L auren Ritter ’13, Haley Velasco ’15, Skyler Dale ’16, Juan Carlos Toledo ’13, Alber t Liao ’14, Scott Eckl ’13, Chris Mills ’16, Ben Horowit z ’15
SPECIAL THANKS
Special thanks to Cornell Athletic Communications, Cornell Men’s Soccer, Cornell Sprint Football
S ept 14 L 1-2 Sacred Hear t
S ept 16 L 0-4 at L a Salle
S ept 21 L 0-1 at Columbia
S ept 23 L 1-2 Niagara
S ept 28 L 1-2 Penn
Oc t. 2 W 4-1 L afayette
Oc t 6 T 1-1 at Har vard
Oc t 13 L 0-1 Yale
Oc t 21 L 0-1 at Brown
Oc t 27 6 p m Princeton Nov 3 3 p m Dar tmouth
MEN’S SOCCER (12-1)
Aug 31 W 2-1 at CSU Fuller ton
S ept 2 W 2-0 at Loyola Mar ymount
S ept 7 W 1-0 at L afayette
S ept 9 W 4-0 Buf falo
S ept 14 Postp oned Vermont
S ept. 16 W 2-1 Wof ford
S ept 19 W 5-0 at Binghamton
S ept 22 W 3-2 St Joseph’s
S ept 25 W 4-1 Har t wick
S ept 29 W 3-2 Penn
Oc t 6 W 3-1 at Har vard
Oc t 9 W 3-1 at Colgate
Oc t. 13 W 3-0 Yale
Oc t 20 L 0-2 at Brown
Oc t 27 3 p m Princeton
Nov 3 6 p m Dar tmouth
Nov 12 7 p m at Columbia
VOLLEYBALL (6-13)
Aug 31 L 0-3 vs Fresno State
Aug 31 L 0-3 at Colorado
S ept 1 L 0-3 vs Nor thern Arizona
S ept. 7 L 2-3
By LAUREN RITTER Sun Spor ts Editor
Last year the Red concluded its fall campaign on a sour note finishing 0-1-3 against Brown, Princeton, Dartmouth and Columbia and placing 4th in the Ivy League Frustration and disappointment colored the players’ faces as they walked off the field after their last game of 2011; however, while the season may have been put to rest, the intense desire to come back strong and win the Ivy League title was still smoldering
“The key was for all of the players to come back and be as game-ready as possible,” said head coach Jaro Zawislan “That is what this group has done The returning players just continued the momentum from the spring and the new players they came in ready to contribute For the first time, the group that were established starters at the end of the spring season kept the momentum going ”
increasing amount of attention as the team climbed the national rankings reaching as high as No 10
Cornell has experienced one of its strongest seasons in program histor y during 2012 Under Zawislan, the Red had its best start in school history winning the first 12 games of the season and earning recognition as the only team to go on a 12game win streak in the country this year Cornell shattered records almost every week and has had multiple players recognized as Ivy League Player of the Week, including Haber who earned the honor four times as of Oct 15 The junior striker is cur-
humble and focused despite the team ’ s notable successes The shared mentality of only focusing on the next matchup on the schedule and not harboring on past games ’ outcomes has helped the Red make it to this point in the season
“The team chemistr y is amazing right now, ” Oder said “Every player has a good attitude and is driven towards our goal of an Ivy League
shares responsibilities between defending and attacking, which is evident in the league-leading 35 goals scored
“ There is no separation between the defense and offense,” Haber “Ever yone attacks and defends together and we all know in order for us to have success we need to be on the same page and work as a unit ”
This season the Red has recorded wins against strong teams like Colgate, Hartwick, Harvard and Penn The only team to beat Cornell was Brown, who snapped the Red’s 12-game win streak on Oct 20 with a 2-0 shutout
Looking forward to the remaining three games of the season against Princeton, Dartmouth and Columbia the Red is focused on what lies ahead and achieving a positive result
In one year ’ s time, the Red has improved on last year ’ s 8-2-6 record and replaced it with a near perfect 12-1-0, going 3-1-0 in Ivy play
Beginning the 2012 season on a high note, the Red traveled cross countr y to take on Cal State Fullerton and Loyola Marymount
Cornell made news during this season, becoming the only U.S. team to go 12 games without a single loss or tie.
The Red dominated both Californian teams, winning 2-1 and 2-0, respectively, as senior goalie Rick Pflasterer picked up his first shutout of the year and junior striker Daniel Haber scored three of the four Red goals
“Not only did we start off the season with two big away wins, but the trip brought the team together in many ways, ” said junior midfielder Aaron Oder
The California trip offered players just a preview of the wildly successful season that lay ahead Over the next seven weeks, the Red would go on to win 10 of its 11 games earning three more shutouts and garnering an
rently leading the nation in points per game (3 00) and ranks second in goals per game (1 23)
Additionally, Cornell extended its record for consecutive games with a goal to 28 building off of the foundation for success that the team created last year
Breaking down the formula for success, the men ’ s soccer team has shown that focus, drive and character are some of the most paramount factors in securing a win Throughout the season Zawislan has stressed the importance of sharpening up the execution on both sides of the ball, as well as the players’ ability to remain
title ”
“This season we are doing a much better job of creating chances and finishing them off,” added senior midfielder Nico Nissl “Of course, defense is still extremely important and something that we really pride ourselves on With a good defense, we are able to counter and attack much more effectively which has contributed greatly to our success ” Cornell’s strong defense has contributed much to the team ’ s overall season success The back line and Pflasterer have only allowed 11 goals this year the second lowest in the Ivy League However, every player on the field
"This week we have been sure to bring a surge of intensity to our practice sessions,” Pflasterer said “Brown was a realization that we still have work to do if we want to compete for the top spot in the Ivies We know that Princeton tied Brown and we ’ re in for as tough of a match as last weekend It’s very important to be on the other end of the result this time ”
The hard work and preparation that the team has been exhibiting in practice will play an important role in determining whether or not the Red achieves its ultimate goal winning the Ivy League crown and making a trip to the NCAA tournament
“If we want to win the Ivy League, we need to come out with a win plain and simple,” Haber said “Every team we play will be looking to move ahead of us, and we will have to out execute them ”
KATIE KELLNER: Captain and Champion
F o u r Ye a r s O f P u r e H e a r t
By SKYLER DALE Sun Staff Writer
Battling a wind and snow filled course in Princeton, N J almost a year ago, senior captain Katie Kellner crossed the finish line in fourth place, carrying her team to its first Ivy championship in 13 years With three meets left in the cross country season, Kellner is approaching the end of an illustrious career Kellner may have been timid in her first year, she made an impact as the team ’ s thirdbest runner all year
“When I came in, I was just a shy freshman, ” Kellner said
She has come a long way since then, becoming the same type of role model for underclassmen that she once looked up to According to head coach Artie Smith, Kellner has embraced the role of captain extremely well
“[Katie] is very encouraging of her teammates and projects a positive attitude towards the sport, ” he said “She is extremely hardworking, and very conscientious ”
Not surprisingly, Kellner’s most vivid memory with the Red is last year ’ s Heps Championship, where she and her teammates had to fight through an unexpected blizzard to win against Columbia Only a few races later, in the NCAA East Regional, Kellner also posted the fifth-best 10K time for an Ivy League runner at 32:58 73
She also has fond memories of an indoor track meet at Stanford last spring, when she passed the U S Olympic trials standard and nearly did well enough to participate at the Olympic qualifiers
She looks at the event proudly as an accomplishment that made her, “ one of the top collegiate runners in the country ”
After four years of running cross country and track, Kellner has perfected a strategy that she brings to the course for every race
“If you ’ re all tense, you waste a lot of energy, ” she said “Keeping your body relaxed keeping your brain relaxed, [is the best way to perform successfully ]”
According to Kellner, her family and coaches have inspired her to work hard in everything she does
“They’ve all been there every step of the way, ” Kellner said
CORNELL PREVAILS DESPITE SEASON SURPRISES
Strong Showings All Around
By JUAN CARLOS TOLEDO Sun Staff Wr ter
The 2012 cross-country season has featured strong performances throughout by both the men ’ s and women ’ s teams From day one, the Red has remained focused on competing hard and working towards winning the Heps championship
“We’ve had five different guys be first or second for our team this year, ” he said “On any given day any of these guys can step up and take the lead for Cornell It shows the diversity and strength of our team ”
Junior Max Groves pointed to the team ’ s training as why the team has been able to progress
to injuries, but with this team, we ’ re able to step up when we have to and are looking for ward to [up]coming meets ”
Women’s cross country coach Artie Smith ’96 has praised his team all season for its commitment
“The progression this season has been great, ” he said “To be able to do this, they have to have a great foundation They’ve had a great dedication to laying that foundation in their training
”
The women ’ s team started the season strongly, with c o n s e c u t i v e wins at the
A r m yB i n g h a m t o n tri-meet, the Ye l l o w j a c k e t Invitational at Rochester, and at the Paul Short Invitational at Lehigh
“We started summer training pretty early,” he said “We wanted to grind through the summer to be ready for the first meet The first couple of meets it’s really about getting more solid training and getting used to racing ”
The Red has been aided with some surprises this season While some of them have been both good and bad, they’ve given the cross country teams motivation to continue to fight on and
After a strong start to the season for both teams, a split weekend saw some runners travel to Wisconsin while others headed to Princeton for large invitational meets
The women ’ s team took 5th overall at the Wisconsin Invitational featuring 6 top ten schools and took 3rd overall at the Princeton Invitational, while the men ’ s team took 43rd place and 7th place at those same meets
Despite a poor start, Kellner said that the team was able to bounce back at Wisconsin
“To be able to do this, they have a great foundation They’ve had great dedication to laying that foundation in their training ”
Artie Smith ’96
a reason to build confidence
According to Smith, his team does not shy away from competition,
“[This team] has a very healthy attitude towards competition,” he said “They really look forward to it ”
The men ’ s team also started off the season strongly, finishing first at both the Army-Binghamton tri-meet and the Yellowjacket invitational before fin-
i s h i n g 6 t h a t t h e Pa u l Sh o r t Invitational
A l l s e a s o n m e n ’ s c ro s s c o u n t r y coach Zeb Lang ’03 has been pleased with how many different racers can and have stepped up when needed
Senior co-captain Katie Kellner was surprised at how well the freshman class has stepped up to the training and the racing
“Our freshman class has been remarkable,” she said “You never know with freshmen how they’re going to adjust to training It’s going to keep Cornell high in the standings for years ”
Although the men ’ s team has had to deal with some injuries, Groves is sure that his team will be able to fill voids wherever needed
“The season never goes the way that you want it to, ” he said “We lose guys
“We started pretty poorly, and we got stuck in the back,” she said “Over the first mile we really had to work our way up We re a l l y k e p t o u r composure to be able to move up ” L o o k i n g f o rward, though, the Red must prepare for the Heps finals at Princeton Lang i s c o n f i d e n t i n t h e a m o u n t o f resilience his team shows
“There is a ton of fight in this team, ” he said “Looking forward our focus is on the Heps championship in two weeks ” Kellner put it plainly that although the team has proven to be very competitive, they should not think that they’ve won just yet
“I have a lot of confidence,” she said “We have so far proven ourselves to be the best team in the Ivy League I don’t want us to forget that the rest of the field is competitive though ”
Pushing ahead | Cor nell has had strong showings this season from both the men’s and women’s cross countr y teams despite some surprise injuries
Above and beyond | Katie Kellner has been a dominant member of the Cor nell cross countr y and track and field teams for the past four years
Org. Urges University to D ivest Endowment From Fossil Fuels
By BYRON KITTLE Sun Senior Writer
The University must divest or remove investments from the portion of its endowment in the fossil fuel
industr y by 2020, KyotoNOW!, a student organization that advocates sustainability, is urging Although the University has set a goal of eliminating or offsetting all carbon emis-
sions from the Ithaca campus by 2050, Kyoto NOW ’ s petition asks that the University completely divest from fossil fuels by 2020 Additionally,
See PROTEST page 5
Court Sentences SAE; Chapter to Pay $12,000
The defunct Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity chapter at Cornell was fined $12,000 on Thursday after the Tompkins County Court convicted the organization for its role in the events leading to the death of SAE brother George Desdunes ’13
Though no representative of the fraternity’s former Cornell chapter appeared at the hearing, Desdunes’ mother, Marie Lourdes Andre, spoke at the hearing, according to a press release from the Office of the T o m p k i n s County District Attorney Andre requested that the judge impose the maximum possible sentence in order to underscore a message that hazing will not be tolerated, the press release said Judge Judith Rossiter J D ’86 said that SAE’s Cornell chapter is guilty of the three misdemeanor counts laid out in the criminal case
However, in a separate proceeding in June, Judge Rossiter acquitted three former SAE pledges of criminal charges, arguing that Max Haskin ’14, Ben Mann ’14 and Edward Williams ’14 were not responsible for Desdunes’ death
The two rulings highlight different legal battles that have emerged as a result of Desdunes’ death, which occurred on Feb 25, 2011, after Desdunes participated in a fraternity hazing ritual
Judge Judith Rossiter J D ’86 found that [SAE] was culpable for Desdunes’ death on three misdemeanor counts
In a separate civil suit against the national SAE o r g a n i z a t i o n , Desdunes’ mother argues that both the fraternity and several of its brothers were responsible for forcing reckless behavior on her son
On Thursday, the fraternity chapter was fined the maximum $5,000 fine for unlawfully dealing with a child in the first degree, the maximum $5,000 for criminal nuisance in the second degree and the maximum $2,000 for hazing in the first degree, the press release said
According to allegations Desdunes’ mother made in the civil case, several SAE pledges kidnapped Desdunes, tied a noose around his neck and kept him bound and blindfolded while pledges quizzed him on fraternity histor y Each time Desdunes answered incorrectly, the pledges forced him to perform exercises or drink alcoholic substances In March, the national fraternity filed a defense brief in the civil suit in which they denied all charges and argued that only Desdunes himself was
Candidates Brandish Bipartisan Records at Debate
By JEFF STEIN Sun Managing Editor
In a spirited, substantive debate held Thursday
local Congressional race fought to claim the mantle of bipartisanship while deriding their opponent as an extremist removed from the political mainstream Incumbent
Shinagawa, mean-
avowed
Hosted on local radio station WHCU870, the wide-ranging debate
planned between the candidates revealed deep
the middle g r o u n d , e v i d e n
M CHELLE FELDMAN / SUN STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Students sell pumpkins at the last Farmers’ Market at Cornell of the semester Thursday The market sells locally-produced food at the Ag Quad once ever y week in warm weather
The last hurrah
By HARRISON OKIN Sun Staff Writer
REED SHINAGAWA ’05
LAUREN B GALOW / SUN FILE PHOTO
Tomorrow
International Health and Development Conference Noon - 5:30 p m , Goldwin Smith Hall
Sacred Tibetan Art: Sand Mandala
1 - 5 p m , The Edwards Room, Anabel Taylor Hall
C.U. Jazz: Master Class With Joe La Barbera 3 - 4 p m , Barnes Hall
Women’s Soccer 6 p m , Berman Field
Sp eaking ab out an unknown individual who imp ersonated
in
“If the attacker is still a Cornell student I will file all p ossible academic integrity violation charges against the student If the attacker is found guilty of any academic integrity violation, and is a student in the current o ceanography class I will fail the student immediately and exp el them from the class ” Prof Bruce Monger, o ceanography
O pin ion, “T he E x ce pti on I s N ot The R ule , ” We dnesd ay
Sp eaking ab out an incident of sexual assault last semester
