Basketball Season Begins in Buffalo

By wpengine | November 22, 2002

After spending the offseason improving in all facets of the game, a young but experienced basketball team tips off its 2002-03 campaign tonight on the road against Buffalo. Despite an uninspiring 5-22 record a year ago, the Red is confident of returning from its trip to western New York with a win despite two significant frontcourt injuries.

6-8 sophomore captain Eric Taylor said of the Red’s opener: “Friday night is going to tell us a lot. It is definitely going to be fun, and we’re going to learn a lot about ourselves. But right now, I think we’re in good shape. We’ve gotten a lot better from last year, and I think we’re going to prove that Friday against Buffalo.”

If the Red is going to win, it will have to depend on a balanced effort led by Taylor, a center, and 6-4 sophomore swingman Cody Toppert. Toppert and Taylor were both significant contributors as freshmen, and have shown signs of improvement in the preseason. In an exhibition against Carleton College, the top-ranked collegiate team in Canada, Toppert contributed 14 points on 6-for-10 shooting, while Taylor scored 15 points and pulled down 11 rebounds.

Toppert is eager to begin his sophomore year, saying, “Personally, I feel relaxed going in. The experience that everyone got last year is going to flow right into this season. We’re way more relaxed, way more comfortable with the offense. Just knowing the college game will help everyone. No doubt, this year things are going to start off different, and we’ll be ready to go.”

Joining Taylor and Toppert in the starting lineup will be power forward Grant Harrell and guards Steve Cobb and Ka’Ron Barnes. Cobb, a 6-5 sophomore, will look to build upon last year’s late-season success, when he scored 9 ppg and 5.1 apg over the last seven games. Harrell, a slender 6-6 power forward, started the last eight games in 2001-02 and will be asked to improve upon last year’s averages of 2.6 ppg and 2.3 rpg.

The game will be a homecoming of sorts for the Buffalo native Barnes, the lone junior on the team.

Nonetheless, the junior captain downplayed its importance, saying, “Of course it’s always good to go home. My family can see me, but they try to come down here to see games too, but other friends who can’t will be able to see me up there. But I don’t think its too tough to play against them, since a lot of the guys aren’t from the area. But even if they were, it wouldn’t be a factor. I’d still be going all out.”

More importantly, the shooting guard is looking to improve upon a lackluster sophomore year, when he was limited by broken hand. After being the leading Ivy freshman in scoring in 2000-01, Barnes scored only 8.6 ppg last year, including only 2.5 ppg after sustaining his injury.

A handful of other players will see significant action as well. Diminutive sophomore point guard A.J. Castro will back up Cobb, with fellow sophomore Kevin Farley seeing time down low. Additionally, freshman swingmen Lenny Collins and David Lisle will get their first taste of Division I basketball. Senior captain Jacques Vigneault, an excellent perimeter shooter, is another option off the bench. Freshman guard Casey Gibbons may see some time as well.

Unlike Cornell, Buffalo has lost significant contributors from last year’s 12-18 team that defeated the Red 65-54. Gone are forward Darcel Williams, who terrorized the Red with 19 points and 15 rebounds last season, and the team’s two other leading scorers. Nonetheless, head coach Reggie Witherspoon brought in a heralded recruiting class, and returns talented sophomore guard Turner Battle and senior forward Clement Smith. Battle, a versatile, lightning-quick guard, contributed 7.6 ppg, 4.0 rpg, and 3.4 apg in 2001-02. Smith chipped in 6.2 ppg while adding 3.7 rpg. Additionally, guard Calvin Cage and swingman Roderick Middleton, two freshmen, and 6-10 oft-injured sophomore center Kyle Bortz may pose matchup problems for the Red with their size, strength, and quickness.

Overall, the Bulls are bigger, stronger, and quicker than the Red. However, Cornell is confident that its shooting and decision-making skills are superior to those of Buffalo. The Red is excited about the opportunity to play against an aggressive Buffalo team, and is confident it can return to Ithaca victorious.

