Trustees Hear Progress Report

By wpengine | December 7, 2001

The Building and Properties Committee and the Executive Committee of the Board of Trustees met yesterday in New York City to hear an address from President Hunter R. Rawlings III and to discuss the progress of state projects at Cornell.

Updating Mann

At the open session of the Building and Properties Committee, Gregg Travis, director of statutory facilities, updated the board on the design plans for construction at the old Mann Library. Construction is expected to begin in 2003 under the condition that alternate office space may be allocated for Martha van Rensselaer staff displaced by construction.

For the Bailey Hall renovations, an architect and a design have been chosen, according to Henrik N. Dullea ’61, vice president for University relations. Plans for the project are still in their preliminary stages and will be finalized in future meetings, Dullea stated. Completion is scheduled for spring 2004.

The board noted that the budget for the Necropsy facility at the College of Veterinary Medicine surpassed its limit and a large adjustment is needed. The analysis, according to Dullea, will take some time.

Undecided

Travis informed the committee that the State University Construction Fund has not yet decided whether to renovate Martha Van Rensselaer Hall (MVR) or to build a new facility in its place. The building was shut down July 10 when experts determined that the floor slabs in the newly finished North wing did not meet the current State Building Code.

“The overall estimated cost of the project including any construction, asbestos abatement, demolition and relocating [offices] of Martha van Rensselaer during the meantime is 31.5 million dollars,” Dullea said.

The proposal is currently under review in Albany, with a decision pending at the end of the month.

If the decision to either reconstruct or renovate MVR is announced by the end of this month, offices at Mann will be vacated by July 2003, construction will begin by September 2004, and the project will be completed by September 2007. This schedule however, depends on the decision and the timely relocation of the Mann offices.

At the closed session of the Building and Properties Committee, Cornell’s task force reported on the proposed sites for the Life Sciences/Technology building. The original site for the building was Alumni Fields. After a recommendation to the task force in October to relocate the facility, other sites are now being considered. The task force has met three times but still there is no decision. The task force will meet again prior to the next Board of Trustees meeting.

The open session of the Executive Committee meeting began with a report from Rawlings. He expressed pride in Cornell for the maturity and responsibility of its response to Sept. 11, according to Dullea. Rawlings mentioned the good job Cornell has done in reaching out to support Muslim students; he noted his appreciation for volunteers who helped out with counseling and other services, and praised the faculty for holding successful teach-ins, Dullea stated.

Rawlings also addressed the board about the hiring freeze and how Cornell might be affected by the predicted decrease in the state budget and in the endowment.

“The current year budget is looking strong and stable, but [we foresee] a potential significant shortfall in the budget from New York State,” said Dullea. “Private giving may be affected and there was a loss of endowment as a result of the direction of the stock market.”

Lastly, the board announced the University’s re-accreditation by the Middle States Association Commission on Higher Education. To achieve accreditation the University evaluates its strengths and weaknesses and sets to achieve higher goals. Under the standard ten-year accreditation, Cornell is required to provide Middle States with an update of its progress in five years.

Archived article by Rachel Einschlag

A New Horizon

By wpengine December 20, 2001

There are lots of things on the walls in the offices of The Sun. Posters, signs, photographs, sports memorabilia, you name it. But in one hallowed space, editors past have collected our best and most important work — the mounted front pages of The Cornell Daily Sun on the day after armed students took over Willard Straight Hall in the name of civil rights, the day after students perished in a residence hall fire. Other front pages have become a part of the rolling memory of the organization: the day after John F. Kennedy was assassinated, the day the U.S. declared war on Japan. They now look yellowed with age, torn at the edges, and they have become a living memory of why we do what we do at the offices of 119 S. Cayuga Street. The first front page in over 30 years to adorn the wall is from Sept. 12. The full-color image of an airplane striking the first tower of the World Trade Center is now pasted up in that hallowed space that has always seemed to guard history. Not many will ever forget the day that marked one of the most horrific acts of war and hatred to take place on American soil. As editors, we will never forget the day the cover was mounted on the wall, the day we became part of history. And we will never forget the days and weeks after as we continued to observe, analyze and report how Cornell as an institution responded. In a famous sermon Dwight L. Moody once said that “character is what you are in the dark.” Never was this more obvious than after Sept. 11 — we have seen some of the most beautiful acts of human kindess, openess and ability to learn and to teach in the face of some of the most trying moments. Students of all backgrounds demonstrated their beliefs and values on campus, rallied other students to engage in healthy dialogue, brought their efforts into Ithaca, to Washington D.C. and to New York City. Professors presented educated expert viewpoints and revived the concept of the “teach-in” to provide a forum for conscientious thought and expression. In this issue we aim to present a synthesized view of the reflection, action, struggles and over-reaching consequences that tragedy has brought to our lives. In what has at times been a painful desire to cover the issue in its entirety, we have discovered some of the brilliance and true spirit of our learning community. We have looked back at issues that surfaced over a semester that at times seemed as if it were turned upside down. The time and energy the reporting and photography staff devoted to this edition showed a professional respect and sensitivity to the issues, a desire to understand and analyze, but most importantly to present to readers, the facts and details about the community in which we all live. The true character of curiosity, diversity and activism that shine on the Cornell campus continue to pull the institution through the seemingly impossible moments. Archived article by Sun Staff
Campus Healing and Recovery

