Mike Huckabee's Willie Horton

The parallels are obvious:

Maurice Clemmons, the 37-year-old Tacoma man being sought for questioning in the killing this morning of four Lakewood police officers, has a long criminal record punctuated by violence, erratic behavior and concerns about his mental health.

Nine years ago, then-Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee granted clemency to Clemmons, commuting his lengthy prison sentence over the protests of prosecutors.

If Clemmons does turn out to be guilty, I can't see Huckabee overcoming this awful political blunder. This is worse than Dukakis's; in that case, Horton was simply one person among many who was out on furlough. In this case, Huckabee specifically reviewed Clemmons' case and decided to grant him clemency.

Just look at what's still going on in Massachusetts, over 20 years after the 1988 presidential campaign.

In some ways, Willie Horton is the reason why I'm writing my honors thesis about partisanship and incarceration, which, in turn, is the reason why I will not be able to blog much until next week.

Make A Statement Tonight

Face it: the Cornell hockey team hasn't proved much of anything this season.

Sure, they've proven that they can score goals. Lots of them. But so far all they have done is beat up on cupcake teams. Tuesday's win over Colgate was their best yet, but 'gate is having an up-and-down season with a mediocre record of 6-4-4.

Cornell has failed its two big tests this year: Yale and Quinnipiac. Mistakes by veteran players did them in at Yale, and then the team embarrassed itself against Quinnipiac with undisciplined play.

Although tonight's game at Madison Square Garden is sold out, it's not quite the marquee matchup the organizers may have wanted. Boston University, the defending national champion, has already lost more games than they lost last season. Their star goalie from last year, Kieran Millan, is quickly spending his acquired goodwill and is unlikely to start tonight. Sophomore Grant Rollheiser has played better than Millan this season, which is bad for Cornell. Millan gave up 5 goals to Harvard on Tuesday, while Rollheiser hasn't given up more than 3 in any game.

Cornell will also need to face down the demons of its last date with BU at Madison Square Garden, a 6-3 blowout two years ago. In that game, the team seemed overwhelmed by the environment and Ben Scrivens let in 5 goals. Scrivens will have the chance to make up for that poor outing tonight.

BU is unlikely to be overwhelmed. Most of this team played on the biggest stages of college hockey last season, and pulled off a dramatic comeback win in the NCAA championship game. Playing in front of 18,000 at MSG won't be much different from the 18,000 at the Verizon Center who saw them win back in April. BU is also playing against BC at Fenway Park in January, so their program is familiar with these big events.

Nerves will likely play a factor for Cornell again, especially since they will be using the Rangers' locker room.

What helps the Big Red is the simple fact that it can score goals. The top line of Colin Greening, Blake Gallagher, and Joe Devin is the best in college hockey. Whether on even strength or the powerplay, expect two goals to come from this line tonight. BU's defense is shaky so an early goal or two can decide the game.

The key, however, is Ben Scrivens. We can't win the big games when he doesn't play well. Cornell isn't one of those teams which can win a 6-5 shootout when the goalie isn't doing well. Scrivens has looked a little uncertain at times this year; on Tuesday, Colgate's second goal apparently hit him in the chest and rolled over his shoulder and into the net.

Finally, BU's Jack Parker is a successful hockey coach, and I'm sure his staff has been watching a lot of video. They will surely have noticed that Cornell has but two options on the powerplay. There is the shot from the point, which rarely makes it to the net, and there is the one-timer from Blake Gallagher along the left side, which often makes it to the net. No real other creativity. Unless the team figures out something else to do with the puck on the man advantage, this might be one of those 0-for-6 nights on the powerplay.

I'm going with 3-1 Cornell. Scrivens plays well and the defense comes through. Once the team gets the lead, Schafer turns to good ol' fashioned grind it out Cornell hockey and bores the MSG crowd, but secures the win. Gallagher, Greening, and Joe Scali with the goals. Brendon Nash with 4 penalty minutes. Scrivens with 26 saves.

