INDEPENDENT SINCE 1880
The Corne¬ Daily Sun Vol. 129, No. 63
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2012
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ITHACA, NEW YORK
16 Pages – Free
Profs Question Bright Horizons Daycare Service
Light up the stage
By KAITLYN KWAN Sun Staff Writer
KYLE KULAS / SUN STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Students in Illuminations, a Chinese dance troupe, put on a colorful display at the Student Opportunity Showcase in Bailey Hall Friday night.
Some professors are questioning whether the University should retain ties with Cornell daycare provider Bright Horizons Family Solutions, a for-profit business that is expanding, despite having come under fire for regulatory violations. Bright Horizons provides daycare services to Cornell’s Ithaca campus and Weill Cornell Medical College. In 2010, faculty urged President David Skorton to cut ties with Bright Horizons for violating 56 state child care regulations, overworking its teachers and overcompensating its top management. Skorton, however, decided to renew the University’s contract with Bright Horizons — a deciSee HORIZONS page 4
C.U. Nears Decision on Offering Free Online Courses By JONATHAN SWARTZ Sun Staff Writer
A faculty committee has been tasked with recommending whether or not Cornell should offer its own MOOCs, massive open online courses that have been growing in popularity, according to Provost Kent Fuchs. Fuchs, who will make the final decision, said that, although no official decision has been made yet, he believes
News Award Winners
Two Cornell police officers received accolades at their graduation from the Southern Tier Law Enforcement Academy. | Page 3
Opinion Endless Possibilities
Aditi Bhowmick ’16 revels in the freedom of being a freshman in college. | Page 7
Arts Pride, Prejudice and Blogs
Marissa Tranquilli ’15 praises a video blog of Pride and Prejudice run by Ithaca College students as “addictive.” | Page 11
Sports Double the Victory
The Cornell women’s ice hockey team smashed Colgate in two games this weekend, extending its winning streak. | Page 16
Sports Not So Sweet Home
The Cornell men’s ice hockey team was unable to claim wins in either of its home games this weekend. | Page 16
Weather Partly Cloudy HIGH: 52 LOW: 34
that the University will eventually offer MOOCs to the public. He stressed he hopes all members of the community — not just the faculty committee — voice their opinions about the role MOOCs should play at Cornell. “Likely after [the group of faculty] make the recommendation, we will ask many others to give their comments on the decision … student, trustees and faculty,” Fuchs said. “I very much want the faculty to lead the process and not have it be a simple administrative deci-
sion.” The committee is also considering whether or not the University should join a consortium, or a group of colleges partnering to offer MOOCs. Some leading MOOC consortiums include Udacity, which offers 14 online courses; EdX, which offers nine courses through MIT, UC Berkeley and Harvard University; and Coursera, which offers 197 See MOOCS page 4
Fuchs:Decision on Social Justice Req. Should Be Colleges’ By LIANNE BORNFELD Sun Staff Writer
As a group of students push Cornell to add a University-wide social justice requirement to its curriculum, Provost Kent Fuchs said he wants to let individual colleges — not the central administration — decide if they will add the requirement. “I just don’t think the provost should mandate what should be required, though we are encouraging [the colleges’ associate deans] to think about it,” Fuchs said in an interview with The Sun Thursday. The Assembly for Justice, a group of Cornell students, has protested what it calls
MEGHAN HESS / SUN FILE PHOTO
Freedom of choice | Provost Kent Fuchs said rather than mandating a University-wide social justice requirement, he wants individual colleges to make the decision to add the requirement.
the administration’s lack of response to addressing racism on campus. The group has asked the University to require all students to fulfill a social justice component to
graduate, which will encourage “critical analysis of oppression,” according to its list See PROVOST page 5
Report: Men Assault Student After Striking Him With Car By MANU RATHORE Sun Senior Writer
A male student was hit by a vehicle and then reportedly assaulted by the car’s occupants near 800 University Ave. on Friday. The student said that he was hit by a dark-colored vehicle
while crossing University Avenue at approximately 8:22 p.m, according to a crime alert Cornell sent Friday evening. The student yelled at the occupants of the vehicle, who then reportedly backed up to the site of the collision, got out of the car and assaulted the victim, according to the alert.
The victim described the assailants as being one black and two white college-aged males, according to the University. He described the suspects’ vehicle, which was reportedly playing loud music at the time of the assault, as having dark-tinted windows. The Ithaca Police Depart-
ment is currently investigating the incident. In an email, the University urged students to “remember to take advantage of the Blue Light resources available to our community.” Manu Rathore can be reached at mrathore@cornellsun.com.