogous to a single proton in an atom. It is incalculably small, but its absence changes everything. And just as the world rests on the shoulders of the subatomic, so too does humanity rest on its stories and small moments. Standing at maybe five or six feet tall, people are dwarfed by the scope and scale of the world around them. Yet from those tiny frames have come designs and masterworks grand enough to drop jaws and color the sky. Did you know that light pollution has made the moon shine brighter than history has ever known? Great things dwell in us, and so do small things, mortar and marble for these rearview cathedrals. Matt Hudson is a junior in the College of Arts and Sciences. He can be reached at mhudson@cornellsun.com. Red in the Face runs alternate Wednesdays this semester.
8 THE CORNELL DAILY SUN | Wednesday, September 4, 2013
SCIENCE
A History Of Science
Plant Biology
Materials Science and Engineering
One Hundred Years Of Plant Biology
By SARAH COHEN Sun Science Editor
This past summer, the Department of Plant Biology officially celebrated its centennial. The department, however, has been an important part of Cornell for more than 100 years, professors said. A Brief History The department’s history stretches back to even before 1865, the year Cornell was founded. “Andrew D. White bought the materials for our department before we had a department,” Edward Cobb ’73 said. “He bought us botanical models and charts and all these things in Europe before the university opened in 1868.” In October 1868, botany, the former name of the plant biology department, was one of the first classes taught at the University. When the University first split into colleges in the early 1900s, the department of botany, according to Cobb, was moved into the College of Arts and Sciences. In 1913, one hundred years ago,a second department of botany opened in the College of Agriculture. The department today is located only within the College of Agriculture, although some faculty remain in the College of Arts and Sciences. In the 1960s, the department of botany was moved into the division of biological sciences. For the next few decades, its name changed several times as it moved around within the division until the modern department of plant biology was created in 1999. In that year, according to Cobb, the department was combined with the Bailey Hortorium, an academic unit that studies plant taxonomy and evolution. Famous Members Of Plant Biology The department of plant biology boasts many famous pupils and professors. David Starr Jordan M.S. ’1872, the first president of Stanford University, was also the first student to graduate
COURTESY OF EDWARD COBB ’73
Pulling the plow | Students pull the plow as Liberty H. Bailey, first dean of the College of Agriculture, marks the foundation for a new building in 1905. with a degree in plant biology at Cornell, according to Cobb. Frederick Coville ’1887, the man who domesticated the blueberry; Jane Datcher, the first African American women to receive an advanced degree from Cornell, and David Fletcher Hoy ’1891, M.S. ’1893, for whom Hoy Field is named are a few other notable students of plant biology at Cornell. Hoy is also the “Davy” in “Give my Regards to Davy,” Cornell’s fight song, Cobb said. Cornellians who made landmark contributions to American plant biology also include 24 members of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, 19 Presidents of the Botanical Society of America, and four Nobel Laureates, according to Prof. Lee B. Kass, plant biology. One of the Nobel Laureates was botanist Barbara McClintock ’23, M.S. ’25, Ph.D. ’27. According to Kass, McClintock won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1983 for her work with transposable elements in maize. Transposable elements, also called jumping genes, are genes
that change position on a chromosome. Unlike other genes, their position is not static. This ability to move can alter the expression of other genes on the same chromosome. The pioneering research McClintock conducted while at Cornell laid the foundation for her later Nobel Prize winning work at the Department of Genetics, Carnegie Institution of Washington, Long Island, N.Y. Plant Biology in 2013 Currently, the department of plant biology includes evolution of plants, systematics of plants, proteomics of plants, plant chemistry, plant development, plant molecular biology and plant physiology, according to Prof. William Crepet, chair of the Department of Plant Biology The Department of Plant Biology is also associated with the Boyce Thompson Institute and the Robert W. Holley Center for Agriculture and Health of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. According to Crepet, members of those institutions are appointed in the department as adjunct faculty. “That is the only way they can
have graduate students, and it is the mechanism for them to have undergraduates doing research in their lab,” Crepet said. “We expect them to teach and participate in the intellectual environment as well.” Faculty in plant biology advise plant sciences majors and general biology majors including premedical students in both the College of Agriculture and the College of Arts and Sciences. According to Crepet, faculty teach many general biology classes, including core biological sciences courses, in addition to courses for non-majors alongside courses in plant biology. At this time, several universities around the country are contracting their plant biology departments or merging them with other departments, according to Cobb. However, at Cornell, the department, ranked third in the country, continues to grow. In the Future In some ways, the plant biology department has stayed the same over the years. Professors still use the original models purchased by White to teach intro-
ductory classes. According to Prof. Adrienne Roeder, plant biology, the fundamental questions of plant science such as how plants grow and develop, how plants evolve and how plants interact with their environment have also stayed the same over the years. However, according to Roeder, the next 100 years of plant biology are difficult to predict. “If we can foresee what will come in the next 100 years, then we have absolutely failed,” Roeder said. “One hundred years ago, we didn’t have antibiotics, we didn’t have computers or cell phones. I expect advances that are beyond our current imagination.” Going forward, the department of plant science will soon be joined by other plant departments at Cornell to create the School of Plant Science within the College of Agriculture, according to Crepet. This new School will include the plant biology, plant pathology, plant breeding, crops and soils and horticulture departments. Sarah Cohen can be reached at science-editor@cornellsun.com.
