02-27-13

Cornell Will Join MOOCs Consortium, P rovost S ays

By AKANE OTANI Sun News Editor

John Legend to Take St age at Bailey O

rgani zers hope to give students a ‘personal

By LAUREN AVERY Sun Staff Writer

Although he is best-known as a R&B musician, nine-time Grammy Award winner John Legend will give a lecture about education reform in the United States at Bailey Hall on March 29 The presentation will be followed by a c

Schwartz ’14, executive director of the Cornell Concert Commission

The event, called “An Evening with John Legend,” will also include

connection’ to R&B singer

Schwartz said “The concert will just be him and the piano, and he’ll be performing six to seven of his hit songs after the talk,” Schwartz said “This event will give students a way to get a more personal connection with an artist that a lot of people look up to, so we ’ re all excited ” During Legend’s performance which is jointly sponsored by the Cornell Concert Commission, the Cornell University Program Board

Advisory Board

singer-song-

writer will discuss his role serving on the national board for Teach for A

c

m o n d Wong ’14, executive chairperson of CUPB

Schwartz said he hopes the concert will be as popular as singer Billy Joel’s visit to campus in December 2011, which also featured a question-andanswer session followed by a concert “[ Joel’s] event was wildly successful last year, so we hope that this will be something that’s just as fun for stu-

At the urging of faculty members, Cornell has decided to join a MOOCs consortium a step that will allow professors to offer massive open online courses to thousands of students, Provost Kent Fuchs said Tuesday MOOCs have seen a surge in popularity over the last several years, as schools such as Harvard and Stanford Universities have taught students topics ranging from quantum mechanics to Greek mythology through the online courses While some critics of MOOCs argue that their large scale mitigates the quality of education they promise to offer, proponents including Cornell administrators and professors say MOOCs have the potential to transform higher education

“It’s a great opportunity,” Fuchs said “It gives our faculty a way of experimenting with new ways of teaching using social learning and peer rating ” Cornell is currently deciding whether to offer its MOOCs through edX, a Harvard and MIT-owned not-for-profit, or Courseera, a Stanford-owned forprofit, according to Fuchs The University is in the process of negotiating how many courses Cornell will promise to offer through the consortium, which entity will control the courses and how much revenue, if any, will be generated through the courses

Candidates D iscuss D iversity, Outreach at S.A. Debate

By EMMA JESCH Sun Staff Writer

Sparring on issues ranging from student engagement to the potential creation of a social justice requirement, candidates for Student Assembly President, Executive Vice President and undesignated at-large representatives faced off Wednesday evening in a debate co-sponsored by The Sun and the Cornell Forensics Society

At the debate which was moderated by Juan Forrer ’13, The Sun’s editor-in-chief; Ryan Yeh ’13, president of the CFS and S A president Adam Gitlin ’13 popular topics included late-night safety, mental health services and diversity

Stephen Breedon ’14, vice president for public relations and Ulysses Smith ’14, vice president for diversity and inclusion for the S A the two candidates for S A president that were present at the debate discussed the S A ’ s relationship with the Cornell community The third S A presidential candidate, Jay Lee ’14, undesignated at-large representative on the S A , was unable to attend the debate due to a prior conflict

As S A president, Smith said he would guide the assembly to better connect with the student body

“The biggest failure of the S A is failing to actively engage the student body,” Smith

said “The mission of this assembly is to engage, and I don’t think that we ’ ve effectively gone out to the various communities on campus Students should be given an effective voice in every aspect of the student experience ”

Breedon echoed Smith’s sentiments

“We need to look at how these communi-

ties can make a tangible difference,” Breedon said “I’m passionate about connecting people and bringing their ideas back to the table –– it’s not about me, it’s about you ”

During the discussion of diversity initiatives the S A Committee for Inclusion

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the Humanities and Related Social Sciences Noon - 1 p m , 229 King-Shaw Hall

C.U. Music: Midday Music for Organ 12:30 -1:15 p m , Sage Chapel C U Music: Musicology Colloquium 4:30 - 6:00 p m , 124 Lincoln Hall

Tomorrow

Platicas Series With Nidia Trejo: “Bridging Nanotechnology & Textiles” 4:30 p m , 429 Rockefeller Hall

Black History Month Dinner: Soul Food at Okenshields 4:30 - 7:30 p m , Okenshields, Willard Straight Hall

Pedagogy and Pedometers

12:30 - 1 p m , 340 Computing and Communications Center

Weird News of the Week

Royal Penguin Stranded On New Zealand Beach Dies

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) A royal penguin that became stranded on a beach more than 1,000 miles from its sub-Antarctic home has died at a New Zealand zoo

The penguin was emaciated and suffering kidney failure when it arrived at the Wellington Zoo after being found Sunday by hikers

The zoo did the best it could, Lisa Argilla, the facility’s veterinary science manager, said Friday

They suspect the penguin suffered multiple organ failure It was severely underweight, she said, and had no reserves

The penguin was about a year old, 50 centimeters (20 inches) long and weighed about 2 7 kilograms (6 pounds) when it arrived

They are considered a threatened species but not endangered Its sex had not been determined

It was just the fourth time over the past 100 years that a royal penguin has been found on the North Island of New Zealand

Jenny Boyne, who lives near Tora Beach where the penguin was found, said she drove it to the zoo in a fish crate after staff suggested she bring it in

“It sat down like a little quiet lamb,” she said

The bird stood up briefly a couple of times and honked but generally lay still for the two-hour journey, she said She blasted the air conditioning and spritzed the bird with water after zoo staff instructed her to keep it cool

Zoo’s Bald Eagle Captured After Three Days on the Lam

PALO ALTO, Calif (AP) A radio transmitter and then a feast of quail and mouse led to the capture of a California zoo ’ s bald eagle after three days on the lam

The Palo Alto Junior Museum and Zoo’s tame 24year-old bald eagle Sequoia was enjoying her daily exercise Saturday at a park when strong winds spooked her

Instead of returning to handlers, she flew north and roosted in Menlo Park

The San Jose Mercury News reports Sequoia was tracked Monday to a Redwood City tree

The famished bird finally dropped from her perch to the arm of trainer John Flynn, who rewarded her with a quail and mouse feast

Sequoia ventured out on her own eight times while at the San Francisco Zoo She joined the Palo Alto zoo last year

Mass. Boy, Trying to Avoid Bedtime, Calls 911

because he didn’t want to go to bed

Brockton police say the boy made the emergency call just after 8 p m Wednesday and told the dispatcher he was calling to repor t his mother because he did not want to go to bed

S cienti c S ociety Will Award Prof For Child Development Research

By ASHLEY CHU Sun Contributor

In April, Prof Stephen Ceci, human development, will be presented with an award by the Society of Research in Child Development for his lifetime research achievements in the field

Ceci’s colleagues reacted to the news with praise for Ceci’s accomplishments Prof Stephen Hamilton, human development, said the award, called the 2013 Distinguished Lifetime Scientific Contributions to Child Development, means Ceci “is thought of as one of the leading scholars of child development in the world ”

Prof John Eckenrode, human development, echoed Hamilton’s sentiments

“The SRCD is the largest professional association of child development researchers in the world and this is their highest scientific achievement award,” Eckenrode said

Prof Elaine Wethington, human development, said Ceci’s work is notable because of the influence it has on his colleagues, as well as because of its real-world applications

The second area neurobiological maturation pertains to regions of the prefrontal cortex, which are associated with regulating, monitoring and tracking memories and are not completely developed until early adulthood, according to Ceci

“Because of their immature prefrontal cortex, children two to four years old cannot regulate, monitor or control their memory and cognition,” he said

The third part of Ceci’s approach is the rapid development of memory and cognitive system This area of his research focuses on how, as children develop, they are able to both store more memories and retrieve more information from them, according to Ceci

“Ceci is remarkable in how many other researchers he has influence on, how many students he has trained, the dozens and dozens of grad students he has mentored, the breadth and versatility of his research, and especially how he has applied his research to real world problems,” Wethington said

Ceci said his approach to child development is three-pronged, drawing jointly on the interactions among social influences, neurobiological maturation and cognitive changes

