Gannett to Host Women's Open House

By wpengine | September 23, 2003

For many female students, the daily stresses and responsibilities of living independently at college can lead to countless health problems, ranging from eating disorders and tobacco addiction to depression and anxiety. Tomorrow afternoon from 5-7 p.m., Gannett: Cornell University Health Services will host their first-ever “Women’s Health Open House” to make young women on campus more aware of these risks, and of the variety of services available to help prevent and treat these problems.

“Coming to college is a transition, especially since most students have always had someone to take care of their health needs,” said Nina Cummings, health educator at Gannett. “This [open house] is a chance to encourage women to take charge of their own health and learn about what types of questions they should be asking.”

Staff from Gannett programs, such as Cornell Healthy Eating, Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) and the Tobacco Cessation program will be on hand to answer questions. Medical staff will also be available to provide information on sexual health and birth control methods.

In the past, Gannett has focused on outreach programs to educate groups such as athletic teams, fraternities and sororities about health risks and prevention but this will be the first open house at the health center.

“There are many barriers for women, especially in their first year, to take the first step towards taking control of their health care,” said Sharon Dittman, associate director of community relations at Gannett. “The purpose of this open house is to make people feel welcome, less afraid, and empowered.”

The organizers’ goal is that women will walk away with a proactive attitude towards their health.

“You don’t have to wait until you are totally, completely depressed and stressed out to come and see a counselor,” Cummings said.

The open house will also feature free massages and free food. Peer educators will give tours of the facility, including the newly renovated Level Six.

Nicole Augustine ’04, intern at Gannett, will staff a table on women’s sexual health, focusing on the female condom as a way to give women power in protecting their bodies from disease.

“I’m hoping this open house will give a lot of women good information about what it is to be healthy and will empower them to take action to see the doctor more often and take good care of the mind and the body collectively,” Augustine said.

Archived article by Stacey Delikat

ILR Enters Joint Agreement

By wpengine September 25, 2003

Yesterday afternoon, Industrial Labor Relations (ILR) Dean Edward Lawler signed into effect an agreement of collaboration with Jean-Pierre Laviec, director of the International Institute of Labor Studies (IILS). The agreement, referred to as a Memorandum of Understanding, seeks to strengthen and formalize a long-standing working relationship between the ILR school and the Geneva-based labor organization. Specifically, the memorandum provides for ILR students internships at IILS offices overseas, as well as a visiting scholars program in which the institute will host ILR faculty members and a commitment to collaboration and communication between the two organizations. Through this arrangement, Cornell faculty and IILS staff hope to foster more research and teaching opportunities between the two institutions “The [IILS] has relations with a number of academic institutions worldwide, but this is the first formal agreement,” Laviec said. “We started with Cornell because I think that Cornell is really a leading academic institution in this field.” Cornell has a decades-old history of collaboration with the IILS and its parent organization, the International Labor Organization (ILO). Before the memorandum, Cornell regarded the relationship as somewhat tenuous because it depended on informal communication between individuals, rather than a broader institutional link. The new memorandum seeks to ensure that this relationship will continue to grow in the future by solidifying cross-institutional bonds. “Informal contacts with the ILO actually started with the founding of our school,” said Stuart Basefsky, director of the Institute for Workplace Studies News Bureau and a key figure in the memorandum effort. “They’ve been going on for a long time but the problem is they’ve always rested on individual efforts and individual agendas.” The ILO was created in 1919 at the Paris Peace Conference and was charged with the task of addressing inequalities in labor standards. Over the course of its history, it has drafted measures seeking to spur changes in the areas of unemployment insurance, work hours and maternity leave. In 1946 the ILO became an agency of the United Nations. Since that time it has grown to include 176 member states, and it currently conducts research and provides assistance to members in regards to workplace safety, gender equality and migrant labor issues. The IILS student internship program, which has already been implemented, will allow Cornell students to take part in research or educational initiatives at the IILS headquarters and under supervision from its officials. “Student interns bring something to the ILO[;] they bring fresh outlooks, ideas and a kind of dynamism,” said Mary Covington, director of the ILO Washington office. “It opens up not only opportunities in Geneva,” Basefsky said. “The ILO works in 176 countries and it opens up the possibility of field research for masters and Ph.D. students anywhere in the world where workplace issues are being addressed.” The memorandum also calls for the development of a class on modern labor issues, to be taught in Geneva by either IILS staff or Cornell faculty, which will be open to Cornell students. Concrete plans for the class have yet to be formulated, but may be in place sometime next year. The U.S. branch of the ILO is located in Washington D.C., and is primarily responsible for disseminating information gathered by the main branch to interested parties within the United States. The Washington office has worked with labor unions, the American Federation of Labor and business organizations. The office was also recently called upon by Congressional staff for information regarding trafficking of humans in Brazil. According to Covington, demand for the ILO’s services has been climbing as more free trade agreements are signed and as interest rises in developing countries. Arrangements for the memorandum were carried out by Basefsky, as well as Prof. Sarosh Kuruvilla, collective bargaining, and Prof. Cletus Daniel, collective bargaining. The memorandum will be reviewed after two years. Archived article by Jeff Sickelco
Glover Outlines Mayoral Platform

