INDEPENDENT SINCE 1880
The Corne¬ Daily Sun Vol. 131, No. 84
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2015
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ITHACA, NEW YORK
12 Pages – Free
Opinion
Arts
Sports
Weather
Snow Day?
Thank The Academy
On a Roll
Cloudy HIGH: 23º LOW: 10º
Ezra’s Oracle answers the question, “Will we ever get a snow day?”
Cornell is screening the five Oscar-nominated short documentaries before the awards air in February. | Page 8
| Page 6
The women’s hockey team will try to extend their three-game winning streak this weekend. | Page 12
Cornell Announces New Mandatory Health Fee Students not in University health plan to be charged $350 By ANNIE BUI and SOFIA HU Sun News Editor and Sun Senior Writer
Under a new funding model announced by President David Skorton Thursday, students not enrolled in the Student Health Insurance Plan must pay a $350 fee at the start of the 2015-16 academic year. The change will affect approximately 70 percent of undergraduate, 30 percent of professional and 10 percent of graduate students, Skorton said in a statement to the Cornell community. Under the new funding model, students who visit Gannett will pay a $10 co-pay for most visits, among them medical, mental health and physical therapy, according to the University. Skorton said the changes will allow for the
University to “maintain and improve accessibility of health services” in the face of a rapid increase in health services in recent years, which has led to a need for more revenue in order to continue offering a wide range of services. The fee is also intended to lower the financial barriers that discourage some privately-insured students from seeking medical care at Gannett, Susan Murphy ’73 Ph.D. ’94, vice president for student and academic services, said at a Student Assembly meeting Thursday. In addition, Gannett has a deficit in recent years following a “health crisis” in 2009-10, when the Cornell campus was hit with over 1,700 cases of H1N1 flu and a string of suicides, Murphy said. See HEALTH FEE page 4
KELLY YANG / SUN NEWS PHOTOGRAPHY EDITOR
Healthy living | President David Skorton speaks at Thursday’s Student Assembly meeting about the new mandatory health fees.
COURTESY OF CITY OF ITHACA
Far above | A rendering of the future downtown Ithaca Marriott, which is currently under construction on S. Aurora Street near the east end of the Ithaca Commons. It is set to open in Spring 2016.
Gannett Officials Readying in Case Of Measles Outbreak By SLOANE GRINSPOON Sun Senior Writer
Work Begins on Downtown Marriott By JONATHAN SWARTZ Sun Senior Writer
Construction crews broke ground earlier this week on the much anticipated 10-story, 159-room, full-service Marriott Hotel in downtown Ithaca, according to JoAnn Cornish, director of planning and devel“For opment for the city. Cornish said the city worked with Jeffrey Rimland — the owner of the lot where the hotel is being built — for over six years to try to secure a project for his site. During the economic downturn, financing and development were put on hold, according to Cornish. “[The project] has been through several iterations,” she said. “To see [the Marriott] being built finally — we are very excited about it.”
hotel on the Commons is that they can go to restaurants in walking distance, they can go shopping in our shops and they will hopefully be able to park their cars and not have to use [them].” Cornish also said she hopes the new hotel will bring more people to the core of downtown. “Especially now that we are years we have wanted to get an looking forward to the completion anchor tenant on the of the Commons, I think we are going to see a much livelier down[Ithaca] Commons.” town,” she said. In addition to the ancillary JoAnn Cornish spending of all the hotel’s visitors, the city will benefit from the taxes Marriott will have an overall positive collected on the hotel’s estimated $5.25 million annual room revenue, according impact on the local economy. “For years we have wanted to get an to Bruce Stoff, director of the anchor tenant on the [Ithaca] Ithaca/Tompkins County Convention Commons … [to] bring people to the and Visitors Bureau. core of downtown,” Cornish said. “The See MARRIOTT page 4 spinoff effect of having people stay in a The Ithaca Marriott will be the only Marriott-branded hotel in the area and the first new hotel to open in the center of Ithaca in almost 10 years, according to a press release by the project’s developer. Cornish said she believes the
In the wake of a nationwide measles outbreak, officials at Gannett Health Services say they are taking precautions to keep Cornellians safe. According to Sharon Dittman, associate director of community relations for Gannett, New York state public health requirements and Universitywide vaccination mandates are expected to help protect the Cornell community from the disease. “Cornell students are well-protected against measles: 99.66 percent of the student body is immunized,” Dittman said. Every student is required to submit a health history form to prove that they have been immunized upon matriculation, according to Dittman. There are only two exceptions, she said: students with certain medical conditions or strongly held religious beliefs may be exempt from the requirement. Philosophical oppositions do not apply. Dittman said that given the recent outbreak, officials are monitoring the approximately 50 students who are not vaccinated against measles, warning them of the dangers of the disease and inviting them to get the vaccine. “Gannett has reached out to the small number of students who have received exemptions from the [vaccination] requirement to alert them to the recent outbreak ... remind[ing] them of the restrictions that will be imposed on them, according to public health law, should there be a case of measles in the Cornell community,” Dittman said. If there is a measles outbreak on the Cornell campus, those students who have not been immunized will be required to leave campus and will be prohibited from attending classes or participating in campus activities until the New York State Health Department authorizes their return, according to Dittman. See MEASLES page 4