COURTESY OF EDWARD COBB ’73
Plant people | The Department of Plant Biology at their August 2012 retreat. The department celebrated its centennial this past summer.
THE CORNELL DAILY SUN | Wednesday, September 4, 2013 9
SCIENCE
Prof. Ulrich Wiesner Creates World’s Smallest Drug Delivery Particles By SRINITYA ARASANIPALAI Sun Staff Writer
Treating diseases such as cancer can be difficult for patients due to the toxicity of the medicines they must take. Prof. Ulrich Wiesner, materials science and engineering, has taken steps toward resolving this problem by creating the world’s smallest drug delivery particles. Wiesner’s specialized particles, called Cornell dots, or C-dots, avoid the toxic side effects caused by larger drug delivery particles because larger particles must be removed by the liver instead of the kidneys. According to Wiesner, particles cleared by the liver can take weeks or even months to clear from the body, while waste removal through the kidneys can reduce exposure to the toxic drugs to around six hours. C-dots are under 10 nanometers in diameter, about 10,000 times smaller than the average thickness of a single strand of human
hair, and can therefore be removed through the kidneys instead of the liver, Wiesner said. According to Wiesner, C-dots have a silica shell that encapsulates dye molecules. The dye molecules make the particles fluoresce allowing them to also be used for imaging tumor sites during surgery to allow for a more precise removal of the tumor. According to Wiesner, current imaging techniques like MRI, CT and PET scans are expensive, and the size of the equipment prevents them from being used in the operation room. To use C-dots for drug delivery, the team started by attaching the drug to the surface of the particle’s shell. But they encountered problems because the chemotherapeutic drugs are hydrophobic, water fearing, and tended to aggregate into larger particles in the body and go directly to the liver instead of the tumor site. This defeated the original purpose of the C-dots. “This is when we hit upon this idea to
generate particles as the first-generation Cdots but have a pore made in the core of the particle to tuck away the hydrophobic drug,” Wiesner said. The second generation of C-dots are called mesoporous Cornell dots, or mC-dots, added a pore in the middle which gives them the additional capability of carrying drugs. Although the original synthesis of these new particles took almost two years, Wiesner and Kai Ma grad can now produce the particles in one week. Wiesner and his collaborators seek to use these mC-dots to both image and supply drugs to cancerous tumor sites. To get the mC-dots to attack the tumor site, organic molecules like peptides or fractions of antibodies are attached onto the particles’ surface. These organic molecules can be tumor specific and tend to stick to the tumor surface or even locations within the tumor. Some current chemotherapy drugs are
taken orally. These drugs make their way to the tumor site after being diffused from the digestive system into the bloodstream. These drugs, however, can also diffuse to other parts of the body causing unwanted side effects. According to Wiesner, the advantage of using mC-dots as the drug deliverer would be that the mC-dots would either attack the tumor site or get excreted from the body with no major side effects. Wiesner’s lab is currently in the process of verifying if the drugs can be introduced in the pore of the mC-dots. They are also checking for any differences in the behavior of these particles in the body due to the addition of the drugs. Although this preliminary work with Cdots shows promise, Wiesner said there is a long way to go before the particles can be regularly used in cancer treatments. Srinitya Arasanipalai can be reached at sarasanipalai@cornellsun.com.
COURTESY OF PROF. ULRICH WIESNER
Creating C-dots | C-dots’ small size allows for toxic chemotherapy drugs to be quickly removed from the body through the kidneys instead of being removed via the liver.
