Stupid Comment Of The Day

The College Hockey Blog on the ECAC's move to Atlantic City:

While fans of the central New York teams such as Union and Cornell will no doubt be unhappy with the longer travel, the truth is not a ton of those people were coming out to the tournament anyways. The Atlantic City area is a big alumni base for a lot of ECAC schools and, for the first couple years at least, will come out to see their teams play.

Haha, good one.

Want to Win Something? Beat Yale

The Cornell class of 2009 departed East Hill without having won a single ECAC championship, ECAC regular season title, or Ivy title during their four years on the hill. The last year this happened? 2001.

While Cornell has had the most success of any ECAC team over the past four years, it's important to remember that these were four lean years in the hardware department. Cornell reached the ECAC final weekend three times and the NCAA tournament twice, but returned home without any ECAC championships or Frozen Four appearances.

I'm tired of looking back at these seasons and saying, "Well, we didn't win anything, but we had a nice run at the end of the year." This season, anything short of an ECAC title and a Frozen Four appearance will be a disappointment. We have the team to contend on the national level, and that is what we should do.

But the road to all things great runs through Yale. Wonder why Cornell is picked above Yale in the national polls yet behind Yale in the ECAC polls? Until Cornell can prove that it can beat Yale, there's no reason to expect Cornell to win the conference.

Just look at what happened last season.

Cornell roared to a 13-1-3 start before losing to Yale at home on January 23. The game wasn't as close as the 4-3 score might indicate. After this, Cornell goes 9-9-1. Talk about a momentum killer.

Then, on the final weekend of the regular season, with a raucous Eli crowd behind them, Yale easily dispatches the Big Red, 4-2, with tournament seedings on the line.

But the Big Red could have put these two losses behind them, as their dramatic double overtime semifinal victory earned them another matchup with Yale, in the ECAC championship game.

The result? A 5-0 embarrassment that had us looking ahead to the NCAA tournament by the second period.

In years previous, Cornell had difficulty defeating Harvard, and it was the Crimson who ended the Big Red's tournament runs in 2002, 2006, and 2008. But the biggest conference opponent is now Yale.

After playing only three regular-season games, Cornell will head to New Haven on November 13. If Cornell wins, or at least plays Yale competitively, I'll be a lot more optimistic about our chances this season.

ECAC Tournament Moves To Atlantic City

This was a big surprise:

Starting in 2011, the ECAC Hockey Tournament will be held in Atlantic City.

I agree with most of what people have been saying. The tournament has been held since 2003 at the Times-Union (née Pepsi) Center in Albany, which is as close to a central location as you can get for the ECAC schools. The location had great potential for attendance, particularly since Cornell always sent a lot of fans there, it was reasonably proximate to Clarkson and St. Lawrence, and RPI and Union were right down the road. Unfortunately, neither Union nor RPI ever made it to Albany, and attendance has dropped from its peak of 16,000 in 2005 to 8,000 last year. Without Cornell fans, it would have been around 4,000.

Atlantic City, with its boardwalk, casinos, and all that crap, was probably able to guarantee a lot of money for the ECAC. They're hoping that a lot of NYC-area alumni will make the trip. And maybe some other fans who aren't so interested in the hockey but would go for the attractions and everything else.

On the other hand, this move is devastating for students. Over on eLynah, RichH compiled a list of the driving times from each ECAC school to Atlantic City, with asterisks next to those who have to drive through New York City:

Princeton:    1:45
New Haven:    3:46*
Hamden:       3:49*
Schenectady:  4:39*
Troy:         4:40*
Ithaca:       5:09
Providence:   5:22*
Hamilton:     5:42
Allston:      5:53*
Hanover:      6:45*
Canton:       7:32
Potsdam:      7:46

Imagine if you're a Clarkson or St. Lawrence student and your team is playing in the first semifinal at 4pm on Friday. You have to leave pretty early in the morning and drive all day in order to make it there for the game. The drive from Cornell is not only an extra couple of hours, but a lot harder than the drive down deserted I-88.

There's also the cost of lodging. A lot of students, myself included, have friends at Union, RPI, or SUNY Albany with whom we can stay. I don't think there are many places to stay for free around Atlantic City. Students might balk at the possibility of having to split a hotel room for a couple of nights.

If the league can attract enough alumni, they can afford to lose the students. And the most dedicated fans will always make the trip, whether the tournament is held in Albany, Atlantic City, or Timbuktu. I'm just glad I won't still be a student when the tournament goes to Atlantic City for the first time.

Coaches Also Place Cornell No. 2

Article link

First place votes were split Yale 7/Cornell 3/Princeton 2.

Nothing too surprising here.

To make another comment about my earlier post... note that four of the players on the preseason all-ECAC team (Kalemba and the 3 forwards) were named all-ECAC at the end of last season.

Some quotes from the coaches via the Ithaca Journal:

Schafer said he puts "very little" stock in preseason polls.

"We expected to be somewhere near the top but I think what's more important is to have those expectations intrinsically," Schafer said. "It's a lot more important to live up to your own expectations to see what kind of season you have."

"Isn't this the same group that picked us to finish seventh last year?" Yale coach Keith Allain said Monday during the ECAC Hockey media teleconference. "The games are played on the ice. I think we've got a terrific league and it's hard to win in our league. It's nice for our players to get some recognition but once the season starts at the end of October it doesn't mean a thing."

Cornell Expected To Finish Second in ECAC

Preseason media poll, with first-place votes in parentheses.

1.  YALE (15) 278
2.  CORNELL (7) 272
3.  PRINCETON (2) 253
4.  HARVARD (1) 224
5.  DARTMOUTH 183
6.  UNION 143
7.  ST. LAWRENCE 134
8.  CLARKSON 125
9.  COLGATE 106
10. RENNSELAER 102
11. QUINNIPIAC 90
12. BROWN 35

Also:

Heading the ECACHWBA All-Conference Team are forwards David McIntyre of Colgate, Riley Nash of Cornell and Mark Arcobello of Yale; defensemen Alex Biega of Harvard and Brendon Nash of Cornell; and goaltender Zane Kalemba of Princeton.

Some quick thoughts: The ECAC writers are breaking a bit from the national experts (USCHO and CHN), who have placed Cornell well ahead of Yale in the national rankings. Yale received 8 more first-place votes than did Cornell, but the small 6-point differential means that many of the voters who didn't choose Yale to finish 1st placed them 3rd or lower. Yale, Cornell, and Princeton were the big three in the league last year, so it's not surprising to see them bunched at the top again. As someone pointed out on eLynah, it's also interesting that the top five teams are Ivies.

