08-22-12

The Corne¬ Daily Sun

Cornell Guts Portion of Financial Aid Guarantee

Skorton: Reduction needed to save aid program

By AKANE OTANI Sun News Ed tor

a r

T h e B o a rd u n a n i m o u s l y a g re e d

A Un i ve r s i t y p re s s re l e a s e a t t h e t i m e

o u t l i n e d t h e “ s we e p i n g n e w f i n a n c i a l i n i t i a t i v e ” t h a t w o u l d a l l ow l owi n c o m e s t u d

By JINJOO LEE Sun Senior Writer

By AKANE OTANI Sun News Editor

A previous version of this article appeared on cornellsun com on July 8

In an abrupt reversal after years of

announced July 3 that, beginning Fall 2013, it will no longer provide loan-free aid packages to all students whose parents make under $75,000 a year

The policy which will not affect current students marks a reduction of some parts of the University’s financial aid program, which was bolstered in 2008 to decrease the tens of thousands of dollars in loans the average Cornell student graduated with at the time

Cornell had eliminated loans for students whose families made under $75,000 a year, replacing them with grants a n d w o rk - s t u d y o p t i o n s No m o re

Beginning Fall 2013, only freshmen whose families earn less than $60,000 a year will qualify for loan-free aid

The revised aid policy will add thousands of dollars more in loans for families Where they previously would have had to take out no loans, students whose families make between $60,000 and $75,000 annually will now take out up to $2,500 in loans

Other income brackets will be affected by the policy, too Those making between $75,000 and $120,000 will take out up to

a d d re s s e d a p p ro p r i a t e l y a n d e f f e c t i ve l y ” by t h e p o l i c e a n d t h e c o u r t Mu l t i p l e C o r n e l l s t ud e n t s w e r e y e l l e d a t , t h e n p h y s i c a l l y s t r u c k a n d p u s h e d i n t h e a re a

“Cornell University deplores incidents such as this that tear at the fabric of respect and inclusiveness

d “ c o n c e r n a n d d i s m a y ” ov e r t h e b i a s i n c i d e n t a n d s a i d t h a t t h e c a s e i s “ b e i n g

By UTSAV RAI Sun Staff Writer

A 94-year-old woman was killed after two cars collided Monday on Route 79 in the Town of Dryden

The accident involved a Cornell graduate student

o f 2 0 0 Ed d y St re e t a t 1 : 4 3 a m Su n d a y, a c c o r d i n g t o It h a c a Po l i c e A n t h o n y K

St e p h a n s , w h o i s n o t a s s o c i a t e d w i t h t h e

Un i v e r s i t y, r e p o r t e d l y s t a r t e d ye l l i n g “d e ro g at o r y, s e x u a l a n d r a c i a l s l u r s ” a t t h e v i c t i m s a s t h e y w a l k e d d ow n t h e s t r e e t , a c c o r d i n g t o It h a c a Po l i c e St e p h a n s t h e n a l l e g e d l y p roc e

$5,000 not the current $3,000 in loans The only group not affected by the changes are families making more than $120,000 annually, who, as in previous years, will receive up to $7,500 in loans

As the cost of attending college continues to rise, the cuts could drive deep into some families’ pockets In 2002, the price of tuition, room and board for a student at an endowed, or private, college was $36,374 Last year, it was $54,701 a 5 0 - p

1 0 years ago

Ad d i t i

aid program, students who work part-time during the year will have to earn $2,500 instead of the current $2,000 as part of their contribution to their aid package That amount, until now, had not been raised for two decades, according to the University

In a p re s s re l

changes, Cornell administrators lauded the University’s “historic” financial aid efforts and promised that changes were necessary to ensure the “long-term sustainability” of need-based aid

“We are making adjustments in our financial aid programs that will ensure that C o r n e l l’s c o m m i t m e n t t o n e e d - b l i n d admissions and need-based aid is not only durable but also enduring,” Provost Kent Fuchs said, according to the press release

Myra F Moran was taken to Cayuga Medical Center, where she was declared dead Two other passengers in the other vehicle were airlifted to hospitals nearby, according to New York State Police

The State Police is investigating the accident Neil Sexton grad was driving westbound on State Route 79 in a 2012 Chevrolet Equinox when he veered into the eastbound lane, hitting the 2002 Chr ysler minivan Moran was riding in,

police said Sexton declined to comment on the incident in light of ongoing investigations

“I’m not at liberty to comment on this at this time since the investigation is still ongoing and I have been instructed not to talk to anyone [about this],” he said Sexton said he sprained his hip as a result of the accident “ The pain kind of

Today

Exploring Cornell’s Rare Books and Manuscripts 3:30 p m , Kroch Library

Truman Scholarship Session 4:35 p m , Barnes Hall

“Midnight in Paris” Movie Night 7 p m , Robert Purcell Community Center

Tomorrow

Report From The 19th International AIDS Conference Noon, Bronfenbrenner Center for Translational Research

Walking Tour of Olin, Kroch and Uris Libraries

3 p m , Upper Lobby, Uris Library

Dilmun Hill Work Party 4 p m , Dilmun Hill Student Farm

Downtown Ithaca Summer Concert Series 6 p m , Ithaca Commons

Welcome Weekend: Flicks Across Cornell University

7:30 p m , Auditorium, Uris Hall

Weird News of the Week

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l o c a l g i r l’s 2 0 - p o u n d p e t b u n n y a f t e r re c e i v i n g c a l l s a n d e m a i l s f ro m a c ro s s t h e c o u n t r y d e m a n d i n g t h a t t h e r a b b i t b e a l l owe d t o s t a y No r t h Ha ve n Fi r s t Se l e c t m a n Mi c h a e l Fre d a s a i d Fr i d a y t h a t t h e t ow n w i l l a l l ow s e ve n - ye a r - o l d K a yd e n

L i d s k y a n d h e r f a m i l y t o k e e p t h e Fl e m i s h g i a n t n a m e d Sa n d y a n d c h a n g e t h e zo n i n g r u l e t h a t l e d t o a c e a s e - a n d - d e s i s t o rd e r t h re e we e k s a g o T h e r u l e b a r s a n y o

We’ve been reporting the news to curious minds for more than 131 years.

Skorton: Univ. Committed to Aid

SKORTON

Continued from page 1

announcement of the bolstered financial aid program has brought along with it unforeseeable difficulties, Skorton said The severity and duration of the recession was far worse than most had expected

Skorton said that had the University not decided this summer to resintate loans for some financial aid packages, Cornell could have been forced to take more drastic measures: asking parents to significantly increase their contribution, or eliminating needblind admissions altogether

Without “these modest changes, I believe a very few years from now, some University leader would have to make the very hard decision to walk away from this commitment to student access, ” he said

Instead, from Fall 2013, families making less than $120,000 but more than $60,000 a year will have to take out thousands of dollars more in loans It is a change other schools including the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have made in the past few months

ple who should shoulder the brunt of the financial aid changes should not be families, but students

“Is it an additional burden having more loan obligations, or covering more [of the] cost of education? Do we put that [burden] with the student who is earning a Cornell degree and therefore will be out in the marketplace with a Cornell education and the quality that implies, or do we put the burden on families?” Knuth said

Ultimately, University officials decided to increase the loans students must take out to finance their Cornell degree stemming from their belief that the “obligation and responsibility for the Cornell education [should be kept] on the student who is then going to be earning that degree and having increased marketability once they graduate,” Knuth said

“To future generations, I want to make a promise ... that we have a sustainable commitment to ... financial aid.”

P r e s i d e n t D a v i d S k o r t o n

Skorton described the changes that will go into effect next fall as being “modest ”

Half of all Cornell students do not graduate with debt, and among those who do, the median debt is slightly under $14,000, compared to the national median of $20,000 to 25,000, according to Barbara Knuth, dean of the graduate school

Skorton said he himself “borrowed much more money than we ’ re asking students to borrow currently,” taking 21 years to pay off his own loans after he finished school

In comparison, Cornell’s aid packages offer, “I believe, handleable amounts of loans,” Skorton said

The decision to increase loans in financial aid packages was carefully calculated, Knuth said

Knowing they had to rein in ballooning financial aid expenses, administrators deliberated over where to scrimp and save Ultimately, they decided the peo-

At least in recent years, numbers seem to support the value of a Cornell degree A repor t released last year indicated that for the third year in a row, the University saw an increase in the number of students who reported finding employment within six months after graduation

“With those things in mind,” Knuth said, “ yes, we will continue to monitor what the impact [of the change] is on middle to low income student enrollment But given that there could’ve been more significant changes for families, we need to expect that any negative impacts are going to be limited ”

Although it seems doubtful Skorton will again ask the University to dip into its endowment for aid, as he did in 2007, the president restated his commitment to providing financial aid for current and future Cornellians

“Even though current students will not be affected by these modest changes, to future generations I want to make a promise that my successors can keep: that we have a sustainable commitment to need-blind admission and need-based student financial aid,” Skorton said

Akane Otani can be reached at aotani@cornellsun com

Administrator Condemns Incident

BIAS

Continued from page 1

on the house’s door Before the o f f i c e r s r e a c h e d t h e s c e n e , Stephans was physically removed b y h i s f r i e n d s , a c c o rd i n g t o Ithaca Police

As the officers were investigat-

i n g t h e i n c i d e n t , t h e v i c t i m s spotted the man and he was

taken into custody Stephans will return to Ithaca City Court on Aug 29 for further legal action The students were contacted by crisis managers from the Dean of Students office and are receiving “ our full s u p p o r t , ” a c c o rd i n g t o t h e University statement from Susan Murphy ’73, vice president of student and academic ser vices

