Census Errors May Affect City Districts

By wpengine | December 7, 2001

The Census Bureau made nationwide errors in reporting the locations of certain populations, including thousands of Cornellians living in dormitories.

“The clearest cases of error that we’ve found involve people living in close quarters,” said Warren Brown Ph.D. ’82, senior research associate in the Cornell Institute of Social and Economic Research.

Effects

These errors “need to be corrected because they can affect both the city and town [of Ithaca] negatively in many ways,” said Assemblyman Martin A. Luster (D-125th).

In one census block on North Campus, for example, the population count jumped from 110 residents in 1990 to 5,882 in 2000. Loosely defined, a census block represents a population of 100 people and may vary in size, but a census block may also signify an entire group quarter, such as a dormitory or prison.

In a different census block on North Campus, the population count dropped from 1,100 in 1990 to 2 in 2000.

C.U. Dorms

“It appears that the census count might have attributed all of Cornell’s dormitories to a single place on North Campus,” Brown said.

The Census Bureau probably correctly located populations living in fraternities and sororities, as well as individuals living in private houses and apartments.

“In most cases, they counted the fraternity and sorority populations correctly, but they missed the dorms,” said Thomas Mank, planning analyst for the Tompkins County Department of Planning.

The figure for the total number of people also appears error-free: the population of Tompkins County increased from 94,097 to 96,501 people from 1990 to 2000, while the population of the city of Ithaca dropped from 29,541 to 29,287 (according to current official figures).

The population of Ithaca in 2000 was about 400 people less than the official number, corresponding to students living in North Campus who actually reside in the town of Ithaca, Mank said.

“There is always an undercount, but this time around, this error appears to be smaller than it has been in the past,” Brown said.

The Census Bureau will resolve any population placement errors for those municipalities that file a challenge.

“Ithaca has filed a challenge, and if the challenge is upheld, then the city and the town of Ithaca will receive a letter [from the Census Bureau] telling them what the accurate count should have been,” Brown said.

He added, “A problem is that the Census Bureau releases information on income and education [among other demographics] that is used in programs to allocate money, but these numbers will not be re-released.”

Without such information, certain programs might receive inappropriate funding.

“Those details are important for housing and urban development programs … and are every bit as important as the total number of people,” Luster said. “If that information is not available, then some areas may receive less funding than they deserve, and other areas may receive more funding than they deserve.”

Misplacement also creates problems when delineating districts, which are based on population density.

The misplacement of thousands of students on Cornell’s campus causes problems because the border between the city of Ithaca and the town of Ithaca runs through North Campus — the townhouses and Ecology House lie within the town’s borders.

“There are [about] 405 people who were counted in the city who should be in the town of Ithaca,” Mank said.

Indeed, the town of Ithaca filed a lawsuit against the Tompkins County Board of Representatives, which is currently undergoing the appeal process.

The Charter Review Committee of the County Board of Representatives redrew county districts using revised data. These unofficial numbers most likely place residents in their true locations, and a local court upheld the Charter Review Committee’s new districts, according to Mank.

Nevertheless, based on unofficial correspondence with members of the Census Bureau, the corrected data will probably receive recognition as the official figures, Mank said. An official response is expected by the end of this year but may arrive as early as next week.

Populations living in dormitories in Ithaca College were also misplaced by the Census Bureau, but the effects of this are minimal because the misplacement does not cross any borders, according to Mank.

Other places affected by the misplacement of populations include the city of Oneonta, home of the State University of New York (SUNY) at Oneonta.

However, “the most egregious mistake was at the Green Haven Correctional Facility,” Brown said.

The 2,192 inmates landed mysteriously in a town 27 miles to the north, in a census block that is a farm field, Brown noted.

However, the total number of misplacements has not yet been determined, as the review sanctioned by the Census Bureau continues.

“The geographic coding got screwed up, and nobody has been able to figure out how many such mistakes were made,” Brown said.

Archived article by Peter Lin

A New Horizon

By wpengine December 20, 2001

There are lots of things on the walls in the offices of The Sun. Posters, signs, photographs, sports memorabilia, you name it. But in one hallowed space, editors past have collected our best and most important work — the mounted front pages of The Cornell Daily Sun on the day after armed students took over Willard Straight Hall in the name of civil rights, the day after students perished in a residence hall fire. Other front pages have become a part of the rolling memory of the organization: the day after John F. Kennedy was assassinated, the day the U.S. declared war on Japan. They now look yellowed with age, torn at the edges, and they have become a living memory of why we do what we do at the offices of 119 S. Cayuga Street. The first front page in over 30 years to adorn the wall is from Sept. 12. The full-color image of an airplane striking the first tower of the World Trade Center is now pasted up in that hallowed space that has always seemed to guard history. Not many will ever forget the day that marked one of the most horrific acts of war and hatred to take place on American soil. As editors, we will never forget the day the cover was mounted on the wall, the day we became part of history. And we will never forget the days and weeks after as we continued to observe, analyze and report how Cornell as an institution responded. In a famous sermon Dwight L. Moody once said that “character is what you are in the dark.” Never was this more obvious than after Sept. 11 — we have seen some of the most beautiful acts of human kindess, openess and ability to learn and to teach in the face of some of the most trying moments. Students of all backgrounds demonstrated their beliefs and values on campus, rallied other students to engage in healthy dialogue, brought their efforts into Ithaca, to Washington D.C. and to New York City. Professors presented educated expert viewpoints and revived the concept of the “teach-in” to provide a forum for conscientious thought and expression. In this issue we aim to present a synthesized view of the reflection, action, struggles and over-reaching consequences that tragedy has brought to our lives. In what has at times been a painful desire to cover the issue in its entirety, we have discovered some of the brilliance and true spirit of our learning community. We have looked back at issues that surfaced over a semester that at times seemed as if it were turned upside down. The time and energy the reporting and photography staff devoted to this edition showed a professional respect and sensitivity to the issues, a desire to understand and analyze, but most importantly to present to readers, the facts and details about the community in which we all live. The true character of curiosity, diversity and activism that shine on the Cornell campus continue to pull the institution through the seemingly impossible moments. Archived article by Sun Staff
Campus Healing and Recovery