As children develop, they become “much more sensitive to status cues and social influences,” Ceci said For example, if someone in a police uniform asked questions to a child, the child might be more responsive than if the same person were to interrogate the child dressed as a janitor, he said

New Archaeolog y Institute Hopes To Lead to Increased Collaboration

By TALIA JUBAS Sun Contributor

In order to consolidate the scattered o f f e r i n g s o f s e ve r a l Un i ve r s i t y d e p a r t -

m e n t s , t h e C o r n e l l In s t i t u t e o f Archaeology and Material Studies was founded this semester, according to Prof Sturt Manning, archaeology, director of the Institute

Manning said the CIAMS will bring together 18 faculty members from various departments into what he called a “single, synergistic venue ”

“[Peter LePage, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences] expressed strong support for archeology over the last half dozen years It has seen funding support both toward new faculty and some additional graduate students,” Manning said

The inclusion of material studies a field of study spanning the gamut of departments, from the physical sciences to anthropology in the CIAMS is an innovative aspect of the collaboration, reflecting recent developments in the field of archaeology, according to Manning

“Objects are active participants in culture, both old and new, ” he said “Once you ’ ve created a material world, that starts to dictate how humans then behave ”

CIAMS will use these ideas to hone the way archaeology is taught For instance, it w i l l b r i n g c ro s s - d e p a r t m e n t a l t e a c h i n g teams into the classroom to promote an interdisciplinar y approach, according to Smith

The new curriculum will prepare students who are interested in entering a professional position that deals with the significance of objects, with career paths

ranging from a museum curator to archaeologist, according to Prof Adam Smith, anthropology, director of graduate studies for the CIAMS

Manning said the archaeology department at Cornell takes an interdisciplinar y approach to instructing students, saying “it ranges from scientific applications, studies of past climate and humans, through to histor y of art and considerations of the role of material culture and humans from early prehistor y through to the recent period ”

Catherine Kearns grad, a fifth-year student in the classics department working

Cy

Archaeology Research Institute, said she has benefited from the “rich combination of different fields” among those involved

Cornell

“I appreciate the willingness of department chairs and advisors to cross disciplinar y lines and to promote interesting

University’s state-of-the-art offerings, and I think this sort of collaboration will only increase with the establishment of the CIAMS,” Kearns said in an email Archaeology students also emphasized how the influence of multiple fields con-

archaeology

“Archaeology is an area of research that thrives because of its interaction with other fields of study,” said Jeffrey Leon grad, who is studying classics with a concentration in classical archaeology “It sits at an interface between the social and the hard sciences, providing a unique opportunity to put sciences to work within humanistic theoretical frameworks ”

The SRCD award is the third major lifetime achievement award Ceci has recieved for his child development research Ceci said he has previously received the American Psychological Association’s Lifetime Distinguished Contribution Award for Science and Society in 2003 and the Association for Psychological Science’s James McKeen Cattell Award for Lifetime Contributions in 2005

Ceci said he hopes to continue his research in the field of child development

“This latest award won ’ t change the way I do my job because I am propelled day to day by ideas that excite me and my doctoral students,” he said “I foresee the future as a continuation of the past, just more of the same ”

Ceci’s multipronged approach for child development has appeared in more than 400 publications and 17,000 citations However, he said that he was “humbled and honored” by the latest recognition

“I feel this new award is richly undeserved,” he said “Many other colleagues are equally deserving, but I happened to work on a topic that got hot This was by chance ”

Ashley Chu can be reached at ayc37@cornell edu

Smith said Cornell has not always been a prominent name in the field of archaeology Still, he added, it is one of the few institutions that offers an undergraduate degree in archaeology

“Archaeology at Cornell is unique in that it has its own major apart from the departments of anthropology and classics

The field has a unique histor y of independence here,” he said

There are numerous archaeological programs around the countr y, but Cornell and the CIAMS offer a unique breadth in comparision to offerings at other universities, such as University of Pennsylvania and Stanford University, according to Eilis

Monahan grad, who is studying archaeology and Near Eastern studies

“ The wider concern with material culture and materiality will set us apart, as will t h e i n c re d i b l y

approaches that are represented and taught by our fantastic faculty,” he said Monahan emphasized the importance of the CIAMS initiative at Cornell

“Having an institute, rather than just an interdepartmental program, means that there will be a lot more opportunities and resources available,” Monahan said

Profs ‘Eager’ to Join MO O Cs Consortium

MOOCS Continued from page 1

n o f f

e r o n [ M O O C s ] T h e y we re ve r y p l e a s e d Ma n y o f t h e m w a n t t o h a ve a c o u r s e t h a t t h e y c a n p u t u p t h a t i s f re e ”

f Eva Ta rd o s , c o m p u t e r s c i e n c e , w h o c h a i re d t h e f a c u l t y c

t e e t h a t re c

n d e d t h e Un

s i t y a d o p t M O O C s , s a i d s h e i s “ t h r i l l e d” C o r n e l l i s j o i n i n g a c o n s o r t i u m “ We h a ve t o s u p p o r t M O O C s a n d h e l p f a c u l t y e x p e r i m e n t w i t h t h i s n e w f o r m o f t e a c h i n g , ” s a i d Ta rd o s , w h o i s a l s o t h e s e n i o r a s s oc i a t e d e a n o f C o m p u t i n g a n d In f o r m a t i o n S c i e n c e “ I t h i n k t h e f i r s t s t e p o f t h e p ro c e s s i s j o i n i n g a c o n s o r t i u m , w h i c h h e l p s a g ro u p o f u n i ve r s i t i e s t h a t a re e s s e n t i a l l y t o g e t h e r t r y i n g t o d e ve l o p t e c hn o l o g i e s t o s u p p o r t t h i s k i n d o f e d u c a t i o n ” Wi t h “ a n u m b e r o f f a c u l t y w h o a re ve r y i n t e re s t e d i n t e a c h i n g M O O C s , ” t h e Un i ve r s i t y s t a n d s t o re a p n u m e ro u s b e n e f i t s f ro m j o i n i n g a c o n s o r t i u m i n c l u d i n g p ro d u c i n g o n l i n e m a t e r i a l s t h a t m a y c o m p l e m e n t c o u r s e s h e l d i n p e r s o n o n t h e It h a c a c a m p u s , Ta rd o s s a i d Fu c h s a d d e d t h a t t h e Un i ve r s i t y, i n j o i n i n g a c o n s o r t i u m t h a t w i l l p a r t n e r i t w i t h t o p s c h o o l s a c ro s s t h e n a t i o n , w i l l h a ve t h e o p p o r t u n i t y t o c o l l a b o r a t e w i t h o t h e r c o l l e g e s o f f e r i n g M O O C s “ It g i ve s o u r f a c u l t y a s e t o f o t h e r u n i ve r s i t i e s t h a t a re p a r t i c ip a t i n g [ i n t h e c o n s o r t i u m ] w i t h t h e m s o we c a n l e a r n f ro m t h e m , ”

Fu c h s s a i d T h e u s e o f M O O C s w i l l a l l ow f a c u l t y t o b re a k f ro m t h e m o l d o f

t r a d i t i o n a l l e c t u re - s t y l e c o u r s e s , Fu c h s a d d e d

“ T h e y c a n e n h a n c e t h e i r l e c t u re s w i t h M O O C s by b re a k i n g

t h e m u p i n t o s e g m e n t s i n s t e a d o f h o l d i n g a 5 0 , 6 0 - m i n u t e l o n g l e ct u re , ” h e s a i d By o f f e r i n g f re e , o n l i n e c o u r s e s t h a t a l l ow a n yo n e w i t h a n

In t e r n e t c o n n e c t i o n t o p a r t i c i p a t e , C o r n e l l a l s o h a s t h e p o t e n t i a l t o

e x p a n d i t s e d u c a t i o n a l re a c h , Fu c h s s a i d

“ It w i l l b r i n g p u b l i c i t y If t h e re ’ s a h i g h s c h o o l s t u d e n t w h o t a k e s a n o n l i n e c o u r s e w i t h C o r n e l l , i t w i l l b r i n g p o s i t i ve p u b l i c i t y t o t h e