Cornell and BU Coaches' Radio Interviews

Head over to the Hockey on Campus site to hear from BU Coach Jack Parker and Cornell Coach Mike Schafer '86.

Former Cornell player Justin Milo was interviewed the previous week.

It's actually been a pretty boring interview so far...

They've been talking about the importance of staying for four years if a player wants to make the NHL. Interesting that Schafer mentions Bitz but not Moulson. Remember that Bitz just threw in some nice words for Schafer in a recent Boston Globe interview:

“He really preached not turning the puck over and being good defensively,’’ Bitz said. “If you didn’t do that kind of stuff, you just wouldn’t play. It was important that you be good defensively and really take care of the puck. I think that was where my puck-possession game evolved. That stuff was ingrained in me for four years. You had to do that stuff. Thankfully, it’s kind of carried over and I’ve made that a strong point of my game.’’

Schafer says that the only group who didn't have a good time at last Red Hot Hockey "was us." Personally, I wasn't on the ice, but I didn't particularly enjoy watching Cornell lose, 6-3. He blames a combination of poor Cornell play and good BU goaltending ("best game he played all year") for the loss last time.

Schafer gets his facts wrong, saying that in 2002-3 the two games in Florida were the only ones Cornell lost until the NCAA tournament. Cornell lost to Dartmouth earlier in the fall and then to Colgate in February.

Schafer remained very positive on Riley Nash, which was a little surprising given that he's only scored two goals this year. I might have expected something like "we know he hasn't scored much this year, but he's been playing well and we're confident the goals will start to come." No big deal either way, though.

Cornell takes on Boston University at 8pm on Saturday at Madison Square Garden.

Why I Root For Cornell Hockey

Apologies again for the break in blogging. It's been a hectic few days and things will stay that way for two more weeks.

Yesterday, Cornell hockey fans celebrated the commitment of Phillipe Hudon to Cornell in 2011. Hudon currently plays for Choate, a prep school in my home state of Connecticut:

USHR had a chance to speak with Choate's coach, Pat Dennehy, who said "[Phillipe] has a real edge to his game – a grittiness. He’s first in on the forecheck, first back on the backcheck, and he’ll try to hurt you, which is what Cornell and the pro scouts want to see. He’s the full package.” Have to like the sound of that. USHR also had this to say to Cornell fans wondering what kind of player Phillipe is... "think Colin Greening."

Phillipe selected the Big Red over Yale and Vermont, although he was also being recruited by BC, BU, Harvard, Michigan, and Princeton.

Given current Cornell senior Colin Greening's absolute physical dominance over the rest of the ECAC this year, it's hard not to start salivating at the thought of having someone coming to Ithaca in a couple of years who may turn into that sort of player.

However, Hudon's commitment doesn't really change the fact that Cornell rarely brings in big-name recruits. Sure, Cornell's freshman class was ranked 13th in the nation this year, but this was only good for third in the ECAC. Our rival, Harvard, consistently puts together phenomenal recruiting classes and then goes on to have another mediocre season.

Moreover, the "top" recruits whom Cornell has recruited in recent years haven't always worked out well. First round NHL pick Sasha Pokulok had two unexciting seasons at Cornell before departing for the pros and watching his career fizzle out. Tony Romano, considered the #3 recruit in New England when he came to Cornell, stayed for one year before deciding his hockey development was better served elsewhere. First-rounder Riley Nash '11 led the team in goals last year, but his numbers have still been below what people in the Oilers organization probably would like to see. He won't be back next year.

There are plenty of obvious explanations for the dearth of blue chip talents in Big Red uniforms. The lack of athletic scholarships. Cornell's admissions policies. Our distance from both the hockey hotbed of the upper midwest and the prep school scene in New England. A defense-first mentality which means forwards will score fewer goals here than elsewhere.

Yet Cornell has proven able to compete on a national level despite the lack of big names. After Riley Nash, Cornell's five other drafted players were all taken in the last two rounds of the draft. Cornell's currently-most-famous-alum-playing-in-the-NHL, Matt Moulson, was drafted in 2003 in a round (9th) which no longer exists.