Cornell will be tested early, since we have to play the preseason #1, #3, #4, and #5 in the first four weekends of the season.

Fudging The Numbers

The summer after my freshman year of college, I worked part-time for a well-regarded polling outfit in Connecticut. For a few hours in the evening or on weekends, I would sit at a drab cubicle in a converted raised ranch house and stare at a computer screen. The computer would dial random numbers from the areas in which were were interested. For example, if we were polling New York State, the computer would select one of New York's zip codes, then one of the three-digit prefixes for that zip code, and finally choose four random numbers. So I might end up with 607-257-1234. With most calls, either the number would be disconnected or no one would pick up.

Since I never knew what kind of number my computer was calling, I had a few surprises when people did pick up. I talked to strip clubs, police and fire departments, the New York City Morgue, bizarre people, and plenty of pissed off regular people. I would make 250 calls in a typical night, but only end up with 3-6 (sometimes zero) completed surveys. To complete one poll, it might take 5 nights of calling, with 80 paid employees making calls on each of those nights.

My point is that a lot of expense, effort, and time was required to produce each poll. It would have been much easier for our bosses to have simply made up some numbers and released them to the press.

This, in fact, is what one polling company may have done.

It began with this:

AAPOR, the American Association for Public Opinion Research, yesterday reprimanded Atlanta-based PR firm Strategic Vision, LLC for failing to disclose even basic information about their political polls.

Nate Silver did some more research and compiled a devastating statistical analysis of Strategic Vision's polls, in which he cautiously accuses the company of making up numbers:

But this data is not random. It's not close to random. It's not close to close. Which brings up the other possibility: Strategic Vision is cooking the books. And whoever is doing so is doing a pretty sloppy job. They'd seem to have a strong, unconscious preference for numbers ending in '7', for instance, as opposed to those ending in '6'. They tend to go with round numbers that end in '5' or '0' slightly too often. And they much prefer numbers with high trailing digits like 49 and 38 to those with low ones like 51 and 42.

Strategic Vision has of course denied all of this, but they've also refused to release cross-tabs and other detailed data that might vindicate their polls. And tonight, we have evidence that "Atlanta-based" Strategic Vision may not even be located near Atlanta.

So what does all of this point mean? Strategic Vision may have tricked everyone. If they thought McCain was gaining on Obama in Pennsylvania before last fall's election, they may have taken an older poll and tightened the race by a couple of points. It's an effective strategy, and we should be impressed that they were able to get away with it for this long. But it's also extremely dishonest.

There's been a lot of debate recently about the future of polling. As more people shift from using land-lines to cell phones, public opinion polls are unable to reach an increasingly large percentage of the population. I just hope that the answer which emerges is not to simply make up numbers. While candidates tend to play down the significance of polls, they serve plenty of noble and scholarly uses. It'll be interesting to see where the Strategic Vision case goes. Check FiveThirtyEight for updates.

Banned Books? Not At Cornell

In honor of banned book week, university librarian Anne Kenney takes to the pages of the Elmira Star-Gazette to defend libraries' right to offer controversial books:

Cornell University Library's response to requests to censor or ban materials it acquires is almost always "no." Notable exceptions include when an item has been donated by mistake or by someone unauthorized to give it away. I am happy to report that Winnie and Charlotte, as well as many of the banned books on ALA's list, are available from Cornell University Library. We intend to keep it that way.

An Ugly Win

Cornell football defeats Yale, 14-12, with three first downs over four quarters. Quarterback Ben Ganter's longest completion is for 6 yards.

Box Score

Tomorrow Is LSATurday

See you on the other side.

Ken Dryden On Bill Bradley

When these two sports stars turned politicians spoke at Cornell earlier in the month, the audience was told that Dryden and Bradley had only met once before, nearly 30 years ago at a lunch in New York City.

But Dryden obviously knew enough about Bradley to mention him in his 1983 book, The Game.

Dryden spends a few pages discussing Bob Gainey, who was his teammate in Montreal. Although Gainey was a forward, he never scored more than 23 goals in a season. Dryden heaps praise on Gainey for contributing in other ways on the ice, and compares him to Bill Bradley:

In many ways he is like former basketball star Bill Bradley. Without virtuoso individual skills, team play becomes both virtue and necessity, and what others understand as unselfishness is really cold-eyed realism -- he simply knows what works best, for the team and for him. (p. 85)

It might have been interesting for moderator Jeremy Schaap to have asked Dryden to explain the phrase "without virtuoso individual skills." Bradley holds Ivy League records for total and average points, and had his jersey retired by the Knicks.

Regardless, it's clear that Dryden had enough familiarity with Bradley to compare him to one of his hockey teammates.

H1N1 Cases Diminish At Cornell?

A friend reports that at tonight's IFC meeting, it was announced that Gannett is currently monitoring no more than 10 or 15 students who currently have H1N1. If true, this would mean that the spread of H1N1 at Cornell has peaked.

The IFC lifted its moratorium on social events.

I would hold off on celebrating too much until this news is confirmed by the Sun or the administration, and of course we still have the possibility of future "waves" to contend with.

More Mercury, Uranium Found Near Museum

In July, crews digging for the Johnson Museum expansion uncovered what was then described as a "small amount of mercury." The area in which they were digging was the location of Morse Hall, the former chemistry building which was demolished in 1956.

Turns out it wasn't such a small amount after all.

What was first reported to the Department of Environmental Conservation in July as a 1.5-pound spill is actually about 30 pounds, or about two liters of mercury, said Steve Beyers, manager of the Engineering Services Group in Cornell's Office of Environmental Compliance and Sustainability.

"It's a substantial amount," he said. "I don't think we've ever had that much spill at once."

Crews will have to dig deeper into the ground to uncover the rest of the mercury, so we can expect that costs will increase and the project will take longer.

Uranium ore was also found on the site.

Along with the mercury, the excavation team found approximately 10 pounds of uranium ore and some blue- and white-colored materials, which could either be reacted chemical material from the lab or art supplies from the building's art studio days. In either case, the materials were determined not to be volatile or reactive, Beyers said.

The uranium ore was probably brought to the lab around the turn of the 20th century, Beyers said. "The mercury is by far the thing that causes the most effort," he said.

