Vol. CXXXIV—No. 102
Friday, October 22, 2010
columbiaspectator.com
New home for Floridita
Parents protest charter expansion
CU relocates Cuban joint to 12th Avenue
BY JAKE DAVIDSON Columbia Daily Spectator The charter school debate surfaced south of Harlem this week at a crowded Upper West Side Community Charter Education School Council meeting that felt Watch more like a protest. An auditorium at P.S. 145 on 105th Street was full for most of the meeting Wednesday night, which focused on a plan to potentially open a charter school within P.S. 145, also known as the Bloomingdale School. The Success Academy Network, a well known charter school network that operates five schools across Harlem, has applied to open another location called Upper West Success Academy that could possibly share space in P.S. 145. The city Department of Education says that school is currently only at 59 percent capacity. This potential location on the Upper West Side marks a shift in the charter school debate from its center in Harlem, where one in five kids now attends a charter school. Proponents of charters, which are public schools run by private boards, have argued that mission-based charter schools provide more choices for parents and superior academics, but critics claim that charters take away resources from traditional schools.
BY MAGGIE ASTOR Spectator Senior Staff Writer
SEE SUCCESS, page 2
MADISON
MALCOM X
FREDERICK DOUGLASS
AMSTERDAM
The Success Academy Network currently has five locations in Harlem and has applied to open an Upper West Side location that could possibly share space in P.S. 145 on 105th Street.
110TH
GRAPHIC BY HANNAH D’APICE
The day before Homecoming weekend showcases the stars of Columbia athletics today, the department will honor stalwarts of the past with the induction of the Columbia Athletics Hall of Fame class of 2010, the third ever in the school’s history. The black tie dinner and induction ceremony, to take place this evening in Low Library, will celebrate the contributions of 20 former student-athletes, three former head coaches, and the 1961 football team, the last squad to take home the Ancient Eight hardware. Also among the inductees will be Gerald Sherwin, CC ’55, former president of the Columbia College Alumni Association, and William Steinman, a staff member of Sports Information from 19702002. In all, 19 men, six women, and the ’61 football team compose the class of 2010. “The Class of 2010 of the Columbia Athletics Hall of Fame
SEE CHARTERS, page 2
SEE FLORIDITA, page 2
THE OTHER CANDIDATES Craig Schley and Rev. Michel Faulkner, non-Democratic candidates vying for Charles Rangel’s seat in Congress, spoke at a sparsely attended education town hall. |
Rangel’s challengers speak on education BY CARRIE MONTGOMERY Columbia Daily Spectator Though education has been at the center of Harlem politics this election season, it was the less mainstream local politicians Charter who came out School this week to debate the staWatch tus of neighborhood schools. Congressional candidates Craig Schley and Rev. Michel Faulkner joined around 50 local residents, parents, and students for an education town hall on Wednesday at the Future Leaders Institute Charter School in Harlem. State Senator Bill Perkins, who was announced in press releases as one of the speakers, was a no-show. Schley and Faulkner are both lesser-known candidates hoping to unseat Congressman Charles Rangel, the Democratic incumbent who won by a wide margin in his crowded primary this September. Schley petitioned to qualify as an independent challenger to Rangel, and Faulkner, a former
Third-ever Hall of Fame class inducted BY ZACH GLUBIAK Spectator Staff Writer
Faulkner, touching on a common misconception, reminded the audience that charter schools are public schools, and that people must recognize the role that charter schools play in education. “Charter schools provide competition for public schools, and competition is needed,” he said,
JACK ZIETMAN / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Parents on Wednesday expressed concern about the potential loss of a $11 million grant for District 3 on the Upper West Side—P.S. 145 was one of the schools selected to receive that funding to help increase school enrollment and improve racial integration. Parents and CEC members said they were worried that if P.S. 145 doesn’t have room to expand, that money will be lost. But Elizabeth Rose, director of portfolio planning at the city DOE, said that they are looking
135TH
125TH
