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Pan-African Scholars Host Africa Week 2008

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This week, the coalition of Pan-African Scholars is sponsoring the fourth annual Africa Week. This year’s theme is “A Decent Dissent: Cultural Activism Towards a Sustainable Africa.”
Throughout the week, lecturers, artists and vendors will come together to “celebrate the diversity and splendor of African peoples, cultures and forms,” according to the Africa Week 2008 website.[img_assist|nid=28506|title=Word power|desc=As part of Africa Week 2008, the Coalition of Pan-African Scholars presented Dr. Micere Mugo, a professor from Syracuse University, who delivered a lecture about poetry and cultural activism yesterday in Kaufmann Auditorium.|link=node|align=left|width=|height=0]

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S.A. Broaches Concealed Carry

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At yesterday’s Student Assembly meeting, Mark Coombs ’08, director of elections, and Ahmed Salem ’08, an S.A. representative at-large and chair of the Cornell College Republicans, presented Resolution 17, which calls for “Concealed Carry [of weapons] on Campus.”
Although the resolution was originally brought up as “new business,” members of the S.A. approved a motion to move the resolution to “business of the day.” This meant that members would have the opportunity to vote on the resolution yesterday, rather than waiting a week, as is the rule with “new business.”

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S.A. to Vote on Weapon Policy

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This afternoon, Mark Coombs ’08, director of election on the Student Assembly, and Ahmed Salem ’08, an at-large S.A. representative and chair of the Cornell College Republicans, will present a resolution on the subject of concealed carry of weapons on campus to the S.A. If the resolution passes, the S.A. will ask the administration to allow Cornellians to carry concealed weapons on campus.
Coombs, a Sun columnist, and Salem are pushing for this cause in light of the fact that “recent campus shootings at Virginia Tech and Northern Illinois University represent an intolerable failure of the ‘gun-free zone’ to ensure the safety and the security of the students within it,” according to their resolution.

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Student Assembly Discusses Slope Day, Faculty Replacement

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Over 50 people attended Thursday’s Student Assembly meeting to find out who the performers for Slope Day will be this year. Slope Day Programming Board Chair Liz Rapoport ’09 and Selections Director Mike Chua ’08 announced the Gym Class Heroes and Hot Hot Heat, while acknowledging that the SDPB “trie[d] its best to gauge the musical pulse of the Cornell community.”
After the announcement was made, the majority of the audience left, with approximately a dozen people staying to hear the continuation of the S.A.­­ meeting.

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New Undergrad Application Lets Students Pick Two Schools

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Starting this year with the Class of 2012, applicants to Cornell now have the opportunity to apply to two colleges or schools within the University rather than just one. In addition to their primary choice, applicants also have the option of selecting one alternate choice college. The change to the application — the first since the University switched to the Common Application in 2004 — is permanent.
In addition to satisfying the admissions requirements for both colleges, these applicants must also write an essay for each college about why they have selected the particular school. Applicants, however, will only receive one decision.

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Superintendent of Ithaca City School District Pressured to Resign

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After months of criticism, Ithaca City School District Superintendent Judith Pastel may soon leave office. The Ithaca Journal reports that anonymous sources have confirmed that the ICSD Board of Education has held at least two meetings discussing Pastel’s departure.
The talks follow months of disapproval over the way Pastel has handled recent racially charged incidents in the ICSD. Ithaca resident Amelia Kearney is currently involved in a lawsuit against the ICSD for what she describes as the negligence the district showed her after her daughter was racially harassed in school and on a school bus.

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ILR Profs Clash Over Daily Show

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On Jan. 7, Prof. Ron Seeber, industrial and labor relations, made the first appearance on The Daily Show with John Stewart since the Writers Guild of America strike began on Nov. 5.
Before Seeber, who is the associate dean of the School of Industrial and Labor Relations, appeared on the show, many people in the ILR community urged him to cancel his appearance.
Ellen Stutzman ’04, a senior research analyst to the WGA, West, sent out e-mails to current ILR students, alumni and faculty. She wrote, “We prefer that guests not go on these shows” out of respect for the writers’ rights.

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C.U. Law School Announces Exchange With Peking Univ.

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Starting in the fall of 2008, the Cornell Law School will begin an exchange program with Peking University Law School in Beijing, China, known informally as Beida.
The program will be the Law School’s first with a University on mainland China, a country that Leslie Burke, executive director of the Clarke Program in East Asian Law and Culture, called “a huge player on the global scene.”
The exchange program will involve both students and professors. Chinese professors will teach Chinese corporate law in Ithaca next semester.
Cornell law students will benefit, according to Larry Bush, executive director of the Clarke Center for International and Comparative Legal Studies, because Beida has “the best law faculty in China.”

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Cornell Joins Solar Energy Consortium

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On Dec. 4, U.S. Rep. Maurice Hinchey (D-22nd District) announced that Cornell will be one of five universities joining New York State’s Solar Energy Consortium, which he helped create.
The consortium, according to a press release, is “a not-for-profit solar consortium driven by industry, in collaboration with public, private, academic, environmental, labor and economic development partners – with the goal of creating fully integrated solar-powered systems.”

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University Creates Chief Diversity Officer Position

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Starting in July, the Vice Provost of Diversity and Faculty Development position will become Chief Diversity Officer. Current Vice Provost Robert Harris will retire and return to his faculty position in the Africana Center, and a search is being conducted to find someone to fill the new position.
Whereas the Vice Provost of Diversity dealt mainly with faculty, the new CDO will also work with staff and students in an attempt to “link together” the three main Cornell populations, according to David Harris, vice provost for social sciences.
The position is being changed, according to Harris, because the current “response [to diversity issues] is not as good as it can be.”