By wpengine October 26, 2001
As political instability escalates in the Middle East, Cornell forges ahead with its plan to establish the first American medical school in a foreign country, according to President Hunter R. Rawlings III. “Our plans are moving ahead without delay,” Rawlings said. “It’s a difficult, dangerous time, but we are monitoring the situation very closely.” The University keeps itself abreast of the latest political news through newspapers and inside contacts with the Qatari government, he added. Ross Brann, chair of Near Eastern Studies Department, emphasized the risk Cornell was taking by going ahead with the medical satellite. “I think we should proceed with caution,” Brann said. While Qatar has had good relations with the United States, the area is rife with political instability, and the long-term security of Saudi Arabia, which borders Qatar, is especially tenuous, he added. Fifteen of the 19 men who hijacked four airplanes on Sept. 11 were from Saudi Arabia, federal authorities said Wednesday. The identities and nationalities of the hijackers had been uncertain since the planes crashed. But after weeks of investigation in both the United States and Saudi Arabia, federal authorities say they are now sure, The New York Times reported. With plans to begin his job in Qatar early next year, David Robertshaw, associate dean for premedical education at Weill Medical College in Qatar, said he is “cautiously optimistic” about the satellite. “One has concerns about the world situation over there right now, but I’m still committed. We have no reason to make any changes at this point,” Robertshaw said. “A lot of my friends are more concerned than I am. From the outside, the situation looks very worrying, but up close you see it’s not so bad,” he added. Robertshaw will be Cornell’s first representative to move to Qatar. He has a made a five-year commitment to living in the country and overseeing the premedical program’s development. The design phase of the school is nearly complete, he said, and construction will begin in January 2002 with completion in summer 2003. Temporary quarters equipped with laboratories and classrooms will be renovated for the first-year students of the premedical program, which will begin in fall 2002. Medical school classes will commence two years later. Tentative plans for the school began almost two years ago when the Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community sought Cornell as a partner. The Qatar Foundation will invest $750 million over the next 11 years. Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani, the Emir of Qatar, reaffirmed his country’s commitment to Weill in Qatar earlier this month by visiting Cornell’s Burn Center in New York City. Moved by the vast destruction in lower Manhattan, he pledged $1 million to the burn center and another $2 million to New York City for the relief efforts. “This education [at the Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar] will be provided in a democratic manner to students who will be chosen on the basis of open competition without any discrimination,” the Emir said, according to a bulletin released by the Medical College. The Emir continued, “Our cooperation with American universities will not end here, but we are looking forward to, and planning for, obtaining similar assistance from other distinguished American universities for the purpose of creating various institutions in different fields of knowledge.”Archived article by Jennifer Roberts
By wpengine October 26, 2001
Three teams succumbed to the Cornell football team’s fourth quarter heroics last year by a mere point. Two of those teams have already had their sweet revenge against the Red so far this year. Tomorrow, Cornell will face the third in Princeton, N.J., when the team takes the field against the Tigers at 1 p.m. But while Princeton (1-4, 1-2 Ivy) will undoubtedly remember its 29-28 loss on a botched extra point in the waning seconds of last years game, Cornell (0-5, 0-3) hopes to find an easier time playing against a statistically similar team. The Red has suffered from a rigorous schedule so far pitting it against Yale, Harvard and Brown — perhaps three of the top four Ivy League teams. Its non-conference games were fought against even stronger squads Lehigh and Colgate. For the first time since 1984, both Princeton and Cornell find themselves in the bottom half of the Ivy League, as the Red still seeks its first win on the season. “We’re going to go down there and play hard. We’re going to have fun,” head coach Tim Pendergast said of a team that hasn’t had much fun halfway through its abbreviated season. The Red offense has a good chance to get on its feet against the young Princeton defense. With sophomore John Meagro becoming more comfortable as the starting center in place of senior Matt Holleran and only one senior on the Tiger defensive line, Cornell should be able to commit to the running game early and often. “They have some youth on defense. They give up more yards than they want to,” Pendergast noted, critiquing his own defense for its bend-but-don’t-break style that finds itself breaking too often. The Cornell defense will need to be tougher than usual with the Tigers’ field goal kicking abilities. Taylor Northrop, who has been less than discreet about his NFL aspirations, needs eight more field goals to break the all-time Ivy record (41). He also doubles as Princeton’s punter. In order to stay out of field-goal range, the Red can’t let Cameron Atkinson rush for his current average of 5.6 yards per carry. The secondary must also be on its toes, losing juniors Jordan Hase two weeks and Roscoe Newsom last weekend to injury. The decimated backfield will have to watch out for wide receiver Chisom Opara in the line up. He is averaging 17.2 yards per reception. “We’ve got to play with a lot of speed,” Pendergast said. “They like to run the perimeter, they’ll run a little bit of option on us. “They’ll try to get the match-ups outside. They’ll try go one-on-one.” The Princeton quarterback situation is also in limbo between the sophomore David Splithoff and senior Brian Danielewicz. Splithoff will start for the Tigers, but Danielewicz may make a late entrance, especially if the sophomore gets into trouble. The keys for the Red will be special teams and turnovers. Like the offense and defense, both teams have parallel numbers in most categories. Northrop has a three-yard advantage over freshman Michael Baumgartel in punting average (39.3-36.8), while Cornell carries a similar advantage in punt return (11.25-8.1). The averages in kickoff and kickoff return are negligible. “When you have two equally matched teams, special teams can make the difference,” Pendergast said. But it is not practical to count on special teams to win a game without consistency on both sides of the ball. Most importantly, the Red needs to limit its turnovers. Already it has four more on the year than Princeton. Meanwhile the Tigers have forced 15 turnovers, three times the amount of the Red. “The winner of this one isn’t going to out-talent the other one. The winner of this one is going to have the fewest mistakes,” Pendergast imagined. Cornell will need to recoup from its five-game losing streak as its resilience will be tested this weekend along with its preparation. Pendergast doesn’t believe that the team will have trouble grouping as long as it minimizes its costly turnovers. “We haven’t fallen apart,” he boasted. “That says a lot about these men. “We all know that we’ve beaten ourselves because we’ve made mistakes. No one has really beaten us. The culprit in every loss so far has been Cornell, but I’m real proud of this team.”Archived article by Amanda Angel