10 | The Corne¬ Daily Sun | Wednesday, September 4, 2013
A&E
ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT Way,Way Back When We Were Young
NICOLE HAMILTON Sun Staff Writer
The directorial debut of Nat Faxon and Jim Rash, The Way, Way Back shows the evolution of 14-year-old Duncan (Liam James) from adolescence into adulthood as he and his all-star castmates tease, flirt and scream their way through the film. Faxon and Rash’s names may sound familiar, and if they don’t, then you’ve probably seen their faces. Nat Faxon starred in Fox’s Ben and Kate (as Ben) and Jim Rash appeared in multiple seasons of NBC’s Community as Dean Pelton. They were also two of the writers for the Academy Award winning screenplay of The Descendants, which gives them the perfect background for the directing the poignant, yet humorous, coming-of-age story that is The Way, Way Back. Faxon and Rash also hold small comedic roles in the film as employees of Water Wizz, a waterpark with a name that seems like it cannot be real (there is, however, a true-life Water Wizz). The waterpark is Duncan’s escape from his mother’s emotionally abusive boyfriend Trent (Steve Carell) and, more generally, from those around him, who often just forget he exists. The film opens with Duncan, his mom, Pam (Toni Collette) and her boyfriend driving to Cape Cod to spend the summer as a family. It ends up becoming a
“spring break for adults” with Duncan having to take care of himself. For fans of The Office, or of Steve Carell in general, it’s shocking to see how well he plays a hyper-masculine jerk. He plainly tells Duncan that on a ten-point scale, he considers him to be three. You get the feeling that he’s trying to be the stern, father figure, but he just seems to come off as an ass. In the face of this difficulty, Duncan does what any teenager would do: mope, scowl and slouch around. You try to sympathize with him, but for the beginning of the film you just pity the kid. James plays Duncan so well that it hurts to watch. It’s one of the most accurate portrayals of teenage awkwardness I’ve ever seen in a film. He hunches, mumbles, doesn’t have witty or clever responses and just seems to take the lot he’s given. At points I had to cover my eyes to avoid discomfort. But coming out of your shell isn’t always graceful, and The Way, Way Back embraces that. When the girl living next door (AnnaSophia Robb) hears his horrible rendition REO Speedwagon and asks if he’s a fan, Duncan replies, in the most awkward and obviously false way possible, his mom put it on his iPod. He is the antithesis of smooth. The catalyst for Duncan’s transformation is Owen (Sam Rockwell), the manager at Water Wizz who seems more like a teenage dude than a 30-year-old man. Rockwell is accompanied by the quirky staff of Water Wizz, including Maya
The Way, Way Back Directed by Nat Faxon and Jim Rash Starring Liam James, Steve Carell, Toni Colette
Rudolph as Owen’s sometimes-girlfriend, as well as Faxon and Rash. Together they teach Duncan important life lessons, from standing up for oneself to ogling girls by the water slides. Soon after, Duncan starts hanging around Water Wizz until Owen just decides to hire him. The first day one the job, Duncan starts to come out of his shell. When told to break up a dance-off in the park, the kids ask Duncan to dance and shockingly, he does. It is a painful sight to see, but he’s living it up and the crowd cheers him on for trying. Henceforth, Duncan is aptly nicknamed “Pop N’ Lock” and a good nickname is usually the first step towards becoming cool. He becomes part of the Water Wizz family, but the focal point remains his home life, including the relationship between his mother and Trent. Collette plays an emotional wreck, and for those that are familiar with her previous roles (United States of Tara, About a Boy), it’s not a far stretch. Trent and Pam party, drink and eat with other adults (Rob Corddry and Amanda Peet), seemingly forgetting about their parental responsibilities unless Duncan doesn’t come home. Duncan grows and comes into his own, but it is left quite open-ended. You see his moments of realization and development, but it yields very little independence because in the end, he’s 14. Faxon and Rash are careful to steer clear of the too familiar family movie plot line, keeping the story real, and many times painfully realistic. Somehow, they are able to do so in a serious fashion while throwing in laughout-loud moments throughout the film. It could have been a little deeper, but, after all, the film is supposed to take place from Duncan’s point-of-view. The heavy hints of nostalgia and beach weather keep the film lighthearted — everyone is living in the bubble of summer — but the story does have some meat behind it. Let us remember, however, that Duncan is a supremely awkward teenager living on the beach in Cape Cod, not Precious. Nicole Hamilton is a sophomore in the College of Architecture, Art and Planning. She can be reached at nhamilton@cornellsun.com.
ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
Swinging Singles
A&E
Wednesday, September 4, 2013 | The Corne¬ Daily Sun | 11
Cults
M.I.A.
White Poppy
“High Road”
“Come Walk With Me”
“Dizzy”
Released Sept. 3
Released Sept. 3
Released Sept. 3
Cults’ newest single, which will soon be followed by their latest LP, Static, is decidedly darker than selections from their first release — no more going outside for this New York pop duo.
Sleigh Bells
Courtney Barnett
“Bitter Rivals”
White Poppy, a severely underrated (and, judging from its name and psychedelic sound, severely under the influence) solo project out of British Columbia, takes indie’s ‘60s fetishism a step further with this new single.
