The Statesman informing stony brook university for more than 50 years Monday, October 21, 2013
Volume LVII, Issue 8
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Consul General presents ideals and limits of “Chinese Dream”
Rape reports increase at Stony Brook
By Will Welch
Assistant News Editor
By Chris Woods Staff Writer
Ambassador Sun Guoxiang, the Consul General of the People's Republic of China in New York said that the “Chinese Dream” is “by no means a nationalist, nor an aggressive imperial dream” during a special lecture at Stony Brook University on Friday, Oct. 18. “The rise of China is an opportunity, not a threat, to the rest of the world,” Sun said. “It will not only bring benefits to its own people but people all over the world; China cannot develop in isolation from the rest of the world, and nor can the world enjoy prosperity without China.” An ambassador for over thirty years, Sun spoke about the “Chinese Dream” and what it means for both China’s emerging position as a global power and Stony Brook students, who he described as potential ambassadors in China-US relations. But a question and answer session and subsequent interviews revealed limits to the ideology he emphasized in his lecture. Sun navigated and challenged questions concerning China’s stance in the East and South China Sea territorial disputes, freedom of the press, China’s one-child policy, China’s environmental impact and China’s trade relationship with
ANUSHA MOOKHERJEE / THE STATESMAN
Chinese Consul General of New York Sun Guoxiang says that the Chinese dream is peaceful and beneficial for both China and the rest of the world. African countries. Of these, the most lengthy and controversial subject was China’s stance in the highly contested East and South China Sea disputes. China is currently competing with Japan over the Senkaku (Japanese)/Diaoyu (Chinese) Islands in the East China Sea, and with the Philippines in the South China Sea. Sun said that China has sovereignty in both areas and that recent international claims that China is the “trouble-maker” are untrue. He said that “until the 1960s, there had not been any issue with the South China Sea,” and that only after oil and natural
gas resources were discovered in the 70s did other countries begin challenging China’s sovereignty. He said that, while “China is the victim here, in order to maintain stability and peace in the region, it has proposed to solve this issue through peaceful negotiation.” He did not, however, provide any definitive information on China’s military history in the area, such as its infamous seizure of the Paracel Islands from Vietnam in 1974. Sun positioned China as mostly innocent in its dispute with Japan over the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands, which was reignited last year when Japan attempted to buy the islands
would also mean higher tuition. Vice President for External Relations Elaine Crosson also believes that defaulting would have a significant effect on New York’s state government and thereby Stony Brook, which receives a significant portion of its funding from the state. When interviewed last week, she said, “there is no immediate impact so far of the 10 day shutdown, but we will feel an immediate impact from the default.” Stony Brook’s Reserve Officers’ Training Corps usually has trainers from Hofstra University come to campus three days a week, but has not been able to since the government shutdown. ROTC Public Affairs Officer Brian Wang Chung said that the trainers have not been able to use the government vehicles assigned to them, preventing them from driving to Stony Brook. “They have been trying to teach a class over Skype, but it’s a logistical
nightmare,” said Chung. Chung is required to attend the Leadership Development and Assessment Course next summer, but the government shutdown affected his training for the course. “It’s important for us because you know if you do well in it, it determines your future branch choices in the army,” he said. “We are kind of ill prepared for LDAC next summer.” Chung and the other cadets may encounter the same situation if the government shuts down again in January. John Rizzo, professor of Economics & Preventive Medicine and chief economist at the Long Island Association, said the debt ceiling deal is just a way to kick aside the issue for a few months. “What we need is a longer term commitment to solve this issue than just a few months.” According to Rizzo, a recession would cause increased unemployment, which means
from their disputed owners, the Kurihara family. The ambassador cited China’s discovery of the islands during the Ming dynasty as evidence of its sovereignty and that Japan definitively relinquished its ownership claim in its postWorld War II treaty, the Potsdam Declaration. The Japanese government dismissed this argument, which cited the San Francisco Peace Treaty of 1951 as evidence that in renouncing areas including Taiwan, it kept the Senkaku Islands. Continued on page 6
Debt ceiling deal may come at a cost to Stony Brook students
By Nujbat Meraji Contributing Writer
President Obama signed a deal this Wednesday to end the government shutdown and allow it to continue borrowing money until Feb. 7, 2014. The deal ended a standoff that could have affected the global economy, including Stony Brook University. SUNY Distinguished Professor of Political Science Jeffrey Segal said this means nothing will change for Stony Brook. But the deal is temporary and the United States may face the same situation of government instability next February. The government is only funded through Jan. 15. “If the government defaults on its debt, we could fall back into another recession which would hurt funding for all public institutions,” Segal said, adding that falling back into recession
PHOTO CREDIT: MCT CAMPUS
President Obama signed a debt ceiling deal last week.
children education investment will suffer. “We have all just gone through a recession and the impact on the university was felt in many different ways. So I think we would brace ourselves for more of what we just endured since 2008,” Crosson said.
More rapes were reported last year on Stony Brook University’s campus than in any previous year since 2006, according to a security report released by the University Police Department last month. The 17 incidents in 2012 are nearly double the seven reported in 2010. UPD Assistant Chief of Patrol Eric Olsen said the victim in every reported case knew the assailant and that alcohol was involved in most cases. He suggested the higher number was not a sign of a more dangerous campus, but that victims are becoming more willing to report sexual assault. “We always encourage people to report that crime,” he said. The Statesman was also able to obtain data for as far back as 2006: 10 rapes were reported in 2006, five in 2007, four in 2008, five in 2009, seven in 2010 and 13 in 2011. Though the UPD is taking no new action to address the increased reports, it hosts a Rape Aggression Defense class that is part of a national program started in 1989. Other numbers from the document show a decrease in reports of robbery, assault, burglary, car theft and arson, and a fluctuation in liquor, drug and weapons-related arrests and referrals. Olsen said some of the decreased numbers could be a result of a partnership with campus residences. “We’ve increased patrols over thanksgiving break and we’ve worked well with campus residences to improve the community,” he said. The most common offenses on campus are liquor violations, followed by drug violations, burglary and rape. The crime statistics for 2012 are available on the UPD website listed as the 2013 Clery Annual Security Report—a report all college campuses receiving money from the federal government are required to release by the Clery Act. The Clery Act was passed in 1990 after Jeanne Clery, a freshman at Lehigh University, was raped and killed in her dorm in 1986. The backlash against unreported crime on college campuses led to the passage of the law, which requires universities to release a crime report every October, maintain a crime log of the past 60 days and warn the community of crimes that threaten the safety students or employees. Southampton, Manhattan and Korea reported no crimes on their campuses in 2012.
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