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The Ithacan ∙

Fired Up by tinamarie craven news editor

President Barack Obama’s controversial move to tighten gun legislation in response to recent shootings has created a domino effect as state and local governments enact changes to reduce gun violence.

The Dec. 14 shooting in Newtown, Conn., shook the nation when 20 children and six adults were killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School.

On Tuesday, three people were wounded in a shooting at Lone Star College in Houston, Texas. According to the Associated Press, the authorities charged Carlton Berry as the shooter that injured himself and two others during an altercation.

Incidents like the Lone Star and Newtown shootings are what Obama said he is aiming to prevent with the 23 executive actions he signed Jan. 16. Obama’s actions include requiring background checks prior to all gun sales, strengthening school security, ensuring the mentally ill receive treatment and banning military-assault weapons sales.

“While there is no law or set of laws that can prevent every senseless act of violence completely, no piece of legislation that will prevent every tragedy, every act of evil, if there’s even one thing we can do to reduce this violence, if there’s even one life that can be saved, then we’ve got an obligation to try,” Obama said during the Jan. 16 press conference.

In New York, Governor Andrew Cuomo signed the New York Secure Ammunition and Firearms Enforcement Act on Jan. 15 to further restrict gun sales in the state. At the local level, the Ithaca Police Department, in a joint effort with the Tompkins County Sheriff ’s Office, has made efforts to remove illegal guns from the community.

While Ithaca Mayor Svante Myrick said he has not read Cuomo’s gun legislation, he said he is impressed with the provisions he has heard about.

“It is going to help us get more guns off of the street,” Myrick said.

Senior Rob Flaherty, president of IC

See Guns, page 4

Volume 80 , Is s u e 1 5

New gun legislation leads to debates locally and nationally

NEW YORK BACKGROUND CHECK

2013 GUN REGULATIONS

BACKGROUND CHECK

required for public & private

ALL gun transfers

round allowance

REDUCED from

NO

sharing of guns

with person unauthorized to possess one

10 to 7

5

individuals with a EVERY handgun LICENSE or REGISTERED assault weapon MUST be recertified

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Thursday, Ja nua ry 24, 20 13

design by emily fuller

Campus joins to remember departed student by noreyana fernando assistant news editor

To celebrate the life of Victoria “Tori” Howell, 20, an Ithaca College junior who died over break, members of the Ithaca College community gathered Wednesday afternoon in Muller Chapel for a memorial service.

Howell died as the result of a car accident Dec. 30 while traveling on State Route 366 in the Town of Dryden, according to the New York State Police. Howell lost control of her vehicle and struck an automobile traveling east. The accident was reported at 1:27 p.m.

She was transported to Cayuga Medical Center in Ithaca where she later died from her injuries.

More than 30 people attended Wednesday’s gathering, including family, friends and college staff and faculty. Elizabeth Bleicher, associate professor and program director in the department of English, dedicated a poem to Howell. Howell’s friends, mother and brother shared their favorite memories with her, including Howell’s semester in London,

Junior Grace Wivell hugs a sympathizer as senior Ashlyn Velte walks behind her at the memorial service for friend, junior Victoria Howell.

durst breneiser/the ithacan

her ideas for an “extreme ironing club” on campus and her love for the Harry Potter franchise.

Howell was an English major with a minor in psychology.

She studied at the Ithaca College London Center during the fall of 2011. She also worked for Pu-

Must love dogs The SPCA of Tompkins County participates in dog exchange, page 13

rity Ice Cream and Ithaca College Dining Services .

Amanda Kellerson, direct employee supervisor at Purity Ice Cream, said they closed the store when they were informed of Howell’s death.

“We received a phone call at

the store from her mother the night she died,” Kellerson said.

“We closed the store immediately. For some of us, it took awhile to sink in.”

Howell was also a dedicated member of the Harry Potter Alliance and To Write Love on Her Arms. On Dec. 5, she was inducted into Sigma Tau Delta, the English Honor Society at the college.

Ruth, Howell’s mother, said she, Howell’s father and brother were devastated by the news of the death.

“How are we supposed to continue without the light of our lives?” she said.

Howell had a lot to be proud of, her mother said, but her greatest pride was her friends.

"They meant the world to her," her mother said.

Junior Cassie Medcalf, Howell’s roommate during their freshman year, said all of Howell’s friends were important to her.

See memorial, page 4

Community assesses Huron college review

by Kelsey o'connor editor in chief

Parking price increases, health benefit cost changes and centralization of campus services and departments were some of the 39 recommendations offered by the Huron Consulting Group as a result of Ithaca College’s Efficiency and Affordability Review.

President Tom Rochon announced in August that the college had hired the outside consulting group, Huron, to assess finances and review academic and admin- ROCHON said the Huron review is istrative support. The results an effort to avoid of the semester-long review raising tuition. were revealed to faculty and staff at the All-College Meeting on Jan. 17.

Rochon said the college hired Huron with the objective of controlling tuition and room and board costs for students. He said the college cannot continue to operate the way it is without inflating student fees.

“We have identified the goal of getting to the point where gross annual tuition increases are less than three percent per year, combined with a

See huron, page 4

Fresh start

let's commit

Ithaca High School coach emphasizes academics before athletics, page 23

Students should unite to support marriage equality, page 10

f ind m or e onl ine. www.t heit hacan.org

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Campus grieves loss of student Memorial from page 1

“She is such a good friend because she doesn’t fake friendship," Medcalf said. "She wasn’t going to pretend to like somebody.”

Junior Grace Wivell was one of Howell’s close friends.

Wivell recalled a time when they went HOWELL was in search of remembered as the town of a compassionate Agloe, New and happy friend.

York, which is a fictitious town in John Green’s 2008 book, “Paper Towns.”

“We just packed a picnic lunch and were like, ‘We are going to go find Agloe’ and we ended up in this little fishing town and there was this castle,” Wivell said. “It was like something out of a book or a movie.”

Howell’s mother recalls her daughter’s high school days.

Howell stepped up to be copresident of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender group, just because nobody else was stepping up. Howell was also a Girl Scout.

“It’s a great tragedy,” her mother said. “She had an awful lot to offer and she won’t get to complete that.”

The college’s English department is planning to name an book prize after Howell. The prize will be awarded to outstanding English majors and minors whose academic or extracurricular work that reflects her intellectual interests and values.

In addition, part of the college’s annual “Pippi to Ripley: Female Figures of Science Fiction Conference” will be dedicated to Howell. The conference will take place on May. Katharine Kittredge, professor of English, is the conference coordinator and one of Howell’s professors. She said the event will be a contest in for students from local education institutes will come together to test their knowledge of all things fantasy and science fiction. It will be named the “Tori Cup Fantasy and Science Fiction Challenge.”

“I am hoping that Tori’s spirit will inspire other young people in the area to share their passions and to come together as a community,” Kittredge said.

Kittredge said she is saddened by the fact that Howell’s death left so many missed opportunities.

“She was becoming one of the most rewarding students in my career,” she said. “I am so sad I won’t be able to introduce her to the Cornell Archives, or to direct her Honors thesis or watch her do her first professional presentation.”

Howell was registered to conduct an independent study with Kittredge’s help this semester. Kittredge said Howell was a bright yet humble student.

“She was always with a smile when she was offering her opinion,” Kittredge said. “She had so much joy in finding others who would share her passions."

Th ursday, Ja n ua ry 2 4 , 2 0 1 3

Mayor supports new gun legislation guns from page 1

Democrats, said he supports New York’s move to tighten gun control.

“The governor has passed a serious package for gun violence reduction, and the mayor has obviously done a tremendous job in his capacity to try and eliminate access to gun violence in Ithaca as well,” Flaherty said. “As tragic as these events were, I hope that we are using this as an opportunity to take action to prevent more victims from dying unnecessarily.”

However, freshman Ben Grove, public relations officer for IC Republicans, said he doesn’t believe in restricting the 2nd Amendment.

“It says right in the Constitution, that the right of the people to keep and bear arms cannot be infringed upon,” Grove said.

The Ithaca Police and the Tompkins County Sheriff ’s Office have generated two initiatives in an effort to curb gun violence locally.

The two law enforcement offices hosted a “Gun Buyback Program” on Jan. 5 to provide residents with an opportunity to surrender illegally owned or unsecured guns in an effort to prevent the guns from falling to people who may use them for negligent illegal purposes. The Ithaca Police Department, said they collected 75 handguns and 72 shotguns and rifles, two of which were assault rifles.

Myrick said he had contacted the IPD about having a gun buyback and that he was thrilled with the number of guns turned in at the event because an event like this had never been done before in Ithaca.

“We thought even one gun would be a hit,” Myrick said.

Once the guns were collected, they were sawed in half and recycled on-site to prevent them from falling into the wrong hands, Myrick said.

Myrick said the police department will hold another event in the spring or summer.

Myrick said after the Sandy Hook shooting he felt more needed to be done to restrict gun legislation to prevent future gun violence.

“I thought to myself, ‘There must be something we can do so we’re not powerless in Ithaca.’”

Ithaca College’s Office of Public Safety holds guns in the Weapons Storage at Public Safety for residential students who hunt because the college does not permit students to have guns or other weapons on campus.

Tom Dunn, investigator at the Office of Public Safety, said there are fewer than 10 guns held for students in Weapons Storage. He said roughly a dozen students keep hunting weapons at Public Safety. The stored guns vary from pellet guns to “basic firearms” as well as other hunting weapons such as bows and arrows.

To store guns or other hunting weapons at Public Safety, students must show photo identification and the proper permits if their gun requires them.

“Some weapons in New York state do not require a permit,” Dunn said.

Students have access to their guns whenever they want them because Public Safety is open 24 hours a day.

In December, President Tom Rochon signed a letter addressing Obama in support of his efforts to tighten gun control. Rochon was one of 255 college and university presidents who signed the letter.

Obama signed 23 executive actions since the Newtown shooting; one action calls for model emergency response plans for colleges.

Cuomo’s act includes restrictions on the sale of guns and ammunition as well as increasing the penalties for gun-related misdemeanors and limiting the number of bullets in a magazine.

Students and faculty are allowed to store their guns, BB guns and bows and arrows in the gun locker at Public Safety without having to pay.

Durst Breneiser/The Ithacan

“These are common sense measures that I think are overdue,” Myrick said.

However, Myrick disagrees with the provision in Cuomo’s bill that criminalizes possessing a gun on school grounds because it does not include an exception for police officers and first responders.

Cuomo received negative backlash from the National Rifle Association and law enforcement agencies for the New York Secure Ammunition and Firearms Enforcement Act. A Jan. 14 article in the New York Times addressed a potential breach in the

doctor-patient confidentiality because the bill requires therapists to report potential gun violence threats made by patients.

In a Jan. 14 press conference Cuomo attributed the haste in which the legislation was drawn up was an active effort to prevent another tragedy.

“Enough people have lost their lives,” Cuomo said during the press conference. “Let’s act.”

Myrick said Cuomo’s legislation isn’t perfect, but it will make progress.

“It won’t solve all the problems, but it will do something,” Myrick said.

Faculty debate Huron recommendations huron from page 1

robust financial aid program that would make the net tuition increases even less than that,” Rochon said. “And in order to achieve that goal, we need to either find new outside revenues or reduced expenditures in the amount of $8.4 million by the year 2017-18.”

The total estimated savings and revenue from the Huron recommendations is $5.1 to $6.8 million in annual expenses, and $6.4 to $7.3 million in additional annual revenue.

The college released the review on Sakai to the community for review. All of the documents on Sakai were released to The Ithacan by a member of the college who wishes to remain anonymous.

Huron’s 39 recommendations were organized into seven categories, including recommendations for greater centralization, improving the efficiency of business processes, reducing net cost without reducing services, employee benefits, organizational alignment for effectiveness, student fees and new revenue sources.

Peter Rothbart, professor of music theory, history and composition and chair of the Faculty Council, said some faculty are concerned about the integrity of the academic programs.

“While it’s clear that the recommendations are not about academic programs, the support for those programs, obviously there will be some effect there, and I think the trick is to make what changes are necessary without affecting academic programs, and that I assume will be faculty’s highest priority,” Rothbart said.

On Tuesday, at the Faculty Council Meeting, faculty discussed how academic programs will be affected and discussed recommendations to add a parking fee for faculty and staff and increasing

the percentage employees pay for their health care benefits. During the open session, the faculty passed three motions: the first regarding reviewing the academic program review, the second recommending to base health benefit and parking price increases on salary and family structure and the third recommending not to charge faculty and staff for parking.

Two recommendations regarding students include adding a flat rate of $10 per Health Center visit and moving from a sliding cost for parkPeter Rothbart, professor of music theory, history and composition and chair ing permits, depending of the Faculty Council, said faculty will prioritize academic programs. on when in the year it is file photo/The ithacan purchased, to a flat rate pays and the flat fee, so these are things that we’re for the year.

Huron found the Rochester Center used by going to be reaching out to students to talk about students in Health Sciences and Human Perfor- how it will all affect them,” Flaherty said.

The recommendations will remain open on mance was determined to be too costly, and Huron therefore recommended consolidation of its Sakai for review and comment for current faculty, staff and students until Feb. 11. operations in Ithaca.

Rochon said he is excited to see what comes Senior Rob Flaherty, president of the Student Government Association, said some aspects of from the three-week community comment period.

“On the one hand, I’m told by experts in this Huron’s recommendations will affect students but field that we’re doing something that has not been will mostly affect faculty and staff of the college.

“There’s some concern from the physical therapy done on other campuses, on the other hand, I think community about the cuts to the Rochester campus, the best way to reach good decisions is to include students who utilize the health center with the co- lots of people in the advisory process,” Rochon said.

[ T hurs day Bri ef ing]

2 The It hacan

Th ursday, ja n ua ry 2 4 , 2 0 1 3

Nation&World US allows women in combat zones

Senior defense officials say Pentagon chief Leon Panetta is removing the military’s ban on women serving in combat, opening hundreds of thousands of front-line positions and potentially elite commando jobs after more than a decade at war.

The groundbreaking move, recommended by the Joint Chiefs of Staff, overturns a 1994 rule prohibiting women from being assigned to smaller ground combat units. Panetta’s decision gives the military services until January 2016 to seek special exceptions if they believe any positions must remain closed to women.

A senior military official says the services will develop plans for allowing women to seek the combat positions. Some jobs may open as soon as this year. Assessments for others, such as special operations forces, including Navy SEALS and the Army’s Delta Force, may take longer.

The announcement on Panetta’s decision is not expected until Thursday, so the official spoke on condition of anonymity.

Kashmir officials react to warnings

Officials in Indian-controlled Kashmir are warning residents to be prepared for a possible nuclear war by building bomb-proof basements and collecting two weeks’ worth of food and water Wednesday.

