Cornell Classic Hits Newman Court

By wpengine | December 5, 2003

Looking for its first win of the season, the women’s basketball team welcomes Bucknell, James Madison, and Winthrop to Newman Arena for the Cornell Classic, beginning tonight. The Red (0-4, 0-0 Ivy) will take on Bucknell (1-3) at 7 p.m., while James Madison (1-3) squares off against Winthrop (1-1) at 5 p.m. The consolation and championship games will be held tomorrow at 5 and 7 p.m. respectively.

The Red looks to continue its strong play from Tuesday’s night game against Colgate. Cornell went on a 13-2 run in the second half, but could not close the gap, and the Raiders won 77-63.

“I think we played a lot better on Tuesday night, and I think it was a good stepping stone, and I really expect us to come out playing the same way, playing with the same level of intensity,” said head coach Dayna Smith. “Bucknell is a good team, but I think if we come out and do the little things and play aggressive, we have a good chance of getting our first win game.”

Four of the Red’s five starters reached double figures, with senior Tanya Karcic leading all scorers with 19 points. Senior tri-captain Karen Force had her best game so far this season, racking up 16 points on 5-of-6 shooting, went 2-for-2 from beyond the arc, and made each of her four free throws. Senior tri-captains Lauren Kilduff and Katie Romey scored 11 and 12 points, respectively. This was the first game that the Red had four players in double figures.

“Those four seniors need to do that on a consistent basis, and we need one or two other players to round it out for us. Our point production is increasing but it needs to go up even higher,” said Smith. “We need a couple of people to come off the bench and make some easy shots, we need to finish some lay-ups, and we need to make our free throws. I think if everyone can do their little part, then things are going to come together.”

Senior Dani Aretino dominated the glass, as she led all players with 12 rebounds. Force, who was hindered in the team’s previous games by injury, shined on Tuesday night, and was a major presence for Cornell on the floor.

“It was what our team needed. She played a little bit like her old self, and it was huge. It gave us an emotional boost, and points-wise we need her production. She was just a good point guard on Tuesday night, and I think if she can duplicate that, then we’re going to do pretty well,” said Smith.

Bucknell comes into the Cornell Classic after dropping its last game to Bowling Green on Wednesday. The Bison handily defeated the Red in the teams’ last meeting 2001 in Lewisburg, Penn. The Red notched its second win against Bucknell in the teams’ 12 meetings in the 2000 Cornell Classic final.

The Red will need to key in on Bucknell co-captain Desire Almind, who racked up a career-high 33 points against Bowling Green, while shooting 88 percent from the floor. An All-Patriot Team selection last season, Almind is averaging a double-double with 20 points and 13.2 rebounds a game. Freshman guard Lindsey Hollobaugh is second on the team in scoring and rebounds, and was named Patriot League Freshman of the Week for her performances in the team’s first two games.

“I think we have to respect Bucknell’s go-to players, but we need to set the tone. I thought our preparation for the Colgate game was very good, we were focused. We had three very good practices prior to that game, so when we prepare for Bucknell, we need to come in ready to compete, be focused, and take that into the game,” said Smith.

Winthrop and James Madison will meet for the first time since 1976. Both teams have a lot of youth, with Winthrop starting four freshman, and James Madison starting three. James Madison has never faced Cornell, while Winthrop dropped its only meeting with the Red during the 2000-01 season.

After being on the road for the first four games of the season, the Red is looking forward to its first home contests.

“Just being here this week, not having to travel, and sleeping in our own beds, it’s been a huge advantage for us, and our players are very, very excited to have our home court advantage back in play,” said Smith.

