By wpengine
After this weekend’s games against St. Lawrence, the women’s hockey team will not have another game at Lynah Rink until 2004. In between, it will have nine games in four different states and two different countries. Yet first the Red will have to face Saints, the fifth-ranked team in the nation, and their senior forward Gina Kingsbury, who returns to the lineup after playing with Team Canada in the Four Nations Cup. Kingsbury is currently sixth in St. Lawrence history with 99 career points and fourth in career goals with 49. Last season, Kingsbury had three goals and two assists against the Red in two 8-1 victories, including a four-point outburst in the first match-up. Kingsbury and the Saints hope she can replicate that performance so she can hit the century mark in points, but more importantly, so the team can earn a victory. The two victories for the Saints last season gave them 10 all time against Cornell, including the last nine straight. Both games ended with 8-1 scores, as St. Lawrence dominated. Sophomore Jen Munhofen led the way for the Red, tallying one assist and one goal off an assist from classmate Caitlin Warren, on the weekend. Sophomore goalie Flora Vineberg stopped 15 shots in a relief appearance in the first contest. The Red is looking for its first victory of this season after dropping its first two games last weekend at the hands of Colgate and Clarkson. The Red’s lone goal of the weekend came off the stick of sophomore Vicki Hodgkinson off a feed from classmate Andrea Skinner. The Red will look to snap its early losing streak and win on its home ice — something it was only able to accomplish once all last season. It won’t be easy though, as Cornell takes on St. Lawrence, which comes off a weekend split with the University of New Hampshire. The ninth-ranked Wildcats rebounded from an overtime loss to the Saints to defeat them, 6-3, two days later. The Saints come into Ithaca for their first ECAC game of the year, after compiling a 4-3-1 record thus far. Archived article by Chris Mascaro
By wpengine
The Cornell University Police Department is investigating an assault that occurred following the Ludacris and Nappy Roots concert at Barton Hall on Sunday evening. A female Cornell junior has reported being attacked by a group of five females and one male, resulting in a ruptured ear drum, 13 stitches on her lower lip and other cuts and bruises. The victim, who is white, said the attack was a hate crime and identified the alleged assailants as African American. “It was right outside Barton, right in front of the doors under the lights. The girls asked me to go to the parking lot, but I didn’t want to,” the victim, who asked not to be identified, told The Sun yesterday afternoon. A police officer responded to the incident at 11:47 Sunday evening, appearing the next day in the CUPD’s morning report. The incident has since been under investigation. “We are investigating the incident. We have two investigators and a lieutenant working on it,” said Capt. Curtis Ostrander, deputy director of the CUPD. The victim alleges that the assault outside of Barton was committed by individuals who had confronted her while still at the concert. “Two of them punched me during the concert and that got broken up,” she said. The CUPD began questioning witnesses on Tuesday, according to Linda Grace-Kobas, interim vice president for communications and media relations. Police do not yet know if the alleged assailants were students or local residents. According to Grace-Kobas, a police officer was responding to a separate call when the incident occurred. The officer went to the victim’s assistance, bringing her to the emergency medical services team in Barton Hall assembled for the concert. “This is a very serious incident. The University will do everything it can to support the investigation,” Grace-Kobas said. As part of the investigation, the victim has been working with the CUPD to identify the assailants. “All week I’ve been helping the police to make up composites,” she said. “Obviously, we want to find out who these people are.” The sponsors of the concert, the Cornell Concert Commission, the African Latino Asian Native American Programming Board and the Minority Concert Fund Advisory Board, all refused to comment to The Sun. The CUPD has pursued other leads through their investigation. “We do have a few leads. You have to follow down all the leads and cross-check your sources in a case like this. We are pursuing it aggressively,” Ostrander said. Because the assault may have been racially motivated, a bias-related incident report has been filed with the Office of Workforce Diversity, Equity and Life Quality. A bias-related incident report differs from a bias crime report, “which would be a crime perpetrated solely on the basis of race or discrimination,” Ostrander said. “We don’t think that was the case, but because of some statements that were said, a bias incident report was filed.” According to Robert L. Harris Jr., vice provost for diversity and faculty development, the assault would be determined a bias crime if “the assailants are identified and it is determined that a crime has been committed.” Lynette Chappell-Williams, director of the Office of Workforce Diversity, Equity and Life Quality, explained the reporting process. “A report is completed and faxed into our office. … We share the information with a group of administrators from throughout the University,” she said. “Part of the effort is to make sure the individual who experienced the bias gets connected to the proper resources in the University.” According to Chappell-Williams, “the victim has been connected with someone from our response team.” According to Grace-Kobas, Dean of Students Kent Hubbell ’67 is in contact with the victim’s family. It is the responsibility of this counselor to refer the victim to “all of those kinds of things that might be helpful,” she added. These resources can include the victim advocate and the Counseling and Psychological Services office. The victim and CUPD are hoping that more information will be obtained from witnesses. “If people saw [the assailants] better than me, maybe they can do a better job describing them to the police,” the victim said. Anyone with additional information about the attack or the assailants are asked to contact the Cornell Police at 255-1111. Archived article by Marc Zawel