Local officials said the advisory was routine, though it was the first time it had been published in a newspaper. They said it did not signal new concerns about a nuclear attack in the region, repeatedly fought over by nucleararmed rivals India and Pakistan.

A series of deadly skirmishes along the cease-fire line in recent weeks has heightened tensions between the two countries, and the timing of the advisory surprised many residents in Srinagar, the main city in Indian-controlled Kashmir.

Both India and Pakistan claim the divided Kashmir region in its entirety and have fought two wars over it.

Nigerian group attacks pipeline

A gasoline pipeline that runs through southwest Nigeria was attacked Wednesday, bursting into flames and starting a fire that

continued to burn hours later.

The attack happened Wednesday morning in Arepo, a town just north of Nigeria’s megacity of Lagos. Officials with Nigeria’s Security and Civil Defense Corps told The Associated Press that they blamed the attack on a group of thieves who have been increasingly targeting pipelines in the region.

Such attacks remain all-too common in Nigeria’s oil-rich Niger Delta in its southeast.

However, there have been several recent attacks on gasoline pipelines in the southwest, suggesting thieves now feel emboldened and can strike with impunity. That doesn’t bode well for Nigeria, which already has problems importing enough fuel for the nation of more than 160 million people.

Iran stalls on nuclear discussions

The E.U. rebuked Iran on Wednesday in unusually direct language, suggesting it was willfully delaying new nuclear talks with six world powers by changing venues and setting preconditions on how the negotiations should be conducted.

The criticism appeared provoked by an announcement by Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi that his country was now proposing Cairo as the host city of the next meeting. Salehi said Egypt welcomed the proposal and was in contact with the six powers — the U.S., Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany — on the issue.

Diplomats from some of those world powers have expressed frustration in recent weeks about what they say are Iran’s tactics of proposing several venues but not committing to any single one. But the comments Wednesday by the spokesman for E.U. foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton were the first to voice that sentiment on record.

The two sides have not revised plans to meet by the end of this month. But with less than two weeks remaining in January, that date may have to be delayed unless an agreement on a venue is reached soon.

The last round of nuclear talks ended in stalemate in Moscow in June, triggering new international sanctions that have been pressing hard on the Iranian economy.

The West demands that Iran halt its

Ready to vote

A Jordanian woman submits her ballot at a polling station Wednesday in Amman, Jordan, during the parliamentary elections. It is the first after last year’s constitutional amendments that see King Abdullah II gradually relinquishing much of his powers to the legislature.

Raad Adayleh/associated press

highest-level uranium enrichment, which Washington and others fear could quickly be turned into nuclear warhead-grade material.

Iran insists it does not seek nuclear arms — repeatedly citing a 2005 edict by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei that called atomic weapons a violation of Islamic tenets — and says it only wants to enrich to make fuel for present and planned reactors.

North Korea bashes UN resolution

North Korea swiftly lashed out against the U.N. Security Council’s condemnation of its December launch of a long-range rocket, saying Wednesday that it will strengthen its military defenses — including its nuclear weaponry — in response.

The defiant statement from North Korea’s Foreign Ministry was issued hours after the Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution condemning Pyongyang’s Dec. 12 rocket launch as a violation of a ban against nuclear and missile activity. The resolution,

which required approval from Pyongyang’s ally China, also added to sanctions against the North.

The Foreign Ministry called the launch a peaceful bid to send a satellite into space rather than a test of long-range missile technology.

North Korea conducted nuclear weapons tests weeks after rocket launches in 2006 and 2009, and the region is bracing for the possibility that it may now test a third atomic device. Satellite photos taken at North Korea’s nuclear test site in Punggye-ri indicate continued activity, according to a North Korean website affiliated with Johns Hopkins University.

The binding resolution, adopted from the Foreign Ministry, is the first in four years to expand sanctions against Pyongyang. It ordered the freeze of more North Korean assets, including the space agency, and imposed a travel ban on four more officials — limited sanctions that target individuals and specific companies.

SOURCE: Associated Press

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See this gymnast discuss her success on the team and how she plans to improve in her sport this season.

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Take a look at the 18 dogs the Tompkins County SPCA rescued from being euthanized in California.

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Find out what Move to Amend wants to change about the current political system by watching their rally downtown.

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Th ursday, January 24, 2013

The I th a c a n 3

Group rallies against corporate power

by TinaMarie Craven news editor

“Money out! Voters in!”

This was the rallying cry of 15 members of Move to Amend, a group dedicated to ending corporate involvement in politics, who marched to Autumn Leaves Bookstore on The Commons to call attention to a ruling that gives corporations First Amendment rights on Sunday.

Move to Amend is dedicated to social and economic justice and works to ensure that democracy serves the interests of the people instead of corporations.

In 2010 the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission that the government does not have power to restrict independent political spending by corporations because it would infringe upon the First Amendment rights of the corporation. The ruling equated a corporation’s right to free speech to that of an individual citizen’s right to free speech.

The Move to Amend rally officially began at the top floor of Autumn Leaves, where more than 30 people assembled to discuss the public’s involvement in politics.

Though elections concluded in November, the group chose to rally at the end of January to recognize the third anniversary of the Citizens United case.

The gathering kicked off with Move to Amend member Will Fudeman’s performance of a song titled “We The People.” The song’s lyrics were a combination of phrases borrowed from the preamble of the Constitution, and it called to amend the First Amendment to exclude corporations.

Fudeman’s lyrics included phrases like “We the people, the living breathing people, not some legal fiction” and “Congress should make no laws abridging the freedom of speech.”

Amanda Manfredo, a lawyer,

and first speaker discussed the history of corporate involvement within politics. Manfredo began by discussing the Federal Election Campaign Act passed in 1971.

FECA initiated the precedent of corporate donations within politics by allowing corporations to contribute to campaigns.

“It looks like bribery, but [legally] it’s not bribery,” Manfredo said.

“Bribery is not something we want to include in our system.”

She said corporate donations are not bribes and are made legal because it is seen as an expression of free speech. She argued the extension of free speech to corporations is unfair because they can have their interests better represented during a campaign because corporations have more money to donate to campaigns than the average person.

“Money is power. The more money you have, the more power you have,” Manfredo said.

Victor Tiffany, coordinator of the rally, said the public should call upon their local representatives to have the Citizens United ruling overturned.

“In practical terms, corporations, because of First Amendment rights, have such a huge advantage in propaganda in television over citizens,” he said. “They’re dominating the dialogues on social issues and political issues and economic issues.”

J.R. Clairborne, representative of the 2nd Ward for the City of Ithaca’s Common Council, spoke about how voting is important because it has the potential to bring about change.

“Voting is not a spectator sport, you cannot sit on the sidelines and think others will take care of it,” Clairborne said. “It affects the air you breathe, the food you eat and the education you or your child receive at school.”

The final speaker at the rally was Dan Lamb, the 2012 Democratic candidate for New York’s 22nd Congressional District. He

Medication theft prompts investigation

by Tinamarie craven news editor

Kathy Nelson, of Ithaca, marches with Move to Amend members Sunday on The Commons while heading to a rally at Autumn Leaves Bookstore. rachel woolf/the ithacan

addressed the inequality that is created by the corporate involvement in politics. He said he is optimistic that, though it will take time to change the corporate personhood legislation, he said it will happen if citizens urge their local representatives to push for an amendment to put the rights of people before those of corporations.

“I’ll tell you one thing, representatives do not like things to be made public that reflect poorly on them,” Lamb said.

The people in attendance were enthusiastic during the questionand-answer portion of the rally, when they discussed their animosity toward of corporate involvement in campaigns.

Wayles Browne, a rally attendee,

said he thought the speakers were enjoyable, but he was disappointed that the weather prevented the rally from remaining outside.

“If it hadn’t been so cold and windy, it would have been a real rally with people holding up signs, but as it turned out, it turned into a meeting,” Browne said.

Tiffany said the rally, which he spent two months coordinating, was an overall success. He said he was pleased with the turnout and the political dialogue between the speakers and the audience.

“The playing field in this country is tilted toward the corporation, and what we’re trying to do is level that playing field by giving them privileges not rights,” Tiffany said.

The Tompkins County Sheriff’s Office and Ithaca College are investigating the larceny of medication from the Hammond Health Center at the end of last semester.

Terri Stewart, director of Public Safety and Emergency Management, said Public Safety is looking into the larceny, with the Tompkins County Sheriff’s Office. The New York State Department of Health is taking the lead in the criminal investigation because the theft involves medication. In addition, the college is conducting an audit of the Health Center to ensure that the proper protocols were followed.

On Dec. 19, Rory Rothman, senior associate vice president for student affairs and campus life, issued an Intercom announcement to inform the campus of the theft.

Dave Maley, associate director of media relations, said the college would not release the date of the larceny, the type or the amount of medications taken.

“Part of the investigation seeks to determine the answers to some of these questions and part of the investigation can’t disclose some of the information because it might lead to compromising the investigation itself,” Maley said.

When asked if there were any leads in the case, Stewart said she was unable to comment on the ongoing investigation. However, she said the larceny didn’t pose a threat to the campus.

“There was no indication that the larceny of the prescription medications has made any threats to members of the campus community,” Stewart said.

The Tompkins County Sheriff’s Office could not be reached to comment on the case.

Anonymous donation funds new investment course

by Michael tkaczeveski staff writer

The Business School is offering a new course in the investment track that provides students with the opportunity to invest money in hedge funds.

The new course, which began this semester, will teach students how to operate a hedge fund by compiling market research and investing in real stocks. The students have $100,000 to invest as they see fit, thanks to a donation from an anonymous alumnus. Any profits or losses will only affect the fund, protecting the students from having to reimburse Ithaca College, Mary Ellen Zuckerman, dean of the School of Business, said.

A hedge fund is a type of private investment fund that has diverse assets overseen by an investment manager who typically invests his own money into the fund, senior Omar Zafar, who is taking Hedge Fund I, said.

The class gives students a look into the world of finance by offering them access to real money and professional software, Zuckerman said. The college also provides students with real time stock tickers and Bloomberg terminals, which display market data and trends, in the Trading Room inside the School of Business.

“Most undergraduate business schools don’t have this course,” Zuckerman said.

One of the prerequisites for the Hedge Fund course is Real Time Portfolio Management, in which students manage a mutual fund. Last

year, the students had $130,000 to invest. The class made students familiar with investing real money, even before taking Hedge Fund I, senior Mark Rudovic, another student currently taking the course, said.

“We had about $130,000 when we came into [Real Time Portfolio Management] in August 2012, and we left off close to $140,000,” Rudovic said. “So managing money is nothing new to us. What’s interesting is learning the techniques of a hedge fund.”

Hedge funds are more complex than mutual funds and allow students to use new strategies they didn’t explore in Real Time Portfolio Management, Zafar said.

“The Hedge Fund course interested me because we can do different practices, where we can do shorter stocks, we can do different types of strategies other than just investing in loan-only equities,” Zafar said. “[Hedge funds] can use weird investing strategies that we’re not too familiar with when compared to Real Time Portfolio Management, which is structured as a mutual fund.”

The course has been developing for more than a year, Zuckerman said, ever since the Investment Advisory Board knew they would be receiving a donation of $100,000 from an anonymous alumnus that would help fund the Hedge Fund course. The Investment Advisory Board is composed of alumni who advise investment courses, some business and finance faculty, Associate Dean Barbara Howard and Zuckerman.

Bob Andolina, a senior lecturer at Cornell

Mary Ellen Zuckerman, dean of the School of Business, said the anonymous donation is being used to fund a new course dedicated to teaching students how to actively use hedge funds,

Ritza Francois/The ithacan

University, is currently teaching the Hedge Fund course at the college. Andolina spent 19 years in the equities industry and worked for Lehman Brothers from 2000 to 2005. His class feels like an office environment instead of just a lecture hall, Rudovic said.

“It’s a reflection of how much people enjoy learning about this stuff and how much Professor Andolina has opened up our minds and helped us think through investing

and finance in general,” Rudovic said.

Rudovic and Zafar both strongly recommend business and economics majors to take the Hedge Fund course.

“I think everybody in my class could tell you if everybody was right, everybody would be rich. If there was one structured way to invest money, everybody would be rich, but that’s not the case,” Rudovic said. “It’s an art, not a science.”

Th ursday, January 24, 2013

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College mourns loss of retired economics professor BY sabrina knight

Though their teams are rivals, Sullivan said, they both genuinely enjoyed the sport and were able The Ithaca College community was to get over their differences.

“He always was very respectful of the saddened by the unexpected loss of Frank Musgrave, a retired economics professor, very profound differences that we had,” on Jan. 2. Musgrave, 80, died four days after Sullivan said.

In addition to being dedicated to his stubeing diagnosed with pneumonia, his wife dents and friendships with his colleagues, Eva May Musgrave said.

Musgrave was born in Newark, New Jersey Musgrave was involved in other organizations in 1934 and grew up in Point Pleasant Beach, on and off campus. He established a chapter New Jersey. He graduated from Muhlenberg of Students for Free Enterprise at the college and was the director of the Southern Tier College and Rutgers University.

Musgrave joined Ithaca College as an eco- Center for Economic Education from 1999 to nomics professor in 1968. He was the chair of 2001. He was also on the Board of Directors the economics department in the School of of the New York State Council on Economic Humanities and Sciences from 1977 to 2001. Education and on the board at the Cayuga After 42 years of working in the economics Medical Center.

Musgrave was chosen to participate in a department, Musgrave retired in May 2011.

Musgrave’s colleagues said he enjoyed Roundtable in Oxford, England, multiple times, conversations with his peers, especially if and conducted research at the University of his or her opinions were different than his London during his sabbatical for one semester own. William Kolberg, associate professor once every seven years. He also was published and chair of the economics department, said in notable economic publications, such as The Musgrave was respectful to those who dis- American Economist.

After Musgrave retired, he focused his attenagreed with him.

Kolberg also said many people spoke to tion on two things: the bed-and-breakfast, called The Edge of Thyme, that him about Musgrave’s he and his wife, Eva May, qualities at the funeral. owned in Candor, N.Y., “Numerous individ“He loved his students, he and continuing publish uals came up to me, for material on economics. example, at the funeral loved his family. He just At The Edge of and at the viewing and really loved everybody.”

Thyme, Musgrave spent since then, saying they — EVA MAY MUSGRAVE a lot of time with the always prefaced what visitors, greeting them they said with ‘I always and telling jokes, Eva disagreed with Frank strongly, but at the same time I miss him and May said.

She said she has a collection of notes that I miss the interaction we had’,” Kolberg said.

“That’s something I would really like to see re- students gave Musgrave after their graduation and his retirement throughout his career. membered as Frank’s legacy.”