This woozy, disconcerting, and decidedly anti-party anthem finds M.I.A. in classic form. Just as subversive as ever, this track works as a new wave jangle or as something more ... off-putting.
Paul McCartney “New”
“Avant Gardener” Released Sept 2
Released August 22
Released Sept 3
After conquering a high school cheerleading squad and rinsing the blood off their shoes, noise-pop duo Sleigh Bells bought a couple of neon ’80s guitars and took to the studio. Hear the result at your own risk.
Based on that time she passed out while gardening, Courtney Barnett’s “Avant Gardener” finds the songwriter, in her own words, weaving “an altruistic tale of allergies and suburban asphyxiation.” We dare say — she’s succeeded.
McCartney deftly manages to weave old and new here, with help from Mark Ronson, whose backing track helps make this silly little love song feel so familiar that you may think that you’ve heard it before. But it’s all “New,” and is an exciting marker of things to come.
To stream the entire Swinging Singles playlist online, visit our Soundcloud page: http://ow.ly/oxgeO
Hollywood’s Super (Violent) Heroes
N
o phenomenon fascinates me more than violence, and no medium of art enthralls me more than film, so I am, naturally, very interested in violent films. That is not to say I like bloody, gory movies — your Hostel’s and Human Centipede’s. In fact, I really loathe that kind of queasy, exploitative fare, but not as much as the modern model of the Hollywood blockbuster, with its far more troubling, almost subliminal degree of violence that needs to stop … now. If you saw Man of Steel, Iron Man 3, Star Trek Into Darkness, White House Down, World War Z or The Wolverine over the summer, you might have an idea as to what I’m getting at. Former Indiewire critic Matt Singer called it this summer’s crop of movies’ “PG-13 Problem,” while other critics, from Vulture’s Kyle Buchanan to The New York Times’ Manohla Dargis, decried the stain of 9/11 on this year’s action movies. The sanitation of violence and the evocation of 21st century terrorism go handin-hand — look at Man of Steel. At the end of that film, Superman and General Zod face off for like 30 minutes and take down about half of Metropolis with them, totaling, according to Watson Technical Consulting, around $750 billion in property damage and 129,000 civilian deaths. That’s more than 9/11 right there — closer to Hiroshima. But the real problem is that all this death goes unacknowledged under Zack Snyder’s direction. Without the disfigurements and falling, flailing bodies such destruction entails, or even a reflective moment where Superman acknowledges the losses he partially caused, Man of Steel earns a cozy PG-
13 rating. Bring the whole family. These “implied deaths” — to borrow Matt Singer’s phrase — have no emotional impact on me, no matter how long I think about it. That’s the problem. When the loss of life in a movie boils down to unquantifiable statistics and Joseph Stalin references, we are losing something. Man of Steel was especially awful, but even the half-decent offerings from the summer staged similar bloodless bloodbaths: Khan razing San Francisco with the U.S.S. Enterprise in Star Trek Into Darkness; Tony Stark, in a borderline patriotic display, ordering all 42 of his suits to kill the Extremis mutants in Iron Man 3; the side of a plane blowing open mid-flight, sending all the zombies on-board flying out like rag dolls in World War Z. At least World War Z showed these zombies hurtling toward their death, though the decision to end all trailers of the film with
Zachary Zahos A Lover’s Quarrel With the World this shot — a spot reserved for a blockbuster’s “money shot” — suggests a more callous, “Doesn’t that look awesome?!” intent. The budgets for these large-scale flicks has ballooned year after year, with more money dedicated to constantly improving special effects technology. These filmmakers want to make sure you see what they are paying for, and almost all have come to the conclusion that the best approach is to kill a hell of a lot of (fictional) people, in the coolest way possible. We have arrived at a very depressing place, where incomprehensi-
ble massacres serve as nothing more than set dressing. For all the trash talk hurled at The Lone Ranger, some of it deserved, I will defend its grotesque, off-the-wall scene where the bad guy stabs a dude in his sternum, carves out his heart and proceeds to eat it. It was definitely at odds, tonally, with the rest of its Disney production, but at least it shook me, inspiring a WTF or two, even if director Gore Verbinski concealed the real gore off-screen. I do not care if filmmakers think violence is an inherent fact of life or a horrible disturbance in the otherwise positive human experience, but they have to provoke us with it and, most importantly, comment on its existence. Of all Hollywood movies this summer, I cannot think of any that truly justified its use of violence. Rely on the independents, then, to bring brains and a sense of morality to the cinema, perhaps none more than Fruitvale Station. With Oscar Grant, a 23year-old who was killed by a BART police officer in the early hours of New Years Day, 2009, as its protagonist, this film dodges the gangsta scenery that Hollywood loves to trot out whenever a young African-American male assumes a lead role. Instead, directorwriter Ryan Coogler lets us live with Oscar for his final 24 hours. He plays with his daughter; loves his girlfriend, despite their fights; cooks for his mother’s birthday; lies to his family about losing his job. Oscar is like anyone else, with flaws to spare. Coogler stages a harrowing, protracted sequence at the end, when Oscar is shot and grasping for life, that communicates a painful message: No one deserves this. The chaos descends