C.U. Aid ‘Unsustainable’

FINANCIAL AID

Continued from page 1

The University noted that, since 2008, Cornell’s financial aid spending has grown nearly 20 percent ever y year while tuition has grown for some colleges about 4 6 percent annually in that same period

Barbara Knuth, vice provost a n d d e a n o f t h e g r a d u a t e school, said that even with the changes, the net attendance cost for many students qualifying for financial aid will be lower than it would have been in 2 0 0 7 - 0 8 Be f o re t h e n , s o m e families making under $60,000 still had loans in their aid packages

“[Cornell] is spending more on need-based financial aid and benefiting more of its students than ever in its histor y, ” the

financial aid in 2011, and 2,900 more students received aid in 2011 than they did in 2009

Student Trustee Alex Bores

C

l expanded its financial aid offerings amid the recession even drawing from its endowment to d o s o a s o t

c h o o l s “pulled back” their spending on aid

Over the long term, this expanded financial aid policy was “unsustainable” for Cornell, Bores said, forcing administra-

tors to reconsider its scale

“It’s one of those situations where it just comes down to the dollars, and it’s incredibly difficult to make it work,” Bores said

Those dollars, Bores said, were not tied to the University’s $2-billion tech campus that will rise on Roosevelt Island over the c o m i n g ye a r s A l t h o u g h t h e most expensive undertaking in Cornell’s histor y, the tech campus will be “100-percent paid for by philanthropy for the first 10 years and even beyond that,” Bores said

C o n c e d i n g t h a t “ n o b o d y likes announcing a decrease in financial aid,” Bores said that both the Board of Trustees and t h e a d m i n i s t r a t i o n d

make the decision to alter the University’s financial aid lightly He added that administrators w

demographics “incredibly closely” to monitor how Cornell’s financial aid affects its socioeconomic diversity

“If we think it has an effect on who will come [to Cornell], we will reevaluate it,” he said “I think ever yone in the administration and on the Board understands the importance of financial aid not just that it’s the right thing to do, but also in terms of making sure Cornell has a diverse population ”

Akane Otani can be reached at aotani@cornellsun com

Two People Airlifted to Hospital

CRASH

Continued from page 1

Murphy condemned the incident in the statement, saying that “Cornell University deplores incidents such as this that tear at the fabric of respect and inclusiveness that we value so highly and work continually to maintain ”

Jinjoo Lee can be reached at jinjoolee@cornellsun com

s u c k s , b u t I h a ve Ad v i l , ” h e said

Ac c o rd i n g t o C l a u d i a Wheatley, director of press relations, “University officials are aware of the incident and are p r ov i d i n g s u p p o r t t o t h e Cornell students and staff who were involved ” Laraine Ericson, her son and Moran were in the minivan at

the time of the accident While Moran sustained fatal injuries as a result of the crash, Ericson and her son were transported to Robert Packer Hospital in Sayre, Pa , to be treated for abdominal pain and a fractured wrist, according to police

Two other passengers were in Sexton’s car at the time of the accident While Sexton was t a k e n t o C a y u g a Me d i c a l Center due to abrasions to his legs and hips, the other two p a s s e n g e r s we re a i r l i f t e d v i a helicopters to Upstate Medical Center in Syracuse and Robert Packer Hospital for injuries to their backs, tailbones and torsos, police said

The ongoing investigation is being carried out jointly by the To m p k i n s C o u n t

Sh

Department, the fire depart-

Slater ville Ambulances

Utsav Rai can be reached at urai@cornellsun com

of Cornell Outdoor Education give tree-climbing demonstrations

Bloom ’16 Hopes to E xpand Horizons as Cornell Student

By HARRISON OKIN Sun Staff Writer

This is the first article in a series profiling a variety of students across campus

As fall classes start Wednesday, lecture halls will be filled with the University’s most selective freshman class yet But Eric Bloom ’16 says he is not fazed by the sense of fierce competition among his classmates Instead, he said, he is eager to take on the challenge of juggling academics and extracurriculars with a social life and athletics

“So far, everyone has been friendly and I haven’t really gotten that sense of competition, but I am sure that will change once classes start, ” Bloom said “It will definitely be a tough adjustment being around kids who were all at the top of their classes, but I’m hoping to work with them and trying not to compete I think that makes for a better atmosphere and learning experience ”

Hailing from Sharon, Mass , Bloom said he has known for years that Cornell was his first choice for college His dreams came to fruition last fall when he was accepted early decision to the School of Industrial and Labor Relations

“There was really no other school out there like Cornell,” Bloom said “It’s a perfect program within a perfect school ”

Bloom is particularly interested in writing, reading and the social sciences, and hopes to attend law school after graduation

While in high school, Bloom said he pursued a wide variety of his interests that he hopes to further explore during his time at Cornell

In addition to participating in mock trial competitions, Bloom was the editor-in-chief of his high school newspaper He aims to pursue extracurricular activities across different organizations for students interested in law and writing

But in high school, Bloom was more than just an athletic observer: He played on both soccer and tennis teams in his hometown He hopes to create a balance between a rigorous academic schedule and his desire to remain involved with club or intramural sports at Cornell

“Even on such a big campus, hopefully I can make my own impact somehow,” Bloom said “It’s just a matter of finding that one club or activity that really interests you ”

Bloom said he was particularly attracted to Cornell because of its large and beautiful campus, which he said encompassed not only a highly diverse population but also a wide selection of programs and schools

Despite Bloom’s desire to continue being involved in the activities he pursued in high school, he said he wants to explore groups he was not familiar with before coming to Cornell

“I’ve had the same friends since I was four years old,” Bloom said “I’m definitely trying to take advantage of this amazing opportunity and branch out to meet new people ”

Univ. Unveils New Sustainability Major

By REBECCA HARRIS Sun News Editor

A previous version of this article appeared on cornellsun com on June 11

In the latest effort to bolster an environmentally friendly image, the University announced in May that it will launch a new major in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences a move administrators hope will “significantly raise [Cornell’s] profile as a leader among ‘ green ’ campuses, ” according to Prof Max Pfeffer, developmental sociology, senior associate dean of CALS

The new major called environmental science and sustainability is intended to “make environmental sciences more visible to Cornell students and give students more direct access to the breadth of environmental sciences at Cornell,” Pfeffer said in an email

He added that the University “anticipate[s] that the new major will be very attractive to prospective students ” The Class of 2017 will be the first students eligible to enroll in the program beginning in fall 2013

The move comes after a recommendation made by the Environmental Sciences Planning Committee a faculty body formed as a part of Reimagining Cornell, a University-wide strategic planning initiative to administrators in May 2010, and follows other recent steps Cornell has taken toward becoming a frontrunner in environmental education

For instance, in October 2010, an $80 million donation the largest individual gift ever given to a university to fund sustainability research led to the establishment of the David R Atkinson Center for a Sustainable Future

In January, the University was awarded a gold rating by the Sustainability, Tracking, Assessment and Rating System, an Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education initiative which recognizes eco-friendly efforts on college campuses

Although Cornell scored high in relation to its peer institutions, one its weakest STARS ratings fell into the category of education and research, according to Darrick “Nighthawk” Evensen grad, grad-

uate student trustee

“Cornell needed an interdisciplinary environmental program like other top environmental programs in the country, ” Evensen said of the new major “Professors have an interest in shaping an evolving field ”

The ESS major will replace and incorporate the curriculums of two existing CALS programs natural resources and science of natural and environmental systems between which there is “ a great deal of overlap,” Pfeffer said

“The new [major] is not very different from either of the other two, which were similar to each other from the start, ” Prof Lars Rudstam, natural sources, said “It’s not a big change, it just kind of streamlines the environmental science majors on campus ”

Current natural resources and SNES majors will be permitted to graduate with degrees in those programs, but the two majors will no longer be offered to incoming students The new major will fall under the Department of Natural Resources, according to a University press release

Pfeffer emphasized that the consolidation of the two majors will not result in cuts to faculty positions Professors from both the natural resources and the SNES majors as well as faculty members spanning 15 other departments backed the move and will become the faculty of the new program, he said

“The new curriculum will not result in faculty changes in departments, ” Pfeffer said “We anticipate that additional Cornell faculty members will want to affiliate with the major in the future ”

Dean of CALS Kathryn Boor ’80 said she hopes that the new program will spark excitement among “ current and prospective students, current and prospective faculty and our staff ” as environmental issues gain increasing attention on an international scale

“This new major is emerging as a faculty-driven effort to evolve our curriculum to provide our students with the best possible education to address some of our globe’s most pressing environmental problems,” she said in an email

According to Pfeffer, the ESS curriculum will integrate physical, chemical, biological and social sci-

ences with humanities to give students a broad education in sustainability issues from various perspectives

“Overall, the curriculum seeks to advance students’ ability to solve real-world environmental policy, resources management, biodiversity conser vation and human health,” he said

The core curriculum will include 18 required courses, including introductory biology, mathematics, statistics, chemistry, physics, ethics, economics and sociology, according to a University press release Nine of these classes will meet CALS distribution requirements

Additionally, ESS students will choose one of four concentrations, in which they will be required to take five courses

Students will also be permitted to design a concentration to cater to their own academic interests

Initial proposed concentration areas include environmental biology and applied ecology; environmental policy and governance; biogeochemical sciences; and environmental economics, according to a University press release

Prof Joseph Yavitt, natural resources, and director of the interdisciplinary program within science of natural and environmental systems, said a consolidated curriculum may make it easier for incoming students to settle on an environmental major after exploring different options within the discipline