In dealing with old buildings, these types of discoveries are fairly common. When workers were installing a sprinkler system in my fraternity house a couple of years ago, crews discovered asbestos in various parts of the house. The asbestos delayed the project by a few weeks and added several thousand dollars to our expenses.

Great Ideas

Here's one:

Schedule law school day for 96 hours before the September LSAT. That way, your already-stressed pre-law seniors can hear, in person, exactly what ranges of scores they need to get into their schools of choice.

Oh, and here's another one. Make sure the LSAT starts no later than 8:30am. College students are totally used to getting up at 7am every Saturday morning so this won't throw off their sleep schedules at all.

Cornell at Harvard Tickets on Sale

Harvard ticket office. Only standing room tickets are left.

In honor of the annual ritual of purchasing Harvard tickets, here's a Harvard Crimson article from 2003 discussing some of the ways their ticket office has tried to prevent Cornell fans from attending.

This year, tickets to the Jan. 9th game against Cornell will be sold in a Pick-Four package that will include games against Princeton, Rensselaer and Massachusetts. While the ticket office claims it is not an attempt to bar Cornell’s fans from the game, it might still reduce the amount of red in the stands clashing with crimson.

And [with my clarifications]:

“We have schools [Harvard] that won’t answer the phone from certain area codes [607] when they know our students are calling,” said Cornell coach Mike Schafer. “Our fans will do what they need to do to get tickets.”

Tip to eLynah

More Flu Attention For Cornell

This time it's CNN, with a picture of Cornell senior Vishnu Patel passing out soap (originally posted Friday on the University homepage) and another Eddie Rooker quote.

"Too often, as college students, we think we're invincible," said Cornell senior Eddie Rooker, president of the InterFraternity Council. "I think people are understanding how serious their health is and how their actions can affect their peers."

Honestly, forget about dry rush or eliminating hazing or placing restrictions on Slope Day. The IFC moratorium on parties has brought more good publicity to the Cornell Greek system than any other action in the council's history.

(CNN)

Traffic Congestion Ahead?

Ithaca Journal:

The City of Ithaca Department of Public Works, Water & Sewer Division, will
be repairing a storm sewer structure beneath the Stewart Avenue bridge the week
of Sept. 21.

Traffic will be one-lane only on the Stewart Avenue bridge
as the northbound travel lane will be closed for portions of Monday and Tuesday.
Flaggers will direct traffic around the work zone. To avoid potential delays,
motorists may use University Avenue to bypass the work zone for access to
Cornell University or downtown Ithaca.

Do they know that University Ave. is also closed between the Thurston bridge and the Johnson Museum? Or is that part of the road opening up at all this week?

Debating the IFC Moratorium

Steven Wald, IFC representative for his fraternity, publishes a Guest Room piece in which he explains his opposition to the moratorium on open parties.

Here are a few responses to specific parts of his argument. I disagree with most of what Wald writes, but it was interesting to read his particular reasons for voting against both swine flu resolutions.

Nonetheless, I fear that [Schor's death] may mark the manipulation of proceedings by members of the IFC, which is nothing short of disgraceful to Warren’s memory.

By trying to prevent future deaths, the IFC is disgracing Schor's death?

I did not believe that a moratorium on all social events would be as effective as we hoped it would be because of the busy social scene in Collegetown that would only become more crowded with a lack of on campus events.

Most freshmen don't have connections to Collegetown parties (or don't feel like going that far) and can't get into bars. No doubt that the moratorium has prevented many of them from attending crowded parties.

When asked for the numbers of reported swine flu in the past week at the meeting, the Executive Board offered the statement that the number of reported cases decreased over the weekend, but increased to normal rates on Monday and Tuesday. Such a statistic, paired with the information that we learned suggesting a two day incubation period of swine flu, leads me to believe that my instinct in saying the moratorium was not effective was correct.

I believe that Gannett is closed on Sundays, which would explain that fewer cases were reported over the weekend. I don't think the number of reported cases can ever "decrease." The IFC is going by the recommendations of the Cornell administration, which has shown pretty strong leadership throughout the swine flu scare. We haven't hit the peak of cases yet.

However, the resolution passed was a clear example of the agenda set by the Executive Board, and in particular, its president. Before the original moratorium was passed, Sigma Alpha Epsilon had planned a date night for the little sisters of the fraternity...

I don't know what was going on behind the scenes, but I don't think there's much to go by here. I think the timing of the original resolution was reasonable, and I think the modification to exclude only non-catered invites (allowing mixers and formals) was a reasonable change in order to make sure the resolution passed. And if Rooker was looking out for the interests of his own chapter, why not? When you're the IFC president, you'd be foolish not to consider the interests of your own chapter when you make decisions. From what I've seen, SAE has a very full social calendar every fall and I doubt there are any weekends without a party (White, Green, Pink, etc.), mixer, or formal.

I disagree with the characterization of the IFC Executive Board as a bunch of schemers who sit around trying to ram self-serving resolutions down the throats of unsuspecting chapter delegates. They can't even vote for the resolutions; only the chapter delegates can. Last year for example, the IFC officers and OFSA pushed hard to make part of rush week "dry." After a long period of debate and some contentious votes, the resolution was voted down. I see no reason why something similar couldn't have happened with the moratorium on parties if the chapters were so opposed to it.

To speak frankly, the IFC chapters which never followed the rules before (hosted unregistered parties, served hard alcohol, etc.) are the same ones who won't follow the moratorium on parties. The IFC Executive Board shouldn't have to waste its time appealing to the houses which never wanted to participate in the self-governing process in the first place.

Wald's own chapter hosted a party in violation of the ban. His chapter was also one of four IFC houses to "fail to meet the minimum standards" (large .pdf) in their 2008 end-of-year report (the 2009 evaluations are not yet available).

If IFC delegates are unhappy with the moratorium, they should try to convince other houses' representatives to vote to repeal the moratorium at Wednesday's meeting. And they can try again each week until the ban is lifted.

Ivy League Crime and the Media

As you've probably noticed, the murder of Yale grad student Annie Le has been getting plenty of attention in the media.

One of my favorite bloggers, Colin McEnroe of the Hartford Courant, has been doing some good work in examining exactly why the media has become so obsessed with Le's murder. (For example, the New York Times assigned eight reporters to cover the story on Friday.)

I'd encourage you to take a look at Colin's posts here and especially here and try to relate this to Cornell a little bit.

