By ryan
Yesterday morning, about 48 hours after the tragic terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, the university decided to cancel all of this weekend’s athletic schedule. The decision — the result of lengthy discussions between President Hunter R. Rawlings III, Athletic Director Andy Noel and Vice President of Academic and Student Services Susan Murphy — affects football, men’s and women’s soccer, men’s and women’s cross-country, volleyball, field hockey, women’s tennis and golf. “We are canceling all sports events Friday to Sunday,” Rawlings said. “All intercollegiate sporting events have been canceled, both home and away.” “It just seemed obvious to not concentrate on intercollegiate athletics,” Noel said, adding that it is now more important to “reflect on the tragedy and focus on family and friends.” “Given the scope of this tragedy, I believe it is appropriate to cancel our entire competitive calendar this weekend,” added Associate Director of Athletics, Bob Chaddock. The announcement comes as no surprise, considering several other universities, including Yale, Brown, Dartmouth, Penn and Harvard in the Ivy League have taken similar measures. However both Rawlings and Noel were quick to stress that Cornell’s decision was undertaken independently, unaffected by the choices of other schools. “I’ve been on the phone — since I’m the chair of the Ivy League — and different universities have taken different positions,” Rawlings explained. “Some have canceled everything, others are deciding on a case by case basis. There was not an Ivy Group decision.” “The Ivy League has dealt with important issues on an institutional basis,” Noel concurred. “The general feeling is that every university has to reflect on the situation and make its own decision.” As a result of the Ivy League’s position, schools have pursued very different policies. Yale, for example, chose to postpone all events through the weekend as early as Wednesday; Dartmouth, on the other hand, permitted a volleyball match to take place the same day. (Since, it has also canceled all events through the weekend.) “We respected the administrations at Yale and Dartmouth very much,” said Noel, “but we knew we had to decide for ourselves.” The decision has been brewing since a few hours after the attacks. “Discussion started as soon as the events began to sink in,” Noel recalled. “For many, many hours, we were in disbelief as to what happened.” Though events have been canceled, no such decision has been taken for practice schedules. “[The approach to] practices are the same as holding classes,” Rawlings said. “It’s healthy to have them. Otherwise life becomes abnormal. “You need to concentrate on what you’re doing. Getting together in groups is very positive…especially in settings that you’re familiar with.” As of now, no rescheduling plans have been set. Some events, including the football game against Bucknell will likely be canceled all together. Archived article by Shiva Nagaraj
By ryan
After almost two days of deliberation, it appears that the administration’s decision to suspend athletic competition through Sunday has been met with unanimous support among the Cornell athletic community. The verdict meant that the women’s soccer team would not be making its scheduled trip to the Hawaii Invitational this weekend. That outcome brought about no resistance from the players. Junior Caitlin Ramsey suggested that plans to travel by air to Hawaii would have been a logistical nightmare. “With teams traveling and airports being closed, it could definitely be a problem,” Ramsey explained. The defender said that the team still had lingering anxieties about taking to the air in wake of Tuesday’s tragedy. “Most of the team was in support of the decision. Everyone was still a little nervous,” the junior stated. Although many universities and professional leagues began making alterations to their schedules as early as Tuesday, Cornell’s conclusion was not reached until yesterday morning. The delay didn’t seem to be a source of concern for those affected by the decision. Classmate and teammate Erica Olson exemplified such sentiments. “Cornell made the right decision. It doesn’t matter when they did it. It is just the fact that they did do it,” she reasoned. Olson is also a resolute supporter of the administration’s decision. She cited the needed for members of the community to take time to consider what happened earlier in the week. “This whole country needs time to reflect on what happened. Indirectly, everyone knows someone who was affected. Spirits on the field during practice were definitely lower than usual,” she said. Coaches also seemed content with the universities decision. “I like the fact that it’s an independent decision as opposed to being a dictatorial thing coming from the NCAA or the conference. I’m confident that it was not a decision reached cavalierly,” women’s cross-country head coach Lou Duesing opined. Duesing said that he would have understood if the verdict went the other way but affirmed the players’ feelings that Cornell acted in an appropriate time frame. “I never thought people were dragging their feet [on this decision],” Duesing offered. Colleague and men’s soccer head coach Bryan Scales suggested that after evaluating the circumstances, the decision became somewhat inevitable. “The more you realize the scope and the gravity [of the tragedy], nobody would have been too excited to be on the field,” the coach argued. Senior Halle Watson of the women’s cross country team said she respected the university’s position but felt it was important to focus on remembering the horrors while moving forward. “I’m really disappointed [about not being able to compete]. But I understand why they did it,” she said. “We want to keep the schedule as normal as possible. We just need to focus on the task at hand. We need to go on.” While the rest of campus is coping through the tragedy through vigils and support groups, the athletes have their own form of therapy: practices. “[At Tuesday’s practice] we got together and talked for a while,” said the women’s soccer team’s Sarah Olsen. “It’s our time to get away from everything else.” Archived article by Gary Schueller