My friend exp erienced a lot of doubts many acquaintances, friends and even her brother felt and voiced that she in her words “wanted it ” b ecause she had on other o ccasions expressed romantic interest in her attacker It to ok a while for her to accept that what happ ened to her was not OK , consensual or acceptable that she had b een rap ed ”
Mag gie Henr y ’14
Ithaca College Student s, Faculty Protest New Student Media Policy
By DARA LEVY Sun Contributor
Members of the Ithaca College community are challenging a new policy that forces student media groups to request interviews for administrators through the college’s office of media relations, effectively prohibiting them from contacting the individuals directly
After the policy was enacted on Oct 1, between 45 and 65 I C students gathered in protest at the Peggy Ryan Williams Center, the school’s administration building, on Oct 12, according to one of the protest ’ s organizers, Ayla Ferrone, a senior at I C The students staged a sit-in, holding signs and chanting about the policy’s flaws
The protest then moved to Free Speech Rock, before arriving at its final location in the Campus Center, where I C ’ s Board of Trustees was meeting
During the event, both students and faculty spoke about their feelings on the new policy Most of the students were from the Roy H Park School of Communications, but Ferrone said there were other students who supported the cause
A n o t h e r o r g a n i ze r, Bre n n i n Cu m m i n g s , a senior at I C , said that “ our goal for the protest was simply to show the administration and the Board of Trustees that this policy wouldn’t go ignored by student media and those who wish to uphold the values of a free press on this campus ”
Critical discussion of the new media policy continued on Oct 15, when the I C chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists sponsored a panel discussion featuring student editors and faculty members
David Maley, associate director of media relations at I C , said that at the discussion, he was able to answer the questions and concerns that the I C community raised about the policy
“I understand that some student journalists are still unhappy with the policy, as the protest on campus demonstrated,” he said “It remains my job to ensure that the implementation of the policy continues to work well for all involved ”
Still, Ferrone said that there is no need for the policy
“This was instated as a solution to a problem that doesn’t exist,” she said
According to The Ithacan, I C said it intends on better facilitating interviews with administra-
tors not controlling the media through its new policy The college has also said that the policy simply reinforces the way that external media work to contact sources and that the policy will not be applied to students who are writing pieces for classes
In an Oct 4 editorial, The Ithacan expressed concerns that the policy was a sign of I C becoming increasingly corporate and closed to discourse
Ferrone said that students in journalism classes should receive the same treatment as those in student media groups
“If their reasoning for the policy is that student media needs to learn how to work in the real world, why isn’t this being enforced in classes as well?” Ferrone said “Many points of the policy just don't add up ”
Cummings added that the policy is a “stain” on I C ’ s journalism and communications program
“It puts a gatekeeper beween student media and the administration they’re trying to interview,” she said
Cummings also said that the policy renders the jobs of I C journalists more difficult
“Although the administrators that put this policy into place swear this isn’t censorship, putting any kind of restriction of this kind is another hoop that journalists have to jump through,” she said
Defending the administration, Maley said that the policy has not hurt student media
“I believe that their fears of censorship, stifling of viewpoints and an inability to reach sources in a timely fashion have not been borne out, ” he said
Yet Ferrone summarized her issues with the policy as that of a “ transparency issue ”
“I believe it’s a way for the college to funnel what information they want about the school to be available to the public,” she said
Cummings emphasized the policy’s hindrances
“It also increases the inevitability of receiving PR from sources, rather than honest information,” she said
Both Cummings and Ferrone expressed their desire for the policy to ultimately be revoked
“The students and faculty of Ithaca College will continue to fight back against these policy changes whatever way we can Rest assured, we won ’ t be letting this policy stand,” Cummings said
Levy can be reached at drl97@cornell edu
This week, The Sun reported that the Bear s Dean, Cornell s campus pub, has seen low attendance numbers What are some new amenities the pub should include to boost its popularity?
“A bouncy castle Who doesn’t like a bouncy castle, especially in a bar?” Moonwalker ’14
“Yogurt Crazy Cue the squeals of a few thousand girls ” Froyo for Life ’14
Cornellians Express Shock at Reported Sexual A ssault at Amherst
By JULIA PASCALE
After a student publication at Amherst
, Cornell students reacted with shock at the lack of action taken by the Amherst administration in response to the reported sexual assault
On Oct 17, The Amherst Student published former student Angie Epifano’s personal account of being sexual assaulted at Amherst The story was widely read, generating so many page views that the paper ’ s website crashed, according to the blog Jezebel
Epifano’s account of sexual assault largely deals with what she calls the dismissive way in which the administration handled her case When Epifano told Amherst counselors and advisors that she had been raped, she said she was met with indifference and even skepticism
“In short I was told: ‘No you can ’ t change dorms, there are too many students right now Pressing charges would be useless, he’s about to graduate, there’s not much we can do Are you sure it was rape? It might have just been a bad hookup You should forgive and forget,” Epifano wrote
Cornell students expressed surprise at the response of Amherst College’s administration to the reported rape
“I was shocked Amherst is a very good school and it’s very liberal, and it’s in a very progressive part of the United States,” Nomoya Hall ’13 said “[That it would fall short] in something as fundamental to human rights, as preventing rape seems counterintuitive ”
Hall also said she believes that Cornell’s administration would have addressed the allegations in a more effective way, saying t h a t t h e Of f i c e o f t h e Ju d i c i a l Administrator in particular “provides a very supportive community ”
Hannah Dorsey ’16 echoed Hall’s sentiments, saying that “the campus atmospheres are different [between Cornell and Amherst] ”
For instance, while Epifano was not a l l owe d t o switch dorm i t o r i e s a f t e r s h
was sexually assaulted, at C
addressing sexual assault
College
“Despite Cornell being larger, students form caring communities,” Qureshi said “There was a Facebook group that posted that article and people extended their sympathies to anyone who had been affected [by sexual assault] ” But Rachael Blumenthal ’13 said the quantity of resources available to students dilutes their effectiveness
“Unfortunately, our University has no s
“I don’t think that we are successful at addressing the needs of [sexual assault] victims ”
y emergency housing is available to those who feel unsafe in their current living situations, according to Laura Weiss, director of the Women’s Resource Center
Dorsey also cited the large number of campus resources available to victims of sexual assaults
“There are so many obvious places to go that would satisfy all needs that even if one had a similar reaction [to Amherst], the next would be able to help,” she said “It helps a lot that we have student-run groups because it seems like [Epifano] was dealing solely with administration ”
Wajeha Qureshi ’13 also said the size of Cornell’s campus serves as an asset when
, ” Blumenthal said “I don’t think that we a re
needs of victims
J A Mary Beth Grant J D ’86 said victims can reach out to officials in the Cornell University Police Department or Gannett Health Services, among other services, to determine an appropriate resource to use
“Even if a survivor of an assault is unsure of what the best next steps are for him or her, talking about it with those in positions of authority can clarify options a n d g e t t h e s u r v i
resources, ” Grant said
Dara
Vigil | Cornellians gathered Wednesday on Ho Plaza to protest sexual assaults on campus
MUNSEY / SUN STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Sun Contributor
Julia Pascale can be reached at jp852@cornell edu
MICHELLE FRALING / SUN STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
The statue of Ezra Cornell on the Arts Quad is adorned with a pink ribbon for the month of October in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month Pretty in
Shinagawa ’05 Attack s Reed’s Voting Record
DEBATE
Continued from page 1
Shinagawa jumped on the claim
“ The fact [is] that you have a voting record of over 90 percent with your party, and ever ybody knows that this Congress has been one of the most divisive in recent American histor y, ” he said “So when we hear the Congressman talk about bipartisanship, I think we need to say: ‘ What does your voting record say?’ Not just the awards you get from different groups, or the bills that don’t actually end up making it anywhere, but what action have you taken, how does your record show you ’ re bipartisan?”
Yet Reed, who is running to represent a more conser vative district than the one that initially elected him, said that he is no ideologue
“Just put the record up You banter around t h e 9
Republican party], Nate, and looking in comparison to other members, there are [others who vote] 95 percent or even higher,” with their own party, Reed said He said that his predecessor, Rep Eric Massa (D-N Y 29), had a record of voting with the Democratic party 94 percent of the time
Shinagawa persisted in attempting to link Reed to the Tea Party, noting that Reed had recently attended a Tea Party rally
“In regards to the Tea Party rallies those are constituents, those are people of the 23rd Congressional district, those are people who have a voice and the right to be heard,” Reed said “ We’ve sat and met with groups on the other side of the aisle ” Reed lamented what he called Shinagawa’s “attacks [claiming] that I’m some type of extremist ”
“People know me, know who I am; my [three] older brothers and [eight] sisters will tell you who I am we ’ re practical people,” he said “I think that comes from being in this area all of our lives, living in a house my grandfather built in 1922 That’s the mindset of this area, and it’s what we believe in ”
Re
Shinagawa as a tax-and-spend liberal, noting his support for Obamacare and other left-wing policies
“Raising taxes is what my opponent has been championing for quite some time,” Reed said Shinagawa worked to deflect that line of attack
“Of the many criticisms my opponent has made about me, one of the things I find most shocking is that he likes to say in town halls that I'm an ‘Ithaca Democrat,’” Shinagawa said “I don't know what that means I have led the way in terms of getting bipartisan sup-
port at the local level ”
Though the debate focused primarily on policy questions, it had moments of levity, too, as the candidates shared a laugh over whether Sh i n a g a w a s h o u l d c a l l Re e d “ To m ” o r “Congressman ” Both candidates also drew from their past to connect political issues to the emotional moments in their lives particularly when discussing the importance of education
“My father passed when I was two, and my mom was raising the last six of us all by herself One thing my mom and dad committed to all of us is that we would have an education,” Reed said “ We have to stress the importance of education ”
Shinagawa also shared a family experience to emphasize the importance of reforming education
“My family moved here [from California] 10 years ago because I have a little brother named Mitch; he’s a special needs child,” Shinagawa said “Now, he’s more of an independent kid than we ever thought, and it’s because of the good quality of education [in New York] ”
The election will be held Nov 6
Jeff Stein can be reached at managing-editor@cornellsun com
re s p o n s i b l e f o r t h e c o n d u c t t h a t l e d t o h i s d e a t h T h e f r a t e r n i t y
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t h a t i t d o e s n o t re q u i re a n y a c t i v i t y f ro m p l e d g e s Fo r t h e c i v i l p r o c e e d i n g , K i n g s C o u n t y Ju d g e K a r e n R o t h e n b e r g w i l l d e c i d e i n
B r o o k l y n w h e t h e r o r n o t t o a l l o w a s u b p o e n a f i l e d i n S e p t e m b e r T h e s u b p o e n a
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t o S A E t o t h e c o u r t
De s d u n e s ’ m o t h e r i s s u i n g t h e f r a t e r n i t y f o r $ 2 5 m i l l i o n i n d a m a g e s To m p k i n s C o u n t y D i s t r i c t A t t o r n e y G w e n W i l k i n s o n a c k n ow l e d g e d t h a t t h e re i s a s t a rk d i f f e re n c e b e t we e n t h e t w o p a y
Org.: C.U. Must D ivest by 2020
the group is working on a Student Assembly resolution that calls on the University to reinvest 30 percent of the endowed funds previously invested in traditional energy to sustainable companies and rene wable energy
In its petition, the group said that its requests stemmed from a call “ to uphold our commitment to creating a more sustainable world while fulfilling our fiduciar y duty, and to responsibly direct our University in accordance with our mission and values ”
Anna-Lisa Castle ’14, co-president of Kyoto NOW!, said the University’s current investment strategy lends itself to an ideological conflict on Cornell’s campus
“On the one hand, we ’ re working toward carbon neutrality on the physical campus, but we ’ re still profiting greatly from investing in companies that are not at all sustainable,” she said “ We believe that this is something that Cornell cares ver y deeply about and that we should do ever ything we can to make sure that our investment practices align with those ideals ”
Kyoto NOW! plans to pass its petition along with a resolution to the S A to urge the Board of Tr ustees to consider divesting its endowment from fossil fuels
While Castle acknowledged that resources such as coal and oil can be financially re warding investments, she cautioned against long-term investment in these industries
“ The fossil fuel industr y is an industr y that is based on non-rene wable resources, which means that while these resources like oil [and] coal may b e c o m e m o re va l u a b l e a s t h e y b e c o m e m o re scarce, they will r un out, ” she said “ This is not a way to sustain Cornell ”
Prof Mark Milstein, management and organizations, also said the topic of divestment highlights the University’s competing interests in business and environmental sustainability
“Energy is cyclical, but recently, energy has performed extremely well as a sector but [it] often consists of coal, oil and gas, ” he said “ You’ve got an internal tension that exists there They can be ver y good per forming assets, but the underlying business that is responsible for that growth also contributes to an environmental and social problem ”
Milstein also said that divesting the endowment from cer tain companies is not a straightforward task because Cornell does not select individual companies in which to invest Instead, the University contracts fund managers to build a profitable por tfolio, he said
“ The investment office isn’t making decisions on ever y single investment,” he said “ They’re hiring out management of pieces of the endowment to other organizations ”
Still, in the past, students have successfully worked with the University to divest its endowment from cer tain companies For instance, in
response to the genocide in Dar fur in 2006, Cornell halted investment in oil companies operating in Sudan, according to a University press release
“ The Student Assembly helped to stop investing in companies that suppor ted oppressive regimes,” Castle said “It’s really impor tant that this is something that comes from students, is passed by students and we can work with the tr ustees to figure out how we can get Cornell on track to divest ”
But the challenge of divesting from energy c
Instead of divesting from companies that do business in a geographic area, as with the Dar fur campaign, divesting from the traditional energy sector would cut a profitable section of the economy out of Cornell’s por tfolio, he said
The problem is compounded by the fact that less diversified por tfolios often per form poorly, as their risk is spread across a smaller number of areas, according to Milstein
“ Typically, when you pursue divestment strategies and screen out cer tain economic sectors, performance tends to degrade,” Milstein said “If an investment office like Cornell were to, all of a sudden, go with that kind of a negative screen for social or environmental reasons, they’re going to have to look from a fiduciar y responsibility standpoint and ask, ‘How are we going to make that up?’”