Unfortunately, we aren't exactly strangers to death here on the Ithaca campus. But we don't face the same amount of media attention as Yale is facing. Many Cornell-related deaths are suicides, which are generally treated respectfully by the media. The recent death of Warren Schor from H1N1 complications was similarly written about respectfully by both the local and national media. Teams of reporters did not descend on Ithaca, and Schor's life was not scrutinized by reporters.

Even the apparent June murder of a Cornell grad student by her husband didn't receive nearly as much attention as that given to Le's story. For one thing, the event happened over the summer, and I'm willing to bet a lot of Cornell students missed the story completely. The murder happened off-campus, which removes a lot of the drama. Also, both the victim and the accused have families living outside the country, so the American press didn't feel a strong need to play out their stories.

(A Google news search for Blazej Kot turns up three articles from the last month, none of which have been written by the American press.)

Annie Le's case is different, and the media's fixation on her case is something we should not wish upon any academic institution.

Cornell Endowment Up Since June

The Ithaca Journal reports that the value of Cornell's endowment dropped 26 percent in the fiscal year ending June 30, but that it rose by 6.2 percent in July and August.

"Cornell's endowment continues to have a strong liquidity position, mindful both of anticipated calls from our investment partners and the needs of the institution," said James Walsh, Cornell's chief investment officer.

It's possible that further gains in the endowment might mitigate some of the further budget cuts expected over the next two years.

ECAC Resurgence Annoys Western Fans

College hockey season is almost upon us. With this comes the usual debate about polls.

Polls are essentially meaningless. They reflect the opinion of a few observers and have no bearing on tournament seedings or (unlike in the BCS) computer rankings.

But polls do serve other purposes. They matter for issues of prestige -- recruiting and media attention. They can help get a team more games on TV and increase student enthusiasm for hockey at highly-ranked schools.

The College Hockey News released another pre-season poll this week, with a few changes from its summer poll in May, on account of early departures and other issues.

September: (May ranking)
1. Denver (1)
2. Miami (3)
3. Boston University (5)
4. Cornell (4)
5. Michigan (6)
6. Minnesota (8)
7. Princeton (7)
8. Notre Dame (2)
9. Mass.-Lowell (10)
10. Yale (NR)

Notice anything? That's three teams from the ECAC (Cornell, Princeton, Yale) in the top 10, with only two from the WCHA (Denver and Minnesota). Sure enough, the westerners are none too happy about this perceived insult to their side of the country.

North Dakota fan "Goon," who posted a few times on eLynah last fall around the time of the Cornell-UND series, had this to say:

When I saw this CHN poll I thought you have got to be kidding me? This is a joke right? I mean seriously we have three EZAC teams in the top ten. The same three teams that if you put them in the WCHA would be struggling to make the top five to gain home ice for the WCHA playoffs. I know there are many that feel the same way as I do.

Maybe your league should win an national title in this decade and then maybe you will get the props you deserve. This is the same league that went 1-3 in the 2009 NCAA tourney. Please! I think UND and Wisconsin deserved to be in the top ten. I don't have a problem with the top three teams but I am to believe that Cornell is fourth best team in division one hockey.

From top to bottom, there is no doubt that the WCHA (and CCHA and HEA) are stronger conferences than the ECAC. But I think the top teams in the ECAC (Cornell, Yale, and Princeton) can compete with the top teams in any other conference, including the WCHA. Non-conference results from last year tend to agree with this statement. As for the NCAA tournament, Princeton would have advanced if they hadn't choked at the end, while Yale lost to a Vermont team which nearly took out BU in the Frozen Four. Cornell, of course, had the lead in the game which would have sent them to the Frozen Four.

A Wisconsin fan was equally angry:

See when you play a panzy ass schedule like the ECAC (or the CCHA) the PWR favors you because you can rack up wins against bad teams, only facing tough competition on occasion. In the WCHA, where are the bad teams? Oh sure Tech and UAA and Mankato are regularly at the bottom, but while they are bad by WCHA standards they are still better than any team outside of the top 3 in the ECAC, and probably just as good as those.

This is all wrong. The PWR heavily favors schedule strength, which is why Wisconsin was able to make the 16-team NCAA tournament in 2008 with a record of 15-16-7. Five other WCHA teams made the tournament that year as well.

If anything, Cornell is hurt by the PWR, since our relatively easy schedule means we can't afford to lose very many games.

Of course, the teams will have a chance to justify their preseason rankings once the season begins in around a month.

Calling the Knight Institute

Some Harvard undergrads have started HerCampus, which is billed as a "collegiette's guide to life." (In a largely incoherent post, IvyGate doesn't seem to like it.)

One Cornell sophomore has begun writing columns for them. Her first column was a look at the sorority rush process:

I decided the best way to go about this was to treat rush like another three-credit class. My roommate and I immediately began researching—we learned the Greek alphabet, we talked to guys at frat parties and girls at other schools, we trolled Facebook and Juicy Campus for more hours a day than we did our reading.

Her most recent column, about caffeine usage, includes a "references" list. This is generally a good thing to do when you're writing a paper, but maybe not if your references include Wikipedia, a friend, and the barista at the local Starbucks.

References:

http://www.abc.net.au/quantum/poison/caffeine/caffeine.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caffeine#Overuse

Starbucks Barista, Collegetown, Ithaca, NY

http://web.archive.org/web/20070614144016/http://www.cspinet.org/nah/caf...

Maya Guerra, Cornell University sophomore

http://www.freezecollegemag.com/health/0509_energy.php

I'm not trying to be harsh on her, but I hope that Cornell's freshman writing seminars make clear that these kinds of sources are unacceptable. Reading Wikipedia is fine, but you need to confirm the information somewhere else. If you're relying on friends or baristas for facts, you need to verify what they tell you elsewhere.

I realize that this is an online column, and not an academic paper, but it reflects poorly on the writer when the references are so laughable. As a fellow Cornell student, I hope the author knows the difference.

(Knight Institute)

Book Titles, If They Were Written Today

A couple:

Then: The Wealth of Nations
Now: Invisible Hands: The Mysterious Market Forces That Control Our Lives and How to Profit from Them

Then: Walden
Now: Camping with Myself: Two Years in American Tuscany

More

I'll be back to real blogging later today. Promise.

More Kanye West

Click here and enjoy it.