Un i ve r s i t y, ” h e s a i d

Akane Otani can be reached at aotani@cornellsun com

Students ‘ Extremely Excited’

For Legend’s Performance

LEGEND Continued from page 1

dents,” Schwartz said

According to Schwartz, Legend’s agent approached CCC about the possibility of Legend performing at Cornell

“His agent contacted us and said that he has done this sort of performance before,” Schwartz said “He had some down time [after] his album release and he likes doing this sort of thing for students, so we were able to bring him ”

Cornell students said they are looking forward to Legend’s performance at Bailey Hall

“I think he’s a fantastically talented musician and I’m extremely excited to welcome him to Cornell,” said Kevin Lin ’13

Some also said they are excited to see a famous performer with connections to the Ivy League perform on campus

“There was a rumor that [Legend] might come and I was really hoping he would He has a great voice, especially when he is singing R&B,” said Hannah Sawyer ’15 “He went to [the] University of Pennsylvania, so it is awesome that we are having an Ivy League alumnus come It is amazing that the program boards and organizations are bringing such talented people to Cornell ”

Tickets will go on sale for Cornell students on March 5 and for the general public on March 6

Lauren Avery can be reached at lavery@cornellsun com

S.A. Candidates Stress Need For Improved Communication

DEBATE

Continued from page 1

lier this month Smith questioned his competitors’ commitment to diversity, pointing out that both Breedon and Lee voted against the formation of SACIDI In response, Breedon said he does not believe establishment of a diversity committee is necessary

“I think that we need to initiative diversity initiatives throughout the Cornell community,” Breedon said “We don’t need a position for this ”

In the debate between the four candidates for executive vice president, Sarah Balik ’15, chair of the S A ’ s environmental committee, and Melissa Lukasiewicz ’14, current vice president of internal operations for the S A , emphasized their experience as current S A members

Mo Cho ’15, Arts and Sciences Representativefor the S A , said his priority as executive vice president would be to improve outreach

Nicholas Vasko ’15 agreed with Cho, saying that improved communication with the larger community was necessary, particularly regarding the new distribution requirement relating to social justice

S A elections will run from March 4-8

Check cornellsun com for the rest of this story

Emma Jesch can be reached at ejesch@cornellsun com

HELENE BEAUCHEMIN ’13

Business Manager

RUBY PERLMUTTER ’13

Associate Editor

JOSEPH STAEHLE ’13

Web Editor

ESTHER HOFFMAN ’13

Photography Editor

ELIZA LaJOIE 13 Blogs Editor

ZACHARY ZAHOS ’15

ELIZABETH CAMUTI ’14

AKANE OTANI ’14

ELIZABETH PROEHL 13

SCOTT CHIUSANO 15

REBECCA COOMBES 14

NICHOLAS ST FLEUR ’13

JOSEPH VOKT 14

JACQUELINE CHAN ’14 Marketing Manager

ERIKA G WHITESTONE 15

JESSICA YANG ’14 Human Resources Manager

EDITORS

IN TRAINING

JEFF STEIN ’13

CRITELLI ’13

A RITTER 13

’13

B o a rd o f Tr u s t e e s T h e C o r n e l l

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n e x t f e w we e k s , t h e S A a n d U A w i l l b e d i sc u s s i n g l e g i s l a t i o n t o r e i n s t a t e t h e s e ro l e s If yo u a re i n t e re s t e d i n r u n n i n g f o r s t u d e n t t r u s t e e a n d b e l i e ve s t u d e n t s ’ re pr e s e n t a t i v e s o n t h e b o a r d s h o u l d b e i n vo l ve d i n t h o s e b o d i e s a s we l l , I u r g e yo u t o s i g n o n a s a c o s p o n s o r T h e n e x t s t u d e n t t r u s t e e c o u l d h a ve a p ro f o u n d i m p a c t o n C o r n e l l T h e y w i l l h e l p g u i d e t h e Un i ve r s i t y t h ro u g h t h e s e s q u i c e n t e n n i a l a n d b re a k g ro u n d o n t h e f i r s t a c a d e m i c b u i l d i n g o f t h e C o r n e l l N YC t e c h c a m p u s T h i s s t u d e n t w i l l b e i n vo l ve d i n i m p l e m e n t i n g t h e re s t o f Pre s i d e n t Da v i d Sk o r t o n ’ s i n t e r n a t i o n a li z a t i o n p l a n a n d w i l l h a ve a ro l e i n d i sc u s s i o n s a ro u n d a p o t e n t i a l s o c i a l j u s t i c e re q

w i l l c a m p a i g n f o r m a l l y f o r j u s t 2 0 d a y s i n Ap r i l T h e e l e c t i o n i s i n t e n s e T h e s t ud e n t t r u s t e e b e f o re m e m a d e a m a s s i ve f l a g f e a t u r i n g h i s n a m e a n d r a n t h ro u g h Ho Pl a z a b e f o re s t a n d i n g o n t h e m u s i c a l s t e p s a b ove Ol i n a n d w a v i n g i t l i k e a c o l o n i a l - e r a g e n e r a l u r g i n g o n h i s t ro o p s Ye t i f yo u c a re d e e p l y a b o u t i m p rovi n g t h e C o r n e l l e x p e r i e n c e f o r a l l o f o u r s t a k e h o l d e r s a n d c a n d e a l w i t h s o m e r i d i c u l o u s a n t i c s , I s t ro n g l y u r g e yo u t o r u n A f e w p e o p l e h a v e a l r e a d y a p p ro a c h e d m e t o a s k a b o u t t h e p o s i t i o n , e a c h o f w h o m c o u l d d o a g o o d j o b My h o p e i s t h a t m o re s t u d e n t s w i l l j o i n t h e r a c e a n d e f f e c t i ve l y c a m p a i g n f o r t h e p o s i t i o n C o m p e t i t i ve e l e c t

David Fischer | Fischy Business

R e quirement s

As an English major and a devotee of the College of Arts and Sciences, I am constantly subjected to jeers and criticism from my fellow scholars pursuing preprofessional studies While I respect their decisions to pursue majors such as applied economics and management, I feel that the intellectual fulfillment that stems from a broad course of study outweighs potentially more secure job prospects The ability to take a wide range of classes, coupled with looser major requirements than pre-professional majors, means that students in the College of Arts and Sciences can truly fulfill Cornell’s old adage of “ any person, any study ” However, some of the graduation requirements that the arts college imposes limit the degree to which students can expand their studies I believe that the degree requirements for the arts college need to be restructured in order to fulfill the promise of a liberal arts education

Throughout my two year tenure at Cornell, I have taken introductory and intermediate courses in 12 different academic departments (including economics, near eastern studies, mathematics and physics) These courses have ranged from discussing various forms of Buddhist meditation in ASIAN 1114 (a highly recommended writing seminar) to learning about business management in AEM 1200 They have enriched my education and have influenced my thought process the purpose of a liberal arts education However, after this semester, I will still have to complete two courses to fulfill my general degree requirements

One of those courses must be a cultural analysis course or a knowledge, cognition & moral reasoning course

Although I have not taken a course that could arguably fall under the KCM heading, I feel that I have taken at least one, if not more, courses that fall under the designation of cultural analysis One such course is one in the classics department called CLASS 2603: “Initiation to Greek Culture ”As indicated by the word “culture, ” the course explore

Greece through a historical treatment of Greek literature

While the course satisfies the college’s literature & the arts college requirement, it seems that it should also fall under cultural analysis One way to fix this disparity would be to list certain courses under two categories instead of just one

The other type of course that I need to take in order to graduate must fulfill a physical and biological science or mathematics and quantitative reasoning requirement In order to fulfill this requirement, I could take MATH 1340: “Mathematics and Politics” or EAS 1220: “Earthquake!” However, again, I feel that based on the classes I have already taken, this category should already be fulfilled Last semester, to satisfy my desire to explore the field of economics, I took ECON 3140: “Intermediate Microeconomic Theory,” a class based around multivariable calculus Although much of the mathematical reasoning required for the course was based on this advanced form of calculus, the course is fulfilled my social & behavioral analysis requirement Although economics is unquestionably about behavioral analysis, I still believe that an intermediate course that uses calculus should fulfill the mathematics requirement of a practically numerically-illiterate humanities major