Before the Board of Tr ustees makes an official decision on the initiative, it must be approved by President David Skor ton after clearing a vote in
y,
accompanying the petition is currently seeking cosponsors, according to members of the S A
“I fully believe the Student Assembly will take this resolution into great consideration and will
worded, and whether it’s passed or not will be a matter of what they think is in the best interest of ever yone at Cornell,” said Melissa Lukasie wicz ’14, the S A ’ s vice president of internal operations
Student Tr ustee Alex Bores ’13 said that while he suppor ts the general principles behind the petition, he wants to see more evaluations, including from the Board of Tr ustees ’ investment committee, before solidifying his opinion on the matter
“I would need to see how much of our investments it actually affects, what the [practical] and real challenges are of changing it, and then I would evaluate it,” Bores said “ The intentions are good, but there are practical hurdles to this, just like anything else ”
Bores rejected the notion that companies could either be sustainable or profitable, but not both
“I think [that] often those two things aren ’ t in conflict Companies in general that play by the r ules and do good things tend to do well,” he said
Byron Kittle can be reached at bkittle@cornellsun com
NYC Police Officer Charged In Cannibalism Plot
NEW YORK (AP) A city police officer dreamed up plots to kidnap, torture, cook and eat at least 100 women whose photos, names and a d d re s s e s h e p u l l e d f ro m a c o n f i d e n t i a l l a w
enforcement database, authorities said Thursday
Gilbert Valle’s fantasies about cannibalizing women in one, he said he hoped to “cook her over low heat, keep her alive as long as possible” were retrieved in a trail of emails, computer files and instant messages in online fetish chat rooms, and authorities said he was arrested because he was taking steps to carry them out
None of the women were harmed, although a prosecutor said some of the women knew Valle and that he had stalked at least two of them at home or work once in his police car in a “ very intimidating fashion ” Authorities said he had had lunch with one of them
Valle’s estranged wife tipped authorities off to his chilling online activity, leading to his arrest, a law enforcement official told The Associated Press, speaking on condition of anonymity because the official wasn ’ t authorized to speak publicly about an ongoing case
In other online conversations, investigators said, Valle talked about the mechanics of fitting the woman ’ s body into an oven (her legs would have to be bent), said he could make chloroform at home to knock a woman out and discussed how “ tasty ” one woman looked
“Her days are numbered,” he wrote, according to the complaint
That woman told the FBI she knew Valle and met him for lunch in July
Valle, who could face life in prison if convicted, sat quietly in a red T-shirt and jeans at his court appearance, answering one question with “ yes, your Honor ” No one answered the door to his home Thursday in a quiet, middle-class Queens neighborhood
Public defender Julia Gatto had asked for bail, saying the Valle was only guilty of a “deviant fantasy ”
“There’s no actual crossing the line from fantasy to reality,” Gatto said “At worst this is someone who has sexual fantasies about people he knows and he talks about it on the Internet ”
2 Kids Stabbed Dead in NYC Home; Nanny Hurt Nearby
NEW YORK (AP) A mother returned home to her luxury apartment building near Central Park on Thursday to find two of her small children stabbed to death in a bathtub and their nanny, with self-inflicted stab wounds, lying near them, police said
The woman entered the building, La Rochelle, on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, with her 3-year-old and saw her 1- and 6-year-old children in the bathroom, police spokesman Paul Browne said It’s unclear how many times the children were stabbed
The nanny was found with stab wounds to her neck, and a kitchen knife was nearby, police said There was no water in the bathtub, they said Music therapist Rima Starr, who lives on the same floor as the family, said she heard screams coming from their apartment at around 5:30 p m
With Giant Storm on the Way; N.Y. Begins to Prep
NEW YORK (AP) Stressing that there’s no need to panic, New York officials are bracing for a gale-force storm expected to hit most of the U S East Coast next week
Valle, 28, was held without bail on charges including kidnapping conspiracy and unauthor i ze d u s e o f l a w e n f o
e m e n t re c o rd s U S
Magistrate Judge Henry Pitman called the charges against him “profoundly disturbing the most depraved, most dangerous conduct that can be imagined” and even more troubling because he is a police officer Pitman said the charges of the steps Valle took to carry out the plot “ suggest more than just talk ”
One document on Valle’s computer was titled
“Ab d u c t i n g a n d C o o k i n g ( Vi c t i m 1 ) : A Blueprint,” according to the criminal complaint
The file also had the woman ’ s birth date and other personal information and a list of “materials needed” a car, chloroform and rope
“I was thinking of tying her body onto some kind of apparatus cook her over low heat, keep her alive as long as possible,” Valle allegedly wrote in one exchange in July, the complaint says
But Valle was arrested because he was too close to carrying out the “ grotesque and disturbing” plots, Assistant U S Attorney Hadassa Waxman said He had “plans to kidnap, rape, torture, kill and eat the body parts of young women, some of whom the FBI has identified and they acknowledge knowing the defendant for a period of time,” she said
Valle had created a computer catalogue with records of at least 100 women with their names, addresses and photos, the complaint says Some of the information came from his unauthorized use of a restricted law enforcement database, authorities said He claimed, according to the complaint, that he knew many of them
“The allegations in the complaint really need no description from us, ” said Mary E Galligan, acting head of the FBI’s New York office “They speak for themselves It would be an understatement merely to say Valle’s own words and actions were shocking ”
Forecasters say there’s a 90 percent chance that the East will get high winds, heavy rain, flooding and maybe snow starting Sunday While it’s too early for precise forecasts, New York City and New Jersey could get the worst of it
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg on Thursday noted the uncertainty in the forecasts But he said the city was beginning to take precautions and has opened its emergency management situation room
“What we are doing is we are taking the kind of precautions you should expect us to do, and I don’t think anyone should panic It’s probably not going to be a great weekend for outdoor activity Sunday into Monday, maybe Saturday should be OK,” he said
Gov Andrew Cuomo on Thursday directed state agencies to begin emergency preparations and asked residents to pay close attention to storm updates
“I urge all New Yorkers to closely track the storm ’ s path, using local radio and television or online reports, ” Cuomo said “We will actively monitor the storm ’ s progress and take any steps necessary to protect our state ’ s residents ”
Anxiety is especially high in Northeast areas socked last year by a freak October snow storm that knocked out electricity to hundreds of thousands of customers Denise Van Buren of Central Hudson, a power utility that serves New York’s mid-Hudson Valley, said they are monitoring the storm track closely because of the potential for high winds and snow with leaves still lingering on trees
“Those are the ingredients that give us great cause for concern, ” Van Buren said “And we are still raw from last year ’ s October snow storm ”
25 Arrested in Five States In N.Y. Web Gambling Probe
NEW YORK (AP) Three owners of an Internet gambling website that boasts of having customers in 100 countries have been indicted, along with 22 other people, on charges that they were part of a betting ring took tens of millions of dollars from people in the United States, prosecutors said Thursday
People were arrested in five states Wednesday as part of a sweeping investigation aimed at bookmakers and money couriers connected to Internet and phone gambling, including men who prosecutors identified as owners of the online gambling site Pinnacle Sports
The three, Brandt England, of Las Vegas, George Molsbarger, of Santa Monica, Calif , and Stanley Tomchin, of Montecito, Calif , were charged with enterprise corruption, money laundering and conspiracy England faced an additional charge of promoting gambling
England’s lawyer in Las Vegas, David Chesnoff, said, “We certainly intend to defend this matter vigorously in court ” He declined to address the specifics of the allegations, saying he was new to the case
The probe was led by investigators from the New York Police Department, but multiple state, municipal and federal law enforcement agencies were involved, and arrests took place in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Nevada and California
The Queens district attorney ’ s office, which is prosecuting the case, said that in one 18-month period the gambling operation took in $50 million in profit while using computer servers in gambling friendly countries to try to hide dealings with bettors in the U S
Gamblers placed bets over the phone and at least four websites, while the ring used dummy accounts to hide the flow of money and couriers to transport cash profits to and from Panama and Costa Rica, authorities said
Pinnacle Sports sidestepped the issues of whether it was involved in illegal gambling in the U S and whether England, Molsbarger and Tomchin were owners of the site
“Regarding the recent allegations surrounding the individuals allegedly affiliated with Pinnacle Sports, please be reassured that no Pinnacle Sports employees have been arrested or charged, and Pinnacle Sports itself was not charged in the indictment,” it said in an emailed statement
“We expect no interruptions to our day to day business activities at this time ”
No one returned a phone message left at a number listed in Tomchin’s name Thursday Molsbarger’s phone number isn’t publicly listed
Obama Urges Romney to Break Ties With Mourdock
CINCINNATI (AP) President Barack Obama, seeking to shore up support among women, intensified his pressure Thursday on Mitt Romney to break any ties with a Republican Senate candidate who said that if a woman becomes pregnant from rape it is “something God intended ” Romney ignored the emotional social issue, holding to an optimistic campaign tone as he fought for victory in crucial Ohio
Obama, wrapping up a 40-hour battleground state blitz, also headed to his hometown of Chicago and cast his ballot 12 days before Election Day The stopover was more than a photo opportunity it was a high-profile attempt to boost turnout in early voting, a centerpiece of Obama’s strategy
The 2012 presidential contest was expected to cross the $2 billion fundraising mark Thursday, putting the election on track to be the costliest in history It’s being fueled by a campaign finance system vastly altered by the proliferation of “ super ” political action committees that are bankrolling TV ads in closely contested states
Back on the campaign trail, the president made repeated, though indirect, references to Indiana Republican Richard Mourdock’s controversial comment on rape and pregnancy
“We’ve seen again this week, I don’t think any male politicians should be making health care decisions for women, ” Obama told a crowd of about 15,000 on an unseasonably warm fall day in Richmond, Va The president’s aides pressed further, using a web video to highlight Romney’s endorsement of Mourdock and to accuse the GOP nominee of kowtowing to his party ’ s extreme elements
Romney, who appears in a television advertisement declaring his support for Mourdock, brushed aside questions on the matter from reporters throughout the day He centered his efforts instead on turning his campaign’s claims of momentum into a more practical and ultimately necessary roadmap to winning the required 270 Electoral College votes Ohio is crucial to that effort
“This election is not about me, ” Romney told a 3,000-person crowd at a southern Ohio manufacturing company “It’s not about the Republican Party It’s about America And it’s about your family ”
Romney has disavowed Mourdock’s comments, but his campaign says he continues to support the Indiana Republican’s Senate candidacy
Less than two weeks from Election Day, both candidates feverishly campaigned across the country in an exceedingly close race
Opinion polls show Obama and Romney tied nationally A new Associated Press-GfK poll of likely voters had Romney up 47 percent to 45 percent, a result within the poll’s margin of sampling error But the race will really be decided by nine or so competitive states: Ohio, Florida, Virginia, North Carolina, New Hampshire, Iowa, Wisconsin, Nevada and Colorado
Police Detain in Murder Investigation
DOWNEY, Calif (AP) As police searched for a gunman who killed three people and critically wounded two others in suburban Los Angeles, friends and neighbors of the family targeted in the attack grappled for answers Thursday
Authorities have been mum regarding a motive for the shootings and haven’t identified a suspect, though four people three men and a woman were detained for questioning Thursday afternoon, said Downey police Lt Leslie Murray
The gunman doesn’t appear to be a former employee, friend or family member, Lt Dean Milligan said Police, however, say they don’t believe the killings were a random act of violence
Authorities were still looking for a stolen black Camaro, which they say the suspect used to get away after the shootings
Police have not identified the five victims, but a portrait began to emerge of a tight-knit family who threw large parties and ran a successful company
Prayer candles and flowers were left at the home and nearby business where the shootings took place A sign decorated with pink hearts and flowers was left outside the house, reading “RIP Susana, to a great mother ” Workers returned to the industrial strip where the first shots were fired at the small family-owned fire extinguisher company
“This is absolutely heartbreaking,” said Dean Wright, who owns the septic supply business next door “The guy who did this had to be absolutely crazy ” Richard Mercado, 36, a family friend, said he grew up with the two brothers who ran United States Fire Protection Services Inc , which sells professional firefighting gear and equipment
Property records show the business is owned by Robert Salinas, 35, and the house is owned by Antonio Salinas, 34 Attempts to reach anyone at either location were unsuccessful and others associated with the family refused to talk when reached by phone
Mercado said the siblings made a lot of money with the business and that they also liked to buy and sell motorcycles and cars
“If they saw money to be made they would invest in it,” Mercado said “They always had extra money ”
Police said the deadly encounter began around midday Wednesday and that someone called from the business to reporting a shooting
A few minutes after police arrived, a 13-year-old boy called dispatchers from the family house just down the street, authorities said, where the second shooting happened
The gunman fled in a 2010 black Camaro that is registered to Maria Fuentes, the mother of the business owners Wright said she was shot in the face at the business and survived
Accused Georgia Gunman Charged in Mosque Shooting
BALTIMORE (AP) A man accused of killing a Georgia megachurch volunteer leading a prayer ser vice in a chapel was charged more than a decade ago with a shooting at a mosque in Mar yland, police documents show
Floyd Palmer was par t of a security detail at a Baltimore mosque in June 2001 when he shot another man working with him, wounding him in the back, according to a police repor t obtained by The Associated Press on Thursday Palmer tried to fire again, but the gun jammed When other people ran over to him, he turned the gun on them, but it wouldn’t fire, according to the documents