Head coach Steve Donahue commented about this year’s team: “Our guys feel very confident, and they’re ready to go. You’ll see them play well, and they’re looking forward to this opportunity to prove what they are about. They’re excited to show people we’re a good team.”

Archived article by Mark Fetzko

Forum Raises Farm Worker Rights

By wpengine November 25, 2002

A forum organized by the newly formed Cornell Farm Worker Advocacy Coalition was held last Thursday evening in Uris Hall. A series of speakers ranging from local migrant farm workers to the director of the Cornell Migrant Program spoke to an audience of about 40 people about important issues currently facing farm workers in upstate New York. The panel of six stressed the lack of human and labor rights afforded to migrant farm workers in the state and how students could help gain fundamental rights for the workers. This was one of the first events of the new student organization, started to get Cornell students more involved in helping local farm workers. Migrant farm workers, of which there are approximately 47,000 in New York alone, often migrate or perform seasonal labor on different kinds of farms, ranging from harvesting fruit such as apples, grapes and cherries, to work on dairy farms. While the National Labor Relations Act of 1995 entitles most workers to many fundamental labor rights, farm workers are exempt from this legislation and therefore are exempt from most labor laws considered standard for other industries in the U.S. The panel explained and illustrated many examples of such laws, including the right to workmen’s compensation and sick leave, minimum wage and freedom from harassment. A highlight of the program were three farm workers, Irlain Theodore, Aleus Hilaire and Augustin Dumerci, who spoke about their experiences during the past 15 to 20 years. Each told a similar story of coming to the United States from the Caribbean and the various jobs they had worked as a farm worker since that time. While each had been in the industry for a number of years, none had received any more substantial increase in payment for work and experience. They all spoke of working in conditions where managing farmers withheld payment for long periods or infinitely, and without water or light. While some of the workers expressed their enjoyment of farm work in general, they all hoped that and actively encouraged their children to succeed enough to be employed in other industries. Because conditions are so poor for farm workers, and real wages have actually decreased over the past thirty years, Hilaire asked the audience who would harvest their food in the future, implying that conditions were so bad that soon everyone would leave the industry. The efforts of organizations such as the United Farm Workers and Rural and Migrant Ministries have been able to lobby legislatures on behalf of farm workers and to organize farm workers themselves to increase their power. However, the latter has remained quite daunting because the workers are not even given the right to organize or unionize. The panel stressed the importance of empowering farm workers themselves, rather than continuously advocating for them. “Farmworkers are the ones leading the charge; we’re helping them along the way.” said Bill Abom of Rural and Migrant Ministries. The idea for the new student groupcame last year from several students and Herb Engman, director of the Cornell Migrant Program, an outreach program which began in 1971 as the Agricultural Manpower Project, part of the department of human development in the College of Human Ecology. Engman spoke extensively about many of the local issues affecting farm workers as well as systems in which Cornell students and faculty have worked on behalf of local farm workers in the past. During the latter part of the program, Engman and members of the Rural and Migrant Ministry as well as some audience members talked about the potential help that students could give by lobbying the state legislature, doing research and creating a knowledge base about farm worker issues for students. Several of the student founders have engaged in independent work during the school year or summer through local organizations. Rebecca Bixby, president of Cornell Farm Worker Advocacy Coalition, and Pilar McKay worked on a field interview project this summer, involving interviewing migrant workers across N.Y. about sanitary condition across the state. Alyson Greenlee, another organizer of the Cornell Farm Worker Advocacy Coalition, worked for Rural and Migrant Ministries this summer. “Before working [at the Rural and Migrant Ministries], I had no idea that this issue existed, because farm workers are totally hidden from everyone. And even in school, you don’t learn that they don’t have the same rights as other workers,” Greene said. “Even in ILR, we spent maybe one day learning about how farm workers are exempt from most labor laws.” Discussion between the audience and the panel veered towards the immense structural causes of farm worker impoverishment and lack of rights. While they are being oppressed by farmers, many of the farmers are not making large profits at all and are in turn oppressed by the distributors and supermarkets who sell the food. “There’s an incredible variation, and it’s not based on need, it’s based on production,” Engman said. “The biggest earners are the truckers, processors and grocery stores.” Bixby said that the struggle is “definitely something that Cornell students can and should be involved with, in the way that it relates to ongoing policy changes regarding immigration and documentation” Archived article by Aliza Wasserman
Canadian Parliament Member Speaks