For me, this is a good reason to root for Cornell hockey. Although Cornell teams tend to be successful, it's not like rooting for the Yankees; the Bronx Bombers can purchase star players from elsewhere and use them to craft a championship team, while the Big Red must work with the players who come in through the difficult recruiting process.

[Disclaimer: my own interest in Cornell does stem somewhat from fair-weather fandom. My other primary favorite team, the Detroit Tigers, was having some exceptionally miserable seasons (i.e. 43-119 in 2003) while Cornell hockey was having plenty of success (Frozen Four in 2003).]

Plenty of credit is due to the coaches. Players like Blake Gallagher, Topher Scott, Evan Barlow, Mike Iggulden, Charlie Cook, Jared Seminoff, Tyler Mugford, and even Ben Scrivens, came to Cornell without much pomp and circumstance but went on to contribute substantially during their four years in Ithaca.

It's quite fun to watch Cornell's team of grinders, checkers, and under-the-radar recruits beat teams like Harvard who bring in "top" talent every year. On Saturday, Cornell faces BU; the Terriers had the sixth-best recruiting class this year. Look for players like Gallagher, Scrivens, Joe Scali, and Patrick Kennedy -- all undrafted -- to bring their top games against the defending NCAA champions.

Quote of the Day

"I believe that Lynah is the kind of place that sets rookie development back a good month for visiting squads."

Also, here's some further reading on tonight's opponent, Princeton.

For what it's worth, Brian Sullivan picks Cornell over Princeton 3-1, Quinny over Cornell 4-3, and Cornell over Colgate, 4-2.

Hockey Weekend Outlook

Last week, I predicted that Cornell would lose to Yale, 5-2, and then rebound to beat Brown, 3-0. I was somewhat right. Yale beat Cornell, 4-2. Cornell was leading Brown 3-0 with 3 minutes left. (Final was 6-0.)

In the strong ECAC of 2009-2010, there aren't many easy weekends. Just a couple of years ago, we would have looked at this coming weekend with a sigh of relief. Quinnipiac has never beaten Cornell, except that one time we don't talk about. And Princeton was awful (like 3-26-2 awful) until Kalemba, Jubinville, etc., came along. Colgate, meanwhile, has traditionally been the definition of mediocrity in the ECAC.

Things are different this year.

No. 19 Princeton is only 3-2-1, but they remain a dangerous team. If last year's games are any indication, tomorrow night's game will go down to the final minute. Cornell pulled off a 1-0 road win on the first night of the season last year, then Princeton stole a 2-1 victory at Lynah by scoring twice in the final 36 seconds as the Red imploded. In the ECAC semifinal game, Cornell came back to tie the game late in the 3rd before winning in double overtime. Cornell had trouble getting the puck past Kalemba last year; expect a low-scoring affair.

No. 13 Quinnipiac, at 8-1-0, currently holds the best record in all of college hockey. They opened the season with an impressive sweep of Ohio State in Columbus, and have won all four ECAC games so far (albeit against weak teams). Their lone loss was an 8-5 scorefest at lowly Robert Morris, but they still outshot RMU 63-33 that night. Just had some bad goaltending. Q is second in the nation in goals per game, just behind Cornell.

No. 23 Colgate comes to town on Tuesday, part of an arrangement worked out between the two schools so Cornell can host North Dakota for a weekend in January. Colgate is 5-2-4, but hasn't lost in almost a month. They sit in second place in the ECAC, having managed a 3-3 tie against Yale on Saturday. Perhaps Yale had a mental letdown after the excitement of playing Cornell the night before, or maybe Colgate is a better team at this point in the season than Cornell. We'll find out.

So, here are some predictions. Cornell plays a tight game with Princeton and ties, 2-2. The Quinnipiac offense runs all over Cornell's slow defensemen and wins, 5-3. Panic sets in at Lynah. The team recovers on Tuesday with a 2-0 victory over the Red Raiders. Cornell goes 1-1-1 over the long weekend and now sits at a respectable 5-2-1 heading into next Saturday's game against BU at Madison Square Garden.