Fire In Cornell's Particle Accelerator

Ithaca Journal:

Ithaca Firefighters responded to an alarm of fire at Wilson Synchrotron at 12:47 this morning. While responding, units heard Cornell Life Safety radio traffic that there was a smoke condition in the north section of the underground accelerator ring. Upon arrival the smoke condition was confirmed. Crews entered the building and made their way towards the north part of the underground ring.

The fire was quickly put out, but damage is estimated at $5,000 to $10,000.

Many students don't know we even have a particle accelerator on campus, and its uses are mysterious to us non-science people:

The particle accelerator runs 24 hours a day, seven days a week with the exception of maintenance and improvement periods. The cost of energy, maintenance, equipment and staff salaries is covered by an annual budget of approximately $20 million.

At this point, students who don’t know much about physics are probably asking what all this means.

Prof. David G. Cassel, physics, associate director of LEPP, was more than happy to answer that question.

“It accelerates particles,” he said with a smile.

Cornell Alum Nominated For Court of Appeals

Washington Post:

Virginia Supreme Court Justice Barbara Milano Keenan, a longtime Northern
Virginian who has served at every level of the Virginia judiciary, was nominated
by President Obama on Monday to serve on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the
Fourth Circuit.

[...]

Keenan was born in Austria, where her father, a highly decorated World War
II veteran, was serving as chief of intelligence operations after the war. She
was raised in Northern Virginia and received her bachelor's degree from Cornell
University in 1971, her law degree from George Washington University in 1974,
and a master's of law from the University of Virginia in 1992. She lives in
Alexandria.

Was Schor's Death A Response To Medication?

Schor's family, the hospital, and the Cornell administration have all been tight-lipped about how H1N1 claimed the 20-year-old's life. Consensus seems to be that Schor had some sort of underlying condition, although a Hudson Valley newspaper spoke with someone at Cayuga Medical Center who denied that Schor had a separate medical problem.

So it is with respect to the family that I speculate a little about what may have happened.

Schor's brother posted on Warren's Facebook page last Tuesday that "Warren is in an induced coma on a ventilator."

"Hannah" from New York posted some details on the U.S. News site, although there is no way to determine if these are accurate:

Andrew [earlier poster] is correct; Warren was sent to Cayuga Hospital with
flu-like symptoms, and during his treatment experienced an allergic reaction to
a medication, which caused him to go into a coma from which he never awoke.

Note the inconsistency between an "induced coma" and the medication causing him to go into a coma.

Schor's death, it seems, may have been due more to his reaction to the medication than to the flu virus, although his condition must have been fairly bad in the first place for him to have gone to the hospital.

Regardless of what happened, this is a terrible situation for everyone involved and I hope that we will soon hit our peak of cases at Cornell. The number of infected students has reached 623, according to today's Sun. The paper also noted that there were only 256 cases of seasonal flu in the course of the last academic year.

Townies Alarmed By Spread of H1N1

At least those who comment on the Ithaca Journal site.

"Suzr66" wants Cornell students to isolate themselves in order to keep the flu from spreading to Townies:

I think they should consider cancelling classes until they have this under control and ask the students to stay on the campuses and inside the buildings they live in until they know where this is all coming from, there has to be be a source whether it be ball games or classes or even the parties they may be having maybe they shouldn't be adding to it by crowding all together at this point the smaller the groups the better until this is over tey not infect everyone who lives here...

And "dc0804" objects to a community flu forum at the Ithaca High School cafeteria because the representatives from Cornell may be carrying the virus with them:

Now this is about the dumbest thing i have read thus far you want to bring people down from cornell who have been incontact with the students into our local high school where our children eat and hold a meeting for an hr and half Why dont you have the meeting at cornell why spread in to our local schools?? I hope this is reconsidered

Although the two events are obviously on quite different scales, is anyone else reminded of what happened in many parts of Europe during the black plague? Confused about how the disease operated, many people blamed minority groups, such as Jews or traveling merchants, and took out their frustrations on these people.

And That's Why I Voted For Obama

Reportedly, the president called Kanye West a "jackass" during an off-the-record portion of an interview for ABC News today.

As some of my readers know, I have a bit of a crush on Taylor Swift and I thought Kanye's actions at Sunday's VMAs were appalling.

Even his apology was moronic, as he includes a line about how Beyonce had the "best video of the decade."

And to those who are ready to pounce on Obama for saying something like this, just remember the way Dick Cheney liked to talk. I think it's much more acceptable to call Kanye West a jackass than to tell a six-term Senator to go fuck himself.

(Politico)

Update: Here's the audio.

H1N1 Total Reaches 535 Students

The latest number is buried in a Chronicle article from yesterday about how volunteers have been assembling flu kits to be delivered to students. The actual number is likely higher, since some students probably haven't bothered to call Gannett.

If that number is current for Saturday, then that would have been an increase of around 250 students from Monday. It's certainly spreading, but not so fast as to overwhelm Cornell's resources. We'll see whether there's another big jump after the weekend.

I'm not sure whether the IFC ban on social events made any difference. If anything, it may have backfired. Many houses still held unofficial parties, and Collegetown bars and annexes were crowded this weekend. By eliminating some of the places people could go, the ban succeeded in making everywhere else more crowded, which may have accelerated the spread of flu. I doubt the IFC will be willing to extend its ban on social events past this Wednesday, despite whatever pressure the administration may be putting on Eddie Rooker.

On a more meaningful note, every fraternity has placed a candle in a window of their house to remember Warren Schor, who was in Zeta Beta Tau. Regardless of the rivalries which exist between many of the fraternities, we can all agree that the death of a brother is one of the hardest things for a house to face.

Cornell Dodges Tougher LSC Monitoring

I've previously discussed how the debate over Cornell's controversial Lake Source Cooling (LSC) project has been heating up this summer.

This past week, an overseeing committee voted 4-4 on whether to increase monitoring of LSC, which results in nothing happening. This is undoubtedly a victory for Cornell, and will lead to further grumblings from area residents about exactly what effects LSC is causing for the local environment.

Amid concerns about whether a non-political body should get involved in the sometimes heated debate on Lake Source Cooling, the special joint committee that oversees the Ithaca Area Wastewater Treatment Facility narrowly defeated a resolution intended to support its lab director in advocating for more monitoring of Cornell University's cooling program.

At its Wednesday afternoon meeting, the committee voted 4-4 on a resolution that would have supported the formal participation of sewage plant staff on the Tompkins County Water Resources Council/Cornell University partnership.

