INDEPENDENT SINCE 1880
The Corne¬ Daily Sun Vol. 130, No. 45
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 30, 2013
!
ITHACA, NEW YORK
16 Pages – Free
News
Arts
Sports
Weather
Green Intentions
Remembering Lou
Sweeping Games
Chance Of Rain HIGH: 63 LOW: 41
The Building Dashboard, a website showing real-time energy usage, complements sustainability efforts. | Page 3
Zachary Zahos ’15 remembers rock legend Lou Reed, who died Sunday. | Page 11
The volleyball team swept Columbia for the first time since 2008. | Page 16
Endowment Grows 11.4 Percent
Rate shows improvement over Fiscal Year 2012
By CAROLINE FLAX Sun News Editor
After seeing its endowment returns dip last year, the University announced Monday that it saw an 11.4 percent return in its endowment in Fiscal Year 2013. The results mark a strong comeback for Cornell, which posted a 0.14 percent return on its endowment in Fiscal Year 2012. Before that, the University had seen doubledigit growth in fiscal years 2010 and 2011. With this year’s growth, Cornell’s endowment has grown to $5.7 billion, up from $5.2 billion last year, according to a University press releas. This year’s results also put Cornell within sight of its pre-recession high of
$5.8 billion. However, for the second year in a row, Cornell has seen the second-lowest endowment return in the Ivy League, just edging out Harvard’s 11.3-percent return, according to the Harvard Crimson.
Cornell’s endowment has grown to $5.7 billion, up from $5.2 billion. A.J. Edward, chief investment officer, said in a University press release that the “robust” return on Cornell’s endowment is primarily due to positive returns in domestic and international public equity markets, as well as private partnerships.
IVY LEAGUE ENDOWMENT RETURNS 2013
“This year, we took advantage of some select opportunities in Europe and the United States, as well as across emerging markets and our natural resources portfolio,” Edwards said in the press release. The University of Pennsylvania leads the Ivy League in endowment returns with 14.4 percent, according to the Daily Pennsylvanian. In second place, Brown University saw an endowment return of 12.6 percent, according to a Brown University press release. Yale, Dartmouth, Princeton and Columbia reported returns of 12.5, 12.1, 11.7 and 11.5 percent respectively. Edwards said the growth in Cornell’s returns will keep the endowment — also known as the University’s long term investments — resilient. “The [long term investment] is positioned both to weather the continued uncertain economic outlook and to benefit from opportunities that may arise from time to time,” Edwards said in the press release. “We remain focused on maintaining a generally healthy liquidity position within the [long term investment], allowing it to comfortably meet the projected needs of the University, while at the same time taking advantage of our long-term investment horizon.”
CAROLINE FLAX / SUN NEWS EDITOR
See ENDOWMENT page 4
City of Ithaca Reps Debate Budget By ALEXA DAVIS Sun Senior Writer
The Common Council deliberated various ways of raising revenue for the City of Ithaca at a meeting Tuesday. While city officials say they recognized the need to increase revenue, they faced tough choices regarding what programs and governmentfunded positions should be included or cut from the current budget to meet the government tax cap. Some Common Council members, including Mayor Svante Myrick ’09, pro-
posed that the city capitalize on Ithaca’s natural beauty. Myrick suggested to charge non-
residents a small fee to enter parks and enforce this by asking park goers simple questions
like, “Do you live in Ithaca?” He said this See REVENUE page 5
ALICE PHAM / SUN CONTRIBUTOR
Brainstorming | Common council members shared ideas on how the city might raise revenue Tuesday.
DYLAN CLEMENS / SUN STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Students from the LGBTQ community expressed outrage after members of the Big Red Bears Club allegedly said the mascot must act like a “heterosexual male.”
‘Big Red Bear’ Role Outrages Students By JINJOO LEE Sun News Editor
Last month, Samuel Naimi ’16 attended tryouts for the Big Red Bears Club, which recruits volunteers to be the Big Red Bear, Cornell’s mascot. But what club members said at the tryouts soon made Naimi, who prefers to go by the pronoun “they,” realize they might not fit the role. The Big Red Bear must always act like a “heterosexual man” and “approach only women,” one of the members of the Big Red Bear Club said at the meeting, according to Naimi. The members were explaining what the mascots can and cannot do in costume, which included restrictions such as not holding babies, according to Naimi. The comment that the mascot must act like a “heterosexual man” made them feel “extremely uncomfortable,” Naimi said. “They’re supposed to be representing the diverse Cornell community.” The Big Red Bears Club neither denied nor confirmed that the incident occurred. The club released a statement saying it “by no means sets a standard for gender or mannerisms of the bear.” At the same time, it cannot assure that the comments did not take place. “We cannot control the words of all our members in their individual discussions of the bear,” the statement read. The club will ensure that similar comments will not be made in the future, according to the statement. “We take this type of accusation very seriously and will be looking into the incident to ensure that if it did indeed occur, a similar one will not happen in the future,” the statement said. Naimi, however, said the situation escalated as the meetings progressed. After the comment about the bear’s heterosexual role was made, Naimi said they told a friend that they felt uncomSee BEAR page 5