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The Cornell Daily Sun (https://cornellsun.com/2001/04/24/cleese-answers-local-medias-inquiries-about-visit-career/)

April 24, 2001

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Cleese Answers Local Media's Inquiries About Visit, Career

By ryan | April 24, 2001

At a news conference for local media yesterday morning, John Cleese fielded questions about his career as well as his term as a visiting A.D. White Professor-at-Large.

While he willfully responded to inquiries about his work with the movie Monty Python, Cleese was more interested in discussing the present and the future, including his experiences at Cornell.

“There are times when my entire life seems to be retrospective,” Cleese said.

Cleese’s appearances during his two-day visit this week reflected his diverse interests, and included a lecture on wildlife conservation with Simon Hicks of the Jersey Zoo, who spoke briefly at the conference. Cleese also gave a talk on “The Human Face” with Prof. Stephen Ceci, human development, as well as a sermon in Sage Chapel.

Wary of his non-expert status in some of the fields he discusses, Cleese pointed out, “There are things that I’m genuinely interested in, and although I’m not an expert

Harvard Students Conduct Sit-In

By ryan April 25, 2001

Cambridge, MA — For a week running, demonstrators on Harvard Yard have been chanting to the beat of drums and tambourines. “What’s disgusting? Union busting! What’s outrageous? Harvard’s wages!” Behind Harvard Yard’s burgeoning “tent city” — where many demonstrators have been camping overnight — is Massachusetts Hall, the university’s administration building. Inside, 40 students are on their seventh day of a sit-in that marks the escalation of a three-year campaign to bring a living wage to Harvard. Their demands remain the same: a $10.25 per hour wage and benefits that reflects the costs of living near Harvard. “We couldn’t have anticipated such support – everyone from dining workers bringing us food to 100 members of the faculty endorsing us,” said Aaron Bartley, one of the students occupying Mass. Hall. The Living Wage Campaign, organized by Harvard’s Progressive Student Labor Movement (PSLM) has attracted a number of high-profile supporters. Yesterday, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) held a meeting in support of the living wage at his Washington office with Harvard President Neil Rudenstine and members of Congress who are Harvard alumni. Kennedy, who spoke in front of Mass. Hall on Saturday, was prevented from entering the building by police. Former U.S. Secretary of Labor Robert Reich, AFL-CIO president John Sweeney, Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) and U.S. Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) have also publicly voiced support, as have authors Howard Zinn, Cornell West and Naum Chomsky. Activists insist that more than 1,000 Harvard workers – including janitors, dining hall staff and security workers – are paid wages as low as $6.50 per hour without benefits. The university says that only 372 workers earn less than $10 per hour and that these workers are represented by unions, which can bargain collectively on their behalf. But many protesters have claimed that Harvard’s practice of outsourcing jobs to lower-paying firms is itself a form of union-busting. According to Bartley, approximately 750 people — half of Harvard’s non-administrative staff — are contracted workers. Harvard has yet been unwilling to negotiate on the issue of wages. Last May, an ad hoc committee of faculty and administrators responded to the Living Wage Campaign by recommending to expand workplace education programs, subsidize health-care and instate strict guidelines for contracting. Amy Offner, a senior coordinating events and rallies outside of Mass. Hall, has called these policies evasive and ineffective. “Sure ESL classes are just fine, but they don’t pay the rent. And the benefit extension is a joke. Only 19 employees have received these benefits. There is a $100 to $200 copayment required to access them, so workers are staying on Medicaid rather than joining Harvard’s plan because it’s more expensive and no better.” Harvard annually spends two to three percent of its $19 billion endowment. Adopting a living wage would cost the Ivy League $10 million a year. In addition to daily rallies and marches, demonstrations have also included more festive events such as comedy skits and concerts by a string quartet. Archived article by Sana Krasikov
Stabbing Case Remains Open

By ryan April 25, 2001

In the aftermath of a stabbing outside the DKE fraternity house in the early morning of April 14, the Cornell University Police Department determined that the crime warranted an alert to the campus. Now, in response to the subsequent message issued by CUPD Capt. Randall H. Hausner ’85, some students have begun to raise questions about that response — and some of the details that were reported by the police. Linda Grace-Kobas, director of the Cornell News Service, spoke with a CUPD officer shortly after the crime was reported. Grace-Kobas then described the details of the incident as a robbery in which the assailant demanded a sophomore Cornell student’s wallet before stabbing him. However, in a letter to CUPD officials and University administrators, Rainer Vladimir Asse grad alleged that the incident was more complicated than what was reported. Citing an eyewitness account, Asse asserted that the assailant stabbed the student only after a dispute and was not attacked at random. With the investigation still underway, neither CUPD or the Ithaca Police Department have released any more information about the crime. The campus advisory and other public documents have been released in accordance with the Clery Act, a federal law that requires colleges and universities across the United States to disclose information about crime on and around their campuses. IPD officials could not be reached for further comment about the questions raised regarding the case. Still, Matt Hyland ’01, president of DKE asserted that the details originally reported were accurate and sufficient. Grace-Kobas added that the University may issue a statement in response to the questions that have arisen following the campus alert. “They [the police] really had very little information at the time [the alert was issued],” Grace-Kobas said. Regardless of those limitations, University officials decided to distribute an advisory, because the suspect had not been apprehended. CUPD reported a description of the assailant as “a black male in his late teens around 5′ 10″, chubby face and build, a white pick sticking out from his short afro, and wearing a gray jacket.” CUPD also noted the victim’s description as being a white male student. “There was some major concern that the description (of the alleged assailant) was very stereotypical,” said Edward C. Jones grad. Jones, a member of the Black Graduate and Professional Student Association, noted that the campus alert carried with it implications that anybody seen near Cornell who fits the police description would be branded a potential suspect. Asse kept private the source of his information upon which he based the allegations published in the letter, but he said he got it from an IPD official. “This is about a lot of people knowing that that crime alert did not protect them but targeted them,” Asse said. Upon reading the campus alert, “anyone who is black who is seen being suspicious on campus is a potential suspect,” he said. University officials have not yet responded to Asse’s letter, and Grace-Kobas questioned the origins of information upon which he based his comments. “I have no idea where this student got his information,” she said. Last Wednesday, Ithaca Police arrested a 17-year-old Ithaca youth Wednesday in connection with the robbing and stabbing. The suspect was charged with first degree robbery and second degree assault.Archived article by Matthew Hirsch