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The Cornell Daily Sun (https://cornellsun.com/2002/04/30/golf-team-closes-season-in-delaware/)

April 30, 2002

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Golf Team Closes Season in Delaware

By wpengine | April 30, 2002

The Cornell golf squad ended its 2001-2002 campaign this past weekend, coming in 11th out of 12 squads at the Scotty Duncan Memorial golf tournament at Delaware University. The Red shot a 636 overall. Navy won the tournament with an impressive 587.

Tough Season

Unfortunately, the Red never seemed to tap its potential this season, after having some promising showings earlier this spring. Cornell appeared to be on the rise after an 11th place finish out of 17 squads at Lafayette a few weeks ago. However, the Red suffered a very disappointing finish at the Ivy Tournament last week.

Freshman Justin Howe was the top finisher for the Red at Delaware, shooting a 158. Junior Justin Gatwood came out strong as well, finishing only one stroke behind Howe.

Although the Red was disappointed with its 11th place finish, the performance of players such as Gatwood and Howe bodes well for next season.

Promising Future

With the recent strong play of several Cornell golfers who will appear on the roster again next season, the Red can look forward to a strong fall.

Archived article by Michael Pandolfini

Related

E-Bay Bid Removed For Room at Statler

By wpengine May 1, 2002

An eBay auction for a room at the Statler Hotel for the 2002 commencement weekend ended yesterday. From April 20 through April 30, a room at the Statler, normally reserved only for trustees, was listed on eBay with a starting price of $1,500. The room was posted on eBay by student Deena Arthur Varshavskaya, who, according to Statler Hotel manager Rebecca Kiristis and the eBay item description, came to possess the reservation through a lottery that occurred two years ago. Rooms at the Statler are typically reserved for members of the Board of Trustees, speakers at commencement services and distinguished guests of the University, according to Hotel officials. It is almost impossible for anyone else to make a reservation. Varshavskaya’s auction description was viewed at least 570 times by yesterday, according to a counter placed in the description at the website. The eBay auction, number 1347650527, was abruptly ended yesterday, however, for an unknown reason. The auction heading states, “the seller ended this listing early because of an error in the listing.” According to Kiristis, after learning of the ongoing eBay auction, the hotel informed Varshavskaya that the reservation was not transferable and suggested that it be removed from eBay. At the time that the auction was canceled, the winning bid was held by an unidentifiable person with the user name “Ronnisi.” This eBay user bid the starting price, $1,500. According to Karen Jones at the reception desk at the Statler, an available room for commencement weekend this May would be offered for $199 per night or a total of $597 for the three nights offered in the auction. At a price of $1,500, this would indicate a profit for Varshavskaya of more than $900. Kirisits claimed that the room was not offered to Varshavskaya for the purpose of selling it at a profit but rather for her parents’ use. “It would be ridiculous,” Kirisits said, “for us to offer rooms to our students with the intent that they would sell them.” Kirisits explained that the prior manager of the hotel offered the room as an incentive to a team of employees. This was done through a lottery, in which Varshavskaya, a student employee, won the room. “She was offered a room for graduation as an incentive program,” Kirisits commented. “It was for her family to stay in, not to sell on eBay.” Rooms in the Statler, according to Kirisits, are not transferable. Kirisits explained that when hotel management explained this to Varashavskaya, she removed it from eBay because she would not be able to sell it. Varshavskaya vehemently denied that she had removed the item from eBay as a response to actions of the Statler’s management. She explained that she removed the item from eBay for no particular reason, claiming, “I like doing things for no reason. I don’t care about my image.”Archived article by Chris Mitchell
Professors React to Plagiarism

By wpengine May 1, 2002

Since the start of the academic year, Cornell has joined thousands of other schools as a client of turnitin.com, a web-based service to check student papers for plagiarized material. Turnitin.com employs a new technology known as document source analysis to make a “digital fingerprint” of the submitted paper. This is then compared with information on the Internet as well as their own extensive database of submitted materials, which have been coded in a similar fashion. Within 24 hours, turnitin.com returns an edited copy of the paper, indicating instances of replication or obvious paraphrasing, complete with source links, to the teacher who originally submitted the paper. According to Prof. Isaac Kramnick, government, the vice provost for undergraduate education, many professors are reluctant to pursue suspicions of plagiarism because it is often a long and hard process to prove. But with the advent of new anti-plagiarism services, such as turnitin.com, catching students is easier. “What Internet gives in terms of potential for plagiarism, it takes away by providing technology to discover [plagiarized material] more easily,” Kramnick said. Although plagiarism has always been a problem, it has been intensified by the technology of the Internet. More than ever, the ease of downloading material and the simple cut and paste commands have made cheating easier for students. “Internet has changed everything. It is very tempting for students to plagiarize,” Kramnick said. Prof. James Shanahan, communications, added, “Nowadays, the [plagiarized] material comes more frequently from the web.” Rob Chen ’04 also agreed that plagiarism has increased. “The Internet has made it easier for students to just cut and paste ideas from other people and I think it is a definite problem at Cornell,” he said. Students generally agreed that professors are within their rights to use such websites to check for plagiarized material. “Professors have the right to use the websites if they have a reason to suspect that the student plagiarized. It is their right to know the truth,” Joyelle Lee ’04 said. However, Alvin Chan ’02 noted, “It’s fine [to use the websites] but you better make sure those devices work. And how are you going to distinguish between what is original and what is similar?” But even without the use of anti-plagiarism services, professors often can recognize plagiarized material quite easily because the sophistication of writing is above the level of most undergraduate students. “I just don’t think students understand how easy it is for professors to recognize plagiarism,” said Prof. Mary Beth Norton, history. There are also more “traditional” problems of plagiarism. According to Kramnick, fraternities keep files of papers for students to use as their own. Norton also added that many students “swap” papers amongst friends from year to year. In order to prevent plagiarism of other students’ papers, Norton asks her students to turn in two copies of each submitted paper. She keeps one copy of all the past papers students have turned in so current students will not be able to use them as their own. Norton also assigns a series of preliminary assignments that lead up to the term paper, making it harder for students to plagiarize. Kramnick also stated that some students believe that it is allowable to copy material from the Internet but not from a book. He noted the importance of addressing the misunderstanding as well as teaching students how to properly cite material from the Internet. Although there is a problem of plagiarism, Kramnick said, “professors trust the students. They assume that the students did not plagiarize.” Shanahan added, “I always give the student the benefit of the doubt. That is, I don’t go out looking for plagiarists. If something in a paper makes me suspicious, then I’ll start searching. So, I wouldn’t use software to routinely search every paper.” In regards to the other side of the professor-student relationship, Norton feels the students should also respect their professors. “I feel betrayed if students plagiarize. It betrays the relationship we had over the semester that constituted trust and respect. I take it personally,” Norton said.Archived article by Joann Kang