NIHAAL MARIWALA / SUN STAFF ILLUSTRATOR
from nowhere, ensnaring him and his loved ones in a pain that Coogler captures through shaky cam and agonizing close-ups. The death of one man is a tragedy, indeed. Fruitvale Station reportedly cost somewhere around $1 million in production expenses — that’s like a day’s worth of Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine protein supplements. After watching Lawrence of Arabia this past Sunday at Cornell Cinema, I long for the challenging, mature spectacles Hollywood so rarely produces anymore. In that 1962 epic, cinematographer Freddie Young fills the screen with legendary shots of Middle Eastern landscapes and architecture. Yet director David Lean balances all that with some wrenching close-ups of Peter O’Toole’s face as he, as T.E. Lawrence, hesitates and then orders the massacre — “No prisoners!” — of hundreds of fleeing Turkish soldiers. It’s one of the most disturbing things you’ll ever see, because Lean forces you to think about, and literally look at, the blood on this man’s hands — he’s the hero, for god’s sake, of this whole movie! But I guess he was no superhero, who don’t got the time for that sissy bullshit. Zachary Zahos is a sophomore in the Colleges of Arts and Sciences. He can be reached at zzahos@cornellsun.com. A Lover’s Quarrel With the World appears alternate Wednesdays.
ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
12 THE CORNELL DAILY SUN | Wednesday, September 4, 2013
Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis
ACROSS 1 Saw point 6 Etching fluid 10 Touches affectionately 14 Prenatal exam, for short 15 Body part that smells 16 Jump in a skater’s short program 17 Legend with an ax 19 Actress Hayworth 20 Dinner pair? 21 Like cough syrup 22 Indigenous New Zealander 23 Legend with a clarinet 26 Alcove 29 Not at all welldone 30 “Let’s Get __”: Marvin Gaye hit 31 Udder parts 33 Jamaican genre 36 Legend with a vine 40 Animal on Michigan’s state flag 41 Coffee shop cupful 42 Fishing tool 43 “Your Majesty” 44 It includes a bit of France 46 Legend with a bat 51 Betting every last chip 52 Hat-borne parasites 53 Toward the rudder 56 Charlatan, e.g. 57 Legend with a bathrobe 60 Sour 61 Actor Morales 62 Dutch pianist Egon who taught Victor Borge 63 Lime beverages 64 Holiday song 65 Important word for 17-, 23-, 36-, 46- and 57Across DOWN 1 Packer’s need 2 Arab League member 3 Burden 4 Up to, briefly 5 Bindle carriers
6 Former U.N. chief 7 How some flirt 8 Life-cabaret link 9 Place to relax 10 Where to see floats 11 Self-evident truth 12 Flashy tank swimmer 13 Like many characters in Shakespeare’s dramas 18 Catering hall dispensers 22 Dashing inventor? 23 1885 Motorwagen maker 24 Reduce to small pieces 25 Inauguration Day pledge 26 Customary observance 27 Reference list abbr. 28 Bulletin board material 31 Icon on a pole 32 Immature newt 33 Goad 34 “Felicity” star Russell 35 Like the Flying Dutchman
37 “In space no one can hear you scream” film 38 Not, quaintly 39 On the safer side 43 Bypasses 44 Chickenpox symptom 45 Expletive replacements 46 Sicily neighbor 47 Epic that ends with Hector’s funeral
48 County on the River Shannon 49 Pond plants 50 Zero, to Nero 53 Prefix with war or hero 54 Forest floor flora 55 High school math class 57 Feathery layer 58 Club for GIs 59 “... but __ are chosen”
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09/04/13
Sun Sudoku
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Doonesbury
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THE CORNELL DAILY SUN | Wednesday, September 4, 2013 13
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14 THE CORNELL DAILY SUN | Wednesday, September 4, 2013
SPORTS
Italian Women Make Waves at U.S. Open NEW YORK (AP) — Italian tennis fans can count on a celebration almost every day at the U.S. Open. The women from Italy have, once again, infiltrated a Grand Slam draw, and for the second straight year, at least one is guaranteed a spot in the semifinals at Flushing Meadows. Flavia Pennetta defeated Simona Halep 6-2, 7-6 (3) on Monday to set up an all-Italian quarterfinal against her friend, 10th-seeded Roberta Vinci, who beat — who else? — Italian Camilia Giorgi in another fourthround match. “It’s going to be nice for us because one of us is going to have the chance to be in the semifinal,” Pennetta said. “In the other way, it’s always not easy to play with your friend.” Nobody’s dealing with that feeling more these days than Vinci. Her match against Pennetta, a showdown between 30-somethings who have known each other since they were 8, will be her third straight match against another Italian. Pennetta, meanwhile, knocked out fourth-seeded Sara Errani of Italy in the second round. With five of the six Italians clustered in one quarter of the draw, there were three all-Italian matches over a five-day period, with the fourth coming later this week in the quarterfinal.
