The Cornell Daily Sun (https://cornellsun.com/author/clb284cornell-edu/)
As the end of the year approaches, campus officials have begun a thorough review of various public safety measures in light of the University’s recent budget cuts. Representatives from the three colleges in Ithaca — Ithaca College, Tompkins County Community College and Cornell — met last night in the Africana Center for a panel discussion of the challenges facing their respective student bodies.
As students find themselves in the midst of pre-enroll season, a new competitor to the popular course-scheduling website Schedulizer.com has cropped up.
This past fall, two undergraduates at Cornell, T.P. Wong ’10 and Yoni Medoff ’11, met to discuss the possibility of creating a new, user-friendly interface to help students prepare course schedules more easily. Just a few months later, on March 30th, Chequerd.com was launched to the public and is already creating buzz on campus.
The seeds of Chequerd.com were planted as the University struggled to keep its relationship friendly with the most popular course scheduling website on campus, Schedulizer.com.
Resolution 30, calling for the creation of an optional transfer programming house, was sponsored by Andrew Brokman ’11, transfer representative, and Jared Feldman ’11, vice-chair of the Committee on Transfer Affairs. The two spoke about the struggles of the transfer community at Cornell since the closing of the Transfer Center. Brokman cited statistics, from a survey he conducted, that “88 percent of transfer students [had] a positive experience [at] the Transfer Center.”
The West Campus Residential Initiative, which began construction in 2003, has failed the transfer community, according to Feldman. “Transfer students were not included in the plans.”
While the future of the global economy remains uncertain, many look to the lessons of the past for advice on how to tackle today’s problems. Kirstin Downey, a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist from the Washington Post, explained this philosophy yesterday while discussing her recently released biography The Woman Behind the New Deal: The Life of Frances Perkins, Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s Secretary of Labor and His Moral Conscience.
Fannie Coralie Perkins was born in Boston in 1880 and quickly realized that her life would be based around helping others. Perkins, who later changed her name to Frances, worked with Jane Addams at the Hull House in Chicago and later worked for the Tammany Hall political machine and then-governor of New York, Al Smith.
Although Cornell’s extensive review of its budget includes cuts in all academic colleges, the leaders of Cornell’s research programs feel confident that the research programs will continue to expand, and in the long-run, maintain Cornell’s position as one of the top research institutions in the world.
In the last decade, Cornell has worked to improve its research programs. Today, the University sponsors over 100 interdisciplinary institutes located in Ithaca, New York State, and abroad. However, with the University’s proposed budget cuts, the Office of the Vice Provost for Research, which runs most of these institutes and programs, will be tested to maintain the high quality of research at Cornell.
In the midst of the current economic crisis, Cornell has begun a thorough evaluation of all of its financial programs, including a 10-year plan to donate $20 million to the City of Ithaca and Tompkins County that President David Skorton pledged in October 2007. While budget cuts plague the University, Skorton will honor the commitment to the city, though the timing of its implementation will be impacted by fiscal constraints.
“We currently are assessing how we will go forward,” Stephen Golding, executive vice president for finance and administration, said about the $20 million donation. “We will not know anything specific until late spring or early summer.”
In the past few years, social networking websites like Facebook and MySpace have brought together millions of people around the world. At Cornell, the Facebook phenomenon is widespread, with more than 52,000 active users in the Cornell network. Everyone from alumni to incoming students have found their places within Facebook’s groups and forums; even President David Skorton has a profile.
Tommy Bruce, vice president of University communications, appreciates the influence that new Internet technologies present. “It is very important for any institution, Cornell included, to participate in the Internet world,” Bruce said. “However, all Cornellians should behave without violating the rules.”
As the spring semester at Cornell begins, annual recruitment week has come to a close. The rush class this year was comprised of a record number of freshmen, sophomores and transfers including 719 potential fraternity members. New members received bids to the Panhellenic Association’s 11 chapters and the Interfraternity Council’s 41 chapters.
The recruitment process was very different for boys and girls. The potential sorority members spent their days meeting sisters in each house and taking house tours.[img_assist|nid=34200|title=Behind the eight ball|desc=Doug Kuts ’09 plays pool at a fraternity’s rush event on Wednesday|link=node|align=left|width=|height=0]
With the nation in a state of economic distress, the Student Assembly devoted last night’s final meeting of the semester to an open discussion of the consequences of the financial crisis and the future of Cornell’s student body, faculty and staff.
Rammy Salem ’10, minority representative of the S.A., introduced Resolution 18, entitled “Supporting Cornell’s New Financial Aid Policy and Calling for Increased International Student Aid.” Salem argued that “international student aid is not taken into account” in Cornell’s new financial aid policy. Later in the meeting, the S.A. passed the resolution, further supporting Cornell’s commitment to making every student’s college education affordable.