INDEPENDENT SINCE 1880
The Corne¬ Daily Sun Vol. 129, No. 19
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 2012
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ITHACA, NEW YORK
16 Pages – Free
As Living Costs Soar, C.U.Staff Wages Rise At Least 3 Percent By MANU RATHORE Sun Staff Writer
demands to Kent Hubbell ’69, dean of students. The demands included calls to form an “anti-racist joint task force,” require “all faculty and staff to undergo ongoing anti-oppression and social justice trainings” and “take responsibility to end racism and stop putting this responsibility on students.” Although some students criticized the University for what they saw as its inadequate response, Susan Murphy ’73 Ph.D. ’94, vice president of student and academic services, also stressed the importance of dialogue, saying it would be helpful to know which students administra-
Amid a rise in living costs in Tompkins County, Cornell employees received between a three to 3.5-percent raise for the last three years of their new four-year contract, which was approved this summer. All employees also received a wage increase of 46 cents per hour during the first year of the new contract, according to Jack Kaminsky, presi“We do not even have dent of the UAW Local enough of a raise [to 2300. Meanwhile, the wage match the] cost of living.” a full-time worker in the Pattie Gordinier county had to earn in 2011 to afford the cost of living — $11.67 per hour — rose five percent from 2010, according to the Alternatives Federal Credit Union. The University and the United Auto Workers Local 2300 — the union that represents the majority of Cornell employees — settled a tentative agreement on June 29, a day before the previous employee contract expired, according to Alan Mittman ’71, director of the Office of Workforce Policy and Labor Relations. Employees in the two lowest wage rates received slightly higher wage increases by percentage, Mittman said, to reflect the fact that they are on “the lowest edge of the wage scale.” Despite the raises, Pattie Gordinier, lead coordinator of facilities services in Cascadilla Hall, said the new contract does not increases wages “nearly enough” to meet employees’
See ANTI-OPPRESSION page 5
See EMPLOYEES page 4
MATT MUNSEY / SUN STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Marching for change | Cornell and Ithaca College students, as well as Ithaca residents, march from the Sigma Pi fraternity to Day Hall on May 16 to demand the University to take responsibility to end racism.
Univ.Defends Response to Racial Attack
Administrators say Cornell must focus on issues, not ‘debate of words’ By JINJOO LEE Sun Senior Writer
Although some students say the University has not addressed the demands made following a racial attack that occurred on campus in the spring, some administrators said they have found it difficult to do so because the protesters’ list of demands was unsigned. On May 6, an individual unaffiliated with the University threw beer cans and hurled epithets at black students passing by the Sigma Pi fraternity. Following the attack, outraged protesters marched from the fraternity to Day Hall on May 17, presenting a list of 11
News The Great Outdoors
A new Cornell Outdoor Education course will provide leadership training to members of the Greek system. | Page 3
News
By NIKKI LEE Sun Staff Writer
Barebones Living
The Sun sits down with Adriana Wong ’14, who led a simple lifestyle working in a rural Indian village this summer. | Page 3
Opinion Better Together
Nikhita Parandekhar grad describes the best way to work in groups. | Page 7
Arts Marked for Failure
Patricia Kim ’14 pans the recently-released film Branded. | Page 10
Sports High Hopes
The Big Red football team hopes to prove victorious in this weekend’s football game against Fordham University. | Page 16
Weather Thunderstorms HIGH: 82 LOW: 52
Grad School Appoints New Asst.Dean of Student Life Cornell’s Graduate School announced Thursday that Janna Lamey will serve as its next assistant dean of student life. Lamey –– currently a manager of the Graduate Education Program at the College of Veterinary Medicine –– will start serving in her new position on Oct. 8, according to Barbara Knuth, vice provost and dean of the graduate school. As assistant dean, Lamey will focus on “the big picture of student well-being,” according to Jan Allen, associate dean for academic and student affairs. Lamey’s position has been restructured in light of increased efforts over the past several years to “provide topquality graduate and professional student services,” Allen said. Lamey will delve into issues — such as fostering a sense of graduate community, promoting social-academic
balance and aiding stress management — more rigorously than assistant deans have been called to in the past. “While the Graduate School focuses primarily on the academic experiences and academic life of the graduate students here, we recognize the importance of all the areas of a graduate student’s life and experience, whether that’s social or cultural,” Allen said. Along with being responsible for programming activities and events, launching initiatives and serving as a liaison during crisis, Lamey will also be involved in determining the needs of graduate and professional students and obtaining feedback from them on programs already in place. “For the first bit, I’m planning on taking some time and really diving into meeting with graduate students and professional students and finding out what their issues are,” Lamey said. According to Lamey, meetSee DEAN page 4
Under the sea
JESELLA ZAMBRANO / SUN STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Students protest the practice of removing sharks’ fins Thursday by dressing up the statue of Ezra Cornell on the Arts Quad in snorkeling gear.