When students return from Thanksgiving break, those who live on North Campus will be in for a surprise: Both the Suspension Bridge and the Beebe Lake footbridge will be closed for much of the last week of classes and the entire finals period.

The day after Cornell began installing the first of seven nets to be placed under and around campus and city bridges, The Onion, a satirical publication, mocked the University’s efforts to reduce suicide, prompting both condemnations and defenses from some members of the Cornell community.

With the installation of nets on seven campus and city bridge sites set to begin this summer, the University will hire a contractor for the project within the next month, according to Associate University Architect Andrew Magré ’91.

At least four people have been stopped from climbing over the campus fences erected to stop suicides since the University installed the barriers in 2010. While the intentions of the individuals are not known, some administrators said the barriers gave emergency responders time to intervene.

A federal judge denied Cornell’s motion to dismiss a lawsuit that holds both the City of Ithaca and the University responsible for a student suicide in 2010 –– a decision that will allow the case to proceed.

After nearly two years of heated debate over the future of the City’s iconic gorges, Cornell will install nets intended to deter suicide on seven campus bridges this summer. 

The University’s revised bridge barrier proposal includes two new safety features — thermal detectors and security cameras — that Cornell administrators say will improve safety precautions and assist in maintaining the proposed nets under bridges on and near campus.

The nets solution is the right compromise on the permanent bridge barriers.

The three Democratic candidates for Mayor of Ithaca attempted to avoid entanglement in the thicket of town-gown relations at a forum held Tuesday in Collegetown, finding common ground on many of the pressing issues between the city and Cornell.