During a pretrial psychological evaluation, Palmer said the shooting occurred in par t because he believed that NFL player Ray Le wis and members of his own family were out to get him Palmer was committed to a psychiatric hospital in 2004 after pleading not criminally responsible to the mosque shooting Despite objections from prosecutors, a judge released him in 2006 on the condition that he abide by a number of restrictions for five years
It’s not clear when Palmer made his way south He had been working at the Rev Creflo Dollar’s World Changers Church International just south of Atlanta, but quit in August for “ personal reasons, ” Fulton County Police Cpl Kay Lester said
walked into a chapel and opened fire, killing Greg McDowell, 39, who was leading a morning prayer ser vice for a group of about 25 people McDowell is identified as a warehouse manager for the church on a LinkedIn web page
A witness told police he heard about five gunshots, but that only McDowell was hit, according to a police repor t The witness said he ducked down, then looked up and made eye contact with Palmer before the suspect began “walking calmly towards the exit of the chapel ” The witness said he ran outside to get help and saw Palmer leaving the parking lot in a black vehicle, the repor t says Officers recovered about a dozen shell casings for a 380-caliber handgun, but they have not located the weapon
Police arrested Palmer several hours later when they spotted his Subar u station wagon at a mall in the upscale Buckhead community, nor th of downtown Atlanta
Authorities were tr ying to figure out if Palmer and McDowell kne w each other
Visibly distraught members of McDowell’s family showed up a t t h
Thursday, but he waived his appearance Later in the day, however, he changed his mind Another hearing was scheduled for Friday
Palmer faces murder and firearms charges It was not immediately clear if Palmer has an attorney The Fulton County public defender’s office didn’t return a phone message Thursday
In Baltimore, officials were taking a closer look at the 2001 shooting According to the pretrial psychological evaluation, Palmer said the shooting occurred because one of his cousins, Richard Lollar, was killed in Atlanta shor tly after the 2000 Super Bowl
Le wis, a Baltimore Ravens linebacker, was charged in the stabbing death of Lollar and another man, but he was exonerated He pleaded guilty to misdemeanor obstr uction of justice Two other defendants were acquitted in the case
Palmer said he shot Reuben Jerr y Ash outside the mosque because he believed Ash was being paid by Le wis to “ get rid of him,” according to the psychological evaluation The shooting left Ash paralyzed
Long time, no see | President Barack Obama greets Chicago, Il Mayor Rahm Emanuel as he disembarks at O’Hare Inter national Airport on Wednesday
DAMON WINTER / THE NEW YORK T MES
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Letters
To t h e Ed i t o
: Re: “Editorial: A Pragmatic Budget” Opinion, Oct 24
re d u c i n g t h e s i ze o f t h e It h a c
o l i c e f o rc e by n i n e m e m b e r s u s i n g re t i re m e n t i n c e nt i ve s Ma y I re m i n d yo u o f t h e h e a d l i n e o n yo u r l e a d a r t i c l e o n t h e f ro n t p a g e o f T h e
Su n o n Mo n d a y, Oc t 2 2 , j u s t t w o d a y s e a r l i e r It re a d , “ C o r n e l l Se t s Re c o rd , R a i s e s $ 7 7 7 8 Mi l l i o n ” A s a g r a d u a t e o f C o r n e l l ( 1 9 5 9 ) a n d n ow a re s i d e n t o f t h e Tow n
o f It h a c a a n d a d a i l y v i s i t o r t o t h e c i t y, I a m ve r y m u c h a w a re h ow m a n y C o r n e l l s t ud e n t s , f a c u l t y a n d s t a f f v i s i t t h e c i t y a n d a re h a p p y t o h a ve p o l i c e a n d f i re p ro t e c t i o n Se ve r a l d e p a r t m e n t s o f C o r n e l l a c t u a l l y h a ve t h e i r h e a d q u a r t e r s a n d o f f i c e s i n t h e h e a r t o f d ow n t ow n I ’ ve f o r g o t t e n h ow m u c h C o r n e l l g i ve s t h e c i t y o f It h a c a I t h i n k i t ’ s u n d e r $ 2 m i l l i o n Ma y b e , i n a f u t u re i s s u e , yo u m i g h t c o m m e n t o n t h i s o bv i o u s d i s c re p a n c y ? He n r y St a r k ’ 5 9
Reflecting on my past three years at Cornell, I’ve come to realize how fortunate I am to be on this campus Cornell has provided me the space to think about our globalized world and where we all come from; to process how different, yet how similar, we are to one another; and to internalize these differences in order to figure out my personal identity Each individual on this campus has his own identity, and this is precisely what makes Cornell a special place to learn about others and appreciate the life stories that make us unique I am here,
writing this essay, to let you into my life stor y and my personal struggles as a n i m m i g r a n t g r ow i n g u p i n t h e United States
I was born in Hidalgo del Parral, Chihuahua, Mexico, a small town about five hours from the border town of El Paso, Texas Also known as the “ C a p i t a l o f t h e Wo r l d , ” a s Chihuahuans like to refer to our small town, I never imagined that my family would one day decide to leave Parral and immigrate to the United States At the age of five, I knew nothing about my family’s economic situation My life in Mexico was simple and tranquil One day, my father disappeared My mother, in order to tr y to emotionally protect my older brother and I, simply told us that he was at work and would come back later But my father never returned that night, nor the next day, nor the week or month after that
I later learned that my father, a hardworking and honest man, had to immigrate to El Paso, Texas because of the scarcity of jobs in Parral that often left us with limited food and resources Using the little money that he was able to save and send back, my mother, older brother, and I finally managed to pay him a visit During those two to three day visits to El Paso, I was introduced to the American way of life I went to my first McDonald’s, learned a couple of English words and saw a movie in English for the first time Ever y departure back to Mexico was heartbreaking, as I knew that it would be months before I could see my dad again Yet, one day, we just simply stayed in El Paso I didn’t question my mom about our prolonged stay since I was ecstatic to be with my dad, but I l a
moment marked my first day as an undocumented immigrant living in the United States
As a young child at the age of six, I could not understand the implications that my parent ’ s decision to permanently immigrate to the United States would have on my family or myself My parents successfully enrolled me in kindergarten, and I began to learn more about American culture and society I grew up like the majority of you at Cornell, watching Saturday morning cartoons, dressing up as a
vampire for Halloween and celebrating Thanksgiving ever y year At such a young age, I did not understand immigration law and how my undocumented status would define me for the rest of my life It was not until my high school years, when I was always denied access to Rated-R films because of a lack of ID or when I had to ask for rides ever y day to school because of my inability to get a license, that I began to internalize my legal status and my conflicting identities as both undocumented and American
Growing up as an undocumented
Adrian Uriel Palma Guest Room
immigrant has been both a blessing and an incredible setback There were times when I questioned my selfworth and my place in the world I often felt desperate knowing that I did not fit in with the rest of my American citizen friends and knowing that I would be treated differently if I were to return to Mexico because of my E n g l i s h - a c c e n t e d Sp a n i s h I g re w angr y towards my parents, who I would blame constantly when I felt desperate, restrained and suffocated as I internalized the implications of my immigration status Yet, my status also helped me realize the importance of m y e d
upward mobility and as a reminder to my parents that they made the right decision to come to the United States My time at Cornell has given me the opportunity to ponder about and better understand my status as an undocumented American I no longer get angr y at my parents, and instead I thank them for taking the biggest risk of their life to bring me and my family to this place where I have been able to learn, thrive and grow as a citizen of the world Cornell has provided me with a safe space to do activism, help out my fellow undocumented peers and to make sense of my identity If I’ve learned anything at Cornell from my professors and peers, it is that we should always be willing to listen to and learn about one another’s life stor i e s a n d h ow t h e y ’ v e s h a p e d u s Through my time on campus, I’ve held Ezra Cornell’s motto, “ any person, any study,” and his vision for Cornell close to heart as I’ve seen that Cornell is a place where any person, regardless of immigration status or background, can find instruction in any study Cornellians, lets take advantage of the beautiful diversity on our campus and learn from one another’s challenges, str uggles and stories in order to better understand our society, our world and our own Cornell community
Adrian Uriel Palma is a senior in the College of Arts and Sciences He may be reached at aup5@cornell edu Guest Room appears periodically this semester
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e a d , m o re o f t e n t h a n n o t , t h e y re m e m b e r w h
e n c e i n a
n v i ro n m e n t t h a t i s n ’ t n e c e s s a r i l y a t e r t i a r y re f e r r a l c e n t e r w i t h a n i m m e n s e a m o u n t o f re s o u rc e s a t o u r d i s p o s a l T h i s m e a n s t h a t we a b s o l u t e l y w o n ’ t b e t o p d o g ( h a h a ) w h e re ve r we e n d u p a n d w i l l p ro b a b l y b e a p a r t o f a s y s t e m m u c h l i k e t h e o n e t h a t we ’ re a l re a d y u s e d t o T h e m a i n d i ff e re n c e i s t h a t we’l l b e m o re a c c o u n t a b l e f o r o u r s e l ve s a n d c o u l d g e t f i re d ove r m a k i n g a b i g m i s t a k e , w h i c h i s w h e re
In t h e p a s t , I ’ ve w r i t t e n a b o u t h ow we l e a r n a n i m m e n s e a m o u n t o f i n f o r m a t i o n i n a s h o r t p e r i o d o f t i m e E a c h c l a s s l o o k s a t t h e c l a s s a b ove i t a n d re a l i ze s t h a t t h o s e s t ud e n t s h a ve s u c c e s s f u l l y g o n e t h ro u g h s i g n i f i c a n t l y m o re o f t h e c o u r s e w o rk , w h i c h e a r n s t h e m a c e r t a i n a m o u n t o f re s p e c t T h e i d e a o f h i e r a rc h i e s i s re i n f o rc e d i n t h e c l i n i c s Ro u g h l y, t h e t h i rd a n d f o u r t h ye a r ve t s t u d e n t s w h o a re w o rk i n g i n t h e c l i n i c s re p o r t t o t h e i n t e r n s / re s i d e n t s , t h e i n t e r n s re p o r t t o t h e re s i d e n t s / f a c u l t y a n d t h e i n t e r n s / re s i d e n t s re p o r t t o t h e f a c u l t y, w h o a re g e n e r a l l y p e rc e i ve d a s b r i l l i a n t by e ve r yo n e i n vo l ve d A l l o f t h i s s o u n d s l i k e a l o t o f u n n e c e s s a r y s e g re g a t i n g a n d yo u h e a r p e o p l e c o mp l a i n a b o u t i t l o t “ o h I c o u l d n ’ t s e e a n y t h i n g b e c a u s e t h e u p p e rc l a s s m e n a n d i n t e r n s we re i n t h e w a y ” I ’ m c o mi n g t o re a l i ze , t h o u g h , t h a t i t ’ s a c t u a l l y a s y s t e m we ’ re i n c re d i b l y l u c k y t o h a ve Fi r s t o f a l l , t h e h i e r a rc h y c l e a r l y i s n ’ t a r b i t r a r y Pe o p l e h a ve w o rk e d e x t re m e l y h a rd t o o b t a i n t h e i r p o s i t i o n s , a n d t h e b e n e f i t s t h e y g e t a re we l l d e s e r ve d a n d s h o u l d s e r ve t o m o t i va t e u s Se c o n d l y, i t ’ s n o t a t y r a n n i c a l s y s t e m T h e p e o p l e h i g h e r u p d o n ’ t t e n d t o b o s s e ve r yo n e e l s e a ro u n d o r e x p e c t p e o
b e i n g a c c u s t o m e d t o re p o r t i n g t o s o m e o n e e l s e w i l l c o m e i n e s p e c i a l l y u s e f u l : We’ve g o t t e n u s e d t o c h e c k i n g e ve r yt h i n g we d o b e f o re re p o r t i n g t o t h e c l i n i c i a n s , a n d t h e s e h a b i t s w i l l h e l p u s m a k e l e s s m i s t a k e s i n t h e f u t u re A l s o , t h e h i e r a rc h i e s i n ve t s c h o o l d o n ’ t t e n d t o e x t e n d t o t h e s o c i a l s p h e re In g e n e r a l , p e o p l e h a n g o u t m o re w i t h f r i e n d s f ro m t h e i r ow n c l a s s o n l y b e c a u s e t h e y ’ re t h e m o s t f a m i l i a r w i t h e a c h o t h e r, b u t t h e y c a n b e ( a n d a re ) f r i e n d s w i t h w h o m e ve r t h e y w a n t , w h i c h s o f t e n s t h e e n v i ro n m e n t i n s c h o o l b e c a u s e re l a t i o n s h i p s w i t h p e o p l e a re o f t e n m o re t h a n j u s t p ro f e s s i o n a l o n e s A l t h o u g h t h i s c o n c e p t o f h i e r a rc h i e s i s r i g i d l y i m p l em e n t e d i n h e a l t h p ro f e s s i o n s
Nikhita Parandekar graduated from Cornell in 2011 and is a second-year veterinary student in the Cornell College of Veterinary Medicine She may be reached at nparandekar@cornellsun com Hoof in Mouth appears alternate Fridays this semester
The Patient W ho S howed Me the Light B ehind the S hadow s on the Wall
Doctor, perdone que te moleste, pero me puede explicar por qué estoy en el hospital para que pueda decir a mi familia que está pasando?” [“Doctor, forgive me for bothering you, but can you please explain to me why I’m in the hospital so that I can tell my family what’s happening?”] My patient groaned from amidst his dark, corner hospital room With the blinds closed and lights off, I struggled to see his face made
more obscure by the dusk hour at which we rounded Between his emergency laparoscopic appendectomy, a protracted bout of gramnegative sepsis and multiple evacuations of peritoneal abscesses, the surgery patient was unclear about his illness and treatment
For whatever reason, the patient had not been able to fully grasp what was happening to him Our team needed to rectify his lack of understanding As I tried to come to grips with this gap in our communication, I grimaced as the patient rapidly clenched his right-lower abdomen in response to the resident’s palpation of the area I introduced myself as the medical student (which did not deter him from calling me “doctor”), and as the only Spanish speaker on the team translated the patient’s request for the chief resident “We have to get on with rounds You explain to him what’s going on and meet us ahead when you ’ re done ” The team left, while I stayed behind I took a deep breath and began to explain to the patient about his appendicitis, the subsequent complications
he suffered and his need for continued antibiotics He indicated to me his understanding and thanked me I then made haste to catch up with the team who had already seen three more patients on our list I left the hospital that day disillusioned What I had witnessed seemed to fly in the face of the extensive Power-Point presentations and lectures on patient-centered care and culturally sensitive medicine that we
were given as first and second year medical students in our “Medicine, Patients and Society” class Wasn’t the first step in patient communication ensuring patient understanding? I scratched my head as I strolled through the lobby to the street What went wrong? The surgeons at the hospital are excellent All of the nurses speak Spanish They must have told the patient what was happening to him when they rounded on him every morning even if tersely Still, some critical step was bypassed in communicating to the patient about his condition in a way that he could understand it
Walking to the Metro stop, the contrast between the sunny May afternoon in New York and the darkness of the patient’s room reminded me of the allegory of Plato’s cave I was witnessing the semblance of medicine Plato’s shadows on the cave ’ s wall where the “ care plan” was taken to be the textbook steps to treating a complicated appendectomy Yet, by no fault of any single person, something went wrong I reached in my
pocket for my patient list to review his plan IV antibiotics Check Jackson-Pratt drains emptied Check Wound care Check Where was the communication about his condition? The sunlight what Plato compares to truth somehow did not make it to our patient’s room