Although I believe the format of general degree requirements of the college is prohibitive, I would not propose eliminating them entirely I feel as though there should be some general direction applied to arts students However, these requirements should not be as specific as they are now Perhaps, instead of courses being placed in immutable categories, there could be an advisor who would determine if a course could fulfill other categories based on the course of study of the petitioning individual A liberal arts education should not be limited by anachronistic course requirements They should instead be flexible with the educational needs and desires of individual students

Co mm ent of the day

“Thank goodness someone took the time to stop the men of Pi Kappa Phi. Now we can only hope this will serve as an example, and that administration will continue to rewrite other derogatory names clearly objectifying women

On this note, I propose Bare Necessities be renamed ‘Fully Clothed Necessities,’ Mann Library be renamed ‘Gender Inclusive Library for All,’ and Ho Plaza be renamed ‘Nice, Respectable Lady Plaza ’ Once renamed, survivors of sexual assault and other women will be freed from the implications of the Carpenter Library tragedy and the notion they are simply the sum of their jugs I have a dream someday that we, as complicated individuals, complete with minds bodies and spirits, will feel like equals in an oasis of freedom and justice. Let freedom ring from the tippy top of McGraw Tower From every slope, let freedom ring!”

NixonLuvr

Re: "After Criticism From Cornell, Fraternity Changes Name Of ‘Jugs’ Fundraising Event” published Feb 26, 2013

Jon Weinberg | In Focus

Pointing Fingers at the D isruptive and

Intimidating

Here at Cornell, a s t u d e n t m a y b e expelled or otherwise punished for violating t h e C o d e o f A c a d e m i c Integrity Obviously, having the courage to repor t a rape on Cornell’s campus is not condemned, but at the Un

No

s apply A UNC sophomore was recently charged with v

s honor code and faces possible expulsion for speaking out after being assaulted

Unfor tunately, the case at UNC is illustrative of a nationally per vasive ignor a n c e r e g

assault on college campus-

past semester are only the first step

supposed beacons

Depar tment of Education’s Office of Civil Rights this Januar y on behalf of 64 individuals who had been t h r o u g h s i m i l a r e x p e r iences, alleging an institut i o n a l f a i l u r e t o p r o t e c t victims who repor t sexual assault and repeated rights violations Instead of constr uctively working to correct a p e r v e r s e c l i m a t e f o r women, UNC took action against the student brave enough to take a stand L a n d e n G a m b i l l w a s charged with violating the a f o r e m e n t i o n e d h o n o r c o d e f o r “d i s r u p t i v e o r intimidating behavior that w i l l f u l l y a b u s e s , d i s p a rages, or other wise inter-

We are learning to just say no to sexual assualt and to take action when we witness injustices.

g h e r learning

Quite a fe w recent incidents across the countr y demonstrate the depraved nature of the current status quo for women on college

c a m p u s e s U N C

o p h omore Landen Gambill first went through her universit y ’ s D e

n o f St u d e n t s Office in March 2012 to r e p o r t a

,

e ensuing process was par ticularly disturbing, focusing on why the victim didn’t do more to stop the abuse

G a m b i l l a n d t w o o t h e r sur vivors of abuse at UNC filed a complaint with U S

f e re s w i t h a n o t h e r [ s t udent] ” She faces possible expulsion, despite the fact that she has kept the identity of the male student anonymous At UNC, an a b u s i v e , s t a l k i n g boyfriend wasn ’ t “disr uptive or intimidating,” but a w o m a n w i t h c o u r a g e was considered to be If you think the attitude at UNC is isolated, you d o n ’ t l i k e l y w a t c h Fo x

Ne ws Last week, host Bob Beckel asked, “ When the last time you heard about a rape on campus?” and then dismissed date rape Nor do you likely attend the University of Colorado at C o l o r a d o Sp r i n g s , w h e re

the Depar tment of Public Safety recently published a list of tips for students who are attacked that included: “ Te l l y o u r a t t a c k e r t h a t you have a disease or are menstr uating” and “ Vomiting or urinating may also c o n v i n c e t h e a t t a c k e r t o leave you alone ” Nor have you likely visited Amherst

C o l l e g e , o r D a r t m o u t h

C o l l e g e , o r a n y o f t h e

m a n y u n i v e r s i t i e s w h e r e chilling accounts of sexual

a s s a u l t s a n d s u b s e q u e n t failures of administrations

t o p r o t e c t s t u d e n t s a n d a f f o rd t h e m d u e p ro c e s s have been well documented

According to Ne w York U n i v e r s i t y,

one in five women is raped w h i l e i n c o l l e g e Fu r t h e r m o re , o n e i n 1 2 men in college repor t having committed an action

t h a t l e g a l l y c o n s t i t u t e s rape Any sensible individual should be outright disturbed that egregious violations of human dignity c o n t i n u e u n a b a t e d a n d that the rights of over half the student population are still flouted Readers of The Sun and m e m b e r s o f t h e C o r n e l l c o m m u n i t y a r e n o strangers to endemic sexual assault on campus After a string of sexual assaults last semester, Cornell stud e n t s a n d a d m i n i s t r a t o r s

responded with a concer ted effor t to transform our c o m m u n i t y Pu b l i c c a mp a i g n s , r a l l i e s a n d p r ograms were instituted to educate male and female s t u d e n t s a b o u t s e x u a l assault and prevention I c h a l l e n g e d s t u d e n t s l a s t s e m e s t e r t o m a k e a more concer ted effor t to p

practice, and I still see it as just that a challenge But at least we are making progress Other campuses have much fur ther to go, and we can only ser ve as an example by redoubling our effor ts to create a campus

dignity of all, irrespective of gender As Cornell continues to debate its policy and students take action through

address this problem, it’s

changing We are learning to just say no to sexual assault and to take action when we witness injustices Hopefully, Cornellians can help initiate a cultural shift such that the answer to Bob Bickel’s question will someday be “ no ” instead of “ ever y day ” Cornell is on the right track, but nationally, we have a long way to go before colleges are as protective of sexual freedom as they are of academic freedom

Weinberg

SCIENCE

By YVONNE HUANG

Formally known as Students for the Exploration and Development of Space, Cornell Rocketry is a passionate engineering project team that develops rockets

Christina Middleton 14, Matthew Skeels ’15 and Matthew Gentile ’15 are mechanical engineers who founded the project team after finding a common interest in rocketry within the broader spectrum of the exploration and development of space Their supervisor is Prof Ephrahim Garcia, mechanical and aerospace engineering

“We’re a bunch of enthusiastic engineers interested in building high-powered rockets that will go about a mile high for the NASA University Student Launch Initiative, a competition for different college rocketr y teams, ” Middleton said

The team, mostly comprised of underclassmen, will not be competing this year but will be attending the competition to see other teams ’ work

The University Student Launch Initiative takes place once every year in Alabama, with over 30 university teams taking part in the competition Every team is required to meet certain checkpoints throughout the year before reaching the final Launch Day in April Rockets are expected to reach, but not exceed, about a mile high

At the end of the competition, awards are given out based on categories such as Best Vehicle Design, Best Overall Rocket and Best Team Spirit

“We’re just beginning to fabri-

Project Team Develops Rockets

cate [the rocket] We’ve built a small model of the rocket, but I hope to have a seven-foot rocket built by the end of this semester, ” said Gentile, the head of the air frame subsystem of the project team The air frame subsystem is responsible for physically creating the rocket

The competition requires that rockets carry a scientific payload, or some form of scientific experiment Middleton wants to incorporate small robotic crawlers made with 3D printers into the rocket’s payload These insect-like robots will be able to survey large areas of land using incorporated sensors after being shot out of the launched rocket

“We’re trying to design them aerodynamically so that when they are released from the rocket, they spiral and disperse onto the ground,” Middleton said