One of the letters, written in 2008, said, Bob Sullivan, director of the honors program, knew Musgrave because their offices were on “I do not even know where to start really. It the same floor in Muller Center. The two were seems like I’ve known you forever. I cannot known for their baseball rivalry. While Musgrave thank you enough for everything you have was a Yankees fan, Sullivan was a Red Sox fan. done for me for the past four years, and you’ve ASSISTANT NEWS EDITOR

Retired economics professor Frank Musgrave stands at his last commencement ceremony in May 2010. Musgrave passed away Jan. 2, four days after he was diagnosed with pneumonia. courtesy of scott musgrave

guided me, and your guidance is truly a lifelong gift, something I will take with me as I transition through the different stages of life.”

Trip Wolf ’77 was an economics major who became very close to Musgrave because he took many of his classes and co-wrote a paper with him.

Wolf said Musgrave reached out and made personal connections with him over the years.

“I thought he was the greatest professor, and all these years later he still stands out,” Wolf said.

Musgrave developed strong relationships

with his students and he also had a strong relationship with his wife for 52 years. She said she spent a lot of time with her husband and loved him deeply. After his death, she said she has many stories and memorabilia to share.

Eva May said her favorite memory of her husband was of their wedding day.

She also said Musgrave was an inspirational figure to his friends, colleagues, students and family. She said his humor stood out in all aspects of his life.

“He loved life,” Eva May said. “He loved his students, he loved his family. He just really loved everybody.”

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The I th a c a n 7

Students develop new textbook site

by Noreyana Fernando Assistant News Editor

As students seek out affordable textbooks for spring semester classes, Alec Mitchell ’12 and senior Zach Gilson have cofounded the website IthacaBookTrade.com. Already used by about 300 students, the website went live in December and is a platform for students at Ithaca College to sell and buy textbooks without a middleman to take a part of the cut. Although it is not affiliated with the college, the website works MITCHELL said with the Communication the site provides Management and Design students with Student Association at cheaper options. the college.

Assistant News Editor Noreyana Fernando spoke to Mitchell about the motivation behind the website and their future plans.

Noreyana Fernando: How did the idea for IthacaBookTrade.com come about?

Alec Mitchell: The initial concept of this website started a couple of years ago. A bunch of buddies of mine and myself were talking about how ineffective and unfair the book buyback system is. It is very evident that this is true and how expensive books are in general. Through a class, I had to design a poster for a company, so I fictitiously created the idea to start a company where you could buy and trade books among each other, Craigslist style, nothing too innovative, just concentrating just on books and nothing else, and about a year ago, I got talking with Zach Gilson about it, and he said he had the abilities to create a website.

NF: Why should students use the site?

AM: The incentive that this website gives is that it is 100 percent free. You are not shipping your books anywhere. You are doing it all yourself,

which is actually one of the small drawbacks of the website, that you have to do some of the work yourself.

NF: How did you come up with the concept?

AM: Personal frustrations with how much value you lose after you buy a textbook and you go to sell back at the end of the semester. It's readily known that a textbook purchased at the beginning of a semester only fetches between 10 and 25 percent of its original value back at the end of the semester. On top of the cost of college and student loans, this frustration with the textbook system is being felt across the country.

NF: Is the website progressing like you hoped it would?

AM: We ideally would like to have more books posted. We believe it’s kind of an exponential curve. So, say if there are 200 to 300 books posted on the website, it’s difficult for many people to make connections. Once you start getting 500 books, 750 books, 1,000 books, then people can readily start making more and more connections.

NF: What changes do you intend on making?

AM: We are going to try and refine it and make it much easier for the user to login to create an account and just really make it as quick, easy and painless as possible for them.

NF: What can we hope to see in the future?

AM: What we are trying to do is make this website as perfect as we can with the time given and make it an easy interface that can be used not only by IC, but by Cornell and any other institution in the country.

We ideally want to perfect the model and have the website to a stage where it can easily be transferred. You can make Cornell Book Trade, Ithaca Book Trade, Yale Book Trade and go on to any school in the country.

Watch a video about the first-year MLK scholars at theithacan.org/29292.

Learning from the past

Freshman Sean Themea spoke at the First-Year MLK Scholar Civil Rights Presentation on Monday in Emerson Suites. He discussed how the Civil Rights trip he took last semester was an important educational opportunity, and he said it was an inspiring adventure.

emily fedor/The Ithacan

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The I th a c a n 9

College & City Courthouse renovations to commence next month

­The Old Courthouse of Tompkins County, located on East Court Street in Ithaca, will be undergoing renovations beginning in February.

In October, the county approved measures to renovate the historic Old Courthouse to become the new home of county legislature chambers and offices.

The legislature unanimously voted to award construction contracts for the County Legislature Relocation Project on Jan. 15.

McPherson Builders, Inc. of Ithaca was awarded the general contract for its bid of $298,721.

Climate Control Technologies, Inc. was awarded the mechanical contract for its bid of $53,280.

College selects director for new advising center

Ithaca College has appointed Sally Neal, director of the ACE IT Center at Western Wyoming Community College, as the director for the new academic advising center. She will begin Feb. 4.

In 2009, Neal was elected the Dean’s Designee in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at the University of Connecticut. She also received the Advisor of the Year award in 2008.

The four finalists for the position addressed the campus community last month. The candidates were selected by a search committee headed by Margaret Arnold, special assistant in the office of the provost and educational affairs. Neal will report to the associate provost, Carol

Henderson. She will oversee the Office of State Grants, Academic Enrichment Services and Student Disability Services.

The new centralized advising system will be implemented in Fall 2013. The center will serve as a supplement to traditional advising and will also specialize in providing students with guidance about the new Integrative Core Curriculum.

Ithaca professor lauded at athletic convention

Kent Scriber, ’72, professor of exercise and sport sciences, has been named the inaugural corecipient of the Kent Scriber Recognition Award.

The award was named after Scriber for the first time this year.

The naming honor was bestowed to recognize Scriber’s long-term contributions to the athletic SCRIBER training profession as an educator and volunteer. The award recognizes groups and individuals who positively reflect the goals and missions of the profession of athletic training in New York.

The second recipient of the award was E. James Swenson, a sports medicine physician at the Medical Center of the University of Rochester. The Kent Scriber Award was given Jan. 4 at the annual convention of the Eastern Athletic Trainer’s Association.

Scriber, graduated with a degree in physical therapy. He went on to earn a master’s in health

education from SUNY-Cortland and a doctorate in physical education and exercise physiology from Syracuse University.

CU fosters sustainability in Central American city

Following months of research, 50 Cornell University students are creating an affordable and sustainable model house in Nagarote, Nicaragua.

The house is being built as a part of the Sustainable Neighborhoods Nicaragua project.

Over the winter break, 25 sustainable design students worked in Nagarote. The house is expected to be completed by mid-February.

Nagarote was chosen because of its demonstrated commitment to sustainability and proximity to the capital city Managua, according to project leader, junior Kai Keane.

Students involved in the SNN project raised more than $25,000.

Professionalism seminar to take place this spring

The Office of Human Resources has announced plans to begin a certificate program, called Engaging Professionals at Ithaca College later this spring.

EPIC is a competency-based program for roughly 20 administrative office professionals. It consists of eight two-hour sessions that will occur weekly between Feb. 27 and April 17.

The program is intended to provide engaging opportunities to expand core business knowledge and the development of critical professional skills.

Topics covered will include

Public Safety Incident Log December 21 Suspicious letter/email LOCATION: Peggy Ryan Williams Center SUMMARY: Officer reported a person made a suspicious phone call and sent a suspicious email. Investigation pending.

Sergeant Investigator Tom Dunn.

CRIMINAL MISCHIEF Location: L-Lot Summary: Caller reported an unknown person who damaged a stop sign. Investigation pending. Master Patrol Officer Donald Lyke.

BURGLARY LOCATION: Landon Hall SUMMARY: Caller reported a person stole a computer. Investigation pending. Master Patrol Officer Christopher Teribury.

December 24

the people were not affiliated with the college. Two persons were restricted from the campus. Patrol Officer Mark DeNicola.

DECEMBER 29 MVA/PROPERTY DAMAGE LOCATION: Circle Lot 2 SUMMARY: Officer reported a one-car MVA. A report was taken. Master Patrol Officer Bruce Holmstock.

january 2 Medical assist/injury related LOCATION: P-Lot SUMMARY: A caller reported falling on an icy sidewalk and injuring a knee. The caller declined any medical assistance.

Patrol Officer Robert Johnson.

January 3

Fire alarm LOCATION: Circle Apartments SUMMARY: Simplex reported a carbon monoxide detector activation. The IFD found no readings. Cause not determined.

Fire alarm accidental LOCATION: Whalen Center for Music SUMMARY: Simplex reported a fire alarm.

The alarm was caused by custodians on site. The system was reset. Patrol Officer Jay Vanvolkinburg.

DECEMBER 27

JANUARY 8

ACCIDENTAL PROPERTY DAMAGE LOCATION: Circle Apartments SUMMARY: Officer reported high winds damaged the siding of a building. Master Patrol Officer Bruce Holmstock.

mva/PROPERTY DAMAGE LOCATION: Alumni Circle SUMMARY: Officer reported a two-car MVA. Report was taken. Patrol Officer Bruce Thomas.

december 28

MEDICAL ASSIST/INJURY RELATED LOCATION: Lower Quad SUMMARY: Caller reported a person who sustained injury from falling icicles.

Person was transported to CMC by ambulance. Patrol Officer Bruce Thomas.

A SUSPICIOUS CIRCUMSTANCE LOCATION: Substation Road SUMMARY: Caller reported a vehicle stuck in a ditch in need of towing. Officer found

selected entries from Dec. 21 to JAN. 11 january 9

Mva/PROPERTY DAMAGE LOCATION: Substation Road SUMMARY: Officer reported a one-car MVA. Report was taken. Patrol Officer Bruce Thomas.

Mva/PROPERTY DAMAGE LOCATION: Circle Lot 4 SUMMARY: Caller reported a backhoe damaged a bicycle while removing snow.

Report taken. Patrol Officer Robert Jones.

january 11 FIRE ALARM ACCIDENTAL LOCATION: Park Communications bldg.

SUMMARY: Simplex reported a fire alarm.

The activation of the alarm was caused by an electrician. System reset. Fire and Building Safety Coordinator Ron Clark.

SUSPICIOUS CIRCUMSTANCE LOCATION: All other SUMMARY: Officer reported a person who posted mental health concerns and possible suicidal thoughts on a blog. Investigation pending. Sergeant Investigator Tom Dunn.

For the complete safety log, go to www.theithacan.org/news.

Key CMC - Cayuga Medical Center DWI – Driving While Intoxicated IFD – Ithaca Fire Department MVA - Motor Vehicle Accident IPD - Ithaca Police Department TCSO - Tompkins County Sheriff’s Office

writing, communication, service excellence, interpersonal skills, time management and performance and goal setting.

Visit www.ithaca.edu/hr/development/epic to apply.

Acclaimed global writers to visit for annual series

Ithaca College has announced three distinguished visiting writers for the spring semester.

The writers include Chilean poet and filmmaker Cecilia Vicuña, American cultural critic and poet Wayne Koestenbaum and NigerianAmerican author Teju Cole.

Vicuña has authored 20 books of poetry. She also coedited The Oxford Book of Latin American Poetry. She will hold a public reading at 7:30 p.m March 19 in Klingenstein Lounge.

Koestenbaum has published 15 books of essays, criticism and poetry. He has been nominated for a National Book Critics Circle Award. Koestenbaum will conduct a public reading at 7:30 p.m. March 28 in Klingenstein Lounge.

Cole’s novel “Open City” has been named one of the best books of 2011

by Time Magazine, the New Yorker, Newsweek, the Atlantic and the New York Times. He will host a public reading at 6 p.m. April 11 in the Handwerker Gallery.

Senior musical cabaret to fund Indian victims

Ithaca College’s graduating class of musical theater and acting majors will host an afternoon of music to benefit residents of the Indian

Sakhi Shelter for victims of domestic violence in Kerala. The event will take place at 4 p.m Sunday in Clark Theatre. It is a part of the Wheels for Women project, which was created

by Kathleen Mulligan, an assistant professor of theatre arts, and her husband David Studwell after their visit to Kerala. The project is currently in its second year.

Funds raised from the cabaret and raffle will be used to train and license residents in auto rickshaw driving, providing them with a path to financial independence.

The project has purchased two brand new auto rickshaws for the shelter and has trained six residents as rickshaw drivers.

Diversity group begins talking circle on campus

Ithaca College has invited faculty, staff and students to apply to join a weekly race and racism talking circle organized by the college’s Diversity Awareness Committee.

There will be two talking circles, one for faculty and staff and a separate group for students.

Each talking circle will be facilitated by professionals from the Multicultural Resource Center and will consist of 20 racially and ethnically diverse people.

The faculty and staff talking circle will meet at noon on Wednesdays, between Feb. 6 and March 6 in the Campus Center. The student talking circle will meet from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m Tuesdays between Feb. 5 and March 5.

Applications are available at www. ithaca.edu/dac.

Opinion

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editorials

new definition of greatness

As marriage equality gains support, the academic community should stand up to be a part of the next major landmark for civil liberties in America.

E

arlier this week, President Barack Obama become the first U.S. president to say the word “gay” in an inaugural address. In doing so, he solidified his role as the most powerful Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender ally in the country.

Obama’s historic speech during his second presidential inauguration added LGBT rights to the typical demand for racial and gender equality under the law.

The speech came as the Supreme Court is poised to hear two cases that could result in the legalization of gay marriage as early as June. A 2012 poll of the American public by CBS News found 51 percent of Americans think same-sex marriage should be legal, with 72 percent of people ages 18 to 29 supporting gay marriage. Currently nine states and the District of Columbia allow same-sex couples to wed. Public opinion isn’t what it used to be.

While Obama seems the front-running politician in the battle for LGBT rights, this issue does not need to fall victim to partisan politics. Republicans, still recovering from the hit of losing the presidential election, should reevaluate the ideas of its younger base and adapt its platform to include the values of all families. It’s time for America’s lawmakers to grant Americans the rights they deserve.

The early 20th century will forever lay claim to the women’s rights movement. The ’60s will always be the era that outlawed racial discrimination and offered black men the vote. It’s time to take a stand and make this decade count. LGBT rights are no longer a back burner issue, and the next major milestone in the history of American civil rights may be approaching — and college campuses should lead the way.

Academic activism has been a cornerstone of American civil rights since Southern students sat at lunchrooms to protest Jim Crow laws, Berkeley students rioted to stop the Vietnam War and Oberlin College became the first college to admit women.