By wpengine September 25, 2003

Mayoral candidate Paul Glover stands out from the rest, and not only because he spent six and a half months of 1978 walking from Boston to San Diego. He is the only candidate who is also running for president of the United States. “Mayor’s this year. President’s next year. If I’m elected mayor I will cease the presidential campaign. I was one of about 40 people invited by the Green Party to engage in the primary, and I did so not expecting to be the eventual candidate, but to contribute my views on Green campaign themes,” Glover said in a recent Tuesday morning interview outside of Collegetown Bagels. He decided to run for mayor after the local Green Party interviewed all of the Democratic candidates. “None of us had heard enough of a distinction between the candidates on Big Box retail expansion and restraint of highways. They’re giving lipservice to bike lanes and all the nice things, while acquiescing to business as usual,” he said. Glover’s name and face are already well-known in Ithaca. He is a common figure on the Commons with his green shorts and red beard. He calls himself a “freegan.” “I don’t buy cheese or milk, but I’ll eat it if someone gives it to me for free,” he said. Among other local achievements, Glover is the founder of Ithaca Hours, the city’s local currency, which he claims almost doubles the minimum wage by making one hour of work worth $10. “Since 1991, millions of dollars worth of Ithaca Hours have been traded by thousands. We made grants to 70 community groups. We’ve granted loans without charging interest. This monetary revolution can be brought to City Hall to enable us increasingly to purchase services with out raising taxes,” he said. “My campaign’s prime theme is creating jobs on a small budget. Among the candidates I’m uniquely qualified to do this. I’ve been a community organizer for 35 years. I’m connected to thousands of local residents through initiatives such as Ithaca Hours and the Ithaca Health Fund and the Whole Ithaca Stock Exchange and a dozen other similar initiatives to make life here easier, friendlier and more fun,” he added. The Ithaca Health Fund was Glover’s brain child in 1997 and is, along with Ithaca Hours, part of his belief that the answer to the city’s suffering economy is to “plug the cash leaks.” “Millions of dollars leave our local economy every year to pay for fuel bills, autos, health insurance, absentee landlords, housewares and so forth. Each of these needs can be met through what I call a mutual enterprise system, which are community based businesses, dedicated to meeting basic needs in a cooperative manner. These plans can create an unprecedentedly beautiful city which is easy and healthy for all residents,” Glover said. But, following Mayor Alan Cohen ’81 will be no easy feat. After eight years in office, Cohen lists among his achievements a major shift in the relations between Cornell and the Ithaca community at large. Glover was under-impressed by this accomplishment. “The way he relaxed town-gown relations was by stepping hard on the students. The two main conflicts with Cornell were that students go wild and pee on lawns. I felt that unauthorized fertilization of lawns was not the worst thing that happened to our front yards or our flowers,” he said. He mentioned monetary issues as being the second concern that Ithacans have about Cornell. “I’d like to emphasize that I’m the pro-student candidate. I’ve lived on College Avenue and Cook Street for 11 years. We are the last townies on College Avenue, and we find the students to be noisy on schedule and quiet on schedule,” he added. In his campaign literature, Glover has promised big changes in Ithaca, including a bulk food center, a food processing center, a free dental clinic, sanitation reform, bikeways, mosaic sidewalks and a dream-come-true job center. While free dental clinics may seem enticing, some have wondered where the money for such projects will come from. Glover has an answer. “Money conventionally comes from bond issues, taxes and fees, students and will continue to arrive from those places. But, because federal and state money have been taken away to fight a permanent war and fund a global oil empire, city budgets must be met either by raising taxes or by non-profitization of services. Now, that’s not privatization. It means devolving services when possible into non-profit organizations to be strictly controlled by the city paying livable wages. It means relying on new technologies for meeting our needs. That is reducing the amount of automobile dependence and traffic while creating transit alternatives. It even means printing our own money. My City Hall will rely more on creativity than on dollars. In the broader community City Hall should foster mutual aid systems and buying clubs to reduce costs of living,” he said. Of course, Glover is the perfect candidate to argue for independence from automobiles, since he refuses to ride in them. Whether or not a 56 year-old anti-automobile “freegan” in green shorts has a chance of becoming this city’s next mayor remains to be seen. But, there’s one thing for sure. If there is anywhere Glover has a chance, it’s here in Ithaca. Archived article by Freda Ready