(Ithaca Journal)

Hockey Ticket Process Announced

Two weeks ago, I hinted that the process for buying hockey season tickets this year would be different, with priority given to those who have purchased tickets in the past.

On Friday, the official announcement was posted on the Athletics web site. I'm quite biased, but I think it's a good system.

Previously, priority among undergraduates was only given to seniors, regardless of whether they had purchased tickets before. This resulted in two problems. Younger students would "game" the system by having disinterested senior friends pick up line numbers, and the younger students would use these line numbers to purchase their tickets. And seniors who had never shown a previous interest in hockey were allowed to choose seats before juniors and sophomores who may be substantially more interested in Cornell hockey.

The new system does a much better job of rewarding the biggest hockey fans. Seniors who have picked up line numbers in the three previous years are virtually guaranteed tickets, and they have first choice. (Why not? These students are the most dedicated fans.)

Juniors and seniors who have picked up line numbers in two previous years are also essentially guaranteed tickets, and they pick after the seniors with three years of experience.

Priority is even given to students who have picked up one line number in previous years, since they have also shown some degree of dedication to Cornell hockey. The 400 tickets reserved will cover almost all of these students.

All students who have never tried to buy tickets before, whether they are freshmen or seniors, are grouped together in the general group. But don't worry, these students still have a very good chance to get tickets. There are 550 tickets reserved for them, plus any leftovers from the previous three groups. And I'm sure freshmen with a strong interest in hockey will be able to figure out a way to ensure that they get tickets.

In addition to the changes in the distribution of tickets, the other major change is the elimination of the "camp out." Due to concerns over H1N1, including the fact that the Ramin Room in Bartels may be used by either Cornell or Tompkins County in the event of a flu pandemic, it was impossible to hold the "camp out" this year. Many students will certainly welcome this change, although it eliminates a central part of the Cornell hockey experience.

The new system seeks not to simply reward the older fans, but to reward the most dedicated fans. This is a change which will result in a stronger Lynah Faithful to cheer on the Big Red as they embark upon what should be their best chance at a national championship during my time at Cornell.

"Green" Spam?

Are the email scam artists in Nigeria trying to take advantage of America's new-found environmental consciousness?

To celebrate this month of Augusts’ ending anniversary program.
Chevron/Texaco has given you a donation of $980,000.00USD
As a compensation for environmental hazards caused by our
Product, we hope this donation will be used well, not
Only for you but your community.

What's next, free Priuses if I respond with my SSN?

Cornell Student Dies From Swine Flu

Message from President Skorton:

Dear members of the Cornell community:

It is with deepest sadness and regret that I inform you of the loss of one of our students today at Cayuga Medical Center. Warren J. Schor, 20, died of complications related to H1N1 influenza. The university has been in close contact with Warren's family, and we wish to convey our heartfelt condolences to them and to his many friends. Please keep them in your thoughts in the following days.

While not confirmed, it seems implied that Schor suffered from a pre-existing condition which made him more susceptible to the flu's more serious effects. This is a tragic incident and I hope that he will be the last Cornell student to have died from this strain of flu.

We'll see what happens in response to Schor's death. I'd already perceived a more serious shift in the administration's policy towards the flu over the previous few days, and that may have been in response to the news of Schor's worsening conditions.

Please let's all do our part to slow or limit the spread of swine flu.

Update: And the media blitz begins. Drudge links to a story (right column).

Not A Swine Flu Post

To take a break from swine flu blogging, here's something I enjoyed reading this evening. For my thesis, I've been studying Joseph Davey's book about prison expansion, in which he blames "tough on crime" governors for the rise in incarceration rates from 1972-1992. His description of former Arizona Governor Evan Mecham made me laugh a little. Maybe you'll like it, too. If not, I'll write about Cornell again tomorrow.

Evan Mecham was the first U.S. governor to be impeached in fifty-nine years. He had angered a large number of the voters by canceling the state holiday to honor the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. [...]

Mecham argued that the pressure for him to resign came from "militant liberals and homosexuals," and one of Mecham's supporters compared the investigation of the governor to the trial and passion of Jesus Christ. [...] In the years following his impeachment, Mecham remained active in political fringe groups, headed a white supremacist organization called "Constitutionalists' Networking Center" and founded a political party called CURE, which stood for "Constitutionally Unified Republic for Everyone." [...]

Mecham supported and was supported by members of the John Birch society, and is on record as stating "that President Eisenhower supported socialist policies." Mecham further argued that "federal policies regarding education, homosexuals, welfare programs and separation of church and state were the same symptoms that led to the fall of the Roman empire."

Early on in his administration his derogatory remarks angered blacks, homosexuals, women, journalists, legislators and politicians. He cost the state millions in revenue from canceled conventions and companies that decided not to locate in Arizona. He also argued that the United States might have become "too much of a democracy." (pp. 69-70)

IFC Suspends Social Events

At tonight's Interfraternity Council meeting, the IFC voted by more than a 2-to-1 margin to suspend social events for the next week. The measure is supposed to slow the spread of swine flu. The IFC will address the situation again at next Wednesday's meeting.

WVBR also has a quick write-up of what happened.

Salem Still Wants "Community Clause"

Back in March, I expressed concern about Student Assembly then-president-elect Rammy Salem's idea to increase student participation in the SA. Salem had proposed that any student who attended three consecutive SA meetings would receive voting rights, essentially having power equal to any elected member of the SA.

I applaud the spirit of the initiative, but I explained in March why this is a bad idea:

Imagine if this policy had been in place before the S.A.'s ultimately meaningless vote last spring on whether to allow the concealed carry of firearms on campus. Supporters of the resolution could have brought 15-20 like-minded students to S.A. meetings earlier in the semester, and then used these ringers to overpower the actual Assembly members and force passage of the resolution. We could see situations in which an active, yet small, minority of students, force generally unpopular resolutions through the S.A.

In theory, this is an interesting concept and a well-intentioned attempt to get students more involved and interested in the Student Assembly. However, I'm afraid that it will be a tool used by specific interests to railroad legislation which would not otherwise be passed by the democratically elected members of the SA.

Today, Salem took to the pages of the Sun to push for his policy:

The students you elected to serve on the S.A. are no different from you. I am confident that any student on this campus can fulfill my role on the S.A. just as well, if not better, than I can. All it takes is a familiarity with the processes and procedures as well as an understanding of the roles and powers of the Assembly. And the only way to get a real grasp of how we operate is by attending meetings.