This is our time, and this is our movement. The youth generation must establish itself as a political force and define the issues it will be remembered for.

power shopping Consumers must pay more attention to the social and political implications of their investments in corporations.

comment online.

Now you can be heard in print or on the Web. Write a letter to the editor at ithacan@ithaca.edu or comment on any story at theithacan.org.

Letters must be 250 words or less, emailed or dropped off by 5 p.m. Monday in Park 269.

From the blogs Slashed NASA budget may halt next major step for mankind

L

ast week, Ithaca residents gathered to voice their concerns about the 2010 Supreme Court case Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission that legalized unlimited corporate political spending.

The protesters argued that the ability to donate unlimited amounts of money to political organizations grants corporations an unjust amount of influence over political candidates. While corporations should not be considered people, the people who make up corporations should be allowed to use the company’s funds as they see fit. The government should not have the power to regulate the political spending of business owners, but should instead enforce financial transparency that will allow consumers and voters to make informed decisions.

Consumers have the right to invest in corporations that reflect their political ideologies just as they have the right to boycott corporations that don’t. American consumers must be more aware of their investments and mindful of the social and political implications of their purchases.

Science center Amanda Hutchinson stirs up the latest news from the labs

@ahutch411

The Ithacan Kelsey o’Connor editor in chief Sara Webb Managing editor shea O’Meara opinion Editor Tinamarie craven news Editor noreyana fernando assistant news editor sabrina knight assistant news editor kacey deamer online editor jackie Eisenberg accent editor

Despite budget cuts from the U.S. government, NASA and its work in space research are the keys to our future.

For the 2012 fiscal year, the space administration was allotted $17.8 billion in government funding, which is $648 million less than the previous year. This budget cut was largely because of the unstable state of the economy, as the House of Representatives originally proposed a $1 billion cut from 2011.

NASA’s new rover, Curiosity, has been collecting information on the Martian landscape since its landing in August. Its precursor, Opportunity, will celebrate the 10th anniversary of its launch this week, an impressive feat considering the rover’s initial tour was slated for three months.

Curiosity, Opportunity and other missions were pioneered by NASA to search for evidence of past life on Mars. Evidence of water has been pinpointed in clay deposits and other minerals that form in the presence of water.

269 Roy H. Park Hall, Ithaca College Ithaca, N.Y. 14850-7258 (607) 274-3208 | Fax (607) 274-1376

rose vardell assistant accent editor Taylor Palmer Sports editor emily hull assistant sports editor Rachel Woolf photo editor Durst Breneiser photo editor emily fedor assistant photo editor jaclyn cataldi Multimedia editor matthew dezii chief copy editor

Should these predictions be verified and life found on Mars, it would give scientists a way to investigate how life originated on Earth.

On Jan. 7, the Kepler telescope mission announced the discovery of 461 planet candidates between 2009 and 2011. Citizen scanning of the Kepler data, performed by Yale University’s Planet Hunters project, found 42 more last week, including 15 that may be in habitable zones.

These zones are characterized by a temperature just right for liquid water to exist, a crucial condition for life.

With Russia planning on another lunar probe and the U.S. looking into an Asteroid Impact and Deflection Assessment program to target the asteroid Didymos, space exploration will continue to fascinate and provide us with invaluable information. Funding issues will continue to be a concern, between the economy and more down-to-Earth programming that need government assistance.

Continuing the support will enable both scientists and the common people to understand ourselves and life around us.

ithacan@ithaca.edu www.theithacan.org

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Single Copies of the ithacan are available free of charge from authorized distribution points on the Ithaca College campus and in the ithaca community.

Multiple copies and mail subscriptions are available from the office of The Ithacan. Please call for rates.

Opi n ion

Th ursday, January 24, 2013

The Ith a c a n 1 1

Point/counterpoint

The right to bear arms We should change gun culture before taking rights away

H

orrendous crimes like the Sandy Hook shootings did not occur because of guns. Who is really to blame for these occurrences, the tool or the operator? Guns were merely the vehicle by which these criminals chose to act.

If someone is intent on committing such a crime, they can find a way to do it that does not involve Grace guns. Crimes Demerath such as the ones we have recently witnessed should make us question the lack of education and respect for firearms, rather than make rash decisions limiting our Second Amendment rights.

As times have changed, so has the average American’s exposure to firearms. Many Americans allow their children to play video games in which they are encouraged to shoot at other people with assault weapons for fun. Yet many of these same people believe that these weapons should be banned from our country. If we really expect people to respect firearms, why do we allow such young children to take gun control, if even with an “imaginary” weapon, so lightly?

Most of the people pushing for harsher gun control laws have never had substantial exposure to guns. Have any of us seen President Barack Obama ever handle a gun or even speak about his personal experience with handling guns? There is a huge difference in opinion between those who have been exposed to guns and those who have not.

Those who have not been properly educated on gun control do not understand the procedures that responsible gun owners use to ensure safety and therefore do not understand just how safe

someone can be with a firearm.

In Switzerland, the government gives every man an assault rifle to keep in his home, and they are all trained on how to properly use and maintain their weapon. Switzerland has almost nonexistent crime rates.

How can we say that these weapons will cause more crime when another country has already demonstrated that, with proper education, the opposite is true?

Criminals do not follow laws.

If they did, then they would not be criminals. Passing laws to make it more difficult to legally buy a gun will not solve anything. Washington, D.C., has some of the strictest guns laws in the nation. High capacity magazines, considered to be able to hold over 10 rounds in Washington, D.C., are already outlawed there. As David Gregory showed on “Meet the Press” when he waved around a 30-round magazine, in Washington, D.C., people here can still have access to these things.

By passing harsh gun control laws, we are virtually letting the “bad guys” win. How do we expect to defend ourselves against a gunman if we, as law-abiding citizens, are denied the rights given to us by the Second Amendment? The best way to protect ourselves from these sorts of crimes is to ensure that responsible citizens can own weapons.

The passage of strict gun control laws is not only an infringement on every American’s constitutional rights, but also poses a serious national and international security issue. We have to remember, firearms are inanimate objects. They are by no means responsible for these crimes. Obama has recently said, “If gun control saves one child, it’s worth it.” We can save a lot more innocent people than just one child, and President Obama’s plan is not the way to do that.

Grace Demerath is a sophomore music education major and member of IC Republicans. Email her at gdemera1@ithaca.edu.

Comprehensive regulations will help save American lives

N

o amount of gun control legislation enacted in the past decade would have prevented the shootings in Newtown that ended in the deaths of 28 people. This was an anomalous tragedy involving a very disturbed man.

Using recent violence as a typical case in favor of gun control isn’t helpful for the cause, Stephen except for burke its use as a dramatic focal point for fostering public relations.

The shootings at Virginia Tech in 2007 aren’t a justification for gun control laws, nor are the shootings at Fort Hood, Columbine or anywhere else.

Nothing short of a complete and retroactive ban on all forms of firearms would have prevented these shootings. We can, and should, discuss the culture of violence that pervades our society, but no piece of gun control legislation that has passed through Congress in our lifetimes would have changed that.

Using these tragic incidents as a case for gun control legislation isn’t helpful because it allows gun advocates to frame the debate exactly how they want to see it. If we only talk about gun control in terms of big, dramatic shootings, they can point out that the shooters in these cases would have found other ways to kill and that the debate should be focusing on mental health issues instead of guns.

Why do we have relatively little gun control in the first case? Part of it certainly has to do with money. Gun companies give a lot of money to lobbying groups and are deeply connected to the National Rifle Association, a group ostensibly

representing gun owners. The $17.4 million spent in the 2012 elections by the NRA on behalf of these gun companies certainly affects our politicians’ decisionmaking skills on the subject.

More than just the money, advocates of gun control have lost the PR battle in this debate.

The NRA and other supporters of so-called “gun-rights” have successfully framed the discussion by comparing guns to other items that are potentially deadly. They frequently point out that if we limit the purchase of guns, what’s next? Knife control? Background checks for cigarettes? A waiting period for high-cholesterol foods?

Guns are designed to kill, and that’s it, whereas the multitude of other potential uses for knives is obvious. The freedom involved in purchasing a gun is the freedom to kill, and in so many other aspects of our society that is a freedom we are not comfortable giving out. Unfortunately for those of us in favor of a certain amount of gun control, we don’t have anything to compare guns with to make them seem particularly deadly.

So why bother with background checks, waiting periods, bans on high-capacity magazines? Because each of these measures has the chance to save lives. They might not bring our firearm-related murder rate down, they might not prevent mass shootings, but as far as I’m concerned, if they can stop the sale of a gun that would end up killing a single person, they will be effective. The lives of the people killed by firearms are more important than any individual’s right to own an assault rifle, and that is how we need to frame this debate.

Stephen Burke is a senior television-radio major and politics minor.

Email him at sburke4@ithaca.edu.

All opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect those of The Ithacan. To write a guest commentary, contact Opinion Editor Shea O’Meara at 274-3208.

Checks & Balances

rachael Hartford

No good deals with Sandy aid

E

ven before it ignored the Hurricane Sandy Aid Bill and headed home for the December holidays, the 112th Congress was the most ineffective session in history.

After scrapping a vote on the larger $60 billion Sandy aid package earlier this month, House Speaker John Boehner was excoriated into holding a vote in this new session of Congress just days later by representatives from his own party, namely Chris Christie (R-NJ) and Peter King (R-NY).

But it looks like we shouldn’t expect too much more from the 113th session. Disaster relief, normally a cut-and-dried issue, became yet another game of political football.

Political polarization in Washington has made it impossible for our representatives to vote on an issue as seemingly simple as this.

Disaster relief normally receives wide bipartisan support and is dealt with, believe it or not, as if time were of the essence.

It has taken Congress nearly three months to approve emergency relief funds for victims of Sandy, a storm that resulted in nearly $50 billion worth of damages, destroyed more than 300,000 homes, caused 125 deaths and left millions without heat or power. People were outraged when it took a whole 10 days to provide more than $50 billion for victims of Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

The House has finally voted on both of the bills needed to provide the New York, New Jersey and Connecticut areas with flood reimbursement and other aid.

That’s right, two bills. They even managed to split the legislation into two parts in the name of it having “too much pork,” according to representatives like Paul Ryan. This “pork” refers to pork barrel legislation, the appropriation of government funds for local projects that primarily benefit a representative’s home district.

On Jan. 4, thew $9.7 billion bill cleared both houses to provide funds to the National Flood Insurance Program. On Jan. 15, the additional $50.5 billion was passed by the House as emergency disaster relief. If passed by the Senate next week, this money will help activities like debris cleanup, replenishing stocks at food banks and giving low-interest loans to business and homeowners.

Funds will also help repair public transportation systems.

While many agree spending does need to be matched with cuts, House Republicans should not use an already-neglected natural disaster as leverage. We cannot reduce the deficit at the expense of innocent victims who have been waiting for months.

Rachael HartforD is a senior integrated marketing communications major with a minor in politics. Email her at rhartfo1@ithaca.edu.

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a ccen t

The I th a c a n 1 3

Homeward bound Tompkins County SPCA takes in dogs from across the country to avoid kill shelters

Above: Tucker eagerly waits for his meal at the SPCA of Tompkins County on Jan. 19.

Right: SPCA staff member Katie Deis, of Lansing, cuddles with Darla at the SPCA on Jan. 19.

Rachel Woolf/The Ithacan

Harmon, Best Friends Animal Society Rescue As visitors walk by the Society for the Prevention of and Shelter Coordinator Cruelty to Animals of Tompkins County, Scraps, a skinny in LA, said. “We have brown Chihuahua mix, presses his nose against the small found that in the Northround opening in the window of his room, eyeing prospec- east and Northwest tive adopters with curiosity. Some people kneel down to say part of the country, “Hello,” but many glance at the red adoption-pending sign there are shelters like on his door and walk on, giving their attention to other dogs Tompkins County who don’t get in very many who, like Scraps, have traveled across the country to avoid small dogs.”

Volunteers for the SPCA of Tompkins County such as Liz euthanization and find a family.

The SPCA of Tompkins County typically opens its doors Constable welcomed the arrival of the dogs. Constable said to unwanted animals in the local community, but lately the she was relieved when she saw the first two dogs leave with animal shelter’s admittance has extended to include dogs a family.

“All of these dogs would have been euthanized, and every from all across the country. On Jan. 13, staff members and volunteers of the animal shelter welcomed 20 dogs from one of them is so sweet,” Constable said.

Constable has volunteered at the SPCA for more than a Los Angeles who were scheduled for euthanasia in their year and witnessed the adoption of dogs from dog transfers in original shelters.

The local SPCA collaborated with American Airlines and the past. This is the third dog transfer the SPCA of Tompkins Best Friends Animal Society, a Utah-based group that aims to County has been able to organize since its first in August.

“We’ve saved a total of 60 dogs since we started working spread its No More Homeless Pets agenda. They contact nokill shelters to organize a transfer of dogs from overcrowded with [Best Friends Animal Society],” Jim Bouderau, executive director of the SPCA of Tompkins County, said. shelters to establishments that have the room.

Best Friends Animal Society reached out to the SPCA “We also need to work with shelters that are reputable, no-kill and have the same principles as Best Friends,” Robin of Tompkins County for the first exchange, but when Bouderau noticed fewer dogs in the shelter, he contacted the group to inquire about another possible transfer.

“We had so few dogs,” Bouderau said. “We only had about four dogs about a week and a half ago.”

Within the week, the Best Friends Animal Society office in LA was able to set up a transfer of 20 dogs. The SPCA of Tompkins County asked for specific criteria for the dogs in response to the popular inquiries from prospective adopting families.

“The most phone calls we get are for small dogs and young dogs,” Bouderau said. “So we select a criteria that is under 25 pounds and under three years of age, specifically.”

The shelter received Chihuahuas mostly, because of a high population of the dogs in the overpopulated shelters in LA. The rest of the dogs were what Best Friends Animal Society refers to A vehicle transports dogs from JFK International Airport in New York City to as “fluffies,” or small, furry dogs, such as terriers and poodles. the Tompkins County SPCA in Ithaca. They arrived from Los Angeles.

The dogs’ flight took off at 11 a.m.

Courtesy of SPCA of Tompkins County

By Rose Vardell

Assistant Accent Editor

PST on Jan. 13 and arrived in New York City at 6:20 p.m., Eastern time. Bouderau was part of the group who traveled to JFK International Airport to pick up the dogs and said the arrival of the dogs in their carriers was a startling sight.

“It’s kind of crazy when you see them,” Bouderau said.

“They’re strapped to a wood pallet, so literally a forklift comes and places them on the ground. They’re treated like cargo, but they’re in a temperature-controlled, pressurized part of the cargo hold in the plane, specifically for live animals or other things that might be perishable.”