Along with a GPS, microcontroller and other sensors, the crawlers would have nitinol actuators to enable movement These small wires are superheated with electrical current, making them flexible and simulating a crawling motion These wires have significant contractile force, allowing them to act as “muscles” for the robots, said Middleton

The payload subsystem already has prototypes printed and is currently working on developing the most efficient gait for the robotic crawlers, said Middleton

The idea of having crawlers as the scientific experiment on the rocket came from the slow rovers NASA has sent out to planets throughout the years

“ With these crawlers, more ground can be covered due to their higher mobility,” Middleton said Cornell Rocketry wants to create

crawlers that can be dispersed onto foreign planets to gather data and further space exploration, she added

Another aim of Cornell Rocketr y is that the rocket is reusable, allowing students to be environmentally conscious in their building process

“We want to recover the rocket and not have it fall apart when it hits the ground,” Skeels said As the head of the Recovery and Tracking subsystem, Skeels is responsible for making sure the rocket can be found and launched again in under four hours, as per competition rules

The competition rules also mandate that the rocket land within a 2,500 foot radius of the

launching platform, making drift a significant problem for the R&T subsystem But with the use of two parachutes – one small and heavy and the other large and light – with staggered deployment times, Cornell Rocketry hopes to easily overcome this part of the competition

In addition to being environmentally conscious, the competition aims to make participating teams points of outreach in their respective communities Teams are expected to promote NASA’s longterm goal for education and interest in the field of rocketry and science in general, according to Middleton

Cornell Rocketry is working on developing programs with high

schools and middle schools in the area to meet this goal

After viewing the competition in Alabama this April, Cornell Rocketry will gain better perspective and improve their designs in order to compete next year

“ We want to expand and include more people who are interested in rockets in order to complete our goals

We’re in need of people to reach out to corporate sponsors and to set up outreach programs with middle and high school students With the right people, I believe Cornell Rocketry can be an extremely successful project team, ” Middleton said

Yvonne Huang can be reached at yyh4@cornell edu

By NICOLAS RAMOS Sun Senior Writer

Insect infestations can wreak havoc on

c r o p s , a n d a r e t r a d i t i o n a l l y c o n t r o l l e d through pesticides producing unwanted environmental and ecological side effects

Prof Greg Loeb, entomology, studies the interactions between plants and insects in an effor t to develop inexpensive, environmentally friendly methods of controlling pest populations in agriculture

Plants create their own energy through photosynthesis, so they are considered primar y producers at the first trophic level –

o r p o s i t i o n – i n t h e f o o d c h a i n Herbivores, which include most of the problematic insects in agriculture, are primar y consumers, and are placed at the second trophic level The third trophic level is made up of secondar y consumers, or carnivores that eat the herbivores, according to Loeb

One of Loeb’s main projects is studying tri-trophic interactions, or how plants in the first trophic level and predators at the third trophic level affect one another

“ We are tr ying to understand what benefits the plant provides to natural enemies and the potential costs there might be to the plant,” Loeb said “In the case of our system, we have a good idea of the benefits

Prof. Greg Loeb Protects Plants From Pests With Natural Predators

the predators are providing to the plants ”

Loeb has shown that small hairs on grape leaves can influence predator y mites that live on the plants These predator y mites provide a cr ucial benefit to the plant: They feed on the pest mites that eat the plants and cause damage

“ We want to promote the beneficial insects and the predator y mites, as a way to better manage the pests that feed on the plants,” Loeb said

In collaboration with a geneticist, Loeb is working to determine the mechanisms

traits influence predator y mites Through the process of marker-assisted selection, researchers can identify positive traits in different grape varieties

Loeb is also investigating whether or not a positive morphological trait is correlated with a negative trait According to Loeb, if there is an association between two traits, researchers must be careful to decouple the good trait from the bad trait before attempting to promote a par ticular morphology in a plant

“By promoting positive morphological traits, we can enhance the natural enemies of the pest mites and indirectly increase the role of the plant in its own defense,” Loeb said “Miticides can be ver y expensive and can be disr uptive, so the ultimate goal would be to reduce the monetar y and environmental costs of chemical control in the grape commodity

Promoting predators | Wildflowers provide food for adult brachonid wasps The wasps’ young, however, prey on tar nished plant bugs, a common strawberr y pest

wildflowers in proximity and attack the tarnished plant bugs,” Loeb said

Saving strawberries | A strawberr y infected by the tar nished plant bug Loeb suggests using natural predators instead of insecticides to protect fruit crops

Connelly grad to examine whether scientists can use natural means to increase ecosystem ser vices in strawberr y production Ecosystem ser vices are ser vices provided by organisms in the environment that are beneficial These include things such as pollination and decomposition, which are conducted by a wide variety of organisms

Loeb and Connelly are looking at ways to augment pollination and biological control in strawberr y systems by adding plant diversity

By adding native perennial wildflowers to the strawberr y fields, the flowers provide nectar and other resources to pollinators and parasitoids, or insects that lay their eggs in other insects A par ticular parasitoid, the braconid wasp, lays its eggs in the body of the tarnished plant bug, a pest in strawberr y fields that damages the fr uit Adult braconid wasps feed on nectar, so their presence poses no threat to the crops

“ The idea is that parasitoid wasps will move into the strawberries once we put

The braconid wasp is sensitive to insecticide, but it is ver y effective at biological control By providing a habitat to the braconid wasp, researchers are simultaneously reducing their use of insecticides and regulating populations of tarnished plant bugs

Wildflowers can also benefit pollinating insects, which are impor tant for the size of the strawberries Although strawberries can self-pollinate, the size of the fr uit is larger if insects pollinate the plant

“ We are looking to see how we can increase the activity of native bees,” Loeb said Par t of this project is to see how landscape affects the addition of the wildflower resources

“ C

e amenable to this manipulation, so we are looking to see what kinds of environments the addition of wildflowers would work best in,” Loeb said

Grape Pest Management in the fall semester

Nicolas Ramos can be reached at nramos@cornellsun com

Watermelon: Delicious or Disease-Resistant

By CAMILLE WANG Sun Contributor

The sweet, succulent crunch of a juicy watermelon comes at a price –the familiar red watermelons are highly susceptible to diseases, thus causing millions of dollars of loss for farmers Prof Zhangjun Fei, plant genomics, has uncovered a solution to this problem

Fei realized that wild watermelons, which have white flesh and bitter taste, were more resistant to diseases After generating a comparison of watermelon DNA sequences, he and his team concluded that these disease-resistant genes were lost during domestication of watermelon

“We found that during domestication, people only focus on developing sweet watermelons, but they ignore the disease-resistance aspect And when we compared those genomes, we found a lot of pathogen-resistant genes in wild watermelons that were lost in the cultivated one That’s unfortunate,

so now we want to bring back the disease-resistance,” Fei said Fei worked with researchers from several countries such as China and France, to complete the project

“[Collaborating] helped a lot If it were only my group, we would not have been able to do the project because we don’t have certain expertise or facilities,” Fei said

Fei’s research focuses on using computational tools and system biology to analyze large amounts of information Such analysis helps the team understand how genes function in living cells, he said

The technology generates large fragments of the genome and later connects them “like a puzzle” so Fei and his team have the complete sequence of the watermelon plant

To simplify the process of generating 20 different watermelon sequences, the team first created a “reference genome ” from the one watermelon The team used this reference as a template in order to find the other watermelon genes more efficiently, as all of the plants have

similar genetic sequences, Fei said Fei and his team are currently working on the introduction of disease-resistant genes into cultivated plants This is not a simple process, however, because the researchers must first conduct a series of tests to

ensure that the new disease-resistance genes will not affect the quality of the taste of cultivated watermelon, according to Fei

“If you introduce disease-resistant genes into the cultivated plant, the sweetness may become lost You

want to introduce this disease-resistant gene but still make sure the fruit is high quality,” Fei said