Giorgi, a 21-year-old who is ranked 136th, made a surprise visit into the second week by knocking off No. 6 Caroline Wozniacki on her way to the fourth round. “I always thought I could do it, reach this level,” Giorgi said. “So it’s not like the victory over Wozniacki surprised me. I had been waiting for that.” Vinci celebrated her win over Giorgi with a huge fist pump — not so much, she said, because she relished beating someone from her own country, but because she knew her opponent was swinging freely, playing with nothing to lose. Four years ago, Vinci played the role of the underdog, while Pennetta was at the head of the Italian tennis renaissance — the first woman from that country to reach the top 10. Now, Pennetta is on the comeback from a wrist injury that sent her down the rankings. She’s in her fourth U.S. Open quarterfinal. She had partnered on and off in doubles with Vinci, when Vinci was still upand-coming. “I got better. I matured. I was maybe a little more insecure, a little more resigned” to being behind Pennetta in singles, Vinci said. “When we were together, she was the stronger one, the singles player. I felt like more of a doubles specialist. And now, I’ve grown, gotten more mature, and I’m aware of my strengths.”
THE CORNELL DAILY SUN | Wednesday, September 4, 2013 15
SPORTS
Jets Seek to Replace Injured Quarterback
XIAOYUE GUO / SUN STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Rowing away | The men’s heavyweight team is preparing for the season ahead.
Burke Looks Forward to Working With Cornell ROWING
Continued from page 16
think I was that way before I found rowing, but I’m sure being a coxswain helped. My degree is in secondary education, and I know that the courses I took are helpful when trying to teach anything, in or out of the classroom, on or off the water.” Burke joins head coach Todd Kennett and associate head coach Matthew Smith as leaders of the men’s heavyweight team.
Although Burke is unsure if there are any specific boats that he will work with, he said is eager for his opportunity to work with the whole program. “Being excited to be here at Cornell is an understatement, so for me, any boat on any day is great,” he said. “I know Coach Kennett will use me where he thinks best, but again, I look forward to coaching any student-athletes.” Emily Berman can be reached at eberman@cornellsun.com.
FLORHAM PARK, N.J. (AP) — Geno Smith is ready to go. Rex Ryan and the New York Jets are waiting to announce a starting quarterback for their season opener, but all signs are pointing to Smith being under center against Tampa Bay. “If my chance is Sunday, I’m going to go out there with the intent to lead my team to victory and that’s just the way it is,” Smith said Monday. “I’m always going to play like that, be aggressive. I’m never going to hesitate, never going to shy away from anything and just go out there and play ball.” Sounds like the confidence of an NFL starting quarterback. Mark Sanchez, who appeared in good shape to win the job in preseason, did not practice while recovering from a right shoulder injury that could keep him sidelined a few weeks. Neither Sanchez nor Ryan would acknowledge whether the quarterback was even able to throw at any point during practice. Sanchez insists his shoulder is “getting better every day,” and hopes to be ready “soon.” Still, the Jets signed veteran Brady Quinn on Monday as insurance in case Sanchez is sidelined for a while. Ryan, though, dismissed the notion that Sanchez could be headed for season-ending injured reserve. “That’s certainly not what we’re looking at right now,” Ryan “As a quarterback, you’ve got to said. have a short memory. You can’t But it seems a longshot for him to be able to play against the let what happens in the past Buccaneers. That means Smith would get the call — even if affect you in the future.” many who watched him this Mark Sanchez summer think perhaps he’s still a bit raw. “Physically, I think I’ve always been ready,” Smith said. “I think I have some things that, which is the reason why they drafted me here, to bring some of that stuff to the table. “But I think mentally I’ve grown a lot. My grasp of the offense is to the point where I know I can get out there and execute and be out there and leading this offense and leading this team. “At this point, I'm ready for it.” The Jets certainly hope so. The last time everyone saw Smith on the field was during a disappointing performance against the Giants in Week 3 of the preseason when the rookie threw three interceptions and took a safety when he stepped out of the back of the end zone. Most of that came against the Giants’ starting defense, and his struggles that night were an indication that he might not be ready to start in the NFL. “Well, it’s easy to move past a game like that,” Smith said. “As