What was bothersome to me was not just the communication gap, but also the fact that he reminded me of how tempting it can be in medicine to rest in the cave As Jerome Groopman notes in his best-selling work, How Doctors Think, studies show that it takes an average of 23 seconds after the patient starts talking for a doctor to interrupt and, at best, an average encounter with a patient lasts 15 minutes With such terse interactions and so much information needed to gather a good history and physical exam and to formulate a treatment plan that is best for the patient, the environment is rife for miscommunications
Why such brevity of interaction? One answer is that a heavy workload limits the amount of time that can be allocated for each patient We all feel the time crunch and need to cut corners somewhere to get through our workload by the end of the day More importantly, though, cutting short patients’ free responses adds structure to the chaotic world of dealing with people’s problems As with any service profession, dealing with people’s problems illness or whatever can be messy business Too much narrative or “touchy-feely” talk does not fit nicely and neatly into textbook-style medical histories for which we can make clean differentials and treatment plans Plato was right The sunlight reveals the randomness of nature that all of us would just as rather shelter ourselves from and look at shadows on the wall
Outside in the elements can be a scary place
Of course, when it comes to what goes on the checklist, very little may change in the care plan by taking a fe w more extra moments to ensure effective communication
For my surgical patient, my few extra minutes talking to him did reveal insomnia symptoms that were remedied with medication, but management of his peritoneal infection would likely not have changed The infection cleared, his fever broke, pain subsided, drains were removed and he was discharged home
Nonetheless, something critical was lost by his being dragged along a complicated recovery path without knowing what exactly he was suffering from or how he was being treated Good medicine is more than just good old bedside manners which our team showed no lack of It’s an art of tuning into the patient’s communication needs that is all too easy to jump when we ’ re constructing scholarly differential diagnoses and comprehensive multi-point treatment plans I don’t see any easy solutions in today’s environment of scarce time and growing patient loads, but suffice it to say that the art of communication merits a considerable share of doctors’ attention alongside the formulation of treatment plans
During my last encounter with my surgical patient in his dark room, with lights out and blinds drawn, he appeared comfortable and content “Doctor, te quiero decir algo ” [Doctor, I want to tell you something ] “Sì,” I said, taking a step back desperately hoping that I was not in for another surprise like the last one “Te agradezco mucho por haber tomado el tiempo para explicarme que me pasa Me has tratado bien ” [I want to thank you for having taken the time to tell me what’s happening You’ve treated me well ] I left the hospital that afternoon to the bright May sun contented that my work was not an illusion
Landon Roussel is in his final year as an M D candidate at Weill Cornell Medical College He may be reached at lsr2001@med cornell edu What’s Up, Doc? appears alternate Fridays this semester
ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
The Magic Of Miyazaki
When people in the United States hear the words “anime” and “ manga, ” they usually think of gratuitously drawn Japanese schoolgirls, pre-teen boys addicted to videogames in basements and conventions This is a slim caricature of a unique and beautiful art form; after all, there are good reasons why people obsess over it Japanese film prodigy, Hayao Miyazaki, is an example of someone who raises the medium to its most stunning heights Miyazaki, the director, writer and animator of films such as Spirited Away and Princess Mononoke, is one of the few nonAmerican animators who has been successful in breaking into international markets, with Spirited Away winning an Oscar for Best Animated Feature Film in 2001 It is no surprise then that this semester, Cornell Cinema has chosen to present “Five by Miyazaki,” a series on his work Miyazaki co-founded Studio Ghibli, a film and animation studio, with Isao Takahata after his first big success, Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, which was released in 1984 This is first of the five films that will be shown at Cornell Cinema and is one of the most characteristic of Miyazaki’s auteur style His films usually deal with themes of the environment, industrialization and harmony between
human and nature, themes that are intrinsically compatible with his style of animation These seem to be heavy subjects to insert into animated movies, which we usually think as “kid’s movies,” but, although some of his films are suitable for children, some definitely are not (Princess Mononoke sports more than a few violent scenes, some in which limbs are cut off ) Nausicaä tells the story of a postapocalyptic world in which a Toxic Jungle that consists only of lethal plants envelops the land People live on its fringes, waiting for the prophesied day that someone will “reunite man and nature ” Nausicaä is the protagonist, a princess who secretly tends to a garden of jungle plants that are rendered non-toxic once grown in soil and water untainted by humans Oh, and she flies on a glider And is joined by a fox-squirrel named Teto Often, Miyazaki’s films scatter their plot and seem all over the place in the beginning They are always worth the stress, for they come together cohesively at the end The environmental themes are strong in the film, but they don’t hit you over the head it’s a story of hope for the versatility and strength of mankind
town is in a continuous struggle with the forest spirits that inhabit the land One of them, a giant white wolf, has adopted a human girl, who is nicknamed “Princess Mononoke” by the townspeople “Mononoke,” which means “spirit” in Japanese, captures the essence of the film Though it is easy to cheer for the forest spirits, you catch yourself in a moral gray area, typical of Miyazaki, and find yourself also admiring the spirit of the townspeople as they fight for their cause Castle in the Sky is another one of Miyazaki’s older films, transporting its viewers to a fantastical world where humans once resided in flying cities At the start of the movie, only one such city remains, hidden away The plot is basic for a Miyazaki movie, with a clear-cut protagonist and antagonist, and holds more appeal in its marvelous animation My Neighbor Totoro, the last movie to be shown, follows in the same vein plot-wise However, this film’s simplicity is a reflection of its innocence, and is definitely one to show to kids (it’s also part of the Cinema’s “IthaKid Film Fest”) Children or adults aside, Totoro is worth seeing for its stunning cinematography rendering the Japanese countryside into sublime pans that make you forget, and almost regret, that real life isn’t animated
Princess Mononoke, another film in the Cinema’s series, was released in the U S in 1999 It set the standard for Studio Ghibli’s strict “no-edits” policy for films released internationally It was rumored that when Harvey Weinstein suggested edits to the film in order to increase its commercial appeal, a producer at Studio Ghibli mailed him a samurai sword with the message, “No cuts ” Miyazaki’s loyalty to the original product exemplifies the idea that his movies are not merely created for entertainment value but that they are, in fact, artistic masterpieces Princess Mononoke stays true to this form following the story of prince Ashitaka, whose journey takes him to industrious Iron Town, where the inhabitants make firearms from razing a nearby forest The
I’ll get the invariable name-related puns out of the way Opus, the Kitchen Theatre’s latest play, does not pretend to be magnum By that I mean it lacks the ponderous gravitas, that thick portentous sense of self-aware importance Perhaps because of this, it was great fun to watch, so much so that the play resounded to its meditative denouement before I even knew it, which is a rare accomplishment that it’s over? kind of shock that accompanies one ’ s return from the land of suspended disbelief
Opus, as the promo material puts it, is about sex, drugs and chamber music Not the most palatable combination on paper it sounds like one of those mishmash amalgamations welded together in a ghastly symphony of artistic license But, really, it’s not so much about sex or drugs as it is about the interpersonal dynamics of the team members of a nationally renowned (fictional) string quartet, named the Lazara Quartet The play starts somewhat in media res The intellectual but dyspeptically acerbic first violin Elliot (played with verve and snark by Michael Samuel Kaplan), the charming but somewhat cynical second violin Alan ( Jesse Bush) and the sanguine, dependable cellist Carl (Alexander Thomas) are looking for a new member to fill the position of viola after Elliot fires the mercurial, musical virtuoso Dorian (played pitch-perfect by Brendan
Powers) for his erratic behavior Eventually, they settle on the vivacious musical prodigy Grace (Alison Scaramella), with little time to spare as the world-class quartet prepares for the biggest performance of its career a televised Beethoven concert at the White House
The opening scene, told in documentary format, with the members of the quartet sitting in their chairs, illuminated by individual spotlights in mimicry of an interview, is confusing and off-putting at first However, as the quartet ’ s history is revealed through flashbacks, the stor y rapidly becomes engrossing As the group ’ s rehearsals tide them closer to the date of the performance, tensions rise, and the group ’ s dynamics peel back layer by layer to reveal a deeply satisfying bouquet of narrative epiphany
The playwright, Michael Hollinger, is a violinist In many ways, the play could be a theatrical version of a concerto Every instrument every character has a chance to shine through on its own, but, at the same time, each interacts with the other instruments in the composition, sometimes to create a rousing harmony or a cacophonic clash of competing personalities, interests and petty agendas The play is almost a kind of testament to the ability to transpose musical vocabulary onto the conventions of theater, to encode soaring harmonies and jarring discordance with the careful application of dialogue, acting and characterization And the end result is entertaining to see Interactions
Spirited Away, the newest of the five movies featured, is the most successful film in the history of the Japanese box office This movie is one of Miyazaki’s craziest and most creative, taking place in a bathhouse run and patroned by spirits It features a girl named Chihiro, whose parents have been turned into pigs she fits easily into Miyazaki’s eclectic, dynamic and memorable cast of characters The movie also highlights the haunting music of Joe Hisaishi, who has scored all Miyazaki’s films since Nausicaä If the poignant plots, dazzling panoramas or inspiring characters don’t do it for you, Miyazaki’s series is worth going to just to hear Hisaishi’s heartbreaking compositions
“Five by Miyazaki” starts this weekend at Cornell Cinema
Clio Chang is a junior in the College of Arts and Sciences She can be reached at cchang@cornellsun com
between characters are a delight to watch because the dialogue is so snappy, so pitchperfect that Elliot’s caustic one-liner insults or Carl’s placating banter are tremulously produced, crystal clear notes in a maestro ’ s composition
The acting helps too, and, in this respect, Opus benefits the most from its accomplished direction It is easy to see how lessthan-stellar acting might have marred the quality of the production, much like how a bad musician might turn even the most hallowed classical pieces into so much noise, but every cast member shines here In particular, performances by Kaplan as the snark-baboon Elliot, and Thomas as the virtuoso Dorian, stand out Kaplan brings just the right amount of verve and sophistication to Elliot, while retaining the deep obstinacy of a spoiled child His witty bon mots and passionate outbursts speak to his character’s intelligence and passion, but his obdurate, almost childish behavior towards those close to him provide the main fount for alienation and antagonism in the show Thomas is, himself, a virtuoso in the role He inhabits Dorian, becomes the troubled musical genius; his urbane, poetic declamations, delivered in a quavering, vibrato-esque baritone, defines the character utterly
The play itself is not quite perfect, however It seems that Elliot and Dorian dominate the stage so much with their forceful presence that other characters become secondar y adornments, their development
arrested after the first few tentative scenes Alan never truly progresses beyond being a straight man Carl pretty much remains a stoic enigma As an outsider, Grace becomes a narrative anvil against which the ship of the Lazara Quartet founders and fragments Also, the denouement, which left many plot threads unresolved, might have worked, were it the ending crescendo in a composition But it leaves too much hanging here
But criticisms aside, this really is a wellwritten and superbly directed production, a play worth seeing It is enjoyably complex, fearless in direction and its depiction of human relationships, highly funny and endearing It is almost a meta-testament to the torturous dynamics of creating truly great art, and of its ephemeral nature Much as audiences in a concert hall treasure every note of a Beethoven opus because they are crystal clear reverberations that, after a brief blossoming across the hall, disappear forever, so is the theatre, with its one-time-only performances, a monument to the fleeting nature of artistic beauty Opus is to be watched for an expression of that feeling, but also because it’s a darn good piece of after-dinner entertainment
Opus runs at the Kitchen Theatre until November 11
Colin Chan is a senior in the College of Arts and Sciences He can be contacted at cchan@cornellsun com
COURTESY OF ED D TTENHOEFER
BY COLIN CHAN Sun Staff Writer
GHIBL
BY CHARLEY DU Sun Contributor
“Creepy,” “fascinating” and “mind-boggling” are some of the words critics have used to describe Bart Leyton’s documentary The Imposter As different as these adjectives are, most of the movie’s audience as the favorable critic and audience polls on Rotten Tomatoes prove agree that it is gripping and thought provoking, making it one of the year ’ s most highly acclaimed documentaries Yet, as we all know, sometimes expectations lead to disappointments Such was my experience with the f i l m w h e n I s a w i t t h i s we e k a t Cinemapolis
The Imposter details the bizarre case of 13-year-old Texan boy Nicholas Barclay and his disappearance More than three years after he goes missing, a boy shows up across the globe in Linares, Spain, claiming to be Nicholas He tells the police the grues o m e c i rc u m s t a n c e s i n w h i c h h e w a s abducted and tortured The problem is that this person looks conspicuously different from the Nicholas that went missing his hair color, demeanor and even accent have changed drastically The man is later identified as French citizen and serial imposter Frédéric Bourdin The family nonetheless embraces the new Nicholas and welc o m e s h i m i n t o their home, citing the conditions in w h i c h Ni c h o l a s lived for three years as the reason behind his not-so-subtle transformations
The film alternates between real-life interviews with people directly related to the case including Bourdin himself and reenactments of the events At the start of the movie, I expected the discovery of Bourdin’s real identity to be the climax of the film Surprisingly enough, that is not the case, for we see a grinning, brazen
Bourdin at the start of the movie Even then, something about his character definitely seems off Bourdin does not appear to be a broken man guilty for what he has done but instead talks with an air of arrogance His braggadocio renders the audience uncomfortable
Bourdin recounts his childhood abandonment by his Algerian father, citing it as the reason behind his craving for attention