Another Great Year for Cornell Sports?

There was some discussion over the summer about how great last year was for Cornell sports. The track teams continued to dominate, the gymnastics team won a national title, and hockey, basketball, wrestling, and lacrosse all had solid seasons.

After beating Alabama on the road to open the season, the Big Red basketball team received a couple of votes in the top 25 polls. Their victory tonight over UMass might earn them some additional respect.

Meanwhile, hockey has the talent to compete for a national title. Good results against Princeton, Quinnipiac, and Colgate this weekend will give us a good idea about where the season may be heading.

Could 2009-2010 be another great year for Cornell sports? Signs point to yes.

Who Is Elmira Mangum?

The university announced last week that Elmira Mangum will be the new vice president for budget and planning. Her appointment was approved last Wednesday by the board of trustees, and Mangum will start in February. Since my June post about Laura Brown seemed to gather a lot of interest, I'll try to do a little research on Mangum.

Mangum is no stranger to upstate New York, having held administrative positions at SUNY-Buffalo from 1984 to 2001. She has served as associate provost at UNC-Chapel Hill since 2001 and is in charge of preparing the operating budget each year.

Earlier this year, it was reported that UNC-Chapel Hill has the highest paid professors of any publicly-supported institution.

Like Cornell, UNC hired the services of Bain & Co. this year to find ways to cut costs and balance the budget. UNC faces a $60 million budget shortfall and is enacting 5 percent cuts across the board. However, unlike Cornell, UNC was able to solicit a private donation to hire Bain.

Mangum wrote a 1998 dissertation entitled "A study of the leadership behaviors of public four-year historically black college and university presidents as perceived by the presidents and their upper echelon administrators." She earns points for crafting a 26-word title with no punctuation.

Unsurprisingly, Mangum donated to Barack Obama's campaign. What is interesting is that she was a very early donor. She gave $500 in June '07 and then another $1800 in August '07, which meant that she was "maxed out" several months before the first primary. For whatever reason, she chose not to give again during the general election cycle (or donated a far smaller amount).

Mangum is a registered Democrat and has voted in every recent election. She may have signed an online petition encouraging North Carolina's superdelgates to cast their votes for Barack Obama at the convention. Mangum should feel at home politically at Cornell, since the senior staff members she will work with are mostly Democrats and Independents.

Mangum is 55 or 56 years old. She owns a four-bedroom, 3,600-sq. ft. home which is currently assessed at $414,188. It appears that she purchased the house in 2001 for $330,000.

Mangum was at one time known as Elmira Mangum-Daniel, which suggests she has since divorced.

We wish Mangum success and hope she is able to balance our budget.

Tough Times in the Ivory Tower

First, apologies for the lack of updates recently. I usually write a few posts in advance to post automatically when I'm away, but I didn't have a chance to do that this weekend.

There's been some additional economic coverage in the media the last couple of weeks, since we're around the one-year anniversary of when our financial system collapsed. You remember what happened -- the plunging stock market, the frantic political maneuvers to pass an unprecedented bailout bill, John McCain "suspending" his presidential campaign to return to Washington.

It took a while for the effects of the poor economy to reach Cornell, but its presence is now unavoidable. The reporters and editors at the Sun have had their hands full this fall, reporting on the various things which are being cut, or downsized, as well as the task force recommendations and consultant reports.

As a student, it seems clear that there are far fewer courses being offered this coming spring than in semesters past. I'm sure departments have needed to make tough decisions about cutting small classes. The eight people in an upper-level seminar might get a lot out of a particular class, but the department loses a lot of money in the process. Without hiring new faculty, there aren't professors available to replace others who have retired or gone on sabbatical.

But it's not just academics which have been affected. There are fewer intramural sports and P.E. classes. Dining hours have been cut back. Some of the grass on Libe Slope was not mowed. Every few days, there's another article in the Sun about something else being cut or reduced.

