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Slope Accident Victim May Sue

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The Cornell lecturer who was struck last semester by a weight that rolled down Libe Slope in a wrestling team practice gone awry is considering a lawsuit against the University, yet Cornell maintains she does not have standing to sue, according to her attorney.
Joanna Luks, who is still out on medical leave, suffered multiple serious injuries as a result of the accident on Oct. 9.
The incident occurred after members of the wrestling team dropped a rubber plate they had been using during an exercise on Libe Slope. The 45-pound weight rolled down the Slope and across West Avenue. It struck Luks, who was walking down Baker Staircase, and knocked her down the stairs, according to The Sun’s archives. She was later airlifted to Arnot Ogden Medical Center in Elmira.

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Inventors Sue Cornell For Faulty Dairy Research

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A pair of inventors who developed a new machine for milking cows have filed a lawsuit against Cornell for allegedly slandering their product.
Cornell studied the inventors’ milking system, called CoPulsation, in the 1990s and found that it was no more effective at reducing infections in cows than conventional systems were. The inventors say, however, that the University is lying about the study’s results for financial reasons.
Lanny Gehm and his son, Bill Gehm ’83, invented CoPulsation, claiming that it reduces infections, called mastitis, in a cow’s udder. Mastitis is an important problem for the dairy industry because it can significantly reduce a cow’s milk production, make the milk unsuitable to sell or even cause the cow to die.

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Botswana Past Pres. Has Hope in Obama

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Festus Mogae, the former president of Botswana, said that Africans love President Barack Obama. They expect a lot from him, especially in encouraging African development of democratic governments, as well as helping to improve Africa’s economies and to respond to climate change.
In the talk in the Biotech Auditorium yesterday, Mogae said that he expects the Obama administration to create a “pro-democracy initiative — one that provides incentives to democratization in Africa.”
“If America believes democracy is good for Africa, it should put its money where its mouth is,” he said. “We want to be helped, not attacked militarily.”

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Cornell Seeks To Maintain Its Accreditation

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Cornell is beginning the work required to keep its accreditation. Every 10 years, the University must complete a self-study that proves Cornell is meeting the requirements for accreditation. The next study is due in the Fall of 2010. The stakes are high — accreditation is required for students to receive federal financial aid and for graduates of some programs, like the architecture school, to receive a license.
The self-study is a huge, two-year long process. It must prove to the Middle States Commission on Higher Education, which awards accreditation to Cornell, that the University meets the commission’s 14 accreditation requirements.

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Qatar Campus Expands Despite Current Economy

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While Cornell faces a $200 million budget shortfall and University-wide budget cuts, the Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar is continuing to expand. The Qatari campus, which is largely funded by a non-profit organization established by the Qatari government, expects a larger budget and expanded research program next year.
Cornell’s campus in Qatar, a small nation on the Persian Gulf, was established in 2002. It has not yet reached its “full maturity,” said Stephen Cohen, the associate provost of Weill Cornell Medical College in New York City.
“Overall, the student body is still growing and faculty is growing,” he said.

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CIT Efforts Protect C.U. From Computer Viruses

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Computers around the world are threatened by a new, rapidly spreading worm that has already infected millions of personal computers. While information technology specialists are working to control the worm’s spread, Cornell has not been impacted by the most recent outbreak.
Cornell Information Technologies and other information technology staff successfully contained an outbreak of a similar worm in October. Since then, largely due to CIT’s security efforts, no serious computer infections have spread through the campus.