Best Friends Animal Society covers the cost of the airfare through a partnership with American Airlines. They receive a reduced rate from the airline and have managed to transfer hundreds of dogs to no-kill shelters across the country. The dogs arrived vaccinated, spayed and neutered, and the SPCA of Tompkins County was reimbursed by the organization for all travel expenses.

Harmon worked directly with Bouderau to exchange the dogs from LA to Ithaca and said she is grateful for no-kill shelters such as the SPCA of Tompkins County.

“They are giving [the dogs] a wonderful chance for new lives with loving families,” Harmon said. “It takes a lot of committed people working together to try and have a time of no more homeless pets.”

As of Wednesday, at least three dogs have found a new home in the local community, Scraps included. Staff members, such as intern Amber De Jong, were moved by the experience and are grateful the shelter could make a difference in the dogs’ lives.

“I think it’s a 70 percent kill shelter that we’re taking dogs from,” De Jong said. “We’re giving them a chance to find a home, and I think that’s beautiful.”

Bouderau said he does not anticipate a delay in the adoption of the rest of the dogs. In previous transfers, the dogs did not stay long before they were brought into their new homes.

“We’ve had people who were interested and didn’t get [a dog] because they went so quickly,” Bouderau said. “That is why we select the criteria because we’re not just helping them save lives, but we’re also fulfilling a need in our own community that exists.”

[ a cc e ntuate]

1 4 The It hacan

Th ursday, Ja n ua ry 2 4 , 2 0 1 3

pin this!

shopper

Assistant Accent Editor Rose Vardell scours Pinterest and shares her favorite pins of the week.

There’s no better time to start a knitting project than in the upcoming winter months ahead. Take cover from the cold and get cozy with a knitting craft project. To stay warm in these icy months, avid knitters can look to Pinterest for innovative new ideas.

The blog Knit hosts more than 500 pins offering knitting designs and tutorials. Sort through knitted socks, shirts, scarves, sweaters and slippers to find the perfect project.

It’s time to snuggle up with your knitting needles and stay warm by crafting winter knitwear.

She will rock you

From left, Misses Bitches band members Alyssa Duerksen and Amara Steinkraus perform in the all-female Battle of the Bands on Jan. 19 at the Haunt. Participants competed for a free full-day recording session at Pyramid Sound Studios and Angry Mom Records.

DURST BRENEISER/The Ithacan

do it yourself omg!

Assistant Accent Editor Rose Vardell digs up short and sweet projects for the everyday hobbyist With the cloudy winter season ahead, interrupt the gray color scheme with a colorful craft project to brighten your day.

This project from apartmenttherapy.com will help lift winter spirits and offers a cute, creative decoration for any room.

Materials: • Two boxes of crayons • Two 12x12 canvas squares • One blow dryer • Tacky glue Glue the crayons to the top of the canvas in the preferred color pattern. Blast the crayons with the blow dryer set on high and watch the crayons melt down the canvas in a pretty, multicolored design.

Be sure to do this over the sink to avoid ruining furniture or carpets with the clumsy splatter effect.

UNCANNY T-SHIRTS REVEAL CONCEALED jurassic JOKES

The fashion world can expect an array of new trends in the upcoming year, such as comic book inspired eye makeup or mermaid-styled swimsuits. One of the popular fashion trends features clothing with a secret image hidden in the material. T-shirts bearing questions, such as “Ask me about my T-rex,” prompt the wearer to pull the T-shirt over their head and reveal the image of the dinosaur.

The clothing is designed so the face of the T-rex fits right over the face of the person wearing the shirt.

There are also shirts featuring zombies, ninjas and even hidden mustaches. Take a break from the typical T-shirt and rock this new dino design.

— Rose Vardell

Apptastic

innovative MOVIE APP DOCUMENTs EVERYDAY LIFE

There’s a new application sweeping the charts on smart devices that offers a way to remember each day for the rest of your life. Designed by Cesar Kuriyama, “1 Second Everyday” allows its users to stitch together secondlong clips of moments in their life. The 99-cent app was launched Jan. 4 and accesses any footage in the camera of the smart device and sorts them by date. Using the featured editing tools, the user can select the day’s second and piece together a movie. Relive a year within minutes with this filmed flashback feature.

— Rose Vardell

tweetuntweet

The Second Amendment trumps all the other amendments, because it’s the one that’s packing.

— Talk show host Stephen Colbert tweets his satiric commentary on the political debates concerning gun control laws.

celebrity SCOOPS! Lawrence laughs at self “Hunger Games” actress Jennifer Lawrence poked fun at her now infamous Golden Globes acceptance speech for Best Actress in a Comedy or Musical on last week’s episode of “Saturday Night Live.”

Lawrence made fun of her misunderstood Meryl Streep-slamming-Golden Globes speech in her “SNL” monologue, in which she proclaimed that her fellow Oscar nominees should watch out. She jokingly took aim at actress Jessica Chastain and commented that “In ‘Zero Dark Thirty’ you caught bin Laden. So what? In ‘Winter’s Bone’ I caught a squirrel, and then I ate it.”

—­Benjii Maust

A CCEN T

Th ursday, January 24, 2013

The I th a c a n 1 5

Foster the farm life Student farmers journey to learn about agriculture and sustainability

By Jillian Kaplan staff writer

Junior Allison Currier woke up to the low crowing of roosters as she rose each morning at Spring Creek Farm in Elk Valley, Tenn. She would get out of bed and join a group of volunteers for a hearty breakfast of fresh farm eggs, toast and bacon.

After the meal, she began to work on the soil, weeds and water and felt the earth under her fingernails. Here, Currier was contributing her services to WWOOFing farmers under a hot June sun.

WWOOF, which stands for the World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms, is a global network of organizations that links volunteers with organic farmers. The farmers provide food, accommodations and instructions on how to engage in organic lifestyles and work on organic farms. More than 50 countries participate, including all regions of the U.S. Programs like WWOOF give participants the opportunity to learn about and practice organic farming. A minimal program fee — varying from country to country but usually under $50 — allows WWOOFers access to an online network of available farmers. WWOOFers can participate for as long as they want, usually with a minimum of two weeks on a farm.

Currier said she WWOOFed because she wanted to learn how organic farmers are keeping in business with the current agricultural scene. She said she chose Spring

Creek Farm after researching profiles on WWOOF North America’s website. She also thought the farm was accommodating because she could be around other volunteers and the host family seemed friendly.

Currier said her experiences gave her a newfound respect for farmers who don’t use machinery and run their farms on a small, family basis.

“There was one point when we were tying up tomato knobs to stakes in the ground, and that was just really repetitive, tedious work,” Currier said. “There were days that were just hot, and we were doing this repetitive planting. A lot of the work was actively, physically hard, but I knew what I was signing up for.”

Junior Ryan Bince has a different experience ahead of him in Australia.

He plans to land in Sydney on March 11 and will travel between farms until he reaches the West Coast. After taking a semester off, he said, he saw an opportunity to explore a lifestyle he has always admired.

“I’ve heard all these stories and songs about hitchhiking and trainhopping, particularly in folk music and country music,” Bince said. “There’s a big culture that surrounds it, and I really want to be involved in that.”

Bince was set to graduate a semester early but decided to delay his graduation to travel. By doing so, he said he anticipates leaving college with his friends while still experiencing an exciting and rugged journey abroad.

“I’ve always wanted to have an

On left, Junior Allison Currier poses with a group of volunteers from her WWOOFing trip at Spring Creek Farm in Elk Valley, Tenn. WWOOF is an international organization that connects volunteer farmers with agricultural work.

Courtesy of Allison Currier

adventure, and I realized that after I graduate, I will be frantically searching for a job,” Bince said. “I may never get a convenient opportunity to travel.”

Former sophomore Rita Ouimet saw WWOOFing as an opportunity to travel, so much that she withdrew from Ithaca College. Ouimet is now saving up money to drive across the country, where she will WWOOF for at least a month next spring on a small sustainable farm in California.

“I’m going to want to take my time and see the whole country,”

Ouimet said. “So [my plans are] kind of one part traveling out there and one part WWOOFing.”

Ouimet said she researched about 20 farms on the national network before making arrangements with a family whose farm is extremely efficient in energy production. She hopes to learn about more energy practices as well as vegetable harvesting.

“The [farmers] I’ve talked to live on a small scale, where you work with your hands and get really involved in the processes and how everything works on their farm,”

Ouimet said. “The place I’m going is also really off the grid, so I guess working on it comes with a lot of other sustainable practices.”

Currier encourages anyone to take the opportunity to explore what WWOOF has to offer.

“There’s so much more out there than what you think,” Currier said.

“Some people actually spend their time just getting to know other people and learning about farming, or learning about whatever they want to learn about and just living in a really free lifestyle. It’s a great exchange.”

Writing on deadline.

Reporting.

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Shooting video.

Blogging.

Copy editing.

Selling ads.

Taking pictures.

Writing reviews.

Learn to do it all at

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A CCEN T

Th ursday, January 24, 2013

The I th a c a n 1 7

Fashioning leaders Student fashion design organization makes mark on IC after two years

By Cady Lang Staff writer

In a small conference room near IC Square on Tuesday, the HiFashion Studios staff met for the first time this semester. Between family-like teasing and camaraderie, the team discussed its game plan for the upcoming semester, with senior Pedro Maldonado directing the process.

This spring will be the last time Maldonado will be in charge of Ithaca College’s runway. Maldonado has helmed HiFashion Studios, a student organization and fashion production company, since his sophomore year.

Maldonado and three other students created HiFashion Studios after their involvement with a previous student organization called Maestro Productions. Maestro Productions focused on just one runway show a year, as opposed to HiFashion Studios’ multiple semester productions that include the runway show, social events and fashion photography shoots.

“What we wanted to do was expand that and have a magazine and add other components to the show to make it bigger than what it was,” Maldonado said. “From that first organization, we broke off and we created HiFashion Studios.”

Soon they expanded to include others, clocking in at a total of eight executive board members salvaged from the remains of Maestro, officially forming HiFashion Studios in the fall semester of 2010 and producing their

first runway show in the spring semester of 2011.

Since then, the organization has expanded its horizons with departments spanning beauty, wardrobe, advertising, runway, event planning and visual.

The organization also commissions photo shoots and advertising campaigns, enabling student photographers to build portfolios, as well as boosting the experience for student models and stylists.

The organization has also garnered industry clout, with many executive board members receiving internships or work experience from fashion companies such as Vogue China, Macy’s and Red Hot PR. For senior Anissa Richmond, HiFashion Studios’ editor in chief who worked with Red Hot PR in London, her work with HiFashion Studios has given her distinction from the myriad of fashion hopefuls vying for a coveted internship.

“Being a member of HFS has really differentiated me in the professional world,” Richmond said.

“HFS has offered me the opportunity to have valuable experience in fashion ... I’ve been able to earn internships in both the fashion and entertainment industries, and I know that my first-hand experience promoting fashion shows and creating the magazine has aided me.”

Maldonado is the only one of the original four founders still involved with the organization, though Richmond still runs the

Senior Pedro Maldonado, president of HiFashion Studios, a fashion design club on campus, leads the group’s first meeting of the year Tuesday in the Cayuga Lake Room. This is Maldonado’s final semester as president.

Emily Fedor/the ithacan

magazine as editor in chief.

“I feel like we really wanted to make a production company, something that was so different on campus, and I think the fear now is whether or not it will continue after we leave,” Maldonado said. “It’s something that [Richmond] and I talk about a lot.

She still doesn’t know who would take over as editor in chief, and I’m still in the process of finding someone to take over for me [as president].”

Maldonado isn’t the only one who has slight qualms about the future of the organization. Sophomore Amy

Lindenfelzer, the organization’s creative executive, said Maldonado’s absence will be felt keenly.

“When Pedro leaves, it will definitely be different and hard because he has been the organization,” Lindenfelzer said. “However, having said that, we have created such a strong organization with hard working leaders that I believe wholeheartedly that we will make Pedro proud for years to come.”

But for now, HiFashion Studios and Maldonado are focusing on this semester — conceptualizing

the upcoming runway show this spring, advertising campaigns and fashion editorials.

“I would like to see it bigger than it already is … where everyone wants to go to the show and is talking about it,” Maldonado said. “I want people to be excited about it, for our content to be stronger, for us to stick to our artistic vision, and I see that as it is now, and I hope that it will continue to the future. I’m proud of what we’ve done and have been able to achieve. It’s creativity, and it’s all from students at IC.”

Professor’s percussion group returns from three-day tour In 1996, two students at SUNY-Stony Brook became friends through their love for contemporary classical music. Those students are Jeffery Meyer, associate professor of music and director of orchestras, and his duo partner Paul Vaillancourt. After at least 10 years of performing together, the duo, Strike, returned from its Southern college tour at Columbus State University and University of South Carolina last week.

Accent Editor Jackie Eisenberg spoke to Meyer about the tour, his music and his plans for the future.

Jackie Eisenberg: How is it performing in front of college students?

Jeffery Meyer: It’s always a blast. First of all, it’s really fun to always get back together with [Vaillancourt]. He’s a good friend of mine, and it’s fun to be on the road.

JE: So you play contemporary classical music?

JM: The pieces that we have are all influenced by various musics that are floating around.

There are pieces with elements of jazz, one piece has elements of rock and others are atmospheric and ritualistic, and it’s really very diverse. One of them actually pulls from Chinese folk music.

JE: This album you made was music from three years ago. Have you made anything new recently?

JM: No we haven’t. We’re starting to think about our next project, and I think what we’ll do is something similar to the first album. We’re currently discussing which

composers to approach to write us new pieces and then the other thing we were thinking about was to add people to our duo for this recording. So there might be a trio or a quartet, so piano percussion and cello, piano percussion and violin — so those ideas are in the works. Probably sometime in the next few years we’ll embark in that direction.

JE: Do you ever perform any of your own pieces or do you usually have people write for you?

JM: No, neither of us are composers, although I do have a degree in composition, but I haven’t written anything for about 10 years, and Paul’s not a composer, so we ask the pros to write for us.

JE: So do you use different types of [keyboard instruments], like harpsichords?

JM: No. There’s actually a piece we’re considering doing with a harpsichord, but generally it’s all sort of your standard concert grand piano. There’s a lot of work I do inside the piano, though. There are a lot of pieces that require me to stand up and strum pitches on the inside or pluck pitches on the inside or mute pitches on the inside, and there are a couple of pieces that require me to be a percussionist, so I’ll have my own set of bells, but everything is written for the concert grand.

JE: What kind of drums are used?

JM: Paul has a set of very interesting instruments, and what we did when we approached the composers for these pieces

From left, Jeffery Meyer, director of orchestras, and Paul Vaillancourt pose on a stage during a college tour for their piano-percussion band, Strike. They finished their tour Jan. 17.