After years of on-and-off negotiations with the University, popular Cuban restaurant Floridita will reopen in April 2011 at a new location on 125th Street. Owner Ramon Diaz said he has signed a lease on a Columbia-owned building at the corner of 12th Avenue and 125th Street—just two blocks west of his former location on 125th and Broadway, and right next door to the newly relocated Dinosaur Bar-B-Que. If all goes according to plan, the restaurant will reopen almost exactly a year after Columbia, Diaz’s landlord, shut down the original location, citing emergency repairs needed to the kitchen floor. According to University spokesperson Victoria Benitez, Diaz signed the lease for the new space in May, but Diaz said his own plans were not certain until this month. He said he had wanted to reopen by now, but logistical delays made that impossible. “We at Floridita sincerely apologize to the community and loyal customers for these unforeseen delays, however, we have been forced to deal with an entity and issues that are out of our control,” Diaz wrote in a statement this week. “Despite these challenges, we have resolved to continue to work as hard as we can to reopen and reestablish Floridita within the community that we were proud to serve for 35 years.” For more than two years now, Diaz has negotiated with Columbia over his longtime premises on Broadway. The University owns the building, which is part of the Manhattanville campus expansion plan. According to Santiago Carrion, an architectural consultant and project manager for the new Floridita location, Columbia has required the restaurant to take care of
is outstanding. It is our third class and we are thrilled to induct them,” Dr. M. Dianne Murphy, director of intercollegiate athletics, wrote to Spectator. “We are looking forward to the evening.” The Columbia Athletics Hall of Fame was announced in 2005 as part of a special initiative of Murphy’s, who had previously started a Hall of Fame during her time at the University of Denver. The first class was inducted in 2006, with the second enshrined in 2008. Past inductees include the late baseball great Lou Gehrig and former NFL standout Marcellus Wiley. Wiley, along with several other current members of the hall, are expected to attend the induction ceremony. This year’s class features Beijing Olympic silver medalist in fencing Erinn Smart, National College Football Hall of Famer Walter Koppisch, U.S. Open tennis champion Oliver Campbell, and former longtime football coach, Buff Donelli. Donelli roamed the Light Blue sidelines for 11 years, and his reign
included the 1961 championship team being inducted alongside him. Inductees offer a wide spectrum of the 158-year history of Columbia athletics, from Campbell—an 1891 graduate—to Smart—a Barnard alumna from the class of 2001. Nominations for the Hall of Fame were accepted from November 2008 through March 2010. A selection committee, composed of athletics alumni and administrators, announced the class of 2010 this past June. Over 200 nominations were received, according to Columbia athletics. Honorees are divided up into eight categories: former male student athletes from the “Heritage Era” (1852-1955), former male and female studentathletes from the “Modern Era” (1955-Present), former coaches from the “Heritage Era,” coaches from the “Modern Era,” teams, athletics administrators and staff, and individuals SEE HOF, page 3
professional football player for the New York Jets, is a Republican candidate for Congress. “My goal is not to enroll people in the Republican party, but it is to liberate people of the tyranny of a one-party system,” Faulkner said, in response to one parent asking what kind of outreach he is doing in Harlem, a primarily Democratic area. With the Jets, Faulkner said, he was the smallest, weakest, and shortest Jets player. This distinction taught him what it means to fight, he said. The conversation focused on schools—a hot-button topic in Harlem, where the charter school system has expanded to a degree, resulting in a certain degree of controversy. Independent candidate Schley, also executive director of Voices of the Everyday People, said that the war that has formed between charters and traditional public schools is unproductive. There is, he said, “no competition between public and charter schools,” adding though that public schools do need some improvement. “Public education is the only thing we get for free,” Schley said.
“Public school needs more funding. The state held money from public education, so we must fix the system in its entirety by making sure there is more funding, and parents must be more involved.”
“Public education is the only thing we get for free. … We must fix the system in its entirety.” —Craig Schley, Independent congressional candidate
LARGER THAN LIFE
CHRISTINA PHAN FOR SPECTATOR
MUSICAL FLAIRS Robert Karpay (above) plays cello and sings backup vocals in the Columbiabased band Life Size Maps, which performed at this year’s CMJ Music Marathon. See page B4. |
OPINION, PAGE 4
SPORTS, BACK PAGE
EVENTS
WEATHER
On the wrong side
Lions host Dartmouth for Homecoming game
The Process of Embodiment
Today
Lax borders admit more than illegal immigrants.
Buy in, pay out Rhonda Shafei urges students to question our economic model.
Columbia will look to avenge last year’s embarrassing 28-6 loss to Dartmouth at its Homecoming game this weekend. The Lions are coming off a 13-27 defeat to Penn.
Tomorrow
Witness students and dance faculty in an interactive performance. Streng Studio, Barnard Hall Annex, 1:30 p.m.
Wasteland Come to a screening of “Wasteland” followed by a talk with Thomas J. Trebat. Wood Auditorium, Avery Hall, 7:30 p.m.
56°/40°
64°/ 52°