Uncategorized
No Direct Link Between Crime, Economy, Experts Contend
|
Will the economic recession bring an increase in crime rates?
The Becker model, developed by Gary Becker of the University of Chicago in 1968, states that an individual would commit a crime if the benefits of commiting the crime outweigh the costs of commiting the crime. Applied to the current economic environment, this model suggests that income-generating crimes like theft and burglaries will become more attractive because an increasing number of people are becoming unemployed, according to Prof. Emily Owens, PAM.
Despite the models predictions, however, experts say the recession’s direct effects on crime rates is indeterminate.
Uncategorized
Nobel Laureate Addresses C.U.
|
Economics Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen lectured to an overflowing Call Auditorium in Kennedy Hall yesterday on the topic of “Capitalism and Confusion.” Sen was an A.D. White Professor at Large at Cornell from 1978 to 1984, and he currently is a professor of economics and philosophy at Harvard University.
Uncategorized
C.U. Financial Aid Office Sends Rejected Students ‘Congrats’ E-mails
|
A technological glitch as well as human error caused the Office of Financial Aid to mistakenly send congratulatory e-mails earlier this month to 25 prospective students who had already been rejected by the Office of Admissions, a University official said yesterday.
The message read: “Congratulations on your acceptance to Cornell University! Our records indicate your financial aid application is currently incomplete.”
Students who received the e-mail said they were confused, disappointed and outraged.
“It gave me false hope that maybe somewhere along the line there was a mistake, but it just made the disappointment even harsher,” said Samantha Lo, who was affected by the e-mail mishap. “I had just begun to forget about my [rejection] when this came along.”
Uncategorized
Lecture Calls Abortion 'A Betrayal of Feminism'
|
“Look to your right, and look to your left,” Karen Shablin, a deeply pro-life activist from Feminist For Life, instructed her audience. “These people [may not] be here if their mother had exercised her choice.”
Feminist For Life is an organization aimed at continuing the efforts of early feminists such as Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Stanton to seek practical solutions to systematically eliminate the root causes for women to have abortions, according to the group’s website.
Shablin believes that abortions occur because society fails to meet the needs of women, and there is an urgent need to develop a holistic, women-centered solution because “women deserve better than abortion.”
Uncategorized
New Gourmet Café Opens on College Ave.
|
A new gourmet delicatessen opens today on the corner of College and Dryden, bringing new competition to the Collegetown economy.
Green Café, owned by Charles Park, is modeled after its flagship café on Park Avenue in New York City. The restaurant will occupy a building previously leased to Bank of America for 27 years. The building has been vacant for three years, with the Green Café construction beginning around a year ago. Featuring everything from espresso, smoothies, antipasto sandwiches to homemade tofu, the new 24-hour restaurant overlaps the menu of many Collegetown restaurants.
Uncategorized
U.S. Colleges Sell Bonds to Weather Crisis
|
Following in the footsteps of Harvard, Princeton and Notre Dame, Cornell chose to sell $500 million of taxable bonds earlier this month in response to recent endowment losses.
In the face of a global financial crisis that has erased $29 trillion from the stock market in 2008, according to Bloomberg, the average university endowment has decreased by 24.1 percent across the U.S. in the past six months, according to the Stamford Advocate.
In December 2008, Harvard sold $2.5 billion in taxable bonds to repay borrowed funds. Princeton sold $1 billion in bonds in January, University of Pittsburgh plans to sell up to $421 million, Notre Dame already sold $150 million and University of Pennsylvania plans to sell $300 million, according to the Bond Buyer.
Uncategorized
Czech Ambassador Discusses NATO Expansion
|
“[The] United States will be ready for a Declaration of Interdependence,” read Martin Palouš, Czech Ambassador to the United Nations.
“We will be prepared to discuss with a united Europe the ways and means of forming a concrete Atlantic partnership, ” he continued.
These words, taken from a speech by president John F. Kennedy, still embody the philosophy of U.S. foreign policy today, according to Palouš.
Palouš positions himself somewhere between a diplomat and an academic. A diplomat, according to Palouš, is someone who participates in the political process, whereas an academic is an observer who can turn to philosophy and theory in search of insight.