“ There were redundancies among some of the environmental majors,” Yavitt said in an email, “and redundancies can cause confusion We hope to eliminate confusion with one combined approach ”

Still, Evensen cautioned against designing the new curriculum to be overbroad

“Even though [the two majors] were both environmentally-based majors, there were differences SNES was more physical sciences and natural resources had more applied ecology with some social sciences and a bit of a humanities focus,” he said “You can ’ t focus on everything or you end up being skilled at nothing ”

SEOJIN LEE 14

YANG ’14

MARTEN 14

RAINIS 14

Independent Since 1880

130TH EDITORIAL BOARD

STEIN ’13

Bringing Colleg etown O ut of

t h e e l e c t r i c i t y

c o m p a n y i n Ju l y, a s k i n g w h e n t h e y c o u l d

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e l e c t ro c u t e d , t h e y d e c i d e d t o c o m e b a c k

a t a l a t e r d a t e , o n c e I h a d g i ve n t h e m p e r -

ROBBINS ’13 Senior

Rebecca Coombes ’14

Taking Responsibility For Stopping Hate Crimes

THE INCIDENTS OF HATE THAT HAVE OCCURRED in our community, both during finals period and during Orientation Week, are very troubling First, an individual not affiliated with Cornell threw bottles at black students during finals week, yelling racial slurs Second, this weekend, an individual allegedly verbally and physically assaulted a group of students, yelling slurs against members of the gay and minority community It is little consolation to know that Cornell students were not the ones who were accused of these heartless actions This can, and must, stop

According to police, the harassment allegedly continued as the victims were pursued down the street In May, the student throwing bottles on the roof was told to stop by the victims, but initially continued the harassment without interference, according to witnesses Those who witness this sort of behavior and allow it to proceed without intervening are complicit in the act

The actions that the University has taken in response to the incident at Sigma Pi are promising One complaint voiced in the wake of the events at Sigma Pi was that every time events like this happen, University officials make statements condemning the attack and then do little else to resolve the issue in the long term This time, the University seems to be taking action

One concrete action that the University took in response to this incident was a decision to keep Sigma Pi on provisional status for the upcoming year The administration said that the fraternity is at least partly responsible for the actions of its guests instead of simply dismissing the incident as unrelated to Cornell students This sends the message that we as Cornellians have a responsibility to stop these actions, even when they are committed by people who are not members of the community

Additionally, the creation of a new staff position that will oversee diversity initiatives throughout the Greek system shows that the University is willing to make a meaningful investment in creating a climate where these types of behaviors do not occur at all The University has also pledged that the Center for Intercultural Dialogue will lead ongoing, campus-wide conversations on multicultural awareness It is our hope that this new position and this dialogue will be able to maintain the focus on this issue

We hope that this same proactive approach to the problem will also be taken in response to the incident this weekend in Collegetown It is unfortunate that we need incidents like this to remind us that we need to work actively to address the problem We should not have to rely on these painful reminders to do something

m i s s i o n t o t u r n o f f t h e b re a k e r s I w o u l d h a v e g l a d l y g r a n t e d t h a t re q u e s t , e xc e p t t h a t I d i d n o t h e a r a b o u t i t T h e c o m p a n y n e ve r c a l l e d m e b a c k , a n d t h e n e x t t i m e I s p o k e t o t h e m w a s o n

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C o l l e g e t ow n , p l e a s e e m a i l m e ( If yo u h a ve s u g g e s t i o n s o n w h e re I c a n b u y c h e a p c a n d l e s , t h a t w o u l d a l s o b e we lc o m e ) T h e m a j o r o b s t a c l e t o c h a n g i n g C o l l e g e t ow n i s t h a t s o l u t i o n s t a k e t i m e , a n d s t u d e n t s u s u a l l y o n l y l i ve t h e re f o r a ye a r o r t w o Bu t l e t ’ s re s o l ve t h a t t h i s i s t h e ye a r we s t a r t f i x i n g C o l l e g e t ow n T h a t n e x t ye a r, C o m m o n C o u n c i l m e mb e r s w i l l b e c o m m e n t i n g t h a t o r i e n t a t i o n we e k w a s b e t t e r t

t h e o p e n i n g p a r a g r a p h s ) a n d e ve r yo n e re s o l ve s t o d o s o m e t h i n g a b o u t i t Bu t n o t h i n g g e t s d o n e T h e p ro b l e m i s , C o l l e g e t ow n i s g e tt i n g w o r s e In m y t h re e ye a r s h e re I h a ve s e e n m o re b u s i n e s s e s c l o s e t h a n o p e n , m o re d e c a y t h a n re n ova t i o n a n d a g rowi n g s t re a m

Any Pers on, Any S AT S c ore

Today the Class of 2016 begins its formal Cornell journey, but the newly minted freshmen made their first statement on campus well before arriving on East Hill That statement was made by virtue of their acceptance to the University as part of its most selective class yet

Statistical profiles of incoming classes increasingly ser ve as a bellwether of prestige and quality for American universities, and the numbers for Cornell’s newest class are about as impressive as can be But the recent revelation of false admissions data publicized by Emor y highlights the corrupting effect of placing such an emphasis on numbers Numerical selectivity can be dangerously conflated with the overall mission of our University

Cornell’s founding purpose, best exemplified by our motto, “I would found an institution where any person can find instruction in any study,” is something I care deeply about New readers of my column will notice one enduring theme in my pieces love for and pride in our alma mater My goal in writing In Focus is to highlight issues relevant to our community Far Above Cayuga’s Waters, whether they are local or global in scale A student perspective on such topics is second to none in importance, and my hope is that reading this column leads you to develop and voice your own opinion

The student opinion regarding selectivity is generally one of excitement and pride, which is why the recent scandal at Emor y is so disconcerting Last week, the school disclosed that administrators deliberately misreported data for over a decade According to Emor y ’ s press release, “ both t h e

Research, annually reported admitted students’ SAT/ACT scores to external sur veys as enrolled student scores, since at least the year 2000 ” In addition, class ranks were misreported and data from the bottom ten percent of enrolled students was systematically excluded from reporting

It’s all too telling that many of the “Questions and

Answers About Data Reporting” included with the press release relate to the annual US News & World Report college rankings It’s arguable that these rankings are the standard by which most Americans judge the quality, rigor and reputation of universities Since SAT and ACT scores are a large determinant, they by extension define a university’s standing In other words, Cornell is judged more by how well we did on standardized tests than what we learn, how happy we are or the experience we have as undergraduates That’s why Emor y misreported data And it represents a failure on our part to appreciate what really matters about the college experience

Cornell’s data for incoming students is indeed ver y impressive The acceptance rate for the Class of 2016, 16 6 percent, is the lowest on record And the number of applicants was a record h i g h T h e C o r n e l l

Chronicle noted that “there are also more Cornell freshmen with high SAT scores

risk of precluding the development of a well-rounded student body At Cornell, if not Emor y, the bottom ten percent of test scorers matter and are as much a part of the community as the top ten percent Of course, it’s good that the University is in the position of being selective But it is imperative that incoming classes contribute as much to our clubs, class discussions and community as much as they do to our US News rank

I have no doubt that the Class of 2016 will make a valuable contribution to our campus It’s promising that the University has highlighted its racial, economic, geographic

73 4 percent of incoming students scored 650 or higher (out of 800) on the critical reading portion of the test, up from 69 3 percent in 2011; and 84 9 percent scored 650 or higher on the math portion, compared with 83 6 percent of freshmen last year ” In some respects, this means that the newest Cornellians are some of the most capable students to ever grace our campus

But does this numerical selectivity indicate that Cornell is in any way a “better” institution? In my opinion, what really makes Cornell great is its sense of community and diversity of people, opinions, interests and experiences The words of Ezra Cornell from 1868 still hold true today, as there is certainly a place for ever y type of student here Emphasizing quantifiable qualifications, however, runs the

and gender diversity Those are the statistics that matter, much more so than their SAT scores We should be proud of the fact that “ any person ” can succeed and contribute at Cornell, and change the national discussion from what US News finds valuable to what we know matters most about college It’s impossible to quantify the experiences that have defined our time at Cornell, and we all know our SAT scores in no way define us as people Emor y, US News and the American public should take note

Jon Weinberg is a senior in the School of Industrial and Labor Relations He may be reached at jweinberg@cor nellsun com In Focus appears alter nate Wednesdays this semester

The Truth , the W hole Truth , A nd Nothing but the Truth

Most men, when going through t h e i r f a b l e d m i d - l i f e c r i s i s , m a k e f l a s h y p u r c h a s e s t h a t , although they are intended to make the purchaser feel young and spr y, often ser ve to remind the casual onlooker of the man ’ s age and lost youth My father was slightly different in his own mid-life crisis Instead of buying a garish spor ts car to cr uise in style to Trader Joe’s, he pur-

chased a Volkswagen Beatle conver tible

And yes, for anyone who’s familiar with the flower holder on the dashboard of VW Beatles, he always kept a fresh flower in the car

His favorite aspect of the car (much to my be wilderment) was its manual transmission He always said that it was a depar ture from the unnecessar y complication of the automatic transmission that h a d c o r r u p t e d h i s d r i v i n g e x p e r i e n c e (yeah, I never got that par t either) He

owned this car for five years until he realized that it did not navigate the snowblanketed streets of upstate Ne w York However, before he sold the car, I learned

a v a

integrity

David Fischer Fischy Business

too rapidly and without

Once, in Stuyvesant Plaza, a shopping center where we were eating lunch, I opened the passenger-side door of my mom ’ s car

between her car and the VW I was about nine-years-old and I had no idea how to deal with putting a dent in the deep blue exterior of my dad’s beloved automobile So I entered the restaurant without mentioning anything to my dad I remember hoping, foolishly and futilely, that perhaps my dad would not notice the circular blemish in the other wise gleaming exterior