Camille Wang can be reached at csw92@cornell edu

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

Living to Create, Creating to Live

BY DREW ADLER Sun Contributor

c e s s f u l m u s i c i a n w h o d o c u m e n t s t h e l i f e h e w

s h e h a d c o m p l e t e w i t h f a k e i n t e r v i e w s , re v i e w s a n d t h e l i k e i n a b o d y o f w o rk h e c a l l s “ T h e C h ro n i c l e s ” T h e s t o r y i s n a r r a t e d p r i m a r i l y by De n i s e , h i s l ov i n g a n d d e vo t e d s i s t e r w h o i s a r g u a b l y h i s b i g g e s t f a n t h o u g h g i ve n t h e s m a l l a n d s i m i l a r l y d e vo t e d n a t u re o f h i s f a n b a s e , t h i s i s n o t s a y i n g m u c h T h ro u g h a c o l l e c t i o n o f u n u s u a l a n d c h a o t i c c h a r a c t e r s , Sp i o t t a r a i s e s a n u m b e r o f q u e s t i o n s a b o u t t h e p u r p o s e o f a r t a n d w h a t i t m e a n s t o t r u l y b e a n a r t i s t T h o u g h Ni k h a s a t i n y a u d i e n c e , h i s w o rk a p p e a r s t o b e t h e d r i v i n g f o rc e i n h i s l i f e , b u t i s a l s o a n e c e s s a r y o u t l e t t o k e e p h i m g o i n g : c yc l i c a l l y, h e l i ve s t o c re a t e b u t h e c re a t e s t o l i ve Bu t De n i s e d o e s n o t s e r ve s i m p l y a s t h e n a r r a t i ve ve h i c l e t o t e l l Ni k’s s t o r y, f o r we s e e h e r s t r u g g l e w i t h w h a t c a n o n l y b e t e r m e d a m a j o r e x i s t e nt i a l c r i s i s Sa d d e n e d by h e r m o t h e r ’ s s l ow d e s c e n t i n t o d e m e n t i a , h e r w o r r i e s ove r h e r ow n m e n t a l h e a l t h a n d h e r b ro t h e r ’ s r a m p a n t d r u g a n d a l c o h o l u s e , s h e s t r u gg l e s w i t h h e r i d e n t i t y a n d b e g i n s t o l o s e h e r s e n s e o f s e l f

Sh e h a s d i f f i c u l t y re m e m b e r i n g m a j o r e ve n t s i n h e r l i f e ,

a n d w o r l d i s s u e s l i k e t h e S A R S o u t b re a k i r r a t i o n a l l y t e rr i f y h e r De n i s e ’ s p s yc h o s o c i a l d e m i s e , e m p h a s i ze d by t h i s

u n re a s o n a b l e c o n c e r n w i t h g l o b a l e ve n t s b e yo n d h e r

c o n t ro l , r a i s e s q u e s t i o n s a b o u t t h e n a t u re o f i d e n t i t y :

w h o a re we w h e n we c e a s e t o b e p e rc e i ve d i n t h e e ye s o f o t h e r s ? If o u r i d e n t i t i e s a re j u s t c o n s t a n t l y g row i n g a m a l g a m s o f o u r p a s t e x p e r i e n c e s , a n d i f t h o s e c l o s e

m

l f

u g h t h i s

u a l f o c a l i z a t i o n t h a t t h e a u t h o r a n a l y ze s t h e u n i q u e n a t u

f t h e s i b l i n g re l a t i o n s h i p De n i s e g re w u p w i t h Ni k , b u t s h e o bv i o u s l y i s n o t Ni k T h e re f o re , s h e i s u n b u rd e n e d by t h e u n re l i a b l e l e n s o f s e l f - a s s e s s m e n t W h e t h e r Ni k’s o p i n i o n o f h i m s e l f i s i n f l a t e d o r d e f l a t e d ( we g e t t h e s e n s e t h ro u g h o u t t h e b o o k t h a t h e t h i n k s q u i t e h i g h l y o f h i m s e l f ) , De n i s e k n ow s t h e i n t i m a t e d e t a i l s o f h i s l i f e a n d a d m i re s h i m f o r h i s a t t r i b u t e s , f l a w s a n d p a s s i o n s A n d by s e e i n g t h e s t o r y p l a y o u t t h ro u g h De n i s e ’ s e ye s a n d re a d i n g h e r d e s c r i p t i o n s o f c e r t a i n a s p e c t s o f Ni k’s l i f e , l i k e t h e f i n a l c h a p t e r w h e re De n i s e c a re f u l l y d e s c r i b e s Ni k’s s t u d i o a n d h ow i t re f l e c t s h i s i d i o s y n c r a t i c c h a r a c t e r, i t i s h a rd n o t t o l ove h i m , t o o He r s t e a d f a s t d e vo t i o n t o a n d

a d m i r a t i o n o f h e r b ro t h e r i s a l m o s t a n i m p l i c i t re s o l ut i o n o f h e r i d e n t i t y c r i s i s : we a re n o t s o l e l y m e m o r i e s , n o r a re we s o l e l y o u r p re s e n t s e l ve s Ou r i d e n t i t i e s a re t h e i n t a n g i b l e q u a l i t y f o r w h i c h t h o s e w h o k n ow u s b e s t l ove u s W h a t e x a c t l y t h i s q u a l i t y re a l l y i s d o e s n o t m a tt e r s o m u c h , b e c a u s e h u m a n s a re c o m p l e x ; t o t r y a n d p u t s u c h a t h i n g i n t o w o rd s w o u l d b e re d u c t i ve

De n i s e ’ s d e s c r i p t i o n o f Ni k’s s t u d i o d r i ve s t h i s p o i n t h o m e , b e c a u s e t h ro u g h h e r d i s c u s s i o n o f i t s m i n u t i a e t h e p o s t e r s , t h e d r a w i n g s , t h e b i z a r re o r g a n i z a t i o n

ARIELLE CRUZ Sun Staff Writer

Silver balloons afloat, drifting lazily back and forth, gleaming with light from the galler y lamps This is The Persepolis Project, an exhibit which opened Monday at Olive Tjaden Galler y Based off of Andy Warhol’s Silver Clouds, The Persepolis Project is first and foremost a statement piece

In 1972, Warhol’s original Silver Clouds was part of the Cunningham Dance Company’s contentious Persepolis Arts Festival in Iran The festival was shocking, not because of the art displayed, but because in a time when the people of Iran were poor and struggling, the festival represented a lavish reminder of the Shah’s abuse of power Another reminder, of course, was the heavy militar y presence

The ubiquitous presence of the Shah’s militar y at the festival was not jarring to attendees, nor did it go unnoticed In fact, one thing was certainly noticed: the storage of The Cunningham Dance Company’s silver props in the same room as the militar y s machine guns Raja a Khalid s M F A ’13 piece in Tjaden Galler y is a statement about the festival and more generally, about what it means to be a patron of art

Inside the white-walled galler y Khalid’s balloons hang on strings that, unlike Warhol’s, are tethered to the ground

The weight holding them down, bullets From what I can distinguish from the photographs, Warhol’s “clouds” floated free, much like ones made of water Held aloft, but in no danger of colliding with the ceiling, they contained precisely measured helium Dense bundles of sleek sliver clowds dotted the other wise empty space, stunningly reflecting natural light Warhol’s exhibit exemplified freedom, awe and simplicity

If that exhibit exemplified freedom, this one can only exemplify repression The artist stated that the exhibit is “ not about a dictator’s megalomania, or the sad follies of his regime,” but a reflection on what his regime led to limited freedom At a glance, the balloons look like storage items, left over from the 1972 festival Yet unlike those haphazardly scattered predecessors, these balloons were wellorganized The balloons in the center of the room stand together, like a group of dancers in formation The rest set up camp by walls, by windows or trapped behind air vents

WThe balloons glide for ward and back, linked together, never floating beyond the radius of their strings and their bronze bullets With this constraint, Khali forces us to think about those who attended the art festival in Persepolis Were they similarly restrained by the tethers of their society? By the violent potential of bullets? Like in this exhibit, violence was out in the open, in the machine guns held aloft on broad militar y shoulders In the galler y, bullets sprinkle the floor The effect, as they lie at the viewer’s feet, surprises and discomforts Never have I come this close to a bullet before I could have touched it if I had wanted to, but I did not feel the desire to familiarize myself with the surface of that violent metal

