05-01-13 by The Cornell Daily Sun

INDEPENDENT SINCE 1880

The Corne¬ Daily Sun Vol. 129, No. 139

WEDNESDAY, MAY 1, 2013

ITHACA, NEW YORK

20 Pages – Free

News

Arts

Sports

Weather

Gates, One Year In

Spinning Singles

More Sophs

Sunny HIGH: 72 LOW: 45

Students and professors express excitement about the progress that has been made on Gates Hall. | Page 3

James Rainis ’14, Michael Sosnick ’16 and Kai Sam Ng ’14 review favorite singles from this week. | Page 13

The Sun names the top 15 sophomores of the year and reviews their achievements. | Page 20

C.U.Raises $500M In 2012-13 Period

Dunk for the kids

By JONATHAN SWARTZ Sun Senior Writer

MICHELLE FELDMAN / SUN STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Prof. Thomas Ruttledge, chemistry and chemical biology, faces a dunk tank as part of a fundraiser for the Arab Student Association that raised money for El-Nasr Elementary School in Assiut, Egypt on Ho Plaza Tuesday.

Ithaca Police Cuts ‘Chewed Away’at Dept.,Officers Say By SARAH CUTLER Sun Senior Writer

Five months after the City of Ithaca approved cutting the number of Ithaca Police Department officers by nine in an effort to close the city’s $3-million budget deficit, IPD says it is operating with minimum staffing at “mission critical,” according to IPD public information officer Jamie Williamson. Though the department avoided laying off any of its officers, it did not fill nine of its vacant positions, which eliminated patrol, “We are at our bare fleet maintenance, trafofficer, temporary minimum right now.” fic investigator and administrative positions and Kevin Slattery decreased the number of officers to 64. “We are now at the ‘have to do’ stage rather than the ‘nice to do’ stage,” Williamson said. “At mission critical, we can only achieve our core missions and are unable to implement new programs or projects.” IPD officers protested the cuts –– which have also affected the Ithaca Fire Department –– at a Common Council meeting last fall when Myrick proposed them, arguing that a limited staff would endanger officers’ safety. “We are at our bare minimum right now,” IPD officer Kevin Slattery told the council at the meeting last fall. “The bottom line is there are no more areas where we can make cuts.” IPD officer Michael Nelson, who has worked at the See BUDGET CUTS page 5

Working to eclipse what was Cornell’s best year of fundraising –– $773.8 million for the 2011-12 fiscal year –– the University has raised $500.1 million for the 2012-13 fiscal year ending on June 30, according to Richard Banks ’72, associate vice president for alumni affairs and development. Though Cornell has “been running three to five percent ahead of last year consistently throughout this entire year,” the University does not believe that this year’s fundraising will be as successful as last year’s, according to Banks. Banks said that Chuck Feeney’s ’56 $350 million donation for the tech campus made it possible for Cornell to raise as much money as it did last year. “[That] doesn’t happen every year,” Banks said. “Nonetheless, the results this year will be very good –– among the best years in our history.” See FUNDRAISING page 4

U.A. Indefinitely Tables Protest Policy Change Resolution would have clarified role of permits in student protests By TALIA JUBAS Sun Contributor

The University Assembly motioned to indefinitely table a resolution that aimed to clarify the university protest policy at a meeting Tuesday evening. Members reached a consensus that the language of the University policy is unclear and that they should not move too hastily in changing the policy without further information and community feedback. Spurred by criticism of its handling of a confrontation between the Cornell Israel Public Affairs Committee and Students for Justice in Palestine on Ho Plaza last November, the University has examined the purported inconsistencies between its Campus Code of Conduct and its enforcement of policy. The proposed policy change would amend the Campus Code of Conduct to clarify the requisite procedure students should follow when using University property for protests, stating definitively that a permit is not required, though students would still be able to submit them. Still, a permit would still be recommended, which was a source of confusion to many at the meeting. This lack of clarity was continually brought into question. “There’s a lot of discussion about the meaning of various words,” said Dean of Faculty Joseph Burns, Ph.D. ’66. Burns raised the possibility of the

policy not needing to be changed at all. “I think it’s generally agreed that the Ho Plaza incident was mishandled. I don’t think that necessarily means that the rules have to change,” Burns said. Burns noted that the Faculty Senate was actively investigating the Ho Plaza incident and working on issuing a formal report. Voting on the resolution prior to the release of that information would be premature, he said. “It seems to me as though we’re sort of rushing to get this out, and I don’t see anything that will hurt by waiting until the fall,” he said. Max Ajl grad, a member of SJP

who coordinated the demonstration in November, echoed Burns’ sentiment. “I don’t think you can have an accurate sense of what procedures need to change until you have an accurate sense of how exactly those procedures broke down,” he said. Darlene Evans, senior lecturer for the Knight Institute for Writing in the Disciplines, a self-described “witness” of the Ho Plaza incident, addressed similar issues. The proposal “tacitly allows the same thing to happen again,” she said. Evans also expressed concern that See POLICY page 5

KELLY YANG / SUN SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHER

Democracy in action | The University Assembly voted Tuesday to table a resolution that attracted controversy about the role of permits in student protests.