He did notice He was also puzzled by the sudden appearance of the large dent I was still afraid to tell him that I had made the dent so I pretended not to hear about his discover y until he star ted wondering who had dinged his car and left no note I realized that I could not let an anonymous bystander take the fall for my folly so I was forced to come for ward and tell my dad of my culpability

Predictably, as the loving and kind father that he has always been, he was more disappointed in my not telling him of the ding in the first place than he was angr y about the dent itself I was also p u n i s h e d f o r m y d i s h o n e s t y, a n d although I don’t remember said punishment (likely a grounding of some sor t), the event has become an indelible experience that has influenced the way that I present myself and also how I vie w the world It taught me the value of honesty and not only about the unacceptability of practicing dishonesty but also the negatives of not saying anything at all It is this event, and the resultant lesson that I plan to keep in mind while w r i t i n g “ Fi s c h y Bu s i n e s s ” I p l a n o n telling, in the words of the oft-quoted oath used to usher in sworn testimonies in United States cour thouses, “the tr uth, the whole tr uth, and nothing but the

tr uth, so help me

God ” Of course, this is an opinion column so my commitment to the tr uth means a commitment to portray my tr ue thoughts and opinions without adulteration, as befits a column r unning in the Nation’s oldest continually r unning college daily (fun fact for the week)

I plan on focusing on social comment a r y n o t c e n t e re d s p e c i f i c a l l y o n a n y region One week I could discuss the steady collapse of the European economy while the next I could abhor Fried Food Fridays at the RPCC dining hall (fried broccoli is one of the most disturbing concepts for food that I could ever think of ) And of course, I would be seriously remiss if I didn’t attempt to tackle some political commentar y as well in an election year marred by increasingly negative adver tising and extreme corporate funding Finally, I am extremely excited to write this column, and I would like to invite you, the reading public of The Sun on an adventure that we will hopefully both enjoy

David Fischer is a sophomore in the College of Arts and Sciences He may be reached at dfischer@cornellsun com Fischy Business appears alternate Wednesdays this semester

CORNELL CAMPUS

Admissions Of fice

Africana Librar y Center Alice Cook Dining

Alumni House

Anabel

Dickson

Kosher Dining Hall

Mac’s Café

Mar tha’s (MVR)

Mann Librar y Myr on Taylor Hall (Hughes Dining)

Noyes Main Lobby

Okenshields (Willar d Straight Hall)

Physical Science

Baker (Goldie’s)

Plantations

Welcome Center

Libe Café

Rhodes Hall

Risley Dining

Rober t Pur cell Community Center (RPCC)

Sage Hall Atrium

Sibley Hall (Gr een Dragon Café)

Statler Hall

Stocking Hall (fr ont lobby)

Tatkon Center

Teagle Hall

Trillium & Trillium Expr ess

Uris Hall

Vet Center (Shur man Hall)

Willar d Straight Hall Lobby

William Keeton House

Two Cents:The Curiosity SCIENCE

By NICHOLAS ST. FLEUR

Science Editor

Curiosity, NASA’s third generation Mars Rover, successfully landed on the Red Planet after a journey through the depths of space. Using a novel landing mechanism known as the ‘Sky Crane,’ the rover touched down on the surface of Mars’ Gale Crater. NASA scientists now have another opportunity to find out more about Earth’s mysterious cosmic neighbor — and, potentially, determine if Mars ever hosted life. This week in Science, we ask Cornell experts about Curiosity and its historic landing.

What is Curiosity’s goal? How will it accomplish its mission?

The goal of the Mars Science Laboratory, Curiosity, is to study the past habitability of Mars. This means investigating whether there existed environments that could have supported life. It is not an actual search for life or for fossils. Thus, the goal is to interpret as much of the geologic record of past Martian environments as possible, with an emphasis on the factors that might support life, such as water, proper temperatures and suitable chemistry. The mission will do this by determining the composition, mineralogy, and geological structures along a 20 or more kilometer traverse.

––Prof. Peter Thomas, planetary sciences

Why, again, did we send a rover to Mars?

Because there’s so much more to learn about Mars! We’ve only been to a handful of places there, and it’s a whole planet, with diverse geology, and — once upon a time — diverse environments. Mars has the same dryland area as Earth. Each landing site tells us a different part of the story.

This is a great time for me to describe what Mars scientists mean when we talk about “water.” We consider “liquid water” to be any aqueous fluid — i.e., any fluid that has H2O in it. An aqueous fluid that’s way more acidic than battery acid would count as water, as would a brine so salty that it couldn’t freeze, or a fluid with a pH of 14 (or above!) that could easily turn you into soap. So, we’re not talking tap water, or even something that would be okay for you touch. Also, the “ancient” watery environments we study existed about 3 billion years ago. To put that in perspective, most of the earliest multicellular life forms you've heard of began about 600 million years ago.

––Shoshanna Cole grad

Why was the Gale Crater chosen as the location for Curiosity’s landing?

Gale crater was chosen because it is a very old, very deep crater with a giant mountain of layered rocks in the middle named Mt. Sharp. Geologists love layers because they capture the changing environments where they formed, so with the right tools and expertise, we can read the layers of rock like pages in a Martian history book.

––Ryan Anderson grad

The main attraction is the 5km-high “mound” in the middle of the crater, which is called Mt. Sharp. It’s made up of layers that were deposited over many millions of years of Martian history; it's analogous to the layering you can see in the Grand Canyon, but about three times as thick. Because layers are deposited on top of each other (younger layers sit atop older layers), as Curiosity ascends the mound, it will in a sense travel through Martian history, observing the environmental changes that took place here billions of years ago. We know from orbital data that the mound records some major climatic changes, and data from Curiosity will show us the specifics.

Scientists literally spent years deciding on Curiosity's landing site. We’ve got some amazing cameras and detectors in orbit around Mars, which actually made it harder to pick the site because there were so many great candidates.

––Shoshanna Cole grad

What were the steps involved in Curiosity’s landing?

The sky crane sounds incredibly complex, and when I first heard its full description I thought that that can’t work. In fact, I was quite skeptical until it actually came down two weeks ago. The airbags used for the previous three rovers couldn’t handle as large a rover as

Curiosity ... They also didn’t want to simply lower Curiosity down on retrorockets; as, when they neared the ground, they could kick up so much debris that they could damage the rover, and then you’d also need to shed the extra weight of the retrorockets and they might get in the way. So the sky crane was invented.

The first big difference for Curiosity was that it used guided entry. That is, rather than preprogram the “attitude” — the specific orientation of the spacecraft — as it entered, the attitude was actively adjusted, based on the rover’s best estimate of where it was in the atmosphere, to allow it to come as close as possible to the target landing site. You can think of this like a frisbee that can modify its pitch in flight to best land in your friend’s hand. Previous landers at Mars were more like normal Frisbees we throw; that is, you better throw it right to get close to the target. Curiosity was like a frisbee that adjusted its pitch and yaw to best fly to the target. This allowed Curiosity to come within about one mile of its planned target (after traveling 350 million miles!). This is akin to sinking a free throw from the opposite side of the earth.

Once guided entry was complete, the spacecraft had decelerated from 13,000 mph to about 1,000 mph. Still quite fast. Curiosity then used a supersonic parachute to decelerate some more, down to about 200 mph. But because Mars’ atmosphere is so thin, the parachute wasn’t going to slow it down much more than that. So the parachute was cut off, and retrorockets slowed it down to only a few mph, and brought it to within about 60 feet of the surface (as judged by an on-board radar, that figured out not only the height of the spacecraft, but also its sideways motion, from winds, and canceled that out too). Finally, at this 60 feet altitude, it started lowering the rover down on a 20 [foot] tether and very slowly descended until that touched down. Once the rover felt weight on its wheels and the tether go slack, it cut the tether, and was ready for exploring! But before it could do that, the hovering retrorocket sky crane had to safely move away from the rover (to not fall back on it).

Fortunately, this ALL worked as planned. Quite amazing.

––Prof. Don Banfield, astronomy

uriosity MarsRoverMission

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When Curiosity flew from Earth to Mars, it was safely inside a capsule that had a similar shape to those used in the Apollo program. The capsule’s heat shield took the brunt of the heating that occurred when the spacecraft entered the Martian atmosphere. After a few minutes, a huge supersonic parachute was deployed, which slowed the capsule down. These parts of entry and descent were similar to what Spirit, Opportunity, Pathfinder and the Viking and Phoenix landers used. The next part was novel: The rover dropped its heat shield, activated its radar, let go of the parachute and turned on its descent stage’s retro-rockets. The rover was attached to the underside of the descent stage by the Sky Crane, which is a giant winch. Once the descent stage was essentially hovering close to the ground, the Sky Crane lowered the rover the last few dozen meters. When the rover detected that its wheels were on the ground, it cut the lines to the Sky Crane, and the descent stage flew off and crashed a safe distance away from the rover.

––Shoshanna Cole grad

What types of equipment and instruments does Curiosity have to help it complete its mission?