Courtesy of Jeffery Meyer

is to record video of him playing all these instruments. So he has a very unique set of Chinese bells, which have very interesting characteristics — you hit them and the pitch goes down or up. So he recorded himself playing those instruments, and he’s got a bunch of different instruments like that, and so he’s able to take most of those instruments and fit them into one piece of luggage, which he is barely under the limit allowed, and put them on a plane, and usually those instruments in combination with the standard marimba and other

instruments every place would have, he has his own. It’s very compact and heavy and he always gets stopped by the TSA. JE: You have a performance coming up in Thailand. Are you excited?

JM: Yes, this summer. It would be the Ninth Annual Thailand International Composition Festival. I was featured there last year as a conductor. It’s been running almost for 10 years, and it’s certainly the biggest, most important festival in Thailand.

A ccen t

1 8 The It hacan

Th ursday, Ja n ua ry 2 4 , 2 0 1 3

Short stories offer sharp social satire

thursday

by SHEA O’MEARA OPINION EDITOR

If the creative muses of “Catch 22” author Joseph Heller and “A Clockwork Orange” author Anthony Burgess got pathetically drunk and had a one night stand, the result would be something like George Saunders’ new book “Tenth of December.” Mark Twain would make a fitting godparent.

“Tenth of December” is a collection of 10 short stories that create a timely social satire and a nearly complete “The Tenth of guide to being a decent moral December” person. In the book, Saunders George Saunders tackles the basics: love, patrioHHH tism, fear, relatives that don’t care enough and friends who care less. He attempts to drive home the flaws of the American characteristics with short words and simple characters — a tall task to say the least.

Saunders doesn’t waste time creating thick, intricate plots. For the most part, his characters are easy-to-digest silhouettes of the stories we all know.

In “Victory Lap,” a suburban daughter is abducted and then saved. Her story includes all the violence associated with modern search and rescue missions.

In “Al Roosten,” a former high school loser struggles with unyielding envy of the richest man in town.

The narratives, in their predictable simplicity, provide a base for a collective idea of what’s right and wrong. Saunders allows the reader to insert context and build personal meanings from the stick-figure characters he uses as puppets to illustrate human shortcomings. Even the characters meant to represent the moral downside of typical American life, like the jealous neighbor, have a tragic element that inspire more sympathy than disdain. Rather than encouraging his readers to hate the people who fall short of moral goodness, Saunders gives a reminder that moral flaws are human and natural.

One exception to Saunders’ trend of creating simple stories is “Escape from Spiderhead,” a futuristic story in which scientists develop drugs that produce overwhelming emotions of love, lust and despair. The narrative calls into question the ability for science to triumph human emotion and the legitimacy of love and loss. The story ends in a voluntary emotional breakdown of its main character.

Saunders managed to write a full book without

The Whipping Man, a Civil War drama set in Richmond, Va. The play will begin at 7:30 p.m. at the Kitchen Theatre Company.

Tickets cost $23.

friday

book Review

Bert Scholl and Friends, a Honky Tonk performance with country singer Bert Scholl, will take place at 9 p.m. at Booker’s Backyard. Admission is free.

Winter Village Bluegrass Festival, a concert featuring bluegrass performers, will take place at 1 p.m. and 7 p.m. at La Tourelle. Tickets cost between $25 and $30.

saturday

Winter Garden Tour is a Random House published George Saunders’ book Jan. 8. The New York Times best-selling author has contributed to The Guardian, the New Yorker and GQ. He is a professor at Syracuse University.

courtesy of RANDOM HOUSE

producing one possible plot spoiler. Nothing shocking happens and nobody is worse-off for it. The war veteran loses his temper with his dysfunctional family, a suicidal man is inspired by the opportunity to save a youngster and a neighbor acts on his jealousy of the rich former high school bully that now lives in a mansion in town. Because we’re not waiting around for something to go bump in the night, the narrative begs the reader to fill in the gaps and realize these stories act as the cultural backbone of American moral behavior.

In “Home,” war veterans gather to talk about their time in combat. One former soldier admits he accidently hit a dog with a forklift. He assures his friends the dog survived and forgave the soldier enough to ride alongside him again in the forklift. The soldier then admits he was the reason a comrade was hit with shrapnel — he again assures his friends no lasting harm had come from his accidents. His friend

responds he’s glad the wounded comrade survived and says, “Probably he even sometimes rides up alongside you in the forklift.” By calling attention to the soldier’s trivial approach to violence and forgiveness, Saunders highlights a flaw in the American mindset regarding the social treatment of people in combat. The desire to deem injured soldiers healthy when it may not be that simple is examined.

Though “Tenth of December” is a worthwhile read, Saunders fails to produce a work that will leave a new mark on the face of good satire. The book is more of the same sharp, dark humor Saunders is known for. While it shows traces of the genius inspired by writers like Heller, Twain and Burgess, this book isn’t likely to become a quick classic in an already cluttered genre.

George Saunders’ “Tenth of December” was published Jan. 8.

Eclectic folk-rock musician debuts with lyrical album

by JARED DIONNE SENIOR writer

Six months after announcing his departure from indie rock outfit Girls, Christopher Owens debuts his solo album. “Lysandre” showcases Owens’ adherence to his musical style but Christopher throws in some Owens eclectic touches.

“Lysandre” Fat Possum Owens transiRecords. tions easily to his Our rating: new role as a solo HHH artist. The album’s first full-length track, “Here We Go,” is about as close to a typical Girls song as one could get.

The only twist is a flute line that gives the song a borderline medieval feel.

Soft guitar strumming is paired with

Album Review

hot dates

The Godfather, a digital

projection of the classic mafia film, will screen at the Willard Straight Theatre at 6:45 p.m.

Tickets are $8 for general admission, $5.50 for students and $5 for graduate students.

sunday

Book and Ephemera Auction, a public sale of a catalogue of rare and antique books and artwork will begin at 10 a.m. at the National Book Auctions. The event is free.

Punk band rocks rowdy sound

by AMANDA HUTCHINSON CONTRIBUTING Writer

cascading arpeggios as Owens sings in a caressing whisper.

“Lysandre” acts as a concept album with one continuous melodic theme, aptly titled “Lysandre’s Theme,” woven throughout the record. The theme finds its way into every song and is reworked with varying instrumentation. Through this, Owens explores musical styles, such as Caribbean, garage-rock and folk music.

Without the theme, the album would seem relatively out of control given the vast array of instrumentation.

Owens’ tracks hop around between harmonica, organ, lap-steel guitar and the flute. In “New York City,” Owens incorporates a rollicking saxophone line, something that seems to have gone extinct in modern rock music.

The sax makes another appearance

Check out theithacan. org/spotify to listen to the songs featured in this week’s reviews!

guided walk through the gardens at the Nevin Welcome Center in the Botanical Gardens of Cornell Plantations. The tour will take place at 1 p.m.

Courtesy of FAT POSSUM RECORDS.

on the tropical-tinged cut “Riviera Rock.” Waves roll in and syncopated guitar strums kick the song into motion. Sax and piano pick up the album’s theme and offer a light, groovy perspective on the otherwise somber motif.

With “Lysandre,” Owens makes it easy for his fans to make the jump from Girls’ material to his new tunes. He keeps the same sentimental folk-rock feeling but puts enough of a spin on it to give listeners something interesting and refreshing.

Despite having churned out its Irish punk rock ruckus for more than 16 years, the Dropkick Murphys show no sign of slowing down. The group’s latest album revisits many themes seen in the band’s previous albums.

The first track, “The Boys Are Back,” begins the album in a marching style.

As the song Dropkick opens up, more Murphys instruments in “Signed and Sealed in the group are Blood” incorporated, Born & Bred in particular the Records. Our bagpipes to give rating: it their signaHHH ture Irish flair.

Subsequent tracks, including the titular track, “Rose Tattoo,” exhibit an almost pirate-like lilt

Album Review

inspired by the use of banjo, accordion and body percussion.

The album closes with “End of the Night,” a soft ballad that offsets the rowdiness of the album but stays true to the instrumentation and lyricism that the group is known for. It ties the album together into a package that will satiate fans and introduce new listeners to the style this Boston collective has been churning out since 1996.

Courtesy of BORN & BRED RECORDS.

quickies “ARC”

“LOVE SIGN”

Everything Everything Sony RCA

Free Energy

DFA Records

This British indie rock band has received critical acclaim after the release of their second studio album. The 13 new tracks are filled with punchy drums and electronic vibes to win new listeners and satisfy any fans of the band.

Fans of this four-member, power-pop rock band will enjoy the band’s return after a nine-month break from recording. The new 10 tracks feature fast-paced beats and catchy lyrics in a new album worth celebrating. courtesy of DFA RECORDS

courtesy oF SONY RCA

Compiled by ROSE VARDELL

A ccen t

Th ursday, January 24, 2013

The I th a c a n 1 9

Thrilling film triggers critical acclaim Historical dramatization revisits American military operation

bY JOSH GREENFIELD

]

valid friday through thursday

cinemapolis The Commons 277-6115

staff writer

Following along with this year’s tradition, as set by films such as “Argo” and “Lincoln,” of cinema inspired by history, “Zero Dark Thirty” brilliantly conveys what is arguably one of the most important “Zero Dark historical events in Thirty” the recent decades.

Columbia Pictures Easily among the Our rating: most engaging and HHH 1/2 intelligent of this year’s movies, director Kathryn Bigelow’s latest film is sure to captivate and entertain.

The plot of the film takes place over the last decade and concerns the events leading up to the death of Osama bin Laden. As the pursuit progresses, the story of FBI agent Maya (Jessica Chastain), who has spent her entire career tracking the al-Qaida leader, also unfolds. Beginning right after the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center and stretching up until the actual operation carried out by Seal Team Six, the movie includes most of the major turning points in the chase for bin Laden. At the same time as these events are unfolding, Maya continually places her entire life’s focus and ambition into tracking down bin Laden.

The cast consists of Chastain and supporting characters that come and go as her character’s central story progresses. In her role, Chastain gives a memorable performance through vivid amounts of intense focus and occasional outbursts of raw emotion. Unlike many of her previous roles, in this film, Chastain’s

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ticket stub

BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD 5 p.m., 7:05 p.m. and 9:20 p.m. everyday and 2:20 on weekends.

Film Review

RUST AND BONE 4:35 p.m., 7 p.m. and 9:20 p.m. everyday and 2 p.m. on weekends.

HYDE PARK ON HUDSON 4:45 p.m., 7:15 p.m. and 9:10 p.m. everyday and 2:30 p.m. on weekends.

The impossible 4:40 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. and 7:10 p.m. except Jan. 31, 2:15 p.m. on weekends. argo 4:30 p.m., 7:05 p.m. and 9:35 p.m. everyday and 2:05 p.m. on weekends.

FBI agent Maya (Jessica Chastain) works with the Navy SEALs to find al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden. Chastain won a Golden Globe for Best Actress and the film has been nominated for five Academy Awards, including Best Picture.

excellence stems from her ability to garner emotional reactions simply by realistically responding to the situations her character is faced with, such as the loss of a coworker or coping with the frustration of a dead end in her job to find bin Laden.

Mark Boal’s script, an Academy Award nominee this year, helps to drive the fast pace of the film, while at the same time staying consistent with believable dialogue. The entire work is devoid of any clichés that would detract from the truth in the story.

Bigelow, who won the Academy Award for her direction of “The Hurt Locker” in 2009, succeeds

Courtesy of Paramount Pictures

again in her familiar territory of military-centered films by including an almost documentary style to the production. By focusing on the true historical events and allowing for the emotion to come naturally as it would in real life, Bigelow creates a highly effective method of storytelling in both quality and in ability to be thought provoking. Her fastpaced cuts evoke a sense of urgency in the film that leaves the audience in a perpetual state of suspense, despite the fact that they will go in already knowing the ending.

Bigelow opts to boldly recreate the entire, real-time sequence of the Navy operation in which bin Laden was

killed. The highly detailed segment includes even the most minuscule moments and yet amazingly never loses any of the momentum.

The tremendous reality within all aspects of “Zero Dark Thirty” helps to make it into a gripping portrayal of an immensely important moment in recent history. With Chastain’s powerhouse leading performance, Bigelow’s driven direction and Boal’s realistic script, the film culminates as one of the best movies of the year, as well as a definite must-see.

“Zero Dark Thirty” was directed

by Kathryn Bigelow and written by Mark Boal.

Grisly gimmicks backfire in film

Acting flourishes in mob picture

By tucker kolanko contributing writer

By brian porreca Staff writer

Director Ruben Fleisher delivers action-packed drama as “Gangster Squad” soars and sells at the box office. The opening scene sets the tone of power with boxing crime lord Mickey Cohen (Sean Penn) waving his gun atop the Hollywood hills. The film revolves around Mickey trying to maintain control “Gangster over Los Angeles and the vigilanSquad” te-styled squad trying to gun his Warner Bros. power down.

Pictures Josh Brolin plays John O’Mara, Our rating: a detective determined to take HHH 1/2 down Mickey. With the help of his pregnant wife, Connie (Mireille Enos), he conjures up a squad of six men to shoot out Mickey’s operations, including the rebellious sergeant Jerry Wooters (Ryan Gosling).

Mickey is the quintessential crime figure. With cold, glass-like eyes and ferocity behind his voice, the little man with a fedora and suave suit is brilliantly captured by Penn. He has declared LA as his throne and the people resist any idea of a rebellion because it is virtually impossible. Mickey plainly wears his emotions, and the audience is fully aware when he is ready to kill.

Like any gangster movie, there is a love story between Gosling and Emma Stone’s character Grace Faraday under all the violence. Jerry puts himself in danger by vying for Grace’s attention, and she puts herself in the center of the crossfire. Besides Penn’s portrayal of Mickey, their compatibility may be the most genuine part to the film.

The costume designs throughout the film help accurately recreate the opulence of the 1940s. With a little exaggeration, each character’s clothes match their persona. The most compelling of all costumes

is that of O’Mara’s squad with trench coats, fedoras and bandanas masking their identity. When they crash Mickey’s club and take over his territory, suits and bow ties are deemed the appropriate apparel.

This scene also demonstrates the power of quick cuts throughout the film. The fast, frequent cuts help exaggerate the battle between Mickey and O’Mara’s squad. Fleisher also uses this exciting effect in a scene in LA’s Chinatown after Mickey figures out the identities of the squad members and sets up the detectives in a brutal gun war.

With sincere chemistry between the characters and raw, riveting action, this film stands out from other mob movies and delivers the drama through characters with true motive to save the day.

Guillermo del Toro certainly isn’t afraid to break horror genre trends. The director is the executive producer of the horror film, “Mama.”

Like 2010’s “Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark,” which del Toro also produced and co-wrote, “Mama” has unusual ideas. Unfortunately, also like his previous film, the quality is inconsistent.