By wpengine December 20, 2001

You, your family, friends, peers, educators, acquaintances, and the entire United States, have experienced a traumatic event. The country is reeling from the effects of Sept. 11. The nation is wading through reports of anthrax, suspicions of future terrorist acts and a war. Yet people on campus are talking, gathering with others, reaching out, donating blood, contributing money, increasing feelings of personal security, attending help sessions and doing anything else they can do to heal. Healing is the act of restoring a person to spiritual wholeness, according to With all that is happening, the healing process has been difficult. “The magnitude of Sept. 11 was beyond what anyone could imagine,” said Tanni Hall, associate dean of students. “Trauma by definition changes the way you view the world,” said Lynn Gerstein, counselor trainer at Gannett: University Health Services. “You have to reorganize how you view the world, you have to grieve and you have to learn how to cope in your new existence.” Gerstein acknowledges that for some people the event was not a trauma, and they must be addressed differently. At Gannett, however, trauma victims and grief victims are handled differently. Gannett has chosen the trauma healing approach over the grief healing approach for people dealing with Sept. 11. People may respond to the feelings brought on by Sept. 11 by exhibiting stress. Some common physical stress reactions are nausea, upset stomach, chills, rapid heartbeat and sleep disturbances, according to the Gannett Website. Common mental reactions are seeing the event repeatedly, having difficulty making decisions, disorientation, poor concentration and memory problems, according to the Website. Emotional responses may include such symptoms as anxiety, fear, guilt, depression and irritability, as also stated on the website. Some of these reactions are indicators of a post-traumatic stress disorder. The instances of post-traumatic stress disorder related to Sept. 11 are currently unknown, because it may take weeks or even years to develop the disorder, according to the November 2001 issue of SELF Magazine. It is the fusion of intense emotion and the memory of a trauma that can bring stressful memories and feelings back to an individual, according to The New York Times article. For example, the image of the collapsing World Trade Center that was broadcast repeatedly on and after Sept. 11, large biohazard symbols adorning the front pages of the newspapers, even returning to work on Wall Street and seeing the destruction in person, can cause anxiety. Trauma cues differ between people; some triggers may be universal such as witnessing the towers fall, and others may be more personal, triggering a traumatic event that happened to the person in the past. “Memory of the emotions of a trauma does not decay, it remains fresh. Once you have the feeling of danger, it takes very little new threat to sustain it,” writes Prof. James Garbarino, human development, in his pamphlet entitled, “Our Children Learn Three Dark Secrets From The Disaster of Sept. 11.” The pamphlet is based on his book co-authored by Claire Bedard, research specialist of the Family Life Development Center, Parents Under Siege: Why You Are the Solution, Not the Problem, in Your Child’s Life (The Free Press, 2001). Health experts at Gannett suggest ways to reduce stress are to talk to and spend time with people who care about you, let nightmares or flashbacks recede with time rather than fight them, maintain a normal schedule and call a counselor if the situation is too difficult to handle on your own. If you notice someone dealing with what appears to be stress or a traumatic reaction, it is important to listen carefully to them, spend time with them and avoid telling them “things could be worse,” according to the Gannett Website. Instead, it is important that these people receive help and support. Focusing on taking positive action and on those who took positive action such as fire fighters, police officers, blood donators and others will provide comfort, according to Garbarino. “Compassion and understanding are founded in strength, not weakness. Let us celebrate those who speak and act for justice and due process rather than for blood revenge,” Garbarino writes in his pamphlet entitled “Our Response to the Attack on America: What Can It Teach Children About Understanding and Revenge.” Garbarino’s advice to parents is to spend time with children and reassure them that their loved ones are safe. He recommends taking time out from personal worries to do reassuring activities with children. This advice is applicable not only to parents with children, but also to everyone who knows someone who is suffering. Empathizing with friends, Garbarino suggests, is the easy part. The next step is to understand “how violence and rage arise in human beings.” “If we are to do more than continue to escalate the cycle of violence we must do more than feel outrage and practice more than retaliation. We must seek a deeper understanding of individual terrorists and of the causes they represent. We must not fear this understanding and compassion in the face of hate and fanaticism,” Garbarino writes. Perhaps this is the next step in healing. Once people understand their own feelings towards Sept. 11, they can try to internalize the motivations of those who created the atrocity, according to Garbarino. If what comes next is going to be even harder, Cornellians have to do what they do best, according to Sharon Dittman, associate director of community relations at Gannett Health Center. Cornellians have to educate each other and themselves. Counseling services at Cornell include Empathy, Assistance and Referral Service (EARS): 255-EARS, or the Counseling and Psychological Services division at Gannett: 255-5208 for students and, for faculty and staff, the Employee Assistance Program: 255-1531. Getting adequate exercise, sleep and nutrition are also helpful in alleviating anxiety, according to Gannett’s Website. Archived article by Rachel Einschlag