a quarterback, you’ve got to have a short memory. You can’t let what happens in the past affect you in the future. I took it as a learning experience, another stepping stone in my career, and was able to move on from it pretty easily.” Smith’s sprained right ankle is coming along, to the point he said it’s getting close to 100 percent, although still needs treatment. He has noticed an improvement in his throwing as the ankle has healed. “It’s night and day,” he said. “Leading up to the injury, I was spinning the ball pretty good and then I got injured. You can never really tell how much it affects you until you don’t have it anymore.” Meanwhile, Sanchez spent the 30-minute window of practice the media were allowed to watch on a stationary bike. He also changed his clothes away from his locker, so it’s uncertain how much mobility he has in his right arm. “I’m not going to get into the rehab process,” Sanchez said. “Just know that it’s getting better every day.” Sanchez appeared a bit frustrated, his answers short at times, especially in regards to the injury, which he shed no light on. He wouldn’t speculate whether he could be out for a month, repeating that he’s “day to day,” and insisted he’s not worried about potentially losing his starting job — or even his roster spot. “There’s a lot of factors that go into all those type of things,” Ryan said, “but if Mark’s healthy, then, yes, I would say he would be part of this football team.”
2013 NFL Season Will Bring Surprises and Excitement HOROWITZ
Continued from page 16
off in a classic Manning-Brady matchup in the end of November. In an NFC Championship rematch on Dec. 23, the Falcons and 49ers will meet in a game that could have serious playoff implications. On Oct. 20, the Colts face the Broncos in a golden opportunity for the Colts to assert a renewed elite status post-Manning, this time under the leadership of Andrew Luck. The Colts’ Luck, the Redskins’ Robert Griffin III and the Seahawks’ Russell Wilson are all entering their sophomore seasons after terrific rookie campaigns. All three highly talented quarterbacks lead their respective
teams to surprise playoff berths in 2012. Will they elevate to even greater success this year or suffer from a classic sophomore slump? Will a new class of impressive rookie quarterbacks take the stage? There are also familiar storylines. It’s make it or break it in Dallas, again. Michael Vick has a new head coach and offensive coordinator to help him lead the Eagles back to the playoffs (hopefully not). Rodgers’ Packers, Brady’s Patriots, Kapernick’s 49ers and Ryan’s Falcons are sure to be in the playoff picture. And Joe Flacco, fresh off a Super Bowl Championship and a new contract extension, is poised to lead a dangerous Ravens team to a repeat championship run.
Watch out for some sleeper teams, who may exceed expectations and make the playoffs. Cincinnati, Houston, Chicago and Detroit are all on my radar to potentially beat the odds. They have been on the brink of playoff spots for a while, and any one of them could break out with a deep playoff run. Coach Sean Payton is back with Drew Brees and the Saints, ready to reignite their powerful passing offense and return to the playoffs. But not all stories are as pleasant. Tim Tebow was recently released from the Patriots roster because his chronic inconsistency in the passing game failed to improve. In an almost tragic story of a humble and likeable player whose rare exciting moments of success raised expec-
tations beyond his actual capabilities, Tebow is now without a team, with no obvious suitors in sight. Aaron Hernandez’s suspected murder charge certainly reflects poorly on the NFL and its players. Matt Russell, directly under John Elway in the Broncos hierarchy, was arrested along with fellow Broncos executive Tom Heckert for driving under the influence of alcohol earlier in the offseason. We all hope that players and team staff will be on their best behaviour throughout this season. No cheating, no off-thefield crime. Enough of the negative. The thrilling football fun of the 2013 season will culminate in Super Bowl 48 at Metlife Stadium in New Jersey, the first time a super
bowl will be played in an outdoor, cold weather, stadium. Assuming the notorious meadowlands wind doesn’t combine with various forms of precipitation to inhibit the players’ ability to play at their best, it should be a memorable contest. Hosting the game in New York will lift the games’ nationwide and worldwide appeal to new heights, in addition to the increased revenue that the NFL will gain by holding it near one of America’s biggest cities. But before then, we’ll have five months of highly entertaining football action. The players and fans are ready to go. It’s kick-off time! Ben Horowitz can be reached at bhorowitz@cornellsun.com.