Curiosity has a wealth of cameras, some to just help it drive safely, others to survey the area and still more to scientifically probe the rocks it finds. The science cameras use carefully chosen filters to study the precise color of the rocks to help understand what minerals they are. There is also a camera that is set up to act like a hand-lens that geologists typically carry in the field to better study the mineral samples they find. It also has two other instruments to help it understand the mineralogy of the minerals by looking at the results when the rocks are irradiated with Alpha particles or Xrays. Probably the coolest instrument is one with a laser to vaporize rocks from a distance, and then analyze the spectrum of the plasma that is produced. Again, this one helps identify the make-up of the rocks, but in this case

from 10 meters away, so investigation of a particular location can proceed much faster and more efficiently. Finally, once a very interesting sample is identified, it can be brushed or the surface ground off of it and samples obtained from it (even drilled into to get samples a few cm deep). These samples are then put in a sample analysis suite which is a mass spectrometer/gas chromatograph coupled with a tunable laser spectrometer. This instrument is mainly focused on understanding the organics contained in mineral samples, but can also sample the atmosphere of Mars.

There are also instruments to understand the weather on Mars. Curiosity has landed in a crater and will be climbing up a mountain, so the local “micro-climatology” of the area may prove to be interesting as it moves. The weather station measures wind, temperature, pressure, humidity, as well as the U.V. flux (to understand how that might present a problem to life near the surface of Mars). There's also an instrument that estimates the water in the soil under the rover, and finally one to understand the radiation environment at the surface of Mars (again to understand how hospitable it might be to life (astronauts or martians) at the surface of Mars.

––Prof.

Don Banfield, astronomy

What types of cameras are being used on Curiosity?

By my count, Curiosity is boasting eighteen visible-light cameras scattered throughout the rover. The cameras generally fall into two categories: engineering and science, although both types will be used for scientific discovery on the Martian surface. It is important to remember, however, that cameras only constitute a small part of Mars Science Laboratory’s (MSL) considerable scientific capabilities. The rover also includes an x-ray diffraction instrument, x-ray spectrometer, mass spectrometer, neutron detector, cosmic-ray detector and meteorological station. MSL is the largest and most complex spacecraft ever sent to the surface of another planet.

––Prof. Alex Hayes, astronomy

How will data from Curiosity be analyzed?

Data arrive in many forms: images, spectra returned from laser probing, and compositional data from materials picked up, as well as from scattered neutrons, among other methods of investigation. The analysis primarily consists of determining what is present (the compositional data) and the context, such as geologic structures indicating the manner of deposition. No samples are returned by Curiosity. That would be a vastly more difficult and expensive enterprise, one that is well into the future.

––Prof. Peter Thomas, planetary sciences

Every day Curiosity beams its data back to Earth, where it is received by the “Deep Space Network” which is a worldwide network of radio telescopes used to listen for signals from NASA missions. The data gets sent to NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, and from there it is distributed to the science team. Each instrument on the rover has its own team who are experts in that particular type of data, and so they interpret the data and share their results with the broader science team.

––Ryan Anderson grad

Why were the first images coming back from Curiosity low-resolution?

The first images that were beamed back by Curiosity were thumbnails, low-resolution previews analogous to the icons you see when you look at a folder full of images on your home P.C. Thumbnails take up significantly less data volume and can be transmitted between Mars and Earth much more quickly than full-resolution images.If you were watching the news coverage of the landing, you may have noticed that higher resolution versions of the same images followed soon after the thumbnails were released. During rover operations, thumbnails are a great way for scientists and engineers to know whether or not a particular imaging sequence completed successfully. With so many high resolution cameras and other data-intensive instrumentation, data volume is a valuable commodity on the spacecraft. Data products are temporarily stored on-board the rover and downlinked to earth based on assigned priorities. Thumbnails are a great way to verify that a lower-priority image, which may not be downlinked for a while, was taken successfully.

How is Curiosity powered?

What is its fuel source?

Curiosity has a “radioisotope thermoelectric generator” (RTG) on its back that provides the power it needs. This is a can containing plutonium (about 4 kg), that radioactively decays. In the process of that decay, it produces heat. The plutonium is surrounded by thermocouples that can generate electrical power from the thermal gradient that is produced by the internal heat source, and the relatively cold environment of Mars. Apparently Curiosity's RTG producers only about 100W, i.e., that of a strong light bulb. All of the rover's activities: driving, grinding and drilling rocks, running lasers and cameras, radio-ing data back to Earth and just staying warm through the very cold martian nights is all done off of this tiny 100W. ––Prof. Don Banfield, astronomy

What are the differences between Curiosity and revious Mars rovers?

Every aspect of Curiosity is bigger and more complex than Spirit and Opportunity. Curiosity is five times heavier and almost twice as tall — it’s the size of a small car (the previous rovers were more golf-cart sized). The scientific instruments are far more sophisticated. With this rover we’ll be able to determine the mineralogy and chemical makeup of rocks and soils much more precisely, and take pictures with a much higher resolution. We can perform new types of investigations, such as searching for organic materials, measuring radiation, and monitoring winds. While Spirit and Opportunity relied on solar energy, Curiosity has a nuclear power source, so it can operate at night and keep driving after she gets caked in dust. The landing mechanism is also brand new; too big for the previous airbag system, Curiosity was lowered to the Martian surface with a “sky crane.”

And that’s just the hardware. Operating this rover is a bigger and more complex task as well. We have 400+ science team members working on the mission here at JPL, and that doesn’t include the engineers. Instead of a single Principal Investigator (PI) for the mission (Steve Squyres’ role for Spirit and Opportunity), the highest-level decisions are made by a “Project Science Group,” a committee which includes PI’s of each of the 10 rover instruments and other scientists. ––Melissa Rice grad

What constitutes evidence of life on Mars?

First, you must define whether you are looking for existing — “extant” life — or evidence of past life on a now-dead planetary surface. Mars’ surface is so inhospitable to even the chemical building blocks of life--organic molecules--that if life exists today it must be deep beneath the surface. How can we tell if such life exists by making surface measurements? One way is to look for gases in the air that might be produced by life beneath the surface, gases that are not chemically stable under the strong ultraviolet light from the Sun. The best candidate is methane, and some measurements of the Martian atmosphere suggest tiny amounts of it are present thereby implying an active production of methane somewhere. But is it life producing the methane, or simple chemical processes in the interior? To determine this requires measuring how much of each stable isotope, carbon-12 and carbon-13, are present in a sample of the methane gas. Given the tiny amounts in the Martian air, this will be very difficult to do. For extinct life, the Martian surface is so oxidizing that any chemical traces of such life are destroyed quickly. The only hope would be to find fossil imprints of once living organisms in sediments, something we don’t expect to see. But we could be surprised. Curiosity isn’t designed to search for life. Its instrument payload is designed for a different purpose: to determine how long Mars had an environment suitable for life.

––Prof. Jonathan Lunine, astronomy

What is the significance of the Curiosity Mars Rover Mission?

I am a historian, so first I will make historical points. Let's remember — as NASA reminds us on its web site — that most attempts to land on Mars have failed. Let’s also remember that during what might seem like a comparable feat — the moon landing in 1969 — problems arose at the last minute and Neil Armstrong had to take over manual control of the Eagle lander to avoid disaster. No such human fallback was available for Curiosity. Everything had to work perfectly, and it did. That engineers were able to pull off such an extraordinary feat as successfully landing such a large instrument on Mars bodes well for the future of human exploration of space.

––Prof. Mary Beth Norton, history

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

O s h e a g a 2 0 1 2 : F u n i n t h e S u n , M u d a n d R a i n

BY

This article first appeared on cornellsun com on August 10

With 400 miles of interstate highway and the American-Canadian border behind us, we were craving fresh air and live music, and badly We were ready for Montreal, and Montreal was ready for us When the Osheaga Music and Arts Festival opened its gates last Friday, the city was already braced for the sudden influx of hipsters

The concierge at our hotel had a stack of pre-printed maps at the ready; police officers herded kids like cattle into the proper subway cars Actual Montreal residents were conspicuously absent Despite the high volume of attendees a whopping 120,000 people in and out of the festival over three days it took just minutes to get to the venue, whose entrance was located mere feet from the metro stop Color me impressed Or to quote Florence + The Machine’s leading lady: “ We fucking love Canada ”

Osheaga’s island locale, Parc Jean-Drapeau, is a sort of wooded fair yland Inside the park, the two main stages stand side-by-side overlooking a massive gravel lot, peppered with patches of turf for lounging and a large grassy hill It is

n o t h i n g s p e c t a c u l a r But trekking a bit furt h e r i n , b

n g hordes of wandering

c

s apparent, with stages a n d t e n t s h i d d e n among trees, streams and winding trails

Early on day one,

Ic e l a n d i c s e x t e t O f

Mo n s t e r s a n d Me n performed on a stage deep within the park, playing to a massive yet mellow crowd in a sun-drenched, meadowy clearing in the woods Pairing male and female lead vocals with folksy instrumentals to produce the flighty melodies that make up whimsical hits like “Little Talks” and “Mountain Sound,” the band’s set epitomized the spirit of the festival On a nearby side stage in a shrouded clearing, smaller acts like the Jezabels and Dum Dum Girls entertained chiller audiences throughout the day and provided music-on-the-go for hordes of fans traveling between

stages Later in the evening, Florence + The Machine was as stunning as ever, with an eerily, hauntingly beautiful sound and one of the most enthusiastic performances of the weekend Singer-songwriter Florence Welch drew screaming approval from t h e a u d i e n c e w i t h e a c h drawn-out high note, and her youthful exuberance she literally jumped up down, galloped back and

contagious Opening with “Only If For A Night” and c

“Shake It Out” and “Dog Days Are Over,” Welch and tremendously talented k

Summers knocked it out of the park

which they had used on the crowd to help battle the blazing heat on Friday and Saturday

