S.A. Pres. Greenberg Resigns

Student Assembly President Elan Greenberg ’08 resigned his position last night in a surprise announcement to the S.A. membership, ending his tenure after only one semester in office.
The announcement came during a weekly assembly meeting and included a call for institutional reform within the S.A. itself. Greenberg referred to “discrepancies that exist in our charter, inaccuracies that remain unfixed, holes that remain unplugged,” and hoped that his resignation would underscore the assembly’s commitment to “the reform process we need to continue.”

GPSA Votes to Help With Slope Day Cost

The Graduate and Professional Student Assembly voted last night to allocate $1.50 in by-line funding toward Slope Day 2007, a figure just over half the GPSA Funding Policy Committee’s initial recommendation.
In an often contentious meeting to determine the final graduate student activity fee budget, debate centered on the responsibility of graduate students to fund a spring semester event that attracts less than 40 percent of the graduate student community.

Cornell Police Begin Aggressive Enforcement of Seat Belt Law

This week, the Cornell Police Department launched a more aggressive two-week-long installment of its ongoing “Click it or Ticket” seatbelt enforcement campaign. Since Monday, the CUPD has been cracking down on motorists without seatbelts in an effort to keep drivers safe during the holiday season. The campaign will last until Nov. 25.
The “Click it or Ticket” seatbelt enforcement campaign is conducted by law enforcement offices across the country in conjunction with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. According to the NHTSA, more than half of the 31,415 people killed in car accidents nationwide in 2005 were not wearing their seatbelts.

Atkind ’06 Sentenced to Six Months for Dog Abuse

Alexander Atkind ’06 was sentenced to six months in prison and five years probation yesterday in Tompkins County Court, one month after pleading guilty to felony charges that he abused his roommate’s dog last March.
Atkind admitted to most of the allegations contained in a felony indictment dated May 8 that charged the fifth-year Cornell senior with beating and pouring bleach on a Labrador-pit bull mix over the weekend of March 9, leaving the dog with diminished eyesight for life.

Thurston Avenue Project Rescheduled to Begin Tomorrow

Updated 5:25 p.m.
The City announced today that the resurfacing of Thurston Avenue has been rescheduled to begin tomorrow instead of today. It is now scheduled to continue through Monday.
Economy Paving, a contractor for the City of Ithaca, will resurface Thurston Avenue from Cradit Farm Drive to Anna Comstock Hall.
There will be no street parking on this area of Thurston Avenue over the resurfacing period. Motorists will be directed by flag-persons through the work zone but are encouraged to use alternate routes if possible. The city cautions that delays are expected in the area for the rest of the week.

E-mail Threat Causes Evacuation at C.U. Business School

Cornell police officers spent nearly two hours searching Sage Hall today after a bomb threat was sent via e-mail to a University faculty member.
At around 11 a.m., the Cornell Police Department evacuated Sage after the faculty member turned over an e-mail claiming a bomb had been planted in the building. The CUPD reopened the building, home to the Johnson Graduate School of Management, two hours later after a search yielded no signs of a threat.
By last night, the CUPD had not yet released the source of the e-mail or the faculty member who first reported the threat, according to Cornell Press Relations.

Judge’s Arrival Delayed Due to Safety Concerns

Originally published July 11. The arrival of Cornell’s first Clarke Middle East Fellow Judge Ra’id Juhi Hamadi Al-Saíedi has been delayed because of lingering concerns about the judge’s safety. Al-Saíedi, the former chief investigative judge of the Iraqi High Tribunal during the trial of Saddam Hussein, was originally slated to arrive in Ithaca over the summer, but meetings with city officials have since convinced the University to alter course. According to Simeon Moss ’73, director of Cornell Press Relations, there is now no concrete timetable for Al-Saíedi’s arrival on campus, but he is scheduled to arrive sometime this semester. “We’re not bringing anyone here until everyone has the information they have requested and until they are satisfied with that information,” Moss said.

City News

Trumansburg Man Indicted on Sexual Assault Charges

James E. “Jimbo” Thommen, 37, of Trumansburg, was arraigned on Friday in Tompkins County Courthouse on charges of felony sexual and physical assault. Thommen was arrested by the Ithaca Police Department on March 21 in an Ithaca resteraunt after allegedly assaulting a woman in his home and later in an Ithaca area cemetery, and was indicted on Friday on 23 counts of sexual assault, kidnapping and illegal possession of a weapon.


Cornell Changes OmniRide Policy

Cornell announced on Friday that it will provide free OmniRide bus passes to student holders of B, MW, FH and SE parking permits in 2007-08, two days after the Graduate and Professional Student Assembly contended at a University Assembly meeting that the new OmniRide student program would unfairly limit the mobility of the graduate and professional student community. Under the original program, holders of B, MW, FH and SE parking permits would have been charged an additional fee of $100 for an OmniRide bus pass.