The SA will be voting on the resolution at tomorrow's meeting. It's a difficult resolution to vote against (not that there's any real accountability for SA votes), but I'm hoping SA members will proceed cautiously on this issue.

Update: I've read the text of the resolution and it doesn't go as far as I'd expected. Non-elected students wouldn't be able to vote on funding issues and would be excluded from all "executive sessions."

iv. The community clause may only be exercised on final votes of sense-of-body resolutions pursuant to Bylaw 1.3.a.4, which excludes (1) funding and budgetary decisions, (2) amendments to the SA Charter and Standing Rules, (3) the ability to make motions, (4) creation/dissolution of committees (5) selection of officers, committee members, and liaisons from the popularly elected SA (i.e. allocation of the Student Activity Fee, SAFC appeals, approval of Parliamentarian, Liaison to the Provost, etc.).

Daily Sun Expresses Support for Ndulo

A week ago, I wrote about the case of the Cornell law professor who faces charges in Zambia. Muna Ndulo wrote an opinion piece for Zambia's largest newspaper in which he defended the paper's editors against charges of obscenity; in return, he was charged by a magistrate with contempt of court.

Today, the Sun ran an editorial expressing support for Ndulo:

Heroically, both Ndulo and the editors seem determined to fight the charges against them. They have filed petitions for judicial review and were granted a stay by a different judge until additional hearings are conducted. Ndulo told a BBC program last week that he would return to Zambia if summoned, declaring, “I am not afraid.”

If Zambian prosecutors choose to pursue the case, and if Ndulo chooses to leave Cornell to face charges, he must travel with the support of the University behind him.

I think it's fair to say that I agree completely with the author of the editorial.

Swine Flu Case Total Reaches 291

Press release last night / Sun article this morning

As expected, the number of suspected cases continues to rise, essentially doubling since before the weekend.

Gannett Health Services seems to be taking the stance that students should remain in their rooms and take care of themselves, unless they are either (a) uncomfortable with doing this, or (b) have serious symptoms or other conditions which require some sort of medical attention.

I'm sure beer pong, the most popular drinking game at Cornell, hasn't been helping to slow the spread of H1N1:

A Cornell student wishing to remain anonymous was diagnosed with probable swine flu on Sunday at Cayuga Medical Center. She suspects that she contracted the flu by drinking out of the wrong cup at a party.

It seems like this student was doing her best to only drink out of one cup, but there are plenty of students who are still happy to chug some Keystone Light out of a Solo cup which may have been sitting on a table for a couple of hours, with 5-10 other people having drank from it previously.

We look back on the bubonic plague of the Middle Ages with some sense of modern superiority (Of course the plague spread to so many people! They had poor sanitation!), but given everything we know about the spread of illness, the game of beer pong looks mighty stupid these days.

The Labor Day Quiet

Like every other morning, I reached the top of the stairs by the suspension bridge and crossed the now-closed University Avenue, but something didn't seem normal. It took me a few more steps -- past the construction fencing and portable trailers -- to realize what was different about today.

There was no noise.

Usually, my walk to the Arts Quad takes me through a veritable construction zone, between the Milstein Hall work on one side and the Johnson Museum work on the other. Traveling towards Goldwin Smith, I start to hear the sounds of the work on the new life sciences building. If I head towards the Engineering Quad, I'm in earshot of the noise coming from the Statler addition.

Today, there was nothing. The students were walking around and classes were in session, but the crane, bulldozers, and drills were silent. There was no beep beep of trucks backing up, only the chimes from McGraw Tower. My seminar was not disrupted, as is usual, by the harsh sound of jackhammers or the sharp yells of construction workers. It's amazing how far a conversation -- or even footsteps -- can travel when there's no din of construction in the background.

I know that construction is necessary, and beneficial in the long run, but it has a unique ability to disturb the peaceful calm of the campus which I experienced today. On Labor Day, everything was quiet, and it was good.

Reminiscences of Cornell

The NYT asked several "people who have been there awhile" to give some college advice on the op-ed page of Sunday's paper.

Here's part of Steven Weinberg's piece about Cornell:

But I did graduate, and took away with me memories of several inspiring professors, of walks with friends under beautiful old elms, and of hours spent reading in the music room of the student union.

Just go read the whole thing; it's three paragraphs.

Media Descends on Cornell

The Cornell swine flu outbreak has attracted the attention of local TV stations.

Elmira-based WETM found one student with the swine flu, and managed to spell his name three different ways in the article.

“The gave me an isolation kit which has Kleenex, mask's [sic], thermometer, ibuprofen and a huge thing of Purell”, said Pauly.

WBNG came up from Binghamton to cover the story. It seems like the Cornell Law School has been hit particularly hard.

"I wasn't surprised at all. I go to the Law School and it seems like half the people there are sick already," says Sara Myers of Buffalo.

It doesn't seem like many students have been staying in to avoid contracting the swine flu, and none of my close friends have gotten it yet. This will probably change in a week or two.

Is Rebecca Johnston The Best Athlete At Cornell?

After the graduation last year of lacrosse star Max Seibald -- who was rumored to be faster than anyone on the track team -- who's the best athlete on Cornell's campus?

It might be hockey forward Rebecca Johnston. Last season, as a sophomore, Johnston led the team with 20 goals and 25 assists and was named second-team All-American. We can probably credit Johnston for helping the team win 12 games each the last two seasons, up from 4 the year before Johnston arrived.

For the last week, Johnston played with the Canadian women's hockey team in the Hockey Canada Cup, which is a warm-up for the Olympics. She scored five goals in her first two games, and even met actor Robert Pattinson from Twilight. Seems like a good week overall.

Unfortunately, the Canadian coach benched Johnston for the tournament final, calling her decision-making "erratic." She is only 19, after all.

With Seibald and Jeomi Maduka having graduated, Johnston might be the best athlete at Cornell. And while men's hockey season tickets will cost $247 this year, admission to women's hockey games is free for students. It'll be a good opportunity to see someone who will probably be playing for the Canadian Olympic team in a couple of years.

Update: 140 Sick, One Hospitalization

Message on the website:

Gannett has seen or spoken with more than 140 students with influenza-like illness in the past two weeks. One student living off campus has been hospitalized with complications related to the flu; but most students we've seen so far have had relatively mild illness and recovered fully with little or no intervention.

Think things are bad at Cornell? Two thousand students at Washington State have come down with H1N1.