The first storm on Sunday began and ended abruptly minutes later in the middle of what became a ragingly fun set by electro-pop sensation Passion Pit, w h o s e s y n t h e s i z e d sound provided fodder for an impromptu d a n

The slow, drowsy stylings of Sigur Ros arrived just after sunset and seemed to lull some wear y fans into a daze The band’s full-hour set in all its serenity seemed a strange choice as the lead-in for day one closer Justice, the French D J duo whose electronic mixes have become a dance party s t a p l e No n e t h e l e s s , thousands of people had no trouble rallying for Friday night’s final act, brandishing glow sticks and dancing until the finish D a y t w o i s n ’ t w o r t h d w e l l i n g o n b e yo n d t h e n o t a b l e vocals of Young the Gi a n t’s Sa m e e r Gadhia Unless you ’ re a s e r i o u s Fe i s t f a n (I’m not) or you were dying to see the artist f o r m e r l y k n ow n a s Snoop Dogg attempt reggae (I wasn ’t), Saturday failed to offer much else Rather it was Osheaga’s third and final day that boasted and delivered a stellar lineup Artist after quality artist took the stage in quick succession on Sunday, drawing and maintaining a staggering audience at the island’s two side-by-side main stages until the bitter end And this in spite of the torrential downpour that turned Parc Jean-Drapeau into an enormous mud puddle and led festival staff to pack up their giant hoses,

rain The only disappointment of the act

took the stage shortly after for

similarly

inspiring set Decked

sparkles and accom-

outrageous, signature backup dancers and, at one point, inexplicably, two people in a horse suit the Philly native’s performance was as out there as her arguably genreless music

The Shins, Sunday night’s penultimate act, powered through the second wave of the storm, which hit just as the band’s set got under way But despite the rain and by rain I mean thunder, lightning, massive gusts of wind and buckets of cold water besetting concertgoers for several consecutive hours the crowd hardly seemed to thin all night By the end of day three, garbage bag ponchos were as prevalent as vintage denim and floral Keds The masses stuck it out because, ultimately, Osheaga organizers seemed to have saved the best for last

The festival’s final act, The Black Keys, closed out the weekend with a well-earned, phenomenal 90minute set The dynamic rock duo delivered sharp, clean vocals and instrumentals throughout, performing with the seasoned maturity of a band that’s been on the scene for a decade The Black Keys kept it simple: At one point, lead singer and guitarist Dan Auerbach went rogue, along with Patrick Carney on drums (for the win), ditching their backup guys for several beautiful numbers It’s no wonder that The Black Keys hit a trifecta of festival gigs in 2012, also featuring prominently on the rosters for Coachella and Lollapalooza this yar The band’s straightfor ward deliver y at the end of day three was somewhat of a welcome departure from the less traditional, albeit entertaining, performances of the newcomers that dominated Osheaga 2012

Rebecca Harris is a junior in the College of Arts and Sciences She is The Sun s News Editor She can be contacted at rharris@cornellsun com

A Brilliant Thriller From a Promising Alum

BY KAI SAM NG Sun Staff Writer

This article first appeared on cornellsun com on June 24

How can you make yourself stand out from the rest? Some authors have used blood and gore Others have gravitated towards the psychological thriller In his debut novel The Calypso Directive, Brian Andrews ’03 wants us to use our brains

Andrews, a graduate of Cornell’s Johnson School, uses a combination of social commentary and medical information to appeal to a traditionally skeptical audience without forgetting who his core audience is In the novel, Vyrogen Pharmaceuticals seeks a miracle gene that, combined with gene therapy, could drastically enhance the immune system Andrews lays down the medical groundwork behind the mechanism, from gene mutations to lymphocytes, without sounding too technical or forced The gene also has the potential to generate millions of dollars, and Andrews explains gene patenting and the grueling process of acquiring Federal Government contracts without being too politicized or over whelming Referencing facts to make thrillers more plausible has been done before (think The Da Vinci Code), but so far they have often been twisted or cherry-picked to fit the plot instead of the other way around The Calypso Directive’s plot molds around unaltered facts

It is not hard to tell why the thriller genre has had an aversion to the latter direction: though having a plot based on untainted facts is the holy grail of the plausible thriller novel, facts are naturally antagonistic towards the adrenaline-pumping stories that

Thehelp thrillers sell No one will find sequencing a genome as exciting (unless you ’ re a graduate student) in the same way as a freefor-all gunfight Artistic liberty must still be used, but used carefully Few authors have been able to manage it because this is a difficult approach to take

So The Calypso Directive still has those unbelievable moments Will Foster, the only person in the world to carry the miracle gene that protects against all disease, is escaping from Vyrogen and other parties who see him as a walking gold mine There are ruthless mercenaries who make Foster’s capture personal The shadowy Think Tank deploys hardened agents equipped with button-size wireless microphones and robot spiders who are aided by the upper echelons of government Foster turns to a former girlfriend microbiologist for help and the two rekindle their love as they avoid pursuit and seek answers Fight scenes, snappy dialogue and larger-than-life characters: it’s all there

Thankfully, Andrews balances mellow truth and sensational fiction to ensure that neither overwhelms the other, using either only when appropriate He brings up serious issues that are often ignored without compromising the narrative’s pace When he inserts his opinions on gene patenting, he avoids taking the lazy route of the sermon Criticisms of gene patenting are often intertwined with a basic story of greed, but Andrews’ use of the thriller template makes his arguments resonate Thriller novels typically have a clear good and evil side polarized to an extent found only in video games, but Andrews devotes large amounts of space to the other parties’ candid and sinister moments so that no side is completely good or bad Greed is everywhere because it

comes from ever ywhere Pivotal moments in The Calypso Directive, especially the ending, use this to deliver twists They not only move the plot along, but also make the reader selfaware of the twist that further reinforces the commentary The Calypso Directive drives home the point that it is not what you write about that matters, but how you write it Mimicking whatever is currently featured at The Strand does not guarantee good writing Working with something that literary snobs look down upon has the potential to be good Sadly, this is problematic for the book because the marketing focuses too much on the thriller elements at the expense of the things that set the book apart It presumes that the book is compelling because of its place in the genre, and not the book itself One has to wonder whether Andrews was part of the marketing process at all; the title of the book is mentioned once and never again, which is odd since it is the name of the initiative that sets the book in motion in the first place

Disregarding the disparity between the cover and the pages, The Calypso Directive shows that thrillers don’t have to be brainless and political commentary doesn’t have to be pedantic; they can co-exist peacefully and even synergize Andrews excises the kitsch from the kitschy thriller novel without losing focus on the basic thriller elements that ground the book’s identity Modifying an existing template is much harder than creating an entirely new one, but Andrews succeeds in introducing new elements that reinforce each other to create an informed work

Though the marketing of the book ignores these things, it’s hard to blame the book for these faults after all, Andrews just started and he needs to sell books Going after a preexisting demographic makes sense Andrews, however, is headed in a promising direction that has the potential to expand beyond Even if you ’ re not into thrillers, keep him on your radar because in the future you might just pick up a book that has his name emblazoned on the cover without even realizing it

Kai Sam Ng is a junior in the School of Industrial and Labor Relations He can be reached at kng@cornellsun com

The Greatest Films of Me Time

years drag by on this special August day We can recite by heart the rankings last time around, but we hear a potential contender has a chance to topple the king This time, the two will go face-to-face The moment of truth has arrived Spectators across the world open a new Internet tab and check Twitter? Well, yes This is not the Olympics and the contestants are not Michael Phelps or Ryan Lochte This is cinema as filtered through the British Film Institute’s decennial Sight & Sound Poll and Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo is set to seize the throne from Orson Welles’ Citizen Kane as the de facto “Greatest Film of All Time ” And it did, as revealed by Sight & Sound’s Twitter account on August 1

This is how it goes: Every ten years, the magazine Sight & Sound polls an exclusive list of critics, historians, theorists, distributors, exhibitors and other legit types on their picks for the ‘Top 10’ films There were 846 voters in total (my employer at distributor Milestone Films was one of them) and they do not fall for the politics or marketing campaigns that plague the Oscars The poll is, as Roger Ebert summarizes, “the only one most serious movie people take seriously

So, the displacement of Citizen Kane from “Greatest Ever” status which it held for five decades in favor of Vertigo means sacred ground has been plowed, tilled and declared sacred anew But not really, of course There is no official “ greatest ” film, just as there is no greatest song, painting or aleatory cut-up poem The best these academics can do is talk amongst and with themselves to decide which groundbreaking film broke more ground than that other groundbreaking film, or which artistic feature packed more beautiful art than that other artistic feature It is quite silly and arbitrary when viewed from afar

Considering that we witness every action and absorb every expression through our own eyes, it is impossible to divorce emotion from judgment, lest we become readymade

Sight & Sound clones declaring their final list as fact I think it would be irresponsible as a critic to hold a select few titles above all else just because they introduced this technique or inspired that director Intuition, recognized through emotional response, should rule the sorting of great art A masterpiece should strike an initial impression of awe, love, fear or even downright resentment, only for a closer read to enhance or reverse these feelings The worst offense is causing no offense I both criticize and defend the Sight & Sound Poll It settled on some truly wonderful films, like Yasujiro Ozu’s Tokyo Story, ranked at number three I finally saw it because of its placement The poll is more a glorified list of movies to watch for budding cinephiles than any stone tablet of truth You would be a fool to take any of it for granted I personally disagree with some of their choices, namely Vertigo as the number one pick It is a haunting, dense work, one worth exploring in one of the many film courses you can take here at Cornell But it is also a cold and distant study of obsession and creation, telling the story of a man who struggles and fails to craft the perfect woman from a memory at odds with her very flawed reality No wonder it is the critics’ favorite; it tells their story The Rules of the Game number four on the list, survives today as a fascinating and witty portrait of pre-war bourgeois ideals, though I question anyone it touched on a personal level Same goes with The Battleship Potemkin and much of Jean-Luc Godard’s work; they innovated the art form but should be remembered most for the more engaging fare they inspired

their architecture really is sound Admiration for art should come from within, not egged on by external pressures