In a cast of unknowns, Jessica Chastain stands out. She seems to have fun playing the girlfriend turned reluctant mother. The “Mama” audience can’t help but conUniversal nect with her natural charisma.

Pictures The horror in “Mama” Our rating: chiefly relies on disorientHH ing sounds and hit-or-miss disturbing visuals. When the character Mama is making inhuman groaning noises in the shadows, she can be creepy. Unfortunately, when her face is finally revealed, the crooked scowl is more cartoonish than scary.

There are also some issues with writer-director Andres Muschietti’s script. The characters that don’t make it to the end are so clearly dispensable that he may as well have put giant red X’s above their heads. Still, it’s refreshing to see a modern horror movie avoid the found footage and excess gore of recent releases in the genre.

“Mama” is a mixed bag. The excellent sound mixing is held down by some cheesy visual effects and an uneven script. Del Toro may not have produced a masterpiece, but at least he’s helping to bring some freshness to an often-tired genre.

“Gangster Squad” was written by Will Beall and directed by Ruben Fleischer.

“Mama” was directed by Andres Muschietti and written by Neil Cross.

film Review

Film Review

Boxing crime lord Mickey Cohen (Sean Penn) unleashes a round of bullets in “Gangster Squad.”

Courtesy oF 20th century fox

regal stadium 14 Pyramid Mall 266-7960

broken city 12:50 p.m., 3:30 p.m., 6:20 p.m., 9:10 p.m. django unchained 12:40 p.m., 4:30 p.m., 9 p.m. gangster squad HHH 1/2 12:10 p.m., 3:40 p.m., 7:10 p.m., 9:50 p.m. hansel & gretel: witch hunters 1:30 p.m., 6:30 p.m.

HANSEL & GRETEL: WITCH HUNTERS 3d 11:50 a.m., 2:30 p.m., 4:15 p.m., 5 p.m., 7:35 p.m., 9:20 p.m., 10 p.m. a haunted house 9:15 p.m. the hobbit: an unexpected journey 3d 3:10 p.m., 10:20 p.m.

The hobbit: an unexpected journey 11:35 p.m., 6:45 p.m.

THE LAST STAND 9:30 p.m. les miserables 1:15 p.m., 4:45 p.m., 8:30 p.m.

LIFE OF PI 3D 12:20 p.m., 3:20 p.m., 6:10 p.m. mama HH 2:15 p.m., 5:45 p.m., 8:15 p.m., 10:40 p.m. movie 43 12:30 p.m., 3 p.m., 5:30 p.m., 8 p.m., 10:30 p.m.

PARKER 12 p.m., 3:50 p.m., 7:20 p.m.

SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK 1 p.m., 4 p.m., 7 p.m., 9:40 p.m.

ZERO DARK THIRTY HHH 1/2 1:45 p.m., 5:15 p.m., 8:45 p.m.

our ratings Excellent HHHH Good HHH Fair HH Poor H

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Th ursday, Ja n ua ry 2 4 , 2 0 1 3

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Pearls Before Swine®

By Stephan Pastis answers to last week’s sudoku

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By United Media

ACROSS 1 Orchestra instrument 5 Vex 9 AAA service 12 Ess molding 13 The younger Guthrie 14 Huntsville loc.

15 Cyclist -- LeMond 16 Teen escapades 18 Treasure ship 20 Clutch 21 Foul up 22 Wahine’s welcome 23 Gnat 26 Auto safety item (2 wds.)

30 Travel word 31 Outback jumper 32 All-purpose vehicle 33 Football 36 Insect stage 38 Aunt, in Madrid 39 Ick! 40 Flowed back 43 Come before

47 Lunchbox alternative 49 Burglar’s take 50 Sunflower yield 51 Dashiell’s peer 52 Kind of presentation 53 Prefix meaning “recent” 54 Tasty tubers 55 Clay pot DOWN 1 “Dukes of Hazzard” boss 2 Taj Mahal site 3 Walk unsteadily 4 Pirate’s limb (2 wds.)

5 Important 6 Household appliance 7 Pop-up 8 Counterfeiter 9 “I did it!” (hyph.)

10 Fiesta shouts 11 Mud dauber 17 Rainbow goddess

19 Preceding, poetically 22 Philosopher -- -tzu 23 Sports award 24 Livy’s trio 25 Mr. Hammarskjold 26 Debate side 27 It borders the Atl. 28 Dune buggy kin 29 Hot beverage 31 Estuary 34 Fret 35 Chili bean 36 Size above med.

37 “Gesundheit!” evoker 39 Argues for 40 Black, in verse 41 Soft ripe cheese 42 String tie 43 Coconut source 44 Scruggs of bluegrass 45 Two-way 46 Miss Cinders of old comics 48 Bikini half

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HARD WORK PAYS OFF

The I th a c a n 2 3

design by emily fuller

Th ursday, January 24, 2013

First-year high school coach changes academic attitude

by Shuaibu Ali

Contributing Writer

“One! Two! Three! Hard work pays off!”

Every day, the Ithaca Little Red boy’s varsity team groups together and shouts this chant with a disciplined excitement inside the hardwood confines of the Ithaca High School gymnasium. After the huddle breaks, every member of the team gets his own basketball and lines up on the baseline — a painted marker on an oak floor, gleaming from a fresh wax coating, that is in ideal shape for the two hours of thumping about to take place during the practice.

“On the whistle guys, on the whistle,” Jobe Zulu shouts.

“On the what?” he then asks.

“On the whistle!” the whole team replies in unison, as if they are a group of young Navy SEALs responding to a command from a ranking officer.

“Go!” Zulu shouts.

Not a single person moves.

Zulu shouts, “Go!” again, this time followed by a distinct whistle. Each member of the team dribbles their ball against the hardwood as they run hard from one baseline to the other and back, panting from the 168-foot sprint.

Standing firmly on the sideline, the tall, lean Zulu is dressed in a black T-shirt with a colorful outline of Africa printed on it, grey sweatpants and Nike basketball shoes. The orange lanyard hanging off of his neck is linked to the whistle still perched at the tip of his lips.

He cracks a small grin and addresses his team.

“Good job, guys! Hard work pays off!”

Don’t be surprised if you see those last four words on shirts all around the local Ithaca area. It is the mantra the Ithaca High School boy’s basketball team is chanting this season — a motto that has been instilled in them by Jobe Zulu, the team’s first-year head coach.

Zulu, a graduate of Ithaca High School himself, said his primary goal this season is to change what it means to be a basketball player for Ithaca High School. Ten years after he himself donned the crimson jersey, he is on the sideline channeling the dedication that once made him a standout basketball player into molding not only great players but also great people.

The fiery young coach has inherited a program that for the last couple of years has produced few wins and even fewer scholars. Last season for the Little Red was marred on the court by offensive issues, among others. Performance issues often accompany off-court problems. From

multiple accounts, players were viewed as thugs, struggling to pass classes, graduate and ultimately failing to matriculate to the college ranks. “[The students] have a consistency of not graduating on time, a tendency of kids getting kicked out, missing multiple games for behavior and academic reasons, especially when it comes to some Coach Zulu gives a high-five to soph of our young black males,” omore forward Cole Clemons during the second half of the Little Red’s defeat against Union Endi Zulu said. cott on Jan. 18. Clemons scored six

points in the loss.

Growing up, Zulu said, Durst breneiser/The Ithacan his father was a Vietnam veteran who dealt with mental issues, drug United States, but in that I understood that has said ‘No!’” LaRoche abuse and alcoholism that eventually lead college was the way, and academics were said. “If you are failing a class, you can’t play. You have to sit. You can still come to to domestic violence. His family life was definitely going to make a difference.”

Zulu himself would take a year off of practice, you can still participate with the so unstable that by the age of 12, he was living with a friend, and by 16 he was fi- school working as a dishwasher at a lo- team, but you are not going to play until nancially supporting himself while still cal restaurant and then as a day laborer you get your grades up.”

Assistant Coach Shane Taylor said working hard to become a starting guard receiving $6 an hour from 5 a.m. to 5 p.m. to pay for college. After earning degrees Zulu is teaching these kids what it means for the Little Red. Despite the negative experiences in from Cayuga Community College and to be accountable and dedicated, both on his life, Zulu understood the importance Cazenovia, Zulu made his way back to and off the court. It is these life lessons that guide Zulu in his work today. of an education from a very early age, Ithaca to coach the Little Red. “He stresses that hard work will pay When he came back to coach, Zulu thanks to lessons from his mother while wanted to show his players how im- off successfully, not only on the court but he was growing up.

“When I was in Kindergarten, first day portant the classroom is. Ithaca High in the classroom,” Taylor said. “He stated of school, I got on the school bus and was School’s Athletic and Wellness officer during his parent meeting, whether we the only kid, let alone a kindergartner, Danielle LaRoche said he has begun this go 0-18 or not, if every single one of his who had a three-piece suit on,” Zulu said. process by changing the academic stan- student athletes graduates high school on “That’s how important school was to my dards needed to play for the Little Red time, he’s done his job.”

This season, the team is working to demother; she really pushed me and told me basketball team.

“In the past if you have an F or two, you construct the negative image that they’ve I could do what I wanted. I was a typical kid. I wanted to become president of the could still participate in athletics. [Zulu] had both in the school and in the community, and the players are responding. Some players that may not have considered college a part of their future are reconsidering because of Zulu.

“He’s making sure we’re actually thinking about college, making sure we go to college and helping us get there,” power forward and captain DaVondre LaFave said. “[Zulu] said he would help me get into Cayuga Community College, get my grades up there while playing basketball, then after two years transfer to a good four-year institution and get my degree.”

The Little Red players are confident that if they work hard and focus in the classroom, they can achieve anything they set their minds on. Zulu urges them to follow their dreams and be the people they want to be, despite any obstacle that may be in their way.

“When it comes to telling these kids to believe, to fight, to have pride — there’s no show,” Zulu said. “I feel it, I bleed it, and I’m getting them to understand that Coach Zulu talks strategy with his team during a timeout in a game against Union Endicott. you should have some pride in where you come from and what you have to offer.”

Durst Breneiser/the Ithacan

S ports

2 4 The It hacan

between the lines

Nathan bickell

The truth will set you free This past week, we have witnessed the fall from grace of two athletes, Lance Armstrong and Manti Te’o, whose stories once represented all that was right with sports. The former was inevitable while the latter was drastic and unexpected.

In a two-night interview with Oprah, Armstrong finally admitted that he cheated his way to all seven of his Tour de France victories. His confession came as no great shock. For years the evidence against Armstrong had built to a critical mass and culminated when he was stripped of his titles and banned from Olympic competition for the rest of his life.

On the other hand, a bomb was dropped on the sports world from absolutely nowhere when Deadspin published a report that Notre Dame linebacker Manti Te’o’s allegedly deceased girlfriend, Lennay Kekua, didn’t actually exist.

This season, Te’o repeatedly told a heart-wrenching story claiming that Kekua died on the same day his grandmother passed away. Despite the tragedy, Te’o went on to lead the Fighting Irish to an upset victory over Michigan State.

The only mysteries left in the case of Armstrong are minor details: did he dope when he lost the Tour de France in 2009 and 2010, and will he cooperate with future doping investigations?

But really who cares? It’s a fact that he is a liar and a cheater.

Whether he is lying about more cheating is pretty much beside the point.

However, for Te’o, the core of his story is up in the air. Was he a naive victim of a cruel hoax like he claims, or was he, like Armstrong, a willing participant in a fraud perpetuated to the sports world?

I truly hope that Te’o was the victim in this sad story, but the lessons I have learned from the Armstrong situation give me skepticism. We wanted to believe that he overcame cancer to win a record-setting number of Tour de France titles and those accusing him of doping were jealous attention seekers. However, once each of the runners-up to Armstrong’s victories were busted for doping it became impossible to believe that Armstrong was clean.

Reading the Deadspin report, I am struggling to believe that Te’o could really have called someone his girlfriend without ever even having a Skype conversation with her. It is even harder to believe it when there are pictures of Te’o and Ronaiah Tuiasosopo, the man who created Te’o’s fake girlfriend, together at a USC-Notre Dame game.

The downfall of Armstrong sets some precedents for the Te’o mystery. First, at some point the full truth will be revealed, and second, the age-old adage is true: If something sounds too good to be true, it probably is. nathan bickell is a senior documentary studies major. Contact him at nbickel1@ithaca.edu.

Th ursday, Ja n ua ry 2 4 , 2 0 1 3

Red-hot Bombers ready for the stretch

By Danielle d’avanzo Senior writer

With an overall record of 14–2 and a 2nd-place ranking in the Empire 8, the women’s basketball team is in the midst of one of its best seasons in program history as the Bombers strive to accomplish their goal of becoming national champions.

Experience and leadership have helped ignite a spark in the South Hill squad — leading to a winning streak lasting more than a month and gaining attention on the national stage.

The veteran squad features 11 players who helped the team achieve a record 24 wins during the 2011-12 campaign. Head Coach Dan Raymond said experience has been an advantage.

“Experience makes a huge difference with the number of players that have already contributed to success in the past two years,” Raymond said. “They, for the most part, have a really good idea of what it takes to be successful.”

Capitalizing on experience, the players have continued to develop the team’s camaraderie through team activities off the hardwood to help reach their full potential. Senior guard Catherine Lewis said over winter break, the squad spent more time together than in previous years.

“In other years, people would kind of lock themselves in their rooms, so this year we did a lot of things together,” Lewis said. “We went to a water park, we went to Syracuse and worked at the Ronald McDonald house. We did a lot of stuff, and that helps us on and off the court.”

Enhanced team chemistry has paid off. The South Hill squad recently had an eight-game winning streak that included a victory over rival University of Rochester. It was the first win over the Yellow Jackets since the 1995-96 season.

Raymond said he believes everything the Bombers have accomplished this season is the result of tremendous teamwork.

“It’s hard to not keep reiterating team effort,” Raymond said. “They work for each other.”

The results the Bombers put up during the winning streak, and continue to achieve on the floor, are gaining national attention. The squad has received votes in the D3Hoops.com Top 25 poll for the past three weeks and is also nationally ranked in several team statistical categories. The Bombers are 5th in the country in assist turnover ratio and 6th in scoring defense (points allowed per game). In the Empire 8, the Blue and Gold lead in several key stat groups, including points per game and field goal percentage.

From left, junior guard Kathryn Cambell dribbles past a screen set by teammate, junior guard Jenn Escobido. The 2nd-place Bombers beat Medaille College 63-41 Dec. 10 in Ben Light Gymnasium.