The audience then discovers that Bourdin’s arrival in the U S is more accidental than intended He merely wanted to impersonate an orphan and live the life of a happy child However, the insistence of the Spanish authorities made it imperative that Bourdin actually find a specific identity He thinks on the spot, so when forced into a corner, he manages to fool those with (purportedly) the most discerning eyes: the American Embassy and officials in charge of the case The unraveling of plot itself is not the most startling part; rather, the power of deceit as displayed by Bourdin and the joke that he makes of the American government become the major topics of the film
Throughout the process of Bourdin stealing Nicholas Barclay’s identity, only a handful ever questions the validity of his claim The U S Embassy in Madrid is so concerned with getting a lost “American” boy home safely and promptly that it overlooks the most
whether or not the boy presented to them is actually who he claims to be The Barclay
Bourdin in as their lost son, despite the fact that he looks nothing like Nicholas One would think that, though it has been three years, such drastic differences would not be overlooked by those closest to Nicholas Even Bourdin himself expects to be “beat up ” due to the agony caused the grieving
family The only ones to remotely question Bourdin’s real identity are the Spanish government, an FBI agent assigned to the case and a private investigator Their combined effort at the end unnerves Bourdin, who turns the table on his “family” and accuses them of having killed Nicholas
The plot twist toward the end of the film becomes the biggest shock and the climax of the documentary Nevertheless, it is where the director takes an other wise unimpressive movie in an even worse direction Whereas Bourdin’s interview scenes at the start of the film are more or less intriguing to the audience, by the end of the film, it becomes apparent that he is a man plagued by a psychiatric condition, perhaps as a result of his disturbed childhood He b
screen The twist only exists because of Bourdin’s accusation, which is untrustworthy, as the director should know better than anybody else However, as a result of the twist, the movie now lacks a resolution and its point gets lost as the audience is confronted with an ambiguous ending, where
Directed Viewing
In the wake of a stressful few days, I looked to this week’s fortune cookie for some comfort I was told this:
“Don’t worr y, half the people you know are below average ” While for some reason I did feel a little less worried after reading that, my cookie was a little less credible unwrapped so close to our Cornell campus However, I am still happy to take my maybe sort-of compliment My fortune, and thereby the universe, has declared that I’m better than at least half of you Take that, world!
So, of course, now I have been considering who else is in this upper fortune cookie crust club It’s also had me thinking about all of the movies and TV shows that I may, Ezra willing, have time to catch up on this weekend, but I think I’m always subconsciously thinking about that Either way, the overlap led me to a group of the best and m o s t c u r re n t o f o u r upper crusters in the f i e l d o f w r i t i n g a n d directing I hope you have heard about many of them before, and if
y o u h a v e n ’ t g e t t h e j u m p, b e c a u s e t h i s winter I suspect you ’ re g o i n g t o h e a r t h e i r names a lot more
Let’s start with Paul Thomas Anderson Director of Magnolia, There Will Be Blood and, most recently, The Master, Anderson probably has an award shelf somewhere in his house because he has won too many to count Most of his films have been nominated in multiple categories, and The Master has already won the Silver Lion in Venice You’ll undoubtedly see The Master pop up on the Oscar list in a few of months, and if you ’ re itching to see a well-made movie, this film is for you Joaquin Phoenix, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Adams, under Anderson’s direction just go see it Fun fact: In real life, Anderson is married to Maya Rudolph I am taking this as proof that, besides being a respected director, he is most likely an all-around awesome person
Speaking of awesome people, one of our hot names has got to be Lena Dunham I’m not going to spend a lot of
time here because I assume that most of you have heard of her before, likely in conjunction with her HBO show Girls, which has been receiving a bathtub full of attention this year So here’s what you may not know: Dunham is a 26-year-old Oberlin grad who has already written, directed and produced two feature films of her own entitled Creative Non-Fiction and Tiny Furniture She was nominated for four Emmys for her work on Girls and just received a $3 5 million publishing deal for a yet-to-bewritten book of essays She is set to appear in Judd Apatow’s This is 40, which hits theaters this December and should ensure that she won ’ t be off our radar anytime soon Thank God
Another individual who won ’ t be off our radar for a ver y long time is Peter Jackson, who will be the director of all three parts of The Ho
b i t T h e f i r s t o f t h e three part installments will hit theaters this December, and, admit it, you ’ re excited Jackson directed the first
films, and the final film,
Basically, we know The Hobbit is in good hands Now, the only question is who to dress up as for the premiere
On the topic of books becoming movies, we can ’ t forget the fabulous Baz Luhrmann, who somewhat recently completed the new version of The Great Gatsby I was a little heartbroken when its Christmas release got pushed until spring, but I’m still way too excited about the movie to actually be angr y about it What you need to know about Baz Luhrmann is that he is really just Baz Luhrmann His style is his and his alone It is new, bright, colorful, different, a little wild and overall beautiful to look at Quick Revie w: You have most likely seen Lurmann’s work in Moulin Rouge, Australia and Romeo + Juliet If Romeo + Juliet is any indicator, this adaptation will be unlike any other Gatsby film so far
the question of whether the family was involved in the murder remains unanswerable
For a documentary that critics have raved about for the past 10 months, The Imposter fails to impress me The film provides much food for thought as it touches upon deceit, grief and our instincts to doubt and believe However, the motifs jumble under Bourdin’s smug narration
ments Even though it is not Leyton’s fault that the case remains unsolved, the fact that he chooses to expand on Bourdin’s accusation makes the film even less fulfilling The Imposter could be an interesting psychological springboard but, as a film, it does not deserve the hype it has received T h e Im p o s t e r i s n ow p l a y i n
Charley Du is a freshman in the College of Engineering He can be reached at csd85@cornell edu
If none of films I’ve mentioned so far swipe an Oscar nom for Best Picture, there is a good, ver y good chance that Silver Linings Playbook will You may have heard of its director David O Russell from films like Three Kings and The Fighter Playbook comes out in November and is pretty much guaranteed an Oscar The film already won a People’s Choice Award at TIFF and, as of now, has a 100 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes Come on, Jennifer Lawrence Bradley Cooper playing a serious role And great reviews? Get excited Russell has an untitled production set to come out in 2013 that is rumored to include Christian Bale, Bradley Cooper, Jeremy Renner and Amy Adams I have a feeling he will keep popping up long after this year
Directors don’t get half of the buzz that actors do, which is a shame, because, in a sense, they are the characters we love so much, much more than the actors Half of the time, they are the writers of the words we so anxiously quote on our walls and attribute to Don Draper or Frodo
In a magical world, where these people were “ ever yone I know,” I would consider myself lucky to be below average Until then, my goal will be what the goal for all college undergraduates is: Just tr y to stay above the mean
Arielle Cruz is a sophomore in the College of Arts and Sciences She can be reached at acruz@cornellsun com Fortune Cookie Fridays appears once a month this semester
The Imposter
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Searching for First Ivy Win, Red Set to Battle Princeton
By HALEY VELASCO Sun Assistant Sports Editor
Calipari O ut, Knight In : Two Wi shes O f f the Li st
NEWCOMB Continued from page 16
the overtime loss to Auburn in the Outback Bowl in 2009 is still one of my worst memories Tampa is forever ruined for me
In the same manner as my first wish, I need them to win a bowl game This is for my sanity as well as thousands of other Northwestern fans that aren ’ t asking for a national championship or even a Big Ten championship Just a win in December or January Please
#3: John Calipari stops coaching all things
John Calipari is a figure that encapsulates the problems with college sports That is my personal judgment, but it is based on some pretty concrete facts He is currently the head coach for the University of Kentucky basketball team, and is coming off of a national title victory with the Wildcats
While this is a very prestigious honor to have to his name, he also has some less honorable accomplishments He is the only head coach to have Final Four appearances vacated by the NCAA at more than one school He has championed and perfected the “one-and-done” mentality for NCAA basketball players He is also one of the few coaches whose Wikipedia page boasts its own “Controversies” subsection
Given that, I want him to stop coaching Not just college basketball, but really all things He is not a positive influence on the game of college basketball, and he furthers the belief that his players are biding their time in college before entering the NBA rather than treating them as studvents
I also still harbor some hatred from their Sweet Sixteen victor y over Cornell back in 2010
#4: Bob Knight coaches all things
First and foremost, a quick shout out to Mr Knight who also shares my birthday Just a fair warning: he will probably be more angry that you did
not wish him a happy birthday It’s the two of us and Ciara that share this birthday I’m sure that many of you will still remember that in 364 days
There is an undeniable passion to the way in which Bob Knight coached NCAA basketball He won more than 900 games in his historic career, and is an iconic coach regardless of sport He, too, has a section of his bio that includes “Criticism and Controversy” and his infamous toss of a chair onto the basketball court during an Indiana Hoosier game in 1985 Since the incident, he has made light of it by saying, “he saw an old lady standing on the opposite sideline and threw her the chair so she could sit down”
There is a real need for coaches with personality While Knight might be (read: is) over the edge, his passion for the game has made him one of the most revered coaches in college basketball history This passion has a real place in college sports as long as its within reason
#5: Charles Barkley narrates my life
This is by far my most ridiculous wish, but there is something unbelievable about the way that Charles Barkley speaks He makes me laugh every time that he talks, and I find his commentary for the NBA to be truly hilarious
I would be honored if he would narrate my life at all times Just walk about five feet behind me telling everyone else what I was doing, and provide personal commentary to my life’s events I think everyone would benefit from this situation
There you have it This is a life’s worth of sports birthday wishes I am not delusional enough to think that all of them will come true, but I’m hoping one within the next year comes to fruition Cheers to that
Annie Newcomb can be reached at anewcomb@cornellsun com Sucks to Suck
i t t h e E a s t c o a s t , w h i c h f o rc e d t h e t e a m s t o p l a y o n a f i e l d u s u a l l y u s e d f o r f i e l d h o c k e y Pr i n c e t o n s c o re d t h e o n l y g o a l o f t h e g a m e i n t h e 2 4 t h m i n u t e a f t e r c o n s e c u t i ve s h o t s t h a t h i t t h e c ro s s b a r Pr i n c e t o n i s c u r re n t l y o n a 1 6 - g a m e w i n n i n g s t re a k i n t h e s e r i e s a g a i n s t t h e Re d i n c l u d i n g w i n s i n 2 0 0 9 a n d 2 0 1 0 “ I t h i n k t h a t t h e y a re m e n t a l l y p rep a re d t o f e e l l i k e t h e y a re c o m p e t i t i ve w i t h [ Pr i n c e t o n ] , ” Fa r m e r s a i d T h e s e a s o n h a s b e e n t o u g h f o r t h e t e a m s o f a r Ei g h t o f t h e 1 4 g a m e s t h a t t h e t e a m h a s p l a ye d t o d a t e , C o r n e l l h a s l o s t by o n e g o a l A s p i n p o i n t e d by t h e p l a ye r s a n d Fa r m e r, t h e p ro b l e m s h a ve b e e n p l a y i n g 9 0 f u l l m i n u t e s o f p l a y w h i l e e xe c u t i n g s h o t s a n d t u r ni n g t h e m i n t o g o a l s a t t h e s a m e t i m e Fa r m e r n o t e d t h a t t h e m e m b e r s o f t h e t e a m h a ve k e p t t h e i r h e a d s u p a n d s p i r i t s h i g h d e s p i t e t o u g h c o n d i t i o n s t h i s s e a s o n “ I t h i n k i n t r a i n i n g t h e y
s
Defense Is Key This Weekend
FOOTBALL Continued from page 16
attack, employing a two-quar-
mores Connor Michelsen and Quinn Epperly Unlike the Red, Princeton has not wasted offensive production, ranking second in the Ancient Eight in points per game despite accumulating the seventh-most yards
Crimson with only three passing touchdowns on the season, but they added four more in fift
t h re e by Michelsen and a 36-yard heave by Epperly with 13 seconds left that capped the heroic comeback Red freshman cornerback Jarrod Watson-Lewis said he doesn’t believe the substitution
o f q u a r t e r b a c k s p re s e n t s a n a d d i t i o n a l c h a l l e n g e f o r t h e defense
“It won ’ t really make too much of a difference for us, ” Wa t s o n - L e w i s s a i d “ We’l l
scheme against it and probably have different packages for different quarterbacks, but we ’ ve seen it before ” Watson-Le wis led Cornell with 11 tackles against Brown, b u t t h e t a l e n t e d ro o k i e acknowledges that he and his teammates must take down ball carriers upon first contact The visitors this weekend will try to counter the Red’s mission with a r u s h i n g a t t a c k t h a t a ve r a g e s 154 8 yards per game Five diff e re n t Ti g e r s , i n c l u d i n g Michelsen and Epperly, have taken at least 39 carries in 2012 “ Tackling was one of the b i g g e s t i s s u e s we h a d [ Brow n ] h a d 1 9 0 - s o m e t h i n g yards after contact, ” WatsonLewis said “We practice tackling every day, but we just need to make tackles in the game and maybe it’ll be a different outcome ” A stingy defensive performance will indeed be the key to a Cornell win based on recent histor y In head coach Kent Austin’s two-and-a-half seasons,
the Red is 7-0 when allowing fe wer than 20 points to its opponent and 3-16 when surrendering 20 or more Cornell relinquished just one touchdown to the Tigers in last ye a r ’ s s o u n d 2 4 - 7 w i n a t Princeton University Stadium during a relentless snowstorm over Halloween Weekend, an exception to the rule of thrilling finishes when the two programs go head-to-head But the Red is always prepared for a down-tot h e - w i re c o n t e s t , e s p e c i a l l y against the Tigers, who have tasted sole possession of first place in the Ivies for the first time in 17 seasons
“Week in and week out in this league, you ’ re going to play very good football teams and a lot of those are going to come down to close games, ” Mathews said “It comes down to us making more plays than they do and at the end of the day, that’s what we ’ ve got to focus on ”
Quintin Schwab can be reached at qschwab@cornellsun com
R ed Work s to Incorporate New Faces
M HOCKEY
Continued from page 16
tie According to Bardreau, this may not have been as good as the team was hoping for “Last year we got off to a hot start in the preseason, winning pretty big,” he said “This year, we had a little set back, but I think that can be good at the same time, give us a little reality check that we have a lot of skill but we also have to play together I think it’s good I think along the way it will be good ” This may just be a result of the limited on-ice time the team has had so far, according
to Schaefer
“It’s just not having enough playing time under out belt yet, ” he said “It wasn ’ t major things, that was the nice thing about it ”