With the specter of budget cuts looming over nearly every part of the university, the campus dialogue has changed. Issues which may have gotten center attention now seem insignificant. The debate between student dining employees and CU Dining about wearing hats seems downright silly. Gone are the days when students, professors and administrators could quibble over a new parking lot, or criticize Skorton for not signing the Amethyst Initiative.

Now, we argue over how we spend the scarce funds we have left. We are criticizing the Student Assembly for the conflicts of interest which have apparently become part of its governing culture. Milstein Hall might have been constructed without too much opposition just a couple of years ago, but with other construction projects halted, it has become a lightning rod for criticism.

At times like these, one certainly has to feel for President Skorton. Instead of being able to celebrate the start of a new capital campaign, or the opening of new buildings on West Campus, he now finds himself having to decide which parts of the university budget to cut and which to protect. A collegiate Grim Reaper, if you will. Even Facebook seems to pity Skorton, as evidenced by this screenshot.

Cornell's financial pain has been exacerbated by its emotional pain. Five students have died this fall, and we have only been given an explanation for one of the deaths (a car accident). One died of unknown complications from H1N1, one died of unknown causes in his dorm room and was not found for a couple of days, and we have received no details about the causes of death for two others. In each case, the administration has thoughtfully conveyed its condolences and provided counseling services.

Overall, there has been little to cheer about on East Hill. Things will turn around, as they have before, but not before they get worse.

"Bush Went To Yale"

I've written previously about the importance of beating Yale if Cornell wants to accomplish anything this season.

Tonight, the Big Red have a chance to prove themselves in a big way, as they head into the hideously ugly Ingalls Rink for an early-season date with Yale.

Cornell is 6-1-0 against Yale in New Haven over the last seven seasons, but Yale swept all three meetings between the two teams last year, including a 5-0 rout in the ECAC championship game.

Brian Sullivan inexplicably picks Cornell to defeat Yale tonight, and then lose to a much less talented Brown team tomorrow night. I'll take the opposite; 5-2 Yale tonight then 3-0 Cornell tomorrow night.

Even if Cornell loses tonight, it'll be a positive step if they can at least skate well with Yale. Yale so thoroughly outplayed us last season that I'll settle for some evidence that we can match up with them, and maybe win the meeting at Lynah later in the year.

Another Day Brightened By Cornell Hockey

Who knew someone could have so much fun typing "Scituate" and "Kamloops" ten times?

The folks in charge of coordinating the Boston University-Cornell University Red Hot Hockey rematch had moved into the offices below my own. Normally, I’m not a bold person when it comes to asking to be included on projects, but I overheard them mentioning that they were in the beginning stages of putting together the program, and I jumped on it. Pete, the creative lead, immediately gave me the chance of a lifetime – design and write both BU and Cornell’s player profiles.

I have not worked that hard on a project since my senior thesis. When Cornell was ravaged by their H1N1 outbreak and couldn’t provide us with the necessary information on deadline, I ended up researching stats and facts for the entire Cornell roster. I made drafts upon drafts, measured every pixel I could, learned options and functions in Adobe InDesign I never knew existed. Then I was allowed to write a sidebar. Then I was allowed to fact check and edit a major story.

Then, last Thursday, I walked up to my office after a series of meetings and found one of the first copies of the program waiting for me at the front desk. It smelled just like the programs I had saved up to buy as a teenager, had the same glossy cover as those programs, but when you opened to the table of contents and read the credits at the bottom, my name was listed.

I can’t even begin to describe what it felt like to read a program and see my name in the credits after a childhood spent obsessed with them...

Cornell Senior Stabbed Near Campus

A Cornell senior was stabbed tonight as he walked through a wooded area near North Campus.

The Daily Sun is reporting that the victim is Marc Jackson, a senior in ILR. The Cornell crime alert notes that the incident occurred in a wooded area between the 300 block of Highland Road and the 300 block of Triphammer Road.

Jackson was accosted around 10:30 p.m. by two men who "forcibly took his backpack and fled." Jackson received a minor stab wound in the stomach during the incident. He returned to his residence, Kappa Delta Rho at 312 Highland Road, to call police. Jackson was taken to Cayuga Medical Center but has since been released.