Art is meant to be free To take the mind to a new place, to surpass the restraints of reality Khali asks us what art

means when it is not allowed to transcend these boundaries When balloons are not allowed to float on their own When they are so dependent on their mortal enemies, an item that could puncture them and leave them splayed and airless on the floor

When art depicts or reacts to war, the result can be discomforting, yet beautiful But when war is forced into the realm of art the result, is discomforting and frightening

The Persepolis Project runs in Olive Tjaden Hall’s Experimental Galler y from Feb 25 to Mar 1

Arielle Cruz is a sophomore in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences She can be reached at acruz@cornellsun com

iPhone 5: Beyond Skeumorphism

h e n e ve r Ap p l e re l e a s e s a n e w iPhone, the reception is nothing short of magical Lines camped outside the Apple store! Record sales! Supply issues! But with the iPhone 5, something new has entered that hysteria, which frightens the seasoned marketer more than a product recall: boredom “ The iPhone 5 is Completely Amazing and Utterly Boring,” Wired magazine mourned “The iPhone 5

f o re c a s t : a p re d i c t a b l e 7 3 d e g re e s a n d sunny, ” The Verge complained For a consumer society that has internalized and institutionalized change, “iPhone” and its operating system “iOS” have become words mumbled to express resentment and ennui over shiny icons

A n d t o b e f a i r t o Apple why would it change? So far, only the

g a d g e t b l o g g e r a t t i a re complaining; the average consumer is happy But

t h e l o n g e r I u s e m y i Ph o n e , t h e m o re annoyed I am with small design decisions; by now, this frustration borders on neuroticism What’s up with those glossy icons on system apps and skeuomorphic textures everywhere? Why does the Notes app look like a legal pad and a leather case? How about Games Center, which looks like the green felt on casino tables? It’s not just passé it’s perplexing If the Newsstand app was supposed to look like an actual newsstand, why are the newspapers on a wooden bookshelf? How is this compatible with the hardware ’ s sleek and modern industrial design?

on early Mac OS X with their diffused lighting effects, the glass effects on Aero in Windows Vista with their reflections But soon these details became distractions for the sake of distraction: At their best, they served no functional purpose, and at their worst they killed productivity And, of course, there was still the nagging realization that no matter how hard computers tried, they could never imitate actual life As Oscar Wilde wrote in “The Decay of Lying,” Art begins with abstract decoration and “takes life as part of her rough material, recreates it, refashions it in fresh forms until life gets the upper hand and “drives Art out into the w

designers that he wanted the leather stitching on the chairs of his private jet to be replicated in iPad’s calendar app, he drove Art out into the wilderness

mention were also slow)

These design flourishes date back to 2006, when companies competed with each other on imitating real life as closely as possible In order to show the horsepower of these devices, the thought goes, these devices needed to replicate every lifelike detail: the brushed metal textures on Finder windows

Other big companies, however, have enticed Art to come back, betting that the next battle in mobile technology will be about design, not raw processing power The most radical of these is Microsoft’s own Windows Phone, which does away with skeuomorphism all together: flat textures, geometric shapes, typography, big icons, flourishing animations, live updates My Windows Phone felt modern through and through, designed for my life But once outside of Microsoft’s strictly-curated experience, the magic was gone third party apps clashed with the rest of the interface (not to

I’m more of a fan with Google’s own efforts, which seeks a compromise between Windows Phone’s own stark digitalism and iOS’s cheesy textures These efforts have shown up in a uniform and quiet revamping of Google’s websites and apps, centered on the idea of subtlety: quiet gradients, soft s h a d ow s , s u b d u e d b u t t o n s , l i g h t f o n t s , muted pastel colors There’s liberal use of white space and a religious dedication to simplicity and modernism In comparison, i O S l o o

Phone looks garish

Perplexingly, this redesign has prominently showed up not in Google’s own Android, but within Google’s iOS apps But nevertheless, its simplicity is stunning In Google Maps, Gmail, and the Google search app, unnecessary buttons replace intuitive touch gestures Animations are instant and fluid but always under your control The transparency garnishes that Windows Phone crushed out exist in Google’s interpretation, a gentle reminder that the phone’s simplicity was not a compromise with “weak pro-

cessing power ” and that your phone is capable of so much more beneath the surface

The one prominent place it does pop up on Android is within Google’s quasi-competitor to iOS’s Siri, Google Now Cards pop up information that reveal more than what is written through their positioning and context If you ’ re stuck in traffic, a card will tell you exactly how much time is left in your commute Android itself is catching up to Google’s redesign (most recently with a new Helvetica rip-off system font called Roboto), but manufacturers like Samsung and HTC have always imposed their own skin-deep interfaces to differentiate themselves in the cutthroat Android market Google has given manufacturers wide berth in this area, but maybe it’s time to push it across the rest of Android not to crush manufacturers, but in the name of beautiful design

Kai Sam Ng is a junior in the School of Labor and Industrial Relations He can be reached at kng@cornellsun com You’ve Got To Be Kitsching Me appears alternate Wednesdays this semester

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Continued from page 16 R e d L o o k s For wa rd to S ta rt of S e a son

BASEBALL

tion in the late innings

“Our biggest strength will definitely be our staff,” Cruz said “ We’re returning [with] a lot of the younger guys that had a huge role, like Kellen Urbon He’s gotten many accolades in the past few months, and he was just a freshman last year ”

In De c e m b e r, Ur b o n w a s n a m e d t o t h e National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association’s Preseason All-America Third Team This month, he was featured in a question and answer session on College Baseball Insider com Urbon also set a single-season record with nine saves and recorded a team best 47 ERA, earning him a spot on the All-Ivy League First Team as the only relief pitcher

Though the Red will once again sport a dominant staff, its offense will take a hit with the losses of Brian Billigen ’12 and Brandon Lee ’12 The two seniors led the team in batting average at 361 and 320 respectively Billigen who was picked up as a free agent by the Arizona Diamondbacks last summer also led the team in RBI’s with 40

“In terms of offense, we lost some key members, but the guys that are still around also had a part in our success, ” Cruz said “ The guys who

were waiting in the wings all could have started last year and are ready to step up ” Cruz will be one of those integral parts of the Red’s lineup He led the team in home runs last season with 12, while driving in 35 runs

The Red will also have some holes to fill on defense, with the loss of Lee behind the plate and Marshall Yanzick ’12 at shortstop According to Cruz, junior Tom D’Alessandro is well prepared to take over as the captain of the infield in place of Yanzick

“Last year we had guys that could have easily started, and he’s one of those guys [who] is more than capable of taking that spot, ” he said

Last season, the Red started off with a fourgame sweep of Mar yland Eastern Shore The squad will take on the Hawks in one game on Friday before facing St Peter’s Saturday and Sunday Cruz said the offseason has prepared the team well in terms of what it needs to do to be successful

“ We’re most focused on playing together as a team and ever yone doing their part, ” Cruz said “ We all have roles; we all know what needs to be done So we need to do the little things, and that’s when you can get the victor y ”

Scott Chiusano can be reached at schiusano@cornellsun com

C.U. b eg ins seas on w ith game s a gainst Mar y l and E ast ern Shore P l e a s e R e c y c l e T h i s N e w s p a p e r

since 1880 yeah, we’ve been around awhile... The Corne¬ Daily Sun

Red Takes Down Black Knights

By DEEYA BAJAJ Sun Contributor

s m a t c h e s w

m a t c h a g a i n s t f re s h m a n Eva Su n g 6 - 1 , 6 - 2 ; Ord w a y

c a m e o u t o n t o p w i t h 6 - 0 , 6 - 3 ; Yo

C.U. Kicks O f f 2013 S eason at George Mason-Patriot Classic

“Overall, [the team is] feeling confident that if we play to our ability, we will have a good weekend,” she said

This coming weekend, the Cornell softball team heads to Fairfax, Vir to compete in the first of three weekends at the George Mason-Patriot Classic The Red begins its run in the classic against Rider University at 10 a m on Saturday, followed by a game at 12:15 against the host team, George Mason

