October 31, 2006

Busted! Cornell's Top Brass Stuck With Noise Violations

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Members of the University’s Board of Trustees and University Council got a rude awakening from the Ithaca Police Department this past weekend after a raucous night out on the town ended with the issuance of several noise violation citations. The group, which was led by Chair of the Board of Trustees Peter Meinig, also included trustee emeritus Sandy Weill ’55 and chair of the University Council Jay Waks ’68 law ’71.

According to Ithaca Police, officers were called to the scene shortly after 1 a.m. Saturday night after reports of “loud and unruly behavior” in a Collegetown apartment.

“We received several complaints from people who lived near the area that there was a loud noise emenating from the building,” a police spokesperson
said.

The spokesperson said the noise could be heard from over 25 feet away, which is the minimum distance from which a citation can be issued.
“After arriving on the scene we were shocked to discover that the excessive shouting was being made not by students, but by prominent Cornell leaders,” she added.

The IPD then issued citations to Meinig, Weill and Waks, which require that they show up in court at a later date and pay a fine.
Students interviewed who were at the apartment that night said that the men entered around 12:15 a.m. According to sources, Meinig poured a round of SoCo lime shots for everyone and challenged several students to a game of “flip cup.”

“Meinig was a real champ at the beer games,” said Regan MacNeil ’07. “He literally got the cup to land correctly on the first try and chugged his Keystone better than most fraternity boys.”

But, say witnesses, the men began to get unruly after several rounds. The night took a turn for the worse after Waks became angry when he was handed a double Alabama Slammer, claming that the drink “wasn’t strong enough.”
After several attempts to escort Waks outside the apartment, Meinig and Weill started to “cause trouble outside,” according to Michael Myers ’08.

Signer said she received complaints about the noise from residents who live as far away as the 200 block of College Avenue.
“It just goes to show that some men never seem to want to grow out of their youth,” she said.

Happy Halloween! Hope you enjoyed the joke issue.