City

Local Attorney Rich John ’81 Enters Race Against Elie Kirshner ’18

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Two Cornellians are running against each other to represent the fourth district — which includes Collegetown and the Commons neighborhoods — on the Tompkins County Legislature. Write-in candidate Rich John ’81 launched his campaign two weeks after candidate Elie Kirshner ’18 obtained the Democratic nomination. While John said he believes Kirshner is “a very nice young man” and that “their political positions really aren’t that far apart,” John said he has more experience, making him a better candidate. John has practiced law in Ithaca for 29 years after having worked as a city prosecutor, municipal attorney and general councilman and chief compliance officer for Intertech, an international testing laboratory. Additionally, he has lived in Ithaca for 50 years and is a graduate of Ithaca High School, Cornell University and Notre Dame Law School.

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Boies Speaks on Law’s Ability to Create Social Change

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David Boies, a lawyer who helped achieve a Supreme Court victory for same-sex marriage in California in 2013, lectured on law’s potential to shape societal change Thursday. The lecture was this year’s keynote address for the Trustee-Council Annual Meeting. President Elizabeth Garrett introduced Boies, who is the chairman of his own law firm, Boies, Schiller & Flexner LLP, with clients including American Express, Apple and Nascar. He was also named one of the 100 Most Influential People in the World by Time magazine in 2010. Boies spoke about his involvement in the famous marriage equality case, where he teamed up with Ted Olsen to overturn California’s ban on same-sex marriage in 2013.

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Hip Hop Group Launches Workshop for Beginners

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Dance to Inspire — a program offered by members of BreakFree hip hop for the first time this semester — aims to provide students with an opportunity to improve their dance skills and promote the dance community at Cornell. DTI, which is open to both dancers and non-dancers, focuses on developing skills and the fundamental aspects of hip hop dance through exercises and tailored choreography, according to Jin Jin Ma ’17, president of BreakFree. The program is headed by Stacey Kim ’17, a member of BreakFree, who said the team came up with the idea because of the growing number of people who are interested in dance but are not experienced enough to join a team. “We wanted to develop something that was more personal for each individual dancer and to provide a more in-depth training experience that requires less commitment than a dance team,” Kim said. According to Kim, the idea was discussed among BreakFree members for about two years, but planning for DTI started in September right after fall auditions.

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Students Vape in Face of Uncertain Health Effects

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Despite the unknown side effects of electronic cigarette usage on one’s health, many Cornell students report the use of personal vaporizers — a particular type of e-cigarette — as both a positive way to curb nicotine addictions and as a fun social activity. The Food and Drug Administration defines e-cigarettes as “battery-operated products designed to deliver nicotine, flavor and other chemicals.”

Vaporizers, or vapes, work by heating e-cigarette liquid, consisting of propylene glycol, vegetable glycerin, nicotine and food grade flavors into an aerosol that the user inhales, according to Spencer Re ’18. E-cigarette liquid or e-juice usually comes in units of zero, three, six, 12, 24 and 32 milligrams of nicotine per milliliter. For those using vapes as a smoking-cessation device, the various e-juices help regulate one’s intake of nicotine and the different flavors ranging from “cotton candy” to “crunchy peanut butter” satisfy one’s sweet-tooth, according to Maëlle Piepenburg ’18. As someone who recently made the switch from chain smoker to “cloud-chaser,” Piepenburg said she is happier and healthier now.

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Cornell Cinema Fails to Gain Funding Increase

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After a heated discussion at the Student Assembly meeting Thursday, Cornell Cinema advocates failed to garner the requisite 14 votes necessary to increase cinema funding next year. The S.A. will address the issue again at next week’s meeting. Earlier this week, the Appropriations Committee voted to recommend that the S.A. deny Cornell Cinema’s request for a $1.40 per student funding increase, raising the allocations from the student activity fee from $10.60 to $12 per student. About 40 people from the community came with posters and passionately spoke in support of Cornell Cinema.  Supporters called the program a “beacon in the dark” and a unique cultural experience that enriches life at Cornell. Cornell Cinema argued that the funding they receive now only covers 30 percent of their operating budget, while most other groups get funding to cover 70 to 100 percent of their budgets.

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Slope Day Programming Board Hosts First-Ever Open Forum

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The Slope Day Programming Board held its first-ever Slope Day Artist Selections Forum on Monday in Uris Hall, where students could help decide on possible artists for Slope Day 2016. The board presented a list of 28 artists compiled by the selections committee, which was based on the results from an online survey sent out to the student body. In the past, the decision was made during general body meetings, according to August Larmer ’17, co-selections director for the SDPB. The forum is part of their efforts to make the selections process more transparent. “The more transparent we are, the more understanding the student body will be about what artists we have the capability of bringing to Slope Day,” said Chloe Chan ’16, vice chairperson for the SDPB.