Even so, Cornell has been watching film and is already working to improve upon last week’s mistakes
“We just have to start winning puck battles, we have to play harder in our defensive zone and start working together, ” Bardreau said
Another factor the team has to adjust for is the new faces in the lineup: the Red graduated four seniors last year and added five freshmen for the 2012-13 season
While the season is just beginning, so far things seem to be going well with the new players on East Hill
“They are freshmen, they are inconsistent it’s new to them ” Schaefer said “It’s a grind Division I hockey, I think, is different than any other hockey: you ’ re here to win and you ’ re here to get better And getting better takes an awful lot of energy ” After facing the Tigers this weekend, the Red will finally begin ECAC play with the annual home-and-home series against Colgate
Dani Abada can be reached at dabada@cornellsun com
Spoiler alert | The Red hopes to prevent Princeton from clinching an Ivy title on its home turf
Spor ts
A Sports Birthday Wish List
As I sit writing this column on my 22nd birthday (that’s right, you ’ re a day behind now that you ’ re reading it in the paper) I realize that I wish for a lot of things from the world of sports Despite my superstitions and rituals, there is little to no evidence that any of my focused energy has had any positive results Ergo, for this column I am making a birthday wish list as it pertains to sports By writing and publishing these hopes, they will come true
#1: Northwestern Basketball makes it to the NCAA Tournament
Since the NCAA tournament started in 1939, Northwestern is the only team in the six major conferences to never have made an appearance in the bracket This is an extremely daunting statistic, and especially depressing after Northwestern failed to make the tournament last season in the final year for Northwestern’s all-time leading scorer, John Shurna Another fun fact is that Northwestern actually hosted the first NCAA tournament back in 1939
Given that, Northwestern’s inability to make it into the
Sucks to Suck
Big Dance in its history is a constant burden to the program, and so for my first wish, I would like to ask that the basketball team make its first historic appearance in the tournament in my lifetime Yes, that’s all I’m asking
#2: Northwestern football wins a bowl game
I know! There s a theme! (Spoiler alert: the theme is Northwestern teams losing ) Most near and dear to my heart is the Northwestern football team, which currently has not won a bowl game since 1949 With the exception of Otto Graham, Northwestern has had a very rough history when it comes to football With a school that has fewer than 9,000 undergraduates on their campus competing against multiple schools in its conference with more than 40,000 undergraduate students, the odds are constantly against them
However, given that Wikipedia describes that, after appearing in the Rose Bowl in 1949, Northwestern “plummeted to extended levels of futility from the mid-1970s to 1994,” they have much improved Since 1995, they have made nine bowl game appearances, though they were all losses I have seen six of these losses with my own eyes, and
NEWCOMB page 14
Red Look s to Hand Tigers First Loss
By QUINTIN SCHWAB Sun Sen or Writer
Fourteen of the past 17 games between the Cornell and Princeton football teams have been decided by a touchdown or less, and the 2012 matchup tomorrow at 12:30 p m on Schoellkopf Field figures to be no different The Red (3-3, 1-2 Ivy League) hopes to save its season when the squad begins a stretch of three out of four home games to end the year against the surprising first-place Tigers (4-2, 30), a contest televised by Time Warner Cable
Last Saturday in Princeton, N J , the Tigers pulled off a stunner for the ages to shake up the Ivy title race scoring 29 unanswered points in the fourth quarter to defeat conference favorite and nationally-ranked Harvard, 39-34, despite trailing by 24 with just 12 minutes remaining The Crimson had won a Division I-best 14 straight games by an average of 25 points, while Princeton had compiled a 5-22 record in its previous 27 contests
This year ’ s Princeton team seems to present a whole new stor y, though, as the Tigers have won four consecutive games and sit alone in first place in the Ancient Eight with a 3-0 mark after being picked to finish last in the preseason
“Year in and year out, so many things change,” said Red junior quarterback and offensive co-captain Jeff Mathews “[Princeton] is a different team this year they play with a whole different type of energy They’ve grown up over the year And we ’ re also a different team than we were last year ” Cornell has stumbled to a 1-2 Ivy start, including a frustrating seven-point defeat at Brown last weekend Even so, the Red remains very much in the Ivy picture, as a win over Princeton would move the club within one game of the top of the standings
Against the Bears, Mathews tossed three interceptions for only the second time in his career The Red certainly expects a resurgent performance from the 2011 All-Ivy signal caller, who amassed 521 yards and five touchdowns following his other three-pick outing in November of last year
“Any time you don’t play up to the level that you expect to play to give your team a chance to win, I think that’s a huge motivating factor,” Mathews said “And I think our team as a whole is very motivated to come back and show we ’ re a better team than we were last week and get a win ” The Red’s quest for redemption will not be easy
By SHANE DUNAU Sun Staff Writer
The men ’ s ice hockey team starts off its season with a home-and-home pair of matches against Colorado College (3-10) The puck drops at 7 p m on Lynah Rink Friday night, and then again on Saturday night The most recent USCHO com national college hockey poll ranks Cornell at No 7 and Colorado at No 19
“They’re anxious to play, we ’ re four to six games behind everyone in the country right now, ” said head coach Mike Schaefer Starting this weekend with Colorado College, they’re 3-1 coming in here and we look forward to playing [We] had a great series with them last year, they’re a great hockey team so we ’ re just excited to play ”
Although this is the Red’s first look at the 2012-13 season, the Tigers are an out of conference opponent Currently, Colorado College is in the WCHA, but next season it is moving on to be a charter
Looking for redemption | After a disappointing loss to Brown, the Red hopes to rebound against Princeton
Princeton’s defense allows a conference-low 15 3 points per game, a total Cornell has failed to surpass three times this year Tigers senior defensive linemen Caraun Reid and Mike Catapano have combined for 12 sacks and 16 5 tackles for loss in 2012, while senior linebacker Andrew Starks has recorded a team-high 54 tackles
“They have a very good defensive line [Reid and Catapano] are both very good players,” Mathews said “They have some solid players in the linebacking corps and in the secondary Our [offensive] line is improving week in and week out also, so it’ll be a good test for us I think we ’ re going to match up very well against them and we ’ ve just got to make plays ” Princeton’s offense, meanwhile, is more unconventional
team in the National Collegiate Hockey Conference
And while the Cornell icers may be ready to get going, according to sophomore forward Cole Bardreau, the team also recognizes that there is a long way to go
“The locker room is full of motion in there,” he said “Everyone is a little jittery, excited that the long preseason is over I think anxious is a good word but at the same time, by the same token, we ’ ve only had three to five practices together, so everyone is just getting to know each other, [to] know each other’s habits Everyone’s trying to mesh together right now I think once we get a few more practices and games under our belt, I think we re really going to come together here ” On that same vein, with only a few chances to watch the team play together,
Schaefer still has to figure out where the right place is for everyone in the lineup
“It’s just a matter of getting more and more time and trying to figure out exactly who we want on power play and getting two units,” he said “I played everybody a lot of guys had a lot of chances to kill penalties and we watch them every day so it was kind of a training run for us Not that many guys are going to be killing penalties and not that many guys will get a chance on the power play as we move forward [It’s] not just about who is the best player, a lot of times it’s what can they do and what role can they fulfill ”
Last weekend, the Red hosted the U S Under-18 team and Brock University On Friday, Cornell beat the Under-18s, 6-2, and on Saturday the game ended in a 2-2
Annie Newcomb
RED PERSEVERES DESPITE TOUGH TIMES
By HALEY VELASCO Sun Assistant Sports Editor
This season has changed the way that the women ’ s soccer team has approached the game both mentally and physically Under the guidance of 20 year veteran and head coach Patrick Farmer who comes to the Red from the University of Wisconsin as an assistant coach for the Badgers and with experience at the professional level, at Penn State and at Ithaca College the team has faced an overhaul of the mentality of the program highlighting the need to be more aggressive and push for ward At the start of the season, the Red looked to take home its first winning season in the past 10 years a goal which will follow the team into next season
The Red began the fall 2012 campaign primarily on the road with seven of the eight games that the team played away from campus
The season began for Cornell with a roundup during Labor
D a y w e e k e n d i n Wa s h i n g t o n
D C where the Red faced off against Georgetown and George Washington dropping both of those games to the opponents in tough bouts
T h e t e a m t h e n c o n t i n u e d with an upstate game against Colgate on Sept 7 and a showdown against Albany on Sept 9 both games ending up in losses for Cornell
T h e k i c k o f f o f t h e s e a s o n
c a m e a g a i n s t Bi n g h a m t o n o n Sept 12 under the lights where the Red lost, 1-2, followed by the Red’s home opener on Sept 14 against Sacred Heart for the first meet up between the two teams in program histor y Cornell also
w e n t u p a g a i n s t L a Sa l l e t h a t weekend for a loss, 0-4
On Sept 21, Cornell entered into its first Ivy game of the season against Columbia losing to the Lions, 1-0
“I don’t think that our execution has been consistent across the whole 90 minutes especially really early in the game We have had a couple of goals scored really early We
high point We just
“ There have been times where we have let down a little bit a n d t h
s have cost us I think that [it’s about] executi n g a c r o
90 minutes ”
The team then returned to Ithaca for a three-game homestand on Sunday, Sept 23 against Niagara and its first Ivy game at home against Penn on the Sept 28 collecting two more losses
The Red finished out the nonleague portion of its season and
Lafayette on Oct 2 where Cornell grabbed its first victor y, 4-1 Senior for ward Maneesha
Chitanvis scored two goals with senior for wards Xandra Hompe and Moonie Mancho scoring one each
The team then continued the more positive stretch of the season by grabbing a tie, 1-1 against defending Ivy League champion Har vard thanks to a goal from junior midfielder Mar y Keroack
“ The high point [of the season] for us was the Har vard and the Lafayette games Just that week of soccer was definitely the
had
lot of
i d Christ “Har vard won the league last year and we tied them last year Then to come out and tie them this year was definitely a plus It was a big confidence boost ”
The team went back on the road to face off against Yale and Brown in the next two weekends Both games ended up in upsett i n g 1 - 0 l o s s e s f o
Re d , despite tough play and strong mental attitudes of the team The loss against Yale was due to an unexpected goal off of Cornell that whipped past junior goalkeeper Tori Christ Then the Red went against the Bears and failed to capitalize on scoring opportunities that cost the team the game in the end
Despite a tough season, the team has been pushing hard and g e tt i n g re c o gn i t i o n f o r the dedicat i o n i n t e rn a l l y a n d e x t e r n a l l y Se n i o r f o rward Maneesha Chitanvis has scored four goals and two assists for 10 points this season to date tying her w i t h s e n i o r t e a m m a t e X a n d r a Hompe for leading the team in points Chitanvis was also named Ivy League Player of the Week on Oct 8 after an away outing against Lafayette where she scored two goals and her assist for the goal by Keroack against Harvard “Maneesha is a ver y dynamic player and strikes the ball ver y
MANEESHA CHITANVIS: A Leader, a Scorer, Four Years Strong
By SKYLER DALE Sun Staff Writer
With two games left in her collegiate soccer career, senior forward and captain Maneesha Chitanvis has a storied four years to look back on with the Red After tying for the second most goals on the team during her freshman season, Chitanvis led the team in scoring as a sophomore and as a junior, receiving AllIvy honorable mention awards both seasons As a senior, she has scored four goals, including two in the team ’ s only win of the year against Lafayette College Chitanvis said that she is pleased to join two other seniors as the team ’ s captains
“We’ve had a set group of captains for the last two years, ” she explains “It’s exciting to finally get the opportunity this year to step up and be in those leadership roles ” Unfortunately, Chitanvis and the Red (1-12-1) have struggled this year with eight of Cornell’s 12 losses coming by a
one-goal deficit Despite its overall record, the squad had promising moments, such as a 4-1 victory over Lafayette and a hardfought tie against powerhouse Harvard
As a captain and team leader, Chitanvis remains confident and motivated when it comes to the Red’s future
“No one is ever going to be complacent, ” she claims “[The team is] still going to keep fighting [it] has the potential to do better ”
Chitanvis looked back at her college career and said she remembered her best moments as the ones when the chemistry of the team showed the most
As for the future, she said that she has high hopes and expectations for the team With a new coaching staff and a changing program, Chitanvis emphasized the chance that the younger players have to influence Cornell’s women ’ s soccer program
“The opportunity they have no one else had,” Chitanvis said “[It’s their responsibility to] really change things and really move the program forward ”
well with both feet She is ver y fast and can get going and can be dangerous going for ward Xandra is probably the most technical player on the team They are ver y different kinds of players even though they play in the same area of the field,” Farmer said “ They make a good tandem s o m e t i m e s , b u t o t h e r t i m e s I think that they don’t find each o t h e r v e r y w e l l b e c a u s e t h e i r games are so different ”
Christ has also started in goal for all 14 games that the Red has played in the season thus far getting a career high 10 saves for t h e Re d i n t h e g a m e a g a i n s t Harvard on Oct 6 in Cambridge
The junior goalkeeper is new to a permanent spot on the field for the Red after following behind two senior goalies last season
“It has definitely been a learning experience Being behind two upperclassmen before, I got to train really hard I think the focus now has been setting a pace every single practice,” Christ said “I like it, but it has been learning to focus in on every single practice and take it game by game It is definitely a mindset thing and has been a good experience overall ”
The team will play the rest of the season at home at Berman
Princeton and Dartmouth
“To be honest, we are fed up and disappointed because we have been in games and our record could be significantly better, ” Farmer said “I think that it is a very motivation We are not in the running to win the championship anymore I think that we will try and improve our combination play [against Princeton and Dartmouth] ”
SPRINT FOOTBALL
CRUSHED HOPES FOR LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP
S p r i n t F a l l s i n C r i t i c a l M a t c h u p s
“We are not where we expected to be at the start of the season; we wanted to be 5-0 at this point.”