The line between “favorite” and “best” in these circumstances really is thin, if not existent “Guilty pleasures” are a whole other thing Rush Hour 2 would not be caught within a million miles of my Sight & Sound list, though I still deign to watch it with a smile But for someone who has watched dozens if not hundreds or thousands of quality films, why reiterate the standards when you have the rare moment to reflect and think yourself? Think back to the moments that took your breath away and raised the hairs up on the back of your neck

This is all my opinion, of course, and that is the point The logical fallacy the horrid Rotten Tomatoes community always shrieks “You did not like Classic A so your opinion is invalid” only elevates my respect for the targeted critic (often Dave Kehr or Armond White) There is no perfect movie, and we should revisit these monuments and check if

For me, those are HAL’s “Daisy” from 2001: A Space Odyssey, the “Ride of the Valkyries” in Apocalypse Now, Susan’s opera in Citizen Kane, Marge’s “It’s a Beautiful Day” speech from Fargo, the father’s visit in La Dolce Vita, the final frames of City Lights, the duster attack from North by Northwest, the U S S Indianapolis story in Jaws, “La Marseillaise” from Casablanca and the Creation From The Tree of Life There are some unimaginative picks as well as some disagreeable ones But the list is mine, me, myself

Zachary Zahos is a sophomore in the College of Arts and Sciences He can be reached at arts-and-entertainment-editor@cornellsun com The Third Man runs alternate Wednesdays this semester

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

New Players Fill Holes Left by Seniors

Player for four seasons

Association of American Scholar All-American and a Maryland All-State First Team Selection last season Cantor is a four-time Maryland Olympic Development Program player and competed with the Bethesda Freedom club team to win the US Club National Club X Regional Championship

Maddie Dunn is a dual-position player for the defense and the offense and comes to the Red from Sherborn, Mass Dunn was named as the Boston Globe’s Player of the Year in 2011 and earned a spot on the All-Scholastic Team for both the Boston Globe and Boston Herald She also lettered for all four years in high school and helped lead her team to a Division III state championship

“Maddie is a multi-positional player who will most probably compete as a target forward in 2012 In 2011, she was the high scorer in her class in the state after moving from central defense to central striker following an injury to a teammate, " said Coach Farmer

Caroline Growney is the fourth addition and will be an asset as a forward from Albuquerque, N M Growney helped Albuquerque Academy to win state championships all four years that she played there

Michelle Manning is brought into the defense from Littleton, Colo where she served as a versatile member of her high school team Manning was named rookie of the year as a freshman at ThunderRidge high school and earned an all-league honorable mention as a sophomore She grabbed first-team allleague honors as a defender during her junior season and earned all-league second-team honors as a senior but from the offensive line

“Michelle is an athletic flank defender from Colorado who has spent the major part of the summer on campus taking classes, ” said Coach Farmer “She brings speed, agility, and defending impact to the back line and will be able to compete right away for playing time ”

Breanna Mockler is the fifth to be put on the roster and is from Davis, Calif coming to the Red as a defender or midfielder Mockler competed with the Olympic Development Program last season winning a Regional IV Championship

Caroline Quentin is the first of the pair of goalies to join Cornell from Arlington high school in Poughquag, N Y Quentin was a four-year varsity athlete who helped her team to the state finals during both her junior and senior years She was also an Olympic Development Program Select National Pool

Tough

starting goalkeeper, replacing Alex Botte ’12, who was the Red’s all-time leader in career victories This summer, Horner was selected by US Field Hockey to represent Pennsylvania at the Women’s

Na t i o n a l C h a m p i o n s h i p In s e ve n appearances in the net last season, Horner finished with a 2-1 record and a 1 47 goals against average Facing a tough 2012 schedule, the

“Caroline is a strong goalkeeper She is solid physically and technically in the goal and has good distribution Caroline has very good communication with her back line that should help her transition to the college game, and she has a strong presence in the penalty area, ” said Coach Farmer ‘She will be one of the three goalkeepers who will compete for the starting role vacated by the two graduating seniors after the 2011 season ”

Amanda Symons is the second of the goalkeepers to join the Red At 6’0” she is a forced to be reckoned with from Grand Blanc, Mich after playing for her high school and the Elite Club National League

Charlotte Tate comes to Cornell from Westlake, Ohio as a defender Tate was named to the All-Ohio First Team and AllRegion IV First Team after her senior season as captain for Westlake high school She helped Westlake win three district championships and is a three-time selection to the AllSouthwest Conference and All-District Greater Cleveland Teams

“Charlotte is a fast, athletic defender from Ohio who will compete at the flank defender role in our preseason She was a first team All-Ohio state defender last year in her senior high school season and was the 'shut down' defender for her team, assigned to the opponent ' s top frontrunner," said Coach Farmer

Morgan Zaidel is the tenth freshman to round out the Class of 2016, as a defenseman from Basking Ridge, N J Zaidel led Gill St Bernard’s in scoring during both her freshman and sophomore seasons and played club soccer with Matchfit Chelsea FC

The Red starts its season over Labor Day weekend at the D C Invitational Both games of the contest will be played in the afternoon, with Georgetown ranked ninth in the nation last year on Sept 1 and GW two days later

The team will play its first game at its home facility against Sacred Heart on Sept 14 This game will mark the first-ever meeting between the two competitors The Pioneers had a 10win season last year and advanced to the Northeast Conference semifinals so the matchup should be an interesting one for Cornell Of the Red’s sixteen games of the season, seven will be played on its home turf at Charles F Berman Field

Ivy League play begins with an away match against Columbia on Friday Sept 21 to continue a very interesting upcoming season for the Red

Haley Velasco and Dani Abada can be reached at sports@cornellsun com

Red will have to battle two teams who played in the 2011 NCAA tournament

Five of the Red’s first seven games on their schedule will be on the road, where they will face off against powerhouse programs in North Carolina and Penn State This will be the first time the Red is up against the Tar Heels, who made it to the NCAA championship game last season

Ivy play kicks off on Sept 15 when the Red will take on Penn at home, followed by matchups with Columbia,

Yale and Harvard Cornell also looks to snap a streak of four straight losses to Princeton on Oct 27 when it faces the Tigers at home Coming off a 1-6 finish in conference play last season, the Red has the experience in a starting lineup full of returning players to make a successful turnaround

Former Nebraska Ba sketball Star Alleges Attack

University of Nebraska women ' s basketball star faked an attack in which she allegedly carved anti-gay slurs into her skin because she felt it would spark change, police said Tuesday

Four days before Charlie Rogers crawled naked and bleeding from her Lincoln home, screaming for help, she outlined in a Facebook

motive for faking the July 22 attack, Police Chief Jim Peschong said at a news conference

"So maybe I am too idealistic, but I believe way deep inside me that we can make things better for everyone I will be a catalyst I will do what it takes I will Watch me, " read the July 18 posting, according to police

Furthermore, genetic testing on evidence gathered at the crime scene undermines Rogers' account of what happened, Peschong said

C

Tuesday to making a false police report and was released on her own recognizance She didn't respond to a message seeking comment left Tuesday at a number listed as hers, but her lawyer, Brett McArthur, said she maintains the attack happened and plans to vigorously defend herself

"This has been a very traumatic event for her, and having the focus of the investigation turn toward her has been really hard," said McArthur, who described Rogers as reserved and soft-spoken, and not the type to seek attention

"She has no reason to lie about what happened She's pretty devastated, when you go to authorities and things kind of get turned around on you, " he said

Rogers, a lesbian who ranks second all-time in blocked shots for the Cornhuskers, reported the attack amid a charged debate in Lincoln over the city's proposed "fairness ordinance," which would ban discrimination against gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people The City Council approved the ordinance in May, 5-0, but two conservative groups gathered enough signatures to force a popular vote on it before it can take effect Ac

masked men broke into her home, and that one of them pinned her down while another sliced a cross into her chest, cut the front of her thighs and shins and carved derogatory words in her arms and abdomen She said they then rolled her onto her stomach and cut her buttocks, the back of her thighs and the back of her right calf She also said they tried to burn down her house Rogers crawled from her home naked, bleeding and screaming for help, a neighbor told

responded swiftly, and hundreds turned out for a rally that weekend outside the state Capitol

Three Red Icers Select ed During 2012 NHL Draft

By DANI ABADA Sun Assistant Sports Ed tor

i n c l u d i n g a p ow e r p l a y g o a l i n t h e Re d’s N C A A

f t p i c k w a s i n c o m i n g f re s h m a n

Re e c e Wi l l c o x T h e P h i l a d e l p h i a Fl y e r s d r a f t e d t h e

The Red roster now boasts eight NHL draft picks for the first time since the 2006-2007 season

d e f e n s e m a n w i t h t h e 1 4 1 s t ov e r a l l p i c k i n t h e f i f t h r o u n d T h e Fl y e r s h a v e n o t d r a f t e d a C o r n e l l i a n s i n c e 1 9 9 7 , w h e n g o a l i e Je a nM a r c Pe l l e t i e r w a s d r a f t e d i n t h e s e c o n d r o u n d W i l l c o x h a s s p e n t h i s l a s t t w o s e a s o n o n t h e Ju n i o r A