Archived article by Jonathan Auerbach

String of Break-ins Plague Cascadilla

By wpengine December 15, 2003

A series of break-ins has upset life in Cascadilla Hall, where three female students’ rooms were broken into over Thanksgiving break, sparking anger and fear among residents. According to an e-mail sent to the Cascadilla community by Scott Helfrich, the residence hall director, there is no evidence that the rooms were forcibly entered, and very little was taken from the rooms. In a subsequent e-mail sent to Cascadilla residents and obtained by The Sun, Helfrich reported that one of the women whose room was entered, Marsha Lien ’04, requested that certain information about her case be shared. The e-mail explained that although “almost nothing was taken from the room,” Lien “found that her bed and pillow had been urinated on and the comforter pulled back over the mattress to conceal this situation.” According to Lien, she first noticed that something was wrong as she came back to her room Sunday night after break. Lien said that she saw that the door was crooked, and when she entered her room she found that the door had been unlocked and the lights turned on. When she asked her resident advisor if anyone had been in her room, her R.A. — who had heard of two similar cases — asked her to check her bed. Lien lifted her comforter to find a “huge stain.” “First I did not know what the hell it was,” Lien said, explaining that the previous cases had included instances where the perpetrator had ejaculated in the room. Because the Cornell University Police Department is conducting an investigation into the break-ins, information is limited. Helfrich warned in his e-mail that “some information will remain confidential and not be inclusive of the full situation.” Linda Grace-Kobas, interim vice president for communications and media relations, did say however that “it doesn’t appear that robbery was the prime motive.” Adam Brown ’04, whose friend lived in one of the invaded rooms, said that residents in Cascadilla continue to remain frightened by the break-ins. He said that one of his friends, an R.A., moved out for about one and a half weeks and only recently moved back in. “Once R.A.s start moving out of dorms, it’s a really bad sign,” Brown said. Brown reported that his friend whose room had been entered went home because of the incident. His friend, whom he said was “pretty shaken up about it,” asked not to be contacted. Brown and Lien both expressed extreme disappointment with the authorities’ response to the incidents. “I’m not very happy with [the response],” Lien said. “They’re very hush-hush.” She also said that the CUPD in particular were very unclear to her in regards to the other incidents. “I think that everyone should know,” she said. “Many of my friends that live there are worried that the police are doing little to protect them and to protect the evidence, and many feel they are not safe staying there,” Brown wrote in an e-mail to The Sun. The CUPD continue to conduct an investigation and “have asked that people keep their eyes open” for suspicious behavior, according to Grace-Kobas. She added that authorities are working with Campus Life, but both she and Helfrich said they cannot comment on the investigation because it is ongoing. Helfrich wrote in one of his e-mails that authorities were not yet sure how the perpetrator entered the rooms, but that “no master keys for the community have been reported missing to the knowledge of Cornell University Police or Community Development.” Helfrich said that although residents in Cascadilla are more cautious of letting strangers into the hall, he felt that the general atmosphere “is not that different from last year at this time.” Lien, however, said that she and many of her friends are “scared shitless” and will not sleep in their rooms over the weekends. She said that her floor is especially cautious both because it is the first floor — a high traffic area — and also because most of the residents there are female. Lien expressed frustration that Campus Life would not let her or other residents install deadbolts in their rooms, but said that she plans on installing one anyway. She also said that many of her friends push furniture against their doors at night as an added precaution and that she has taken to going to sleep with a knife. According to Grace-Kobas, the CUPD have not yet identified any suspects. She also could not predict what punishments the perpetrator would eventually face if caught, as that would largely depend on charges brought. Grace-Kobas further explained that because new evidence and information from questioning often arises once a criminal has been apprehended, it is too soon to know yet what the charges will be. Helfrich and Kobas have asked anyone with information about the break-ins to contact the CUPD at 255-1111.Archived article by Yuval Shavit
Schwab Named Dean of Law School

By wpengine December 12, 2003

Last Friday, President Jeffrey S. Lehman ’77 announced that Prof. Stewart J. Schwab, law, has been named the new Allan R. Tessler Dean of Cornell Law School. Schwab, replacing Lee Teitelbaum who resigned last winter after serving since 1999, inherits an “extraordinarily healthy” institution, according to Kevin Clermont, the James and Mark Flanagan Professor of Law and a member of the committee that recommended three candidates to Lehman. The committee was formed last spring and has met weekly this semester, looking for a candidate who had administrative experience, ambition, character, scholarship and commitment to teaching and students, Provost Biddy (Carolyn A.) Martin told The Sun earlier this summer. A list of five finalists was released in early October, and that list was then whittled down to three recommendations from which Lehman chose from. Before that final list, however, each finalist took part in a two-day interview process, allowing two non-University based candidates get a feel for the campus and Cornell in general. “I was honored to have been chosen as a finalist,” Schwab said, the last of the five to be interviewed. Schwab is now responsible for 45 full-time faculty members and about 600 students in the school’s J.D. degree program and another 60 additional students in the masters of laws degree program. “I am confident that, with his strong leadership, the Law School will make ever greater contributions to our understanding of the law and legal institutions and will continue to prepare our students for lives of accomplished service within a rapidly changing profession,” Lehman said. Schwab’s credentials indicate a range of experience and knowledge suitable for the position. He earned an M.A. in labor economics and a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Michigan, after which he clerked for the Hon. J. Dickson Phillips of the U.S. Court of Appeals and U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Sandra Day O’Connor before joining the law school faculty in 1983. At Cornell, Schwab has taught courses on subjects ranging from comparative labor, contracts in a global society and corporations to empirical studies of the legal system, torts and law and economics. He’s also moonlighted at various other positions, serving as distinguished visiting professor at the University of Nebraska Law School this spring and a Fullbright senior scholar at the Australian National University’s Centre for Law and Economics in 1998. He’s also been a visiting fellow at Oxford University’s Centre for Socio-Legal Studies, and has served in various other positions at Victoria University, University of Virginia Law School, Duke University and the University of Michigan. Schwab has also written widely, authoring with Samuel Estreicher Foundations of Labor and Employment Law and also writing Employment Law: Cases and Materials alongside such legal luminaries as Steven L. Willborn and John F. Burton, Jr. His writings have been featured in the law journals of Yale University, University of Chicago, New York University, William and Mary, University of Michigan and Cornell. He currently is the co-editor of the Journal of Empirical Legal Studies. He has also served as a consultant for the World Bank on reform of labor and employment laws throughout the former Soviet Union and has been called upon for consultation for ERISA, ESOP and Title VII litigation. “Stewart brings to the position 20 years of teaching and scholarship in areas that have enormous significance and breadth. He is one of our most productive and distinguished legal scholars and is widely respected by his colleagues. I look forward to working with him,” Martin said. The members of the search committee were Martin; Walter Cohen, vice provost; Stephen Crane, chair, Law School Advisory Council; Prof. Theodore Eisenberg, the H. A. Mark Professor of Law; Prof. Stephen Garvey, law; Prof. Barbara Holden-Smith, law; Prof. Sheri Lynn Johnson, law; Prof. Annelise Riles, law; Prof. Faust Rossi, the S. S. Leibowitz Professor of Trial Technology and Prof. Carol Grumbach, senior lecturer and director, Lawyering Program. Archived article by Michael Morisy