Pat Sullivan/The ithacaN

While it would be easy to get complacent and revel in recent success, the team is remaining vigilant. The Blue and Gold still have a tough conference schedule ahead of them — including a matchup against Hartwick College, which is currently on top of the E8 standings.

Lewis said the Bombers will look to make a statement this weekend against conference opponents Stevens Institute of Technology on Friday and Hartwick on Saturday in Ben Light Gymnasium.

“We’re looking to really bring it together and

have that full 40-minute game that we haven’t had yet,” Lewis said. “We’re going to push each other at practice and hope for the best.”

Senior guard Kathryn Campbell said though the Blue and Gold are proud of their accomplishments, the team still has to make improvements to clinch the regular season title.

“We’re just going to have to work hard on those things in practice and get better and hopefully come out with wins for the rest of the season,” Campbell said.

Former swimmer adopts assistant coaching role

By Doug Geller staff writer

For Assistant Coach James Sica, staying away from the Bombers men’s swimming and diving team was not an option, even after graduating. Sica swam for the team for four years and became captain his senior year, which helped Ithaca College win two backto-back Empire 8 championships.

Upon graduation, Sica sought out jobs in a variety of fields. Time spent pursuing a job proved fruitless, he said, so when he heard of an assistant coaching position he could not resist the temptation to apply. Sica said he wanted to coach so he could inspire fellow swimmers to love the sport as much as he does.

He did not always love swimming though. When he began at the age of eight, he just did not like sports in general. It was not until a few years later until he began to fully appreciate swimming. Sica learned to appreciate the competition, and all the laps and hard work he had to put into the sport paid off.

He discovered that swimming was the perfect fit because he did not have to be overly coordinated to do it — which he claims he isn’t — and it fit his attitude of wanting to work hard.

“I love swimming because, generally, the people who work the hardest succeed and get better,” Sica said.

And work hard he did — a trait

Assistant Coach James Sica oversees a men’s swimming and diving team practice Wednesday evening in the Athletics and Events Center pool.

Emily Fedor/the ithacan

that did not go unnoticed by his coaches and teammates. Head Coach Kevin Markwardt said Sica has excelled in his position thus far because of his work ethic and knowledge.

“The two things you want in a

coach are someone who works hard and knows everything about the program,” Markwardt said. “He was an extremely hard worker. Nobody can throw back at him. We have had great swimmers that weren’t great

workout swimmers come back and be coaches. The [athletes] say ‘I’m not gonna take your shit because you didn’t walk the walk now you are trying to talk the talk.’ But with him that hasn’t been a problem.”

Sica is coaching a team full of players that he has competed with as an athlete. His work ethic earned him the respect of teammates as a swimmer, and his passion for the athletes is earning him respect as a coach.

“I would say he is the best assistant coach I’ve ever had. It’s awesome to have a coach who wants you to do well as much as you do,” Sica’s former roommate and current senior captain Jake Robbins said.

The team has a long five-month season, and it does not normally train for the dual meets to conserve energy.

According to Robbins, Sica has been helpful in keeping the team optimistic in the interim.

“You need some outside motivation, and James has done an awesome job mixing staying optimistic while keeping it real and letting you know what you have to do,” Robbins said.

Even with the success Sica has had with the team this year, he said he still may not continue as assistant coach.

“I mean it’s gonna be really hard to leave this program because I was a part of it as a coach.” Sica said. “I want to see if I leave it, if I really miss it and wanna come back — we’ll see.”

S ports

Th ursday, January 24, 2013

The I th a c a n 2 5

Bombers’ upcoming games may decide NCAA eligibility

By Christian Araos Staff writer

A solid winter break for the men’s basketball team has them poised for a three-game home stand that will decide if they deserve to be counted among the elite teams in the region.

The Blue and Gold, winners of six of their last seven games, will play host to 24th-ranked Stevens Institute of Technology on Friday, a Hartwick team that beat Stevens on Saturday and a Scranton team that reached the Elite Eight in last year’s NCAA tournament on Tuesday. All three games are critical in-region matchups whose results are evaluated by the selection committee in their process of selecting at-large teams for the NCAA Tournament, something the Blue and Gold would have to rely upon if they fail to win the Empire 8 Tournament.

The team looks to compound on recent success and carry it into the crucial stretch. One player who has been instrumental in the team’s’ success is senior forward Travis Warech, who was named the Empire 8 Player of the Week this week after averaging 22 points over the last three games.

He said he is thriving under the team’s close chemistry.

“I really just found my niche in the offense,” Warech said. “I would say that we’re playing well on offense, but we still haven’t reached our full potential.”

The team has the second-best points per game in the conference this season at 74. They are also the second-best shooting team in the E8, shooting just more than 46 percent from the field. Despite their offensive

success, Warech said the team needs to work on closing teams out.

“We’re making the games close when they shouldn’t be,” Warech said.

“When we’re up by nine or 10, we’ve let the other team creep back into it and make it close at the end. We need to focus on putting away teams that don’t belong on the floor with us.”

During the winter break, senior guard Sean Rossi recorded his 1,000th career point. However, Rossi is well off the pace he set in the last two seasons by only averaging 6.6 assists per game with just more than half the season finished. He said the team needs to remain true to its offensive game plan in order to play well this weekend.

“Sometimes, we tend to go too much one on one,” Rossi said. “When we’re at our best is when we’re moving the ball and everyone is being unselfish, especially against a team like Stevens or Hartwick. We can’t have any moments in the game where someone is trying to be the hero.”

With the Ducks losing Tuesday night, the Bombers are back on top of the Empire 8 standings with a 6–1 record. Stevens sits right behind them at 5–1. While the Hawks have a modest 3–3 record in the Empire 8, they have the E8’s top scorer, junior forward Jared Suderley, who averages 19 points per game and led all scorers with 21 points in the Hawks’ win against Stevens on Tuesday.

Rossi said the team must be aware of the other four players on the floor when they attempt to shut down Suderley. The Hawks have other effective options like

Senior guard Sean Rossi controls a possession against Wells College on Nov. 30 in Ben Light Gymnasium. Rossi became the 23rd player in program history to join the 1,000-point club Jan. 15 on the road at Elmira College.

Durst breneiser/the ithacan

junior forward Mike Geisser, who has hit 50 percent of his 3’s during his conference play.

If the Bombers win the next four games, they will likely hold a oneand-a-half game lead atop the Empire

8 with five conference games remaining. If the team has a successful week ahead, the Bombers look poised to take the E8, as their final three opponents have a record of only 17–35.

Assistant Coach Jon Tanous said the

next four games are the most important of the season.

“We’re playing some of the top teams in the conference,” Tanous said.

“This stretch will basically determine the outcome of the playoff scenario.”

Look online and on our Twitter for game stories from these sports: FRIDAY

• 6 p.m. Women’s Basketball vs. Stevens Institute of Technology in Ben Light Gymnasium • 8 p.m. Men’s Basketball vs. Stevens Institute of Technology in Ben Light Gymnasium

SATURDAY • 8 a.m. Wrestling at Jamestown Community College Open in Jamestown, N.Y. • 10:30 a.m. Men’s and Women’s Track and Field Empire 8 Indoor Championships in Glazer Arena • 1 p.m. Men’s and Women’s Swimming and Diving at Alfred University in Alfred, N.Y. • 2 p.m. Women’s Basketball vs. Hartwick College in Ben Light Gymnasium • 4 p.m. Men’s Basketball vs. Hartwick College in Ben Light Gymnasium

Sunday

• 10 a.m. Men’s and Women’s Swimming and Diving for Dick Comanzo Memorial Diving Invitiational in Athletics and Event Center pool • 8 a.m. Gymnastics at Springfield College in Springfield, Mass.

TUESDAY

• 7 p.m. Men’s Basketball vs. Scranton University in Scranton, Pa.

Bold = Home game

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Veteran gymnast returns to team from injury

By Haley Costello Staff Writer

With two sidelined seasons plaguing her college career, Ithaca College Gymnastics cocaptain and graduate student Tiffany Grube has been given a chance to relive her senior gymnastics season in 2013.

Grube began competing as a varsity gymnast in seventh grade after passing a maturity Grube is first test and showing off her on the team in skills to the coaches average balance of Lidenhurst High beam scores with School. In her six years an 8.975. She is of competition, her sucsecond to Valerie cess was well noted by Cohen on the vault the town, with six Most with a score of Valuable Player awards 9.2125. as well as the district’s Athlete of the Year award her senior year.

As her senior year began, Grube was not ready to leave gymnastics behind. While searching for colleges equipped with both physical therapy programs and gymnastics, Grube came across Ithaca College. With her two primary interests piqued by the college, she scheduled a visit to learn more about the school as well as the gymnastics program.

Grube said after a day on the South Hill campus and a visit with Head Coach Rick Suddaby, she knew this college was the perfect fit.

“The team and coaches were so friendly,” she said. “I will never forget that the coach made my younger sister, who was four at the time, a fort to play in while we were watching practice, so it just seemed like the perfect fit for me and my family.”

During her senior year, Grube played in a playoff game for her high school lacrosse team and tore her anterior cruciate ligament. With necessary ACL surgery taking place that summer, Grube came to the college knowing she would not compete with the team but stayed strong, moved mats and provided all the support she could from the sidelines.

After a year of waiting, Grube returned to competition her sophomore and junior years

stat check

Graduate student Tiffany Grube performs a balance beam routine during a practice Dec. 2 in Ben Light Gymnasium. Grube recently returned to the team after breaking her foot last year.

Jennifer Williams/the ithacan and did not waste any time getting back into the swing of things. Sophomore year, she qualified and competed as a vault competitor in the National Collegiate Gymnastics Association Individual Championship. The team did not make the national tournament, but Grube said competing as an individual was still a thrilling

accomplishment for her after her injury.

“It was heartbreaking as a team to not make it, but it was exciting to see my comeback starting and how well I was doing in my rebuilding process after my surgery,” she said.

With two successful seasons under her belt, Grube entered her senior year preseason

named co-captain of the Bombers. Just weeks before the season’s start, another nightmare occurred for the rising star. While training her newest vault routine, Grube landed awkwardly on the edge of the practice mat and broke her foot in two places, almost ending her entire season.

Junior Kate Woodward said Grube put her leadership duties before her injury and approached the 2012 season optimistically despite her physical limitations.

“She was upset when it first happened, but after it didn’t even seem like it fazed her because she put it aside and put everything into her team and teammates,” Woodward said. “She attended practice everyday, cheered for us the whole time, moved mats and was so supportive.”

When the team finished the 2012 season, Grube’s eligibility for 2013 was still in question.

After a long wait, she was cleared for another season with the team. Soon after the preseason began, Grube was named co-captain again for the South Hill squad.

Fellow graduate student Christine Niles said Grube’s success in competition and training so far this season makes her a force to be reckoned with for this seasons’ competitors and an inspiration for the team.

“To be able to come back from that injury and still be such an amazing competitor is awesome,” Niles said. “For her, I think she wants to prove herself after two seasons of injury, but I think she has proven herself already.”

Grube said her final season as a competitor is bittersweet. Leaving the sport will be difficult, but there is nothing more she would like to do than finish her college career as a gymnast with the Bombers.

“This season really does mean more than any other season,” she said. “It’s the culmination of everything I have worked for since I was 9 years old, and even though I was struck with injury a lot, I was so fortunate to make these memories.”

[The buzzer]

Th ursday, January 24, 2013

The I th a c a n 2 7

Top Tweets The funniest sports commentary via Twitter from this past week Sports Pickle @SportsPickle The Falcons are terrible at blowing teams out.

Jimmy Fallon @JimmyFallon Thank You, Lance Armstrong, for sitting down with Oprah last night. I missed the interview, but I heard it was dope.

Referee Logic @RefereeLogic Rajon Rondo and Mark Sanchez both have excellent bounce passes. Too bad for Mark he doesn’t play basketball.

Faux John Madden @FauxJohnMadden Dwight Howard didn’t air ball a free throw, Manti Te’o’s girlfriend just knocked it out of the air.

sunday snack

chef

Super Bowl XLVII is set for Sunday Feb. 3 — the San Francisco 49ers and the Baltimore Ravens. To prepare for the big game, Assistant Sports Editor Emily Hull brings this spicy and addicting Chicken Wing Dip recipe to your party table.

8 oz. pkg. cream cheese, softened 1/2 cup blue cheese or ranch salad dressing 1/2 cup hot sauce 1/2 cup crumbled blue cheese or shredded mozzarella cheese 2 cans (12.5 oz. each) chunk chicken breast in water, drained Pre-heat oven to 350°F. Place cream cheese into deep baking dish. Stir until smooth. Mix in salad dressing, hot sauce and cheese. Stir in chicken. Bake 20 minutes or until mixture is heated through; stir.

Garnish as desired. Serve with crackers, tortilla chips or cut vegetables.

Strong arm tactics

Junior Taylor Van Cott swims the 200-meter butterfly Saturday in the Athletics and Events Center Pool. The Bombers swimming and diving squad beat the University of Rochester Yellow Jackets 217-77, improving their record to 13­­–1.

Durst Breneiser/the ithacan

theysaidit I don’t know why my racket was even in my face. I mean, it’s like I have been playing tennis far too long to hit myself.

Serena Williams on hitting herself in the mouth during the sixth game of the Australian Open.

On this 24 day in...

Assistant Sports Editor Emily Hull breaks down important moments in pro sports and Bombers sports history that occurred Jan. 24.

JAN

PRO SPORTS HISTORY

1962

Jackie Robinson became the first African-American to be elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame. On April 15, 1947, Robinson made his major league debut wearing the uniform of the Brooklyn Dodgers, ending nearly 60 years of segregation in professional baseball. In his rookie season, he played in 151 games, had 175 hits, 31 doubles, five triples and 12 home runs.

This earned him the Major League Baseball Rookie of the Year Award. Robinson played in 10 seasons. In that time, he competed in six World Series and six All-Star Games. On July 22, 1962, Robinson was inducted to the Hall of Fame.

BOMBERS SPORTS HISTORY

2009

The gymnastics team defeated three other teams at home in the Hill Center with a score 185.250. The squad beat Cortland, West Chester and Wilson. Then-senior Roxanne Deshaies led the squad on the uneven bars with a 1st place score of 9.550. The Bombers gymnasts also had 1stplace finishes on the vault and floor exercise. Then-freshman Jessica Bolduc won the vault with a score of 9.625. It was a career and season best for Bolduc.

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Recruitment Night For

The Ithacan Named Best All-Around Non-Daily Student Newspaper by the Society of Professional Journalists

Opportunities in:

8 p.m.

Thursday, January 24 Park Auditorium

News Opinion Accent Sports Photo Multimedia Design Copy editing Proofreading Advertising

Stop by Park 269 or email us at ithacan@ithaca.edu with questions.

Covering the news today. Training the journalists of tomorrow.