Me r r i t t C e n t e n n i a l s o f t h e Br i t i s h C o l u m b i a Ho c k e y L e a g u e , w h e re h e c a m e a w a y w i t h 1 0 g o a l s a n d 2 7

a s s i s t s i n 1 0 5 g a m e s d u r i n g t h a t t i m e No t o n l y w a s h e n a m e d t h e t e a m ’ s To p D e f e n s e m a n l a s t y e a r, b u t h e w a s a l s o n a m e d a B C H L Se c o n d Te a m A l l - St a r d u r i n g t h e

2 0 1 1 - 1 2 s e a s o n Ad d i t i o n a l l y, Wi l l c o x p l a y e d f i v e g a m e s w i t h g o l d m e d a l - w i n n i n g Te a m C a n a d a We s t a t t h e Wo r l d Ju n i o r A C h a l l e n g e i n Nov e m b e r

In t h e s i x t h r o u n d , r i s i n g s o p h o m o re f o r w a rd Jo h n

M c C a r r o n w a s s e l e c t e d 1 5 3 r d o v e r a l l b y t h e

E d m o n t o n O i l e r s A s a f re s h m a n , Mc C a r r o n p l a y e d o n a l i n e w i t h Se a n C o l l i n s ’ 1 2 a n d c l a s s m a t e Jo e l L ow r y

He h a d s i x g o a l s a n d t h i r t e e n a s s i s t s o n t h e s e a s o n ,

Mi d w e s t Re g i o n a l s e m i f i n a l v i c t o r y ov e r t o p - s e e d e d Mi c h i g a n o n Ma r c h 2 3 Mc C a r r o n f o l l ow s i n

n e Wi t h s e

Abada can be reached at dabada@cornellsun com

W hitney S ign s With Everblades

By HALEY VELASCO Sun Assistant Sports Editor

Coming directly from graduation, Sean Whitney ’12 signed with the Florida Everblades for the upcoming 2012-2013 season At 6’ 4” and 195 lbs the Massachusetts native will follow in his brother and NHL veteran Ryan Whitney’s footsteps into the professional realm of hockey

“Sean is a big-bodied, and very intelligent defenseman He has the ability to stabilize our back end,” said head coach Greg Poss

For the Red, Whitney was a pivotal part of the team ’ s past success Overall he played 101 career games for the defense, earning an ECAC Hockey championship and three runs in the NCAA tournament during his time with Cornell Together with Braden Birch ’12, the dynamic duo matched up against some of the best offensive lines in the country and the pair didn’t surrender a five-on-five goal until Jan 28 of last season Last season all

together, Whitney grabbed 11 points by scoring two goals and racking up nine assists On the offensive end, Whitney scored both of his goals in the ECAC Hockey quarterfinal takedown of Dartmouth in March His plus-10 rating on the year was the highest of his career, and his total of 11 points tied a career high Over all four years with the Red, Whitney accumulated 30 points, thanks to seven goals and 23 assists

Whitney may be new to professional play, but the Everblades’ home rink will be a familiar venue Previously, he had three assists in seven career games at the Florida College Hockey Classic, which gets played annually at the Germain Arena , as well as all home Everblades’ matchups The Everblades will head into the team ’ s 15th season, with a Kelly Cup win under their belts and hopes for an upcoming winning season

Haley Velasco can be reached at hvelasco@cornellsun com

Going pro | Sean Whitney ’12 signed with the professional hockey team, the Florida Everblades for the upcoming 2012-2013 season

Traditions of the Cup E xperienced by Ithaca

M HOCKEY

Continued from page 24

carried the Cup down the line of people still waiting, allowing everyone to chance to touch it at least once if they wanted to Many NHL players as well as NHL hopefuls are superstitious about touching the trophy, as they believe it is bad luck to touch it before winning it

the title left Brown searching for the right words to describe what he was feeling; however, the captain recalled the emotions he felt from passing the Cup to his teammates

“What’s pretty special for the players is the tradition of one teammate passing the cup to another,” he said

“It’s amazing to have that piece of history in your town.”

M a r k A n b i n d e r

Brown’s thoughtful gesture did not go unnoticed by Anbinder, which he described as “ a classy move ”

“It’s amazing to have that piece of histor y in your town, ” Anbinder went on to say “It’s really a meaningful trophy [and] it’s really a great symbol of success In Dustin’s case it’s incredible how he is able to be so successful with the Kings He’s the captain and had an exceptional season So having him bring [the Cup] home to spend time with his family and friends was terrific ” Anbinder and Liao were not the only ones who said that they struggled to find words to describe seeing the Cup in person Hoisting the Cup after winning

Another tradition, which many hockey fans love to ask players about is drinking out of the trophy While many players have been spotted drinking beer out of the trophy, Brown’s young sons were photographed drinking chocolate milk

During his stay in Ithaca, Brown used the Cup as a large bowl to share frozen yogurt in with his friends and family

Before leaving Ithaca, Brown offered advice to young athletes who have dreams of one day entering the world of professional sports have fun Brown played lacrosse, baseball and hockey while growing up, before eventually focusing on hockey His advice is for aspiring athletes to play the sports they enjoy while they are younger, and focus more seriously on one sport as they grow older

Lauren Ritter can be reached at sunsportseditor@cornellsun com

Brown Bring s St anle y Cup Home to Ithaca

By LAUREN RITTER

Sports Editor

On July 28, hockey fans from near and far gathered at Ithaca High School at 9 a m on a rainy Saturday morning to greet a much-loved hometown hero Los Angeles Kings captain and Ithaca native Dustin Brown was back in town and everyone was eager to see the very famous companion which was by his side the Stanley Cup

After winning the Stanley Cup Finals, it is tradition that every player on the team gets to spend 24 hours with the Cup From the moment that Brown lifted the famed trophy over his head in June after the Kings beat the New Jersey Devils, it was clear that a trip to Ithaca would be in the Cup’s near future Having the Cup in Ithaca is very special, according to Brown

“Ithaca’s a pretty small, tight-knit community and big sports community especially with two colleges here and a lot of people interested in sports, ” Brown explained “I don’t know if there has ever been anything like this in Ithaca from someone from Ithaca I’m being biased I’m sure, but if you want to bring a trophy to the town, that’s the trophy you want to bring ”

The Cup is no stranger to Ithaca, as it made an appearance in 1999 when former Cornell All-American Joe Nieuwendyk visited after the Dallas Stars won the Stanley Cup Finals Nieuwendyk also won NHL titles in 1989 and 2003 with the Calgary Flames and New Jersey Devils,

Spor ts

respectively While previously in Ithaca, the Cup has made appearances at Cornell, as well as local favorites such as Dunbars and the home of the famous Pinesburger Challenge, the Glenwood Pines where Nieuwendyk celebrated his 2003 victory while playing with the Devils, according to Mark Anbinder ’89

“When I showed up to greet Dustin Brown and the Stanley Cup at 9 a m , I was shocked by the amount of people there already I would guess well over a thousand,” said Albert Liao ’14, a Sun Sports staff writer “It was a great experience for me to see Dustin Brown and the Stanley Cup and I’m sure the other people who were there feel the same way ”

Over 2,000 people gathered to see Brown and the Cup, with hopes of having their picture taken with the winning

S quad Adds Ten New Faces

By HALEY VELASCO and DANI ABADA Sun Ass stant Sports Editors

There have been many changes for the Red this upcoming 2012 season In addition to new head coach Patrick Farmer, there will be ten new freshmen – Joanna Barrett, Jenna Cantor, Maddie Dunn, Caroline Growney, Michelle Manning, Bre

Morgan Zaidel – that will suit up for Cornell The Class of 2016 will feature a multitude of positions – including a pair of goalkeepers – to help fill the holes of last year ’ s lineup and hopefully improve on its 2-13-1 record

Joanna Barrett is the first of ten who comes to the Red from nearby Lansing, N Y as an addition to the defense She was named all-state second team defender and was twice named as an all-conference team defender

“Joanna is a local player who is an athletic defender and brings a strong playing background into her freshman year, ” said head coach Patrick Farmer “Joanna will compete for a spot as flank defender at Cornell ” Jenna Cantor is a midfielder from Winston Churchill high school where she was named a National Soccer Coaches

captain and one of the most recognizable trophies in the sports world

“It’s an incredible thing to see people’s reactions when they are around the Stanley Cup,” Anbinder said “I can ’ t imagine any other sports trophy getting that kind of attention One of the things that is amazing about is it that each player on the team gets to take the Cup home with them for the day It travels the world to all corners of the planet to see it Hundreds of hundreds of people waited in line to see it and take a picture with it and touch the Cup ” While not everyone was able to have their picture taken with Brown and the Cup, the captain made sure that

Red Prepares to Bounce Back

By SCOTT CHIUSANO Sun Assistant Sports Editor

After struggling through a rebuilding season in 2011, the women ’ s field hockey team is poised and ready to rebound With nine starters returning, the Red has a chance to return to its winning ways of two years ago, when the winningest class in women ’ s field hockey history led the squad to an 11-5 season The Red’s top two scorers from last season junior Hannah Ballezza and

return to the starting lineup Ballezza and Thompson accounted for 35 of the team ’ s 75 total points, Ballezza leading

the way with seven goals and four assists Anchoring the midfield position will be junior Mallory Bannon, who, along with Ballezza, was selected to the second-team All-Ivy last year Bannon rounded out the top five in the Red’s scoring with six points on the season and was also the team ’ s defensive MVP Joining Bannon on the defensive end are backs Paige Mollineaux, Alexandra Robson and Keelin Bannon All three were put into the starting lineup last season after the entire defensive starting