Also, Cornell gets its first wire article about the swine flu outbreak.

Swine Flu: Now Or Later?

I wrote yesterday that at least 60 Cornell students have come down with H1N1, and the Review blog announced today that it was spreading through Hans Bethe House on west campus.

As people I know are starting to get sick, I've been thinking more about the "swine flu parties" which got a good deal of attention in the spring. The idea behind the parties is that one sick person (who has suffered only minor symptoms) infects a number of healthy people, each of whom is then sick for a week or so. The newly sick people now have immunity against the swine flu, and may also have immunity against potentially stronger (and deadlier) strains of the flu which experts expect may circulate later this fall and winter.

From my standpoint, getting sick over the next few days wouldn't be such a bad thing. I don't have too much work yet, and I'd recover before my birthday, the LSAT, and hockey season, all of which require me to be in fairly good health.

We'll see what happens. I'll be going to a few social events this weekend, so who knows, I might be spending a lot of next week in bed.

60 Cornell Students Infected With H1N1

A friend reports that he was told at a meeting yesterday that 60 Cornell students have contracted the swine flu since the start of the semester.

I would assume that most colleges in the country have begun to see cases of H1N1 circulate. Emory enjoys the luxury of having a vacant dorm which they can use to isolate infected students. Kansas undergraduates seem to be cooperating with instructions to stay in their rooms. Both of these schools have set up a meal delivery service so sick students do not need to leave their rooms.

A meal delivery service at Cornell would not be such a bad idea. With only two large dining halls on north campus, a handful of sick freshmen can turn into a lot of sick freshmen very quickly.

Does Milstein Hall Fit In?

I don't know, you tell me.

This one of the exterior renderings for Milstein Hall, as seen from the intersection by the Thurston bridge:

Cornell's Unwritten Rules

One of the rules in Cornell's unwritten student-faculty compact is that the first class of the semester must be short. If it's a 50-minute class, end the class after 30. If it's a 75-minute class, end the class after 45 or 50 minutes. And if it's a 115-minute seminar, God help you if you don't let the kids out when that first hour is up.

The first class is supposed to be an introduction. The professor distributes the syllabus and talks briefly about the course format, readings, and material covered. If it's a seminar, the students can go around the table and introduce themselves. But there shouldn't be any new material covered. The students haven't quite gotten back into the academic mindset, and chances are that a few will drop the class anyway. End the class early and get ready for a real class next time.

Consider me in complete accordance with what K.W. wrote in last Friday's Kvetch.

Why do all professors think it’s OK to lecture for the entire class time on the first day? Everyone knows the first class meeting is for a quick glance at the syllabus, then back to orientation week mode. We’ve got places to drink!

Not just to drink; we've got to buy books, hoard academic planners, and do whatever else Cornell students do at the start of the semester. It's not easy to switch from summer mode to class mode!

Arts, Sciences, And Core Requirements

Munier Salem's column from Monday makes some excellent points about A&S's weak core curriculum. Salem notes that Cornell's College of Arts and Sciences recently received an "F" from The American Council of Trustees and Alumni for "failing to require all but one course [language] in their list of core subjects."

Here’s why Cornell fared so poorly:

“No credit given for Composition because the First-Year Writing Seminars are topic courses in a range of disciplines. No credit given for Mathematics because the Mathematics and Quantitative Reasoning requirement may be satisfied by courses of little college-level math such as ‘Mathematical Explorations’ and ['Mathematics and Politics'] and ‘Evaluating Statistical Evidence,’ a course in the sociology department noted in its description as ‘not a math class per se.’ No credit given for Natural or Physical Science because the Physical and Biological Sciences requirement may be satisfied by courses with little science content such as ‘The Language of Chemistry’ and ‘Why the Sky is Blue: Aspects of the Physical World’.”

Previously, I've complained about the preponderance of "joke" classes in A&S, some of which appear on my transcript. I hate the names, but the classes are easy and satisfy requirements, so I take them.

Salem argues that "Cornell should remove joke courses from the list of eligible ways to fulfill breadth requirements." I think we can keep a lot of the courses if we change the course names and put some actual material into these classes.

If ACTA mocks Cornell's course offerings, I have to assume that employers and graduate school admissions officers also have a good laugh at what they see on some Cornell transcripts. For a university which tries to be Very Serious About Academics, Cornell ships off its students with some real holes on their transcripts.

I don't want to have to take a "real" science class at Cornell, but it probably wouldn't have killed me to suffer through one semester of something. It's not unreasonable for A&S to expect of this of its students, instead of winking as students satisfy requirements with "Blue Sky, Green Planet" and other such offerings.

Cornell Law Prof. To Face Charges in Zambia

Professor Muna Ndulo has taught at Cornell Law School since 1996, but he may be returning to his country of birth, Zambia, to face charges.

Zambia's leading independent newspaper, The Post, and United States' University
of Cornell Professor of Law, Muna Ndulo, have been cited for contempt of court
over an article the professor wrote on the ongoing trial of The Post news
editor, Chansa Kabwela.

The original article, which ran on August 27, can be found here. Ndulo defends the editor of The Post, who faces charges of obscenity for printing two photographs of a woman giving birth outside of a hospital while its workers were on strike. Ndulo also criticizes the Zambian criminal justice system for going forward with the case.

The chief resident magistrate of Lusaka did not appreciate the article:

Magistrate Kafunda said having read Prof Ndulo's article, he was satisfied that
the article had contemptuous matter in it. He cited The Post Editor-in-Chief
Fred Mmembe and the author of the article, Prof Ndulo.

Yesterday, Ndulo informed the BBC that he was willing to return to Zambia to face charges:

United States-based University of Cornell Professor of Law Muna Ndulo has said
he is ready to travel and appear before chief resident magistrate Charles
Kafunda in a matter of contempt over the article he recently wrote on the
ongoing trial of Post news editor Chansa Kabwela.

It will be interesting to see if Ndulo does return to Zambia. The Zambian government might decide to drop the charges instead of taking the chance that the issue will become an international one. The Zambian government's campaign against journalists has not gotten much attention internationally, but Ndulo's return would result in a significant amount of bad publicity for Zambia. I'm sure Cornell would take a strong stance on the issue if Ndulo were to return. It appears that Ndulo is not teaching any courses this fall, so Cornell students would not be impacted academically.

Edit: The Sun has an article in Wednesday's paper.