By wpengine November 25, 2002

A current member of the Canadian Parliament and former Canadian Minister of National Defence, Art Eggleton, spoke this past Friday in Goldwin Smith Hall’s H.E.C. Auditorium on Canadian-U.S. Relations since Sept. 11. The talk was sponsored by the Canadians at Cornell Club, the largest Canadian student organization in the Ivy League. Debunking Myths Eggleton said that he wished to “debunk sad myths” that seemed to develop after the terrorist attacks. These myths include “Canada [being] portrayed as a haven of terrorists” and concerns over the Canadian-U.S. border, the longest undefended border in the world. Eggleton said that Sept. 11 “awakened us all to new dangers [and] ushered in new challenges for Canadians and Americans alike.” The president of the Canadians at Cornell Club, Daniel Braun ’04 — a Canadian citizen — said, “When Sept. 11 hit, I didn’t feel like a foreign citizen and it hit close to home … I’m sure other Canadian students felt the same way.” First Country Eggleton said that Canada was the “first country outside of the U.S. to respond” to Sept. 11 and “among the first countries to offer assistance for what would eventually become Operation Enduring Freedom.” Eggleton noted that the “Canadian contribution [is] going largely unreported.” Just three months after Sept. 11 the Canadian government finished work on their budget, with nearly “seven billion dollars [reserved for] all initiatives.” These initiatives include the Smart Border Initiative, which is an attempt to “create a seamless yet secure border” with the U.S. According to Eggleton, “more than one hundred billion dollars U.S. cross the border everyday” which is more than the U.S. trades with all of the European Union countries combined. Though Canadian military assistance was provided for Operation Enduring Freedom during Eggleton’s term as Minister of National Defence, he noted the existence of “growing discomfort with American unilateralism.” Referring to an explanation given to him by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld for American unilateralism, Eggleton said, “It is the mission that will define the coalition and not the coalition that will define the mission.” “The principle of multilateralism is still valid” so that the entire international community has a voice, Eggleton said. He added that the “very rules we now seek to circumvent may be the same rules we wish to evoke.” Eggleton also said “as a general principle preemptive action is fraught with dangers … the U.S. or other Western nations [do not] have an unblemished record [and] the solution we sought often [becomes] a problem later.” However, Eggleton noted that Canada is “not neutral when liberty and human rights are at threat” and that “we seek the same outcomes [as the US]: freedom and justice and peace.” “We in Canada are not a militaristic nation, nor do we spend a lot of money on the military,” Eggleton said. He also stated that “perhaps it is because we share so much with you [Americans] and think so much of you that we expect so much of you,” adding that “if war is being inflicted on our friends we rise to the occasion.” Audience members had the opportunity to ask questions after the lecture. One member asked about Canada’s involvement in the United State’s alleged violation of Geneva convention resolutions concerning the treatment of prisoners. Canada passed custody of prisoners they captured in Afghanistan to the U.S. with “assurances the U.S. would follow Geneva conventions,” Eggleton said. He noted that the main issues over prisoner treatment centered on whether the captives were prisoners of war or unlawful combatants. Organizers said they felt lucky to have such a prominent speaker come to Cornell. “Eggleton’s lecture was informative and insightful,” Braun said. “He is at the forefront of Canadian decision making.” Archived article by Brian Kaviar