By wpengine December 20, 2001

You, your family, friends, peers, educators, acquaintances, and the entire United States, have experienced a traumatic event. The country is reeling from the effects of Sept. 11. The nation is wading through reports of anthrax, suspicions of future terrorist acts and a war. Yet people on campus are talking, gathering with others, reaching out, donating blood, contributing money, increasing feelings of personal security, attending help sessions and doing anything else they can do to heal. Healing is the act of restoring a person to spiritual wholeness, according to With all that is happening, the healing process has been difficult. “The magnitude of Sept. 11 was beyond what anyone could imagine,” said Tanni Hall, associate dean of students. “Trauma by definition changes the way you view the world,” said Lynn Gerstein, counselor trainer at Gannett: University Health Services. “You have to reorganize how you view the world, you have to grieve and you have to learn how to cope in your new existence.” Gerstein acknowledges that for some people the event was not a trauma, and they must be addressed differently. At Gannett, however, trauma victims and grief victims are handled differently. Gannett has chosen the trauma healing approach over the grief healing approach for people dealing with Sept. 11. People may respond to the feelings brought on by Sept. 11 by exhibiting stress. Some common physical stress reactions are nausea, upset stomach, chills, rapid heartbeat and sleep disturbances, according to the Gannett Website. Common mental reactions are seeing the event repeatedly, having difficulty making decisions, disorientation, poor concentration and memory problems, according to the Website. Emotional responses may include such symptoms as anxiety, fear, guilt, depression and irritability, as also stated on the website. Some of these reactions are indicators of a post-traumatic stress disorder. The instances of post-traumatic stress disorder related to Sept. 11 are currently unknown, because it may take weeks or even years to develop the disorder, according to the November 2001 issue of SELF Magazine. It is the fusion of intense emotion and the memory of a trauma that can bring stressful memories and feelings back to an individual, according to The New York Times article. For example, the image of the collapsing World Trade Center that was broadcast repeatedly on and after Sept. 11, large biohazard symbols adorning the front pages of the newspapers, even returning to work on Wall Street and seeing the destruction in person, can cause anxiety. Trauma cues differ between people; some triggers may be universal such as witnessing the towers fall, and others may be more personal, triggering a traumatic event that happened to the person in the past. “Memory of the emotions of a trauma does not decay, it remains fresh. Once you have the feeling of danger, it takes very little new threat to sustain it,” writes Prof. James Garbarino, human development, in his pamphlet entitled, “Our Children Learn Three Dark Secrets From The Disaster of Sept. 11.” The pamphlet is based on his book co-authored by Claire Bedard, research specialist of the Family Life Development Center, Parents Under Siege: Why You Are the Solution, Not the Problem, in Your Child’s Life (The Free Press, 2001). Health experts at Gannett suggest ways to reduce stress are to talk to and spend time with people who care about you, let nightmares or flashbacks recede with time rather than fight them, maintain a normal schedule and call a counselor if the situation is too difficult to handle on your own. If you notice someone dealing with what appears to be stress or a traumatic reaction, it is important to listen carefully to them, spend time with them and avoid telling them “things could be worse,” according to the Gannett Website. Instead, it is important that these people receive help and support. Focusing on taking positive action and on those who took positive action such as fire fighters, police officers, blood donators and others will provide comfort, according to Garbarino. “Compassion and understanding are founded in strength, not weakness. Let us celebrate those who speak and act for justice and due process rather than for blood revenge,” Garbarino writes in his pamphlet entitled “Our Response to the Attack on America: What Can It Teach Children About Understanding and Revenge.” Garbarino’s advice to parents is to spend time with children and reassure them that their loved ones are safe. He recommends taking time out from personal worries to do reassuring activities with children. This advice is applicable not only to parents with children, but also to everyone who knows someone who is suffering. Empathizing with friends, Garbarino suggests, is the easy part. The next step is to understand “how violence and rage arise in human beings.” “If we are to do more than continue to escalate the cycle of violence we must do more than feel outrage and practice more than retaliation. We must seek a deeper understanding of individual terrorists and of the causes they represent. We must not fear this understanding and compassion in the face of hate and fanaticism,” Garbarino writes. Perhaps this is the next step in healing. Once people understand their own feelings towards Sept. 11, they can try to internalize the motivations of those who created the atrocity, according to Garbarino. If what comes next is going to be even harder, Cornellians have to do what they do best, according to Sharon Dittman, associate director of community relations at Gannett Health Center. Cornellians have to educate each other and themselves. Counseling services at Cornell include Empathy, Assistance and Referral Service (EARS): 255-EARS, or the Counseling and Psychological Services division at Gannett: 255-5208 for students and, for faculty and staff, the Employee Assistance Program: 255-1531. Getting adequate exercise, sleep and nutrition are also helpful in alleviating anxiety, according to Gannett’s Website. Archived article by Rachel Einschlag