Sports
The Corne¬ Daily Sun
WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 4, 2013
16
MEN’S ROWING
David Burke Joins Red as Assistant Coach This Season By EMILY BERMAN Sun Assistant Sports Editor
The men’s heavyweight crew program just increased its roster with the addition of new assistant coach David Burke. Burke, who comes to the Red with five years of coaching experience following his own collegiate rowing career at Northeastern University, joined the Cornell program in August. Burke spent this past year as head coach at St. Joseph’s Collegiate Institute, where he led the team to multiple medals at the New
York State Championships. Prior to his time at St. Joseph’s, Burke served as an assistant coach at Northeastern for four seasons. Burke said the chance to work with such a high level of coaching was one of the reasons he was attracted to the Cornell program. “The opportunity to work with gifted coaches on the collegiate level, on the heavyweight men’s, lightweight men’s and women’s coaching staffs was a huge draw,” he said. “I know that the time and effort each of them put into the day-to-day operations of running highly successful, highly competitive teams is something they take
pride in. I look forward to helping add to that collective mentality.” During his own collegiate career, Burke served as a coxswain for the Huskies. In his sophomore season, he led the second varsity eight to a sixth-place finish at the IRA National Championships. For the upcoming Cornell season, Burke said that the Red’s ultimate goal is a first-place finish at the prestigious IRA Championships. “With a number of other strong programs across the country, that goal is always difficult, for any team,” he said. “With a ‘team first’ philosophy, and dedicated student-athletes and coaches, the goal is attainable, but there is a no replacement for hard work.” In addition to his coxswain background in collegiate rowing, Burke credits his education at Northeastern as an influence on his coaching. “I like to think I am as practical as I can be when coaching,” he said. “I’m not sure if I have a coaching style, but understanding the little things, as well as being able to multitask and be organized, is important. I’d like to See ROWING page 15 XIAOYUE GUO / SUN STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Go with the flow | Cornell is ready to add a new coach to the heavyweight team’s roster this season.
Ready for Kick-Off O
ther than baseball, professional sports fans have had little to watch over the past three months. NFL coaches and executives have spent over six months scouting and drafting, signing and releasing. Now that the lazy summer days are ending, the long-awaited beginning of the NFL’s regular season is less than a week away, and football fans have much to be excited for. A Week Two matchup between Eli Manning’s Giants and Peyton Manning’s Broncos should be an epic contest . It will be the first time the two brothers, both elite NFL quarterbacks, will face each other in an NFL game. Eli has two Super Bowl rings compared to Peyton’s one, but this
Ben Horowitz Guest Column certainly does not indicate that Eli has nothing to prove. Many NFL commentators look at the raw stats and conclude that Peyton is the better quarterback. (As a heavily biased Giants fan I’d take the guy who twice beat Tom Brady to win it all.) However, Eli leading the Giants to victory over the Broncos could change many minds on how to correctly rank the Manning brothers. The Packers and the 49ers start the season off with a bang in a Week One contest between two NFC heavyweights. The 49ers and Seahawks will play two tough contests to assert control over the NFC West. The Broncos and Patriots will face See HOROWITZ page 15
CROSS COUNTRY
C.U.Hopes for New Successes in 2013 By DEEYA BAJAJ Sun Staff Writer
The Cornell women’s cross country team was ranked No. 10 in a national 2013 preseason poll conducted by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association. The association also ranked Cornell No. 2 in the preseason ranking for the Northeast region. Last November, the team placed third in the NCAA Regional Championship. “While I am certainly very pleased that the team has garnered National recognition and that other people have noticed the talent in the team, rankings are based on a person’s opinion; what matters is the team’ performance in the upcoming weeks and months,” assistant coach Arthur Cameron Smith said. The Red’s 2012 preseason ranking was No. 30. Last season held many successes for the team, culminating with a No. 13 ranking at the NCAA Championship in Terre Haute, Indiana. “I can’t really compare this year’s team with last year’s team as it’s a completely different group; even the girls who are returning are different in the sense that they have had the summer to train. We are definitely in a very different place compared to the year before,” Smith said. “I think it’s important to not look at past victories or other teams’ performances but to continually work on getting better, and this group did a really good job of keeping themselves fit over the summer.” The squad will start its 2013 season against Army on Sept. 13 at the Moakley course in Ithaca. “The team is excited to get started. We don’t run against Army regularly so
we don’t know what to expect in terms of the other team, but I think it’s a good way to start the season,” Smith said. “The meet is smaller and so more intimate and will be a good transition from hard training to racing competitively.
TINA CHOU / SUN FILE PHOTO
Run, baby, run | The women’s cross country team was ranked No.10 in the preseason poll, 20 places higher than its 2012 preseason ranking.
The season will only proceed to get more and more competitive so this meet is a great way to bring it in.” Deeya Bajaj can be reached at dbajaj@cornellsun.com.