I live in a house next door to Jackson's so I'm quite familiar with the neighborhood. The area in which Jackson was robbed is a common cut-through to get from North Campus to Cayuga Heights, but as it is not an official road or walking path, it is poorly lit. The route goes from Triphammer Road at the Africana center, past the Ecology House and then through property owned by the church (not shown on the map) to reach Highland Road. I have traveled this route many times when it is dark, and I can attest to its poor lighting. It is rare to encounter other people along this route at night.

Jackson described the suspects as "two black males, both of medium height and weight and both wearing grey sweatshirts and blue jeans."

The crime alert was posted around 2.5 hours after the stabbing, which is a much faster response time than we have seen from other "crime alerts" this year.

The Sun incorrectly lists the location as "Highland Avenue," which is actually the section of road between Thurston Ave. and Fall Creek Dr. near the suspension bridge. The street near which the stabbing occurred is Highland Road.

The area is home to several Greek houses, including KDR, Acacia, Tau Epsilon Phi, and Pi Beta Phi, as well as the Ecology House and Africana Library.

Cornell made headlines three years ago when a white Cornell student stabbed a black student who was visiting from Union College. The Cornell student had been drinking at a fraternity party by West Campus and yelled racial epithets at the Union student during their altercation.

Cornell Hockey Gains Momentum

Our column today discussed the Big Red's newly found ability to come back from late-game deficits, first against Brown, Princeton, and Northeastern at the end of last year, and then against Harvard on Saturday.

Watching Cornell hockey over the last few years was essentially a two-period experience. Most of the time, you could watch the first 40 minutes of hockey and know whether Cornell would win or lose. As seen in Saturday’s win over Harvard, this may no longer be true.

Cornell jumped to #3 in the meaningless polls. Voters punished Yale for its one-point weekend by dropping them from #6 to #12. Yale will try to gain back some respect by toppling Cornell on Friday. The Big Red (3-0-0, 2-0-0 ECAC) are the only untied and undefeated team in the country.

Future Cornell goalie Andy Iles continues to have success with the U-18 team, proving that his performance at Lynah was not too much out of the ordinary for him.

The Cornell women's hockey team is now ranked #7 nationally, which is the highest they've been since 1997. They sit at 4-2-0, with the two losses coming to #1 Mercyhurst.

Election Season in Connecticut

From Colin McEnroe's Sunday column in the Hartford Courant:

Among the winners I would list people who actually voted, especially because several races ended up either in an exact tie or separations of just a few votes. Among the losers I would list Hartford, where there was 7 percent turnout. Granted, it was not a mayoral election, so it lacked the compelling narrative of lots of people getting arrested. Still, 7 percent? Destabilized places ravaged by civil war and serial dictatorships have better than 7 percent turnout. Not Hartford, but the other places like that.

Johnson School Sex Scandal

One of the problems with email is that it's incredibly easy to make mistakes. We all forget to attach files sometimes (Gmail actually has an add-on which helps you remember), or send emails to the wrong person. This second problem is especially common at Cornell, since email addresses are so similar. The NetIDs abc123, abc132, and acb123 might belong to three different people.

But no mistake I've ever made can compare to the purported sex scandal in the Johnson School. If we are to believe this email exchange, which has since made it to IvyGate, it seems like two Johnson School employees were engaging in some email sex banter on Friday when the male accidentally sent a response to a Johnson School list-serv. Problem is, both employees are married.

Moral of the story: if you're going to send these types of emails, or even text messages, be very careful about who has access to the messages. And above all, make sure you're sending them to the right person!

Cornell Hockey Quote of the Day

Inside College Hockey:

Harvard at Cornell (Sat.): For Cornell’s fans and alumni, this is the most important game on the Big Red’s schedule every year. For this year’s Big Red team, it might not be. At a public speaking engagement a local sports booster club luncheon earlier this week, Cornell coach Mike Schafer gave a brief synopsis of his team and its upcoming season. Not once did he mention this week’s game against Harvard, nor did he mention defending league champion Yale, nor NCAA Tournament team and nationally-ranked Princeton. He talked about big non-conference games against Boston University, North Dakota, Colorado College and New Hampshire. Saturday’s game against Harvard will get the attention of the fans, but you get the sense that Cornell has bigger fish to fry, pun intended.