into points
“To only score three points against Navy is embarrassing,” Miller expressed “Navy has a great defense, but we squandered many opportunities ”
After starting the season 3-0, including a victory against perennial contender Penn (2-2), the Cornell sprint football team looked like it would be a challenge for the league title
However, the Red (3-2) followed up its great start with two losses to Army (5-0) and Navy (4-0) the two undefeated teams in the league that ended any hopes of a league championship
“I am very disappointed by our season so far,” said junior captain and quarterback Brendan Miller “We are not where we expected to be at the start of the season; we wanted to be 5-0 at this point ”
Going into the season, with top offensive players Miller, senior captain and wide receiver Abe Mellinger and senior wide receiver Spenser Gruenenfelder returning, the offense had high expectations Although the team has played well this year Miller has thrown for 1046 yards and seven touchdowns on the year, both second in the league, and Mellinger has averaged 81 4 yards per game and caught four touchdowns it has been unable to convert opportunities
The offense also had trouble converting in its 22-15 win against Princeton
The Red scored 20 points in the first half, but did not score any points on offense in the second half
An offensive surprise came from young running backs junior Nick Perez, sophomore Jake Michaels, freshmen Ben Pham and Ben Herrera After losing 1000-yard rusher Doug Famularo ’11, the squad expected a drop off, but the Red’s young backs have made up for Famularo’s graduation
“Nick Perez had a really good game against Navy,” Gruenenfelder praised “He’s been doing well for us throughout the year, especially in pass coverage ”
“Our running backs have stepped up big time this season, ” Miller said “Michaels, Perez, Pham and Herrera are all steady and have the speed and power to [be] effective ”
The defense has been a consistent force this season, led by the play of junior linebacker Kyle Higgins, who has recorded four tackles for a loss and three sacks, sophomore defensive back Michael Monahan, who leads the team with
48 tackles, and junior defensive back Riley Scott, who leads the team with three interceptions despite missing a game The defense has improved and its best performance came against Navy holding the opponent to nine points in an 11-3 loss
“We are really proud of our defensive performance against Navy,” Gruenenfelder said
Offensively, the team has a lot of room to improve, according to both Miller and Gruenenfelder
“We really need to improve on both first and second down We have way too many third and long situations that limit us offensively and allow the defense to predict our next move, ” Miller explained
The Red has two games remaining against Post (2-2) and Mansfield (1-3) and plans to take out its frustration on them after losing the last two games, according to Gruenenfelder
“We had a lot of frustration from the Navy and Army games and we are going to take it out on Post and Mansfield,” Gruenenfelder said “We practiced hard this past week we ’ ve gone all out full-contact and are really looking to get better ”
Ni c k Pe re z “ He h a s a n i n c re di b l e k n a c k f o r m a k i n g p l a y s ” Fo r Me l l i n g e r, a f i f t h
i t y ”
Me l l i n g e r p l a ye d a b i g ro l e i n t h e Re d’s 3 - 0
s t a r t , w h i c h i n c l u d e d a n e x h i l a r a t i n g s i x - ove r t i m e v i c t o r y ove r Pe n n Si n c e t h e n , C o r n e l l h a s d r o p p e d b a c k - t o - b a c k g a m e s t o A r m y a n d
Na v y “ We’r e s t i l l r e a l l y w o rk i n g h a rd o n b e i n g
a b l e t o w o rk t o g e t h e r, ”
Me l l i n g e r s a i d “ We’re a
l i t t l e t e n t a t i ve r i g h t n ow No
t o n l y a s a n o f f e n s e , b u t I t h i n k s o m e t i m e s a s a t e a m A n d i f we ’ re a l i tt l e m o re c o n f i d e n t i n t h e t h i n g s we d o we h a ve
a l o t o f r o o m t o i m p rove ” Me l l i n g e r w i l l c o n t i nu e t o re m a i n a v i b r a n t p e r s o n a l i t y o n a n d o f f t h e f i e l d “ [ H ] i s s e re n e , a l m o s t s t o i c d e m e a n o r i n t h e l o c k e r r o o m , s h r i e k s a f t e r a b l ow n c a l l , k n a c k f o r m a k i n g i n c r e d i b l y a t h l e t i c p l a y s g o o f y g r i n , f a r m - b o y r o o t s , a n d Tu p a c s n e a k e r s b u i l d A b e u p t o b e o n e o f t h o s e s t e r e o t y p i c a l l y e c c e n t r i c a n d e n i g m a t i c w i d e - r e c e i v e r s w e a l l k n ow a n d l ove , ” Pe re z c o m m e n t e d Mo s t a p p a re n t , h owe ve r, i s Me l l i n g e r ’ s p a ss i o n f o r f o o t b a l l “ I ’ ve b e e n p l a y i n g re c e i ve r a l o n g t i m e , a n d I j u s t l ove t o c o m p e t e a n d r u n w i t h o t h e r p l a ye r s , ” Me l l i n g e r re c o l l e c t e d “ Fo r m e , I ’ m j u s t h o p e f u l l y g o i n g t o k e e p g e t t i n g a s m a n y o p p o r t u n i t i e s a n d c a p it a l i z i n g o n t h e s e o p p o rt u n i t i e s a s t h e y c o m e i n t h e s e l a s t t w o g a m e s o f m y f o o t b a l l c a re e r ” Bu t d e s p i t e h i s va l ua b l e r o l e o n o f f e n s e ,
Me l l i n g e r ’ s f a vo r i t e p a r t o f t h e g a m e re m a i n s o n s p e c i a l t e a m s “ My m o s t f a v o r i t e p l a y o f t h e w h o l e g a m e i s k i c k o f f r e t u r n s , ” Me l l i n g e r s a i “ T h e r e ’ s n o t
Big man on campus| Mellinger leads the Red in receiving touchdowns
By ALBERT LIAO Sun Staff Writer
By CHRIS MILLS Sun Staff Writer
Brendan Miller
Up, up and away | The Cornell volleyball team has doubled its victories this season as compared to last, under new head coach Melissa Batie-Smoose
Season Marked by Ups and Downs
By BEN HOROWIRZ Sun Staff Writer
u n
r w a rd Ha n n
l e z a “ So m
p e c t e d t
k n e w p l a y i n g No r t h C a ro l i n a w o u l d b e a d i f f i c u l t a n d Pe n n St a t e w o u l d b e d i f f i c u l t It
LEADING THE RED
PLAYER YEAR GOALS ASSISTS
Hannah Balleza Junior 13 4
Brittany Thompson Junior 42
Kat Dipastina Senior 33
Taylor Standiford Freshman 24
PROGRAM HEADS IN POSITIVE DIRECTION
By SCOTT ECKL Sun Staff Writer
At this point last year, Cornell was 3-17 overall, 1-7 in the Ivy League, and had lost 12 of their previous 13 matches The team would go on to finish 5-21 overall and 3-11 in the conference, as three-year head coach Sarah Bernson was fired While the team ’ s record in the 2012 campaign under first-year head coach Melissa Batie-Smoose may not appear like a great improvement, the women have doubled their win count from last year and, most importantly, they have a new attitude
“ My e x p e c t ation coming in was to change the cul-
t u re , ” Ba t i eSmoose said “The p l a ye r s w a n t t o
c h a n g e a n d t h e y re a l l y h a
n working hard The level of intensity
a n d e n e r g y i n practices has risen
er Rachel D’Epagnier
In a game that featured 38 ties and 10 lead changes, Cornell pulled out on top in five sets;
Bearcats had three match points in the final set, but were unable to close it out At 17-16, the Red’s junior outside hitter and captain, Kelly Marble, sealed the deal with her team-leading 18th kill of the match
“I think Tuesday’s game was big for us because we were able to finish the game, ” BatieSmoose said “Going 2-1 overall last week was very important with the injuries we have had and the tough stretch of road games to come ”
2012 RED POINTS LEADERS
PLAYER YEAR KILLS DIGS
Shannon O’Brien Freshman 1 66
Janel Forte Junior 71 18
Brittnay Fox Junior 62
Kelly Reinke Sophomore 18 129
d r a m a t i c a l l y throughout the season, but now we just have to take that into our matches ”
As the 2009 Sun Conference Coach of the Year at the Savannah College of Art & Design, Batie-Smoose is used to winning Now at the Ivy League level, she wants to create a culture of confidence
“Knowing and believing you can win is a hard mindset coming in to a struggling program, ” she said
The season had a shaky start, as the Red went 2-7 in its non-conference schedule However, the team seems to have picked it up in since then with a 4-5 record, with two wins coming against Ivy League opponents Brown and Dartmouth Both the players and the coach agree that the team is heading in the right direction after a big non-conference win against Binghamton Oct 9
“All of us looked good together as a group and looked each other in the eye and said ‘ we are not losing this game, ’” said junior middle block-
big win, the Red
three games against
team lost in four sets to Harvard, but was able to fend off the Big Green in five sets, after winning the first two and dropping the next two Cornell was unable to defeat Columbia, as the Lions won three close sets Up next for Cornell is a four-game road trip t
, Dartmouth on Nov 2 and Dartmouth on Nov 3
“We are still taking it one game at a time,” Batie-Smoose said “We cannot overlook anyone or surpass any game Getting this win at home is important for us and then we got to focus on having success on the road ”
Despite these challenges that the team faces, the players remain confident and hopeful about the future direction of the program
“Our focus is getting better each day,” BatieSmoose said “At this point we might not be number one or even finish in the top two, but we still are mentally in it and we will still be fighting for pride ”
w a s n ’ t t h e w a y w e w a n t e d t o s t a r t t h e s e a s o n ” Fo u r o f t h o s e l o s s e s w e r e b y a m a r g i n o f j u s t o n e g o a l , w h i c h m a d e t h e m a t c h u p s p a r t i c u l a r l y f r u s t r a t i n g , b u t a l s o m e a n t t h a t t h e Re d w a s
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s u c c e s s Ac c o rd i n g t o Ba l l e z a , t h e l e a d e r s h i p o f t h e f o u r t e a m c a p -
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a l l o f t h o s e l o s s e s , i t w a s i m p o r t a n t t o k e e p e ve r yo n e p o s i t i ve a n d
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o p p o n e n t s T h e Re d w i l l h o s t f i r s t - p l a c e Pr i n c e t o n o n Oc t 2 7 i n
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L e a g u e T h e g a m e i s t h e f i r s t o f t h re e c o n s e c u t i ve h o m e c o n t e s t s t o
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