Work of art
Artist uses digital collages as basis for his work, page 17
Thursday
Dec e m be r 1 0 , 2 0 0 9
opinion speaker should be new to grads, page 12 sports Swim sisters compete together again, page 25 This i see Artists show work at Gallery Night, page 32
The Ithacan
Freshman faces criminal charges for Emerson fires by Jessica Dillon Staff Writer
The Office of Public Safety arrested Ithaca College freshman Alexander Carfi of Roslyn Heights, N.Y., on Tuesday in connection with four of the 12 fires that have occurred on campus this semester. Investigator Tom Dunn said Carfi was arraigned immediately upon arrest in the Town of Ithaca Court and was released on his own recognizance. Public Safety interviewed the student Monday. Carfi said he was responsible for starting two fires that occurred in D-Lot and two fires that occurred outside of Emerson Hall. Dunn said Carfi said he did not have any accomplices. Carfi was charged with arson, reckless endangerment and criminal mischief in connection with a Nov. 9 fire that caused damage to Emerson Hall and the recycle containers outside the northeast exit of the building, blocking the exit. “Since that specific fire caused damage to the building [and] recycle containers outside the northeast exit, the building went into the alarm, and people needed to exit the building,” Dunn said. “That was one of the means of egress, [so] we charged the person with arson, reckless endangerment and criminal mischief.” Four counts of fifth degree arson and a misdemeanor are also pending against Carfi for four other fires that occurred this semester. Dunn said Carfi threw a marijuana tobacco cigarette into the dumpster for the other two fires in D-Lot. Carfi will reappear in court with a defense attorney today. Dunn said Carfi does not know if he will plead guilty or not guilty. A charge will be made and the case will go to trial. Public Safety most likely will not be testifying today but may in the trial. Carfi was a resident of Emerson Hall and was removed from campus. Bonnie Solt Prunty, director of residential life and judicial affairs, said the fire in Emerson Hall caused damage to the outside of the building and shattered a window in a lounge. There was smoke damage to the lounge, and the glass from the window melted into the carpet because of the heat from the fire. She said students have not been allowed in the lounge since the fire. Prunty said though there was damage to the building and students were not able to use the lounge, there is a bigger issue. “It creates a lot of fear with students [who say] well, this could happen again, and next time it could be more serious, so there’s a lot of concern for personal safety,” she said. Sophomore Mike Patnode, a resident of Emerson Hall, said the damage occurred at the end of his hallway. He said he can not use the door or the lounge at the end of the hallway, but some of the damage is repaired. “I’ve never been in a building that had to be evacuated because of a fire, so it was freaky,” he said. “You don’t know what’s going on.” Acting Fire Chief Tom Dorman of Ithaca Fire Department said he hopes Carfi will be prosecuted and learn a lesson from what he did. “It’s a very serious situation,” he said. “[He] put a lot of people’s lives in danger.”
I t h a c a , N . Y.
Volum e 7 7 , I s s u e 1 4
Contested
ground Native Americans struggle to reclaim ancestral homeland on Cayuga Lake
By Allison Musante Managing Editor
A canoe and boat can travel peacefully together down the river of life — the message of the Two Row Wampum emblem, represented by two parallel purple lines on a white background. This traditional belt symbolizes coexistence between the Haudenosaunee and Americans. The Haudenosaunee still value it today, as a centuriesold feud to recover ancestral land and historical truth rage on in New
York state. “We are brother to brother,” said Dan Hill, a leader of the Cayuga Nation, which together with the Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga and Seneca nations constitute the Haudenosaunee, formerly known as the Iroquois, people. “[The emblem says] ‘You have your way of governing and we have ours.’ But we see every time an agreement is made, the other makes us change, and that’s not the way things should be. You’re not supposed to
interfere with our canoe.” The Cayugas, who live just north of Ithaca in Seneca and Cayuga counties, are waiting for a decision from the Federal Bureau of Indian Affairs about putting 129 acres of ancestral land into a federal trust. Many Cayugas live on a 64,000-acre reservation at the north end of Cayuga Lake, a fraction of the land they called home before the American Revolution. In 2005, the 2nd Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals dismissed the Ca-
yugas’ claim for ownership over the reservation and monetary damages for the taken land. The land trust is the final legal route they can take to gain permanent sovereignty over any portion of their ancestral land. But the land trust application has been met with fierce opposition from area residents who claim sovereignty is negatively affecting their communities. “The land trust is certainly not
See land, page 4
Left photo: Dan Hill, a Cayugan, raises the Haudenosaunee flag in November 2007 outside Egbert Hall for Native American Heritage Month.
File photo/The Ithacan
Right photo: Russell Wheeler, Seneca Falls resident, stands outside his home behind a sign that protests the Cayuga Nation’s land claim.
Michelle Boule/The Ithacan
Early decision option attracts 283 applicants by Jacqueline Palochko News Editor
By Tuesday, Ithaca College will know how many of the 283 prospective students who applied to the college early decision will be a part of the class of 2014. So far, between 100 and 150 applicants have been accepted to the college and 35 have sent in paid deposits. The deadline for early decision was Nov. 1. All students will be notified of the college’s decision by Tuesday. Eric Maguire, vice president of enrollment management, said some students have already been told. He said financial aid packages will be mailed in about two weeks for accepted students. The college used the early decision program in the 1990s and ended it in fall 2007. Maguire said the program was eliminated because the Office of Admission saw an increase in the number of students applying regular decision and did not think having an early decision program was worth the staff, time
From left, then-prospective student Becky Kabel, Marjie Needham and Ruth Kabel receive a tour from then-sophomore Jillian Trottier last February. So far, 283 students applied to the college.
File Photo/The Ithacan
and resources. “We had a couple hundred students applying into the program a couple years ago, but the numbers weren’t overwhelming,” he said.
find more. online. www.theithacan.org
Maguire said the primary factor for bringing back early decision was to the stabilize enrollment after this year’s freshman
See Enrollment, page 4