I hope the team -- and fans -- don't look past Dartmouth tonight. Schafer teams have done worse against Dartmouth than any other ECAC opponent. Actually, this whole weekend should be tough. Our trip to Dartmouth and Harvard in February resulted in two ugly losses. We lost in overtime up in Hanover, and then were completely outplayed the next night in Cambridge. Colin Greening was the one Cornell player who played well that weekend, with three goals an an assist for four points in two games. Let's see if he has another big weekend.

One Day He Might Be SA President

From the Cornell Review's interview with SA Freshman Representative Roneal Desai '13:

CR: Which do you think Obama is taking more seriously, the War on Terror or the War on Fox News?
RD: I think he was focusing on the War on Fox News, but after the Nobel Peace award, I think he kind of wanted to show that he cared about the international influence, so he moved over to the war on terror more.

This is the kind of garbage which helps to explain the decision-making processes behind some of the SA's actions.

Edit: Apparently Desai was being sarcastic in making this comment. Good to know!

Ivory League Schools

The comments on this article in the New Haven Register about the mayoral election in East Haven are hilarious. The story itself is fairly typical of Connecticut politics.

My favorite:

Joe M. wrote on Oct 16, 2009 9:16 PM:
" I KNEW SHE WERE GUILTIE! WHY WOULD SHE CONTINUE THESE PROCEDINGS? SHE MUST BE GUIL.TIE! EVEBODY I KNOW IN TOWN SUPPORT FIRST MAYOR JOE AND NOW FINKEL! AND BY THE WAY, I AM A GRADATE OF A IVORY LEAGUE SCHOOL! SO I KNOW WHATS WHAT.. VOTE FINDELI! "

Via Colin McEnroe

H1N1 Cases On The Rise Again At Cornell

Despite the somewhat misleading headline in this Sun article, it appears that H1N1 flu cases are again on the rise at Cornell. This is unsurprising, since the weather has turned colder, and the spread of H1N1 flu throughout the northeast has made it easier for students to pick up the virus from other places and bring it back to Cornell.

Additionally, other ailments have begun to make their usual winter rounds at Cornell, including sore throats, stomach flues, and other wonderful experiences. It also seems like people have dropped a lot of their guards which may have saved them from H1N1 in its first wave, including avoiding drinking games and using hand sanitizer before meals. I predict that we'll see another spike in cases before the end of the semester.

A recent article in the Catholic Courier outlines some of the steps the Cornell Catholic community has taken to slow the spread of H1N1:

Beginning Sept. 6, Father Daniel McMullin, the community's director, initiated several adjustments at daily and Sunday Masses: offering Communion in the form of host alone; stipulating that the host be placed on the hand only and not the tongue; suspending the custom of holding hands during the Our Father as well as hand-shaking and other bodily contact during the sign of peace; and imploring worshipers to stay home if they don't feel well. In addition, the university placed hand sanitizers at chapel entrances and made them available for liturgical ministers.

We've also learned more about how the flu has affected some of the sports teams at Cornell. Our highly touted freshman lacrosse goalie was one of the cases:

While injuries have been a prominent part of the season for most teams, Cornell has also been struck with a different type of bug, as freshman goaltender AJ Fiore contracted the H1N1 virus.

“[Fiore] had the flu, potentially the H1N1 virus and then he had some stress fractures or shin splints, so he’s been taken out of a few things,” Tambroni said. “He’s had hurdles he’s had to go over, but he’s been consistent in his work ethic and he’s just so coachable. I’d say he’s developed quite a bit in his time here.”

Let's hope no one on the hockey team gets the flu. I know that a few of them got it earlier in the fall, so some of them should have immunity by now.