Both George Mason and Rider are coming into the season posting 2-4 and 1-3 records respectively, putting Cornell in a favorable position to earn two wins on day one of the classic this Saturday

The Red is entering the tournament as a strong competitor, coming off its fourth straight Ivy League South Division title and another 25-win season this past year Head coach Dick Blood, starting the season with 567 wins and five conference crowns under his belt (the most any coach at Cornell holds in a single sport), is also sure to coach the squad to success both this weekend and throughout the rest of 2013 Senior catcher Kristen Towne said she is looking forward to the tournament

Cornell has been competing at the George Mason Classic since 2005 and has an overall classic record of 34-18 However, this is the first time that Cornell will be facing Rutgers, which is coming into the classic with a strong record of 2-3 Additionally, Rutgers current head coach Jay Nelson has lead the team to three straight Big East tournament appearances

The Red will face the Scarlet Knights on Sunday at 9 a m and finish the first weekend of the tournament with a second game against Rider at 1:30 before returning to Ithaca With a strong group of returning players and past success at the classic, the Red looks to come home with some wins before heading into weekend number two at George Mason

“We are all looking forward to getting out on the field and seeing our first competition of the year, ” Towne said

By SYDNEY ALTSHULER Sun Contributor

Women’s lacrosse opened its season Saturday with a 16-0 victory against the Canisius Griffins Highlights included sophomore Lindsay Toppe scoring four goals and grabbing three assists for a career-high seven points, senior Caroline Salisbury adding four goals for the Red and junior Rachel Moody bringing in seven points with two goals and five assists Additionally, senior goalkeeper Courtney Gallagher had a total of eight saves in net

The Red’s focus throughout the game was on fine-tuning its “hustle stats, ” according to members of the squad

“We went into the game focusing on opening our season on a strong note by improving our hustle stats, meaning we wanted to cause more turnovers, dominate draw controls and control ground balls,” freshman Abby Hanson said

The game was close for the entire 60 minutes of playtime, but the Red never trailed The team entered the second half with a three-goal lead that drove its momentum for the remainder of the game

The Red capitalized on draw controls for scoring and netted three goals in succession directly after winning the draw at the onset of the second period

“Performing well on draw controls allowed us to get three goals right off the bat at the beginning of the second period, which gave us a good cushion,” Hanson said

The Red is ready to start the season off on a win, but knows that it must make improvements before its upcoming game against Harvard

“We are celebrating the win of our first game of the season, but we didn’t play to our best potential, and we have to get focused now for Harvard, our home-opener,” freshman midfielder

Maddie Kiep said

Cornell will face Har vard on Saturday, for its first Ivy-League contest of the year

“I’m excited but nervous because it will most likely be a close game We’ve beat them the past two years so we hope to continue that streak this year, ” freshman midfielder Shelby McNeilly said The team is turning to its seniors for strong leadership and a positive morale for an extra boost in tough match-ups such as this one The ten freshmen in particular the future of the Red’s women ’ s lacrosse program looks to the seniors as role models

“The seniors are great leaders They have a really strong work ethic, they lead by example and they give a good vibe on the field Their passion for securing wins is contagious,” Kiep said

The Corne¬ Daily Sun

Spor ts

By JUAN CARLOS TOLEDO Sun Staff Wr ter

It was an exciting weekend for the Red at the Heps Championship indoor track and field meet at Harvard The men ’ s team edged defending champion Princeton by just one point to bring the indoor Heps title back to Cornell for the first time since 2009 The women ’ s team also had a strong showing but came up short, finishing the meet in second place behind Harvard

“Most of the people at the meet who are long time Heps people said that that was the most incredible Heps meet they’ve been to in 30 years, ” said men ’ s head coach Nathan Taylor “The crowd just blew the roof off the venue for eight hours ”

[senior] Nick Wade each scored 16 points ”

Wade was more excited about the meet as a whole than just performing as an individual

“That was pretty surreal,” he said “It’s really hard to put into words It was probably the best indoor Heps that’s ever occurred [if you could] measure it in terms of intensity I don’t think I’ll ever experience that again in my life it was amazing ”

“It was probably the best indoor Heps that’s ever occurred [if you could] measure it in terms of intensity ”

Top individual accolades went to the Red’s athletes who took first in their events Junior Montez Blair took first in the high jump, and senior co-captain J D Adarquah reclaimed his title in the 60m dash Senior Bruno Hortelano in the 400m and junior Will Weinlandt in the 800m were among top finishers for the Red Taylor was quick to point out, though, that there were many unsung heroes for Cornell

“Some of the real efforts were guys like [junior] Chris Bain,” he said “He hasn’t been able to really practice or compete for weeks and was able to score with a 4th place finish in the [60m] dash [Sophomore] Stephen Mozia and

Although the women ’ s team finished in second place, women ’ s head coach Rich Bowman spoke about how proud the squad is despite coming up short

“I was just so proud of how well they competed,” he said “We did [the] best job that we could have done We just got beat by a team that was just a tad bit better than us on that weekend We held nothing back ”

The loss to Harvard, according to Bowman, will serve as motivation for the squad to get going during the outdoor season

“It gives us that much more motivation to really take it outdoors,” he said “I think we ’ re going to use this as a motivational factor for the outdoor season ”

Senior co-captain Victoria Imbesi defended her title from last year ’ s Heps meet in the shot put and said she was pleased by her performance

C.U. Defeats Statesmen In First Game of the Season

Red Bring s Heps Back to Hill Cornell Defense Remains Strong A s Team Prepares for 2013 Season

The No 7 men ’ s lacrosse team came off of a 19-11 win against Hobart Sunday night, thanks to senior attackman Rob Pannell’s return from injury In the game against the Statesmen, Pannell led the team with four goals and five assists It was his first game back after a broken foot put him out for a large amount of last season

The Red offense scored 12 goals in the second half to defeat Hobart in Cornell’s first game of the season Pannell moved into second place on Cornell’s career point list with 261 points His stellar performance in the game against Hobart helped him earn Player of the Week the 10th Ivy weekly honor of his career He was named Rookie of the Week twice during his freshman year and this week marked the eighth time he picked

up Player of the Week

In the game against Hobart, Cornell’s senior attackman Steve Mock and sophomore midfielder Connor Buczek added an additional push for the Red Mock matched a career high with five goals for the day, including four goals finished off of Pannell’s feeds Buczek scored four goals and assisted on one to put Cornell on top

Senior goalie A J Fiore had a strong performance in the first half and made six saves and then an additional seven in the second half to keep the Red in the lead

The Cornell men ’ s lacrosse team played Tuesday in its home opener at 4 p m on Schoellkopf against Binghamton Coverage of that game will follow

Compiled by Haley Velasco

By SCOTT CHIUSANO Assistant Sports Editor

There may still be traces of snow on the ground in Ithaca, but the first day of March means the start of baseball season, and the Red is prepared to kick off the 2013 season Friday against Maryland Eastern Shore

“ I t h i n k we ’ re d e f

n g t h e re Everybody is getting into the groove as we get ready to get going this weekend,” junior outfielder Chris Cruz said The Red is coming off a historic season that ended in a trip to the NCAA regionals in Chapel Hill, N C It took a hard-fought threegame series against Dartmouth and a walk-off homerun by Cruz in the 11th inning of the final game to get Cornell to the tournament

“[NCAA Regionals] were awesome; I’ve

never experienced anything like that in my career It was a wild time, and the fans were awesome, ” Cruz said “There was so much on the line, because if you have one good weekend, you can win the regional Coming off the year, we had the previous year and to make it there, everyone was really excited ” Fortunately for the Red, much of the pitching staff that carried the team last season is returning Sophomores Brian McAffee and Brent Jones combined for a 10-0 record on the hill in the regular season Junior Connor Kaufmann who pitched the program ’ s first no-hitter last year against Dartmouth will also return to lead the staff Sophomore reliever and the reigning Ivy League Rookie of the Year, Kellen Urbon, will once again anchor the rota-