INDEPENDENT SINCE 1880
The CorneÂŹ Daily Sun Vol. 132, No. 84
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2016
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ITHACA, NEW YORK
12 Pages â Free
News
Arts
Sports
Weather
Up in Arms
No Sleep Till Brooklyn
Baskets of Hope
Clouds HIGH: 25Âş LOW: 6Âş
Nancy Gallagher, from the University of Maryland, urges arms control flexibility.
Tim Rehm â19 discusses why Saoirse Ronon deserves her nomination for Best Actress.
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The Cornell menâs basketball team gears up for games against Princeton and Penn this weekend. | Page 12
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Provost: Tuition to Increase Four Percent; Need-Blind Aid to End for Intâl Students Students say new policy to favor wealthy applicants By MELVIN LI Sun Staff Writer
Cornell students will see a nearly four-percent rise in tuition next academic year and admissions for international students will soon no longer be need-blind, according to Provost Michael Kotlikoff. International applicants will be admitted on a needaware basis beginning fall 2017 due to insufficient funding for financial aid, according to Kotlikoff, who explained these changes at a forum hosted by the Student Assembly, Thursday. Many students expressed concern that this change would cause the University to favor wealthier international students who are not dependent on aid. âStudent opinion has been disregarded,â said Shivang Tayal â16, international liaison at large to the S.A. âThe new policy does favor high-income, rich students over [the most deserving] students. These standards are not [imposed] for domestic students, so why are they for international students?â
MICHELLE FRALING / SUN SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHER
Speaking up | DREAM Team, a cause that advocates for the rights of undocumented students, protests at a Thursday forum held by the Student Assembly concerning tuition changes.
Kotlikoff also announced that both endowed and contract non-resident tuition would rise 3.75 percent in the 2016-17 school year, while campus housing and dining costs d both rise two percent. Defending the tuition increase, Kotlikoff said the proposed 2016-2017 tuition would have the lowest percentage increase for the endowed tuition rate since 1965 and
The Syrian situation
the University currently devotes $235 million to financial aid annually and will continue to increase its investments in accessible tuition. âThis is not something you hear in the paper often and is not apparent to many people, but in fact, the price of See TUITION page 5
Cornell Scientists Validate Einsteinâs Theory of Relativity By MADELINE COHEN
California Institute of Technology and the Virgo group â a collaboration dedicated to studying gravitaCornell professors Saul tional waves â research published Teukolsky, astrotoday in Physical physics, and Review Letters Larry Kidder, reveals findings a s t r o n o m y, that further veriplayed an instrufy Einsteinâs themental role in ory, according to the first deteca University tion of gravitapress release. tional waves, a âItâs a really century after big event,â PROF. KIDDER PROF. TEUKOLSKY Albert Einstein Teukolsky said predicted their existence in his theo- in the release. âThis is probably the ry of general relativity. Directed by scientists at the See RELATIVITY page 5
Sun Assistant News Editor
MICHAEL DALDER / THE NEW YORK TIMES
Secretary of State John Kerry (right) and Sergei Lavrov (left), the Russian foreign minister, confer yesterday at a session of the International Syria Support Group in Munich.
New Spring Admits Reflect on First Month at Cornell By JEANETTE SI Sun Staff Writer
For the first time in over 10 years, 125 new freshmen arrived at Cornell for spring semester as part of the First-Year Spring Admissions program. As a part of this program, four of the Universityâs undergraduate colleges â the
Colleges of Agriculture and Life Science, Arts and Sciences, Human Ecology and Hotel Administration â accepted first-year students into the Class of 2019, who began school at Cornell this semester. The FYSA program is a reworking of a similar program called âJ Fresh,â which was discontinued after 2003. FYSA was
re-launched as a solution to accommodating the growing number of first-year applicants to the University, according to Jason Locke, associate vice provost for enrollment. âPlaying Catch-Upâ
Saki Wang â19, a FYSA student, said she initially felt excited and nervous about entering
the program. âI felt a little bit worried at first since we are a very small group of students in this school,â Wang â19 said. â[But] I also felt excited ... since [being a] spring admit is a rare experience, and I don't know what's ahead of us.â Joshua Goldstein â19, called being a FYSA a mixed experi-
ence. âSome perks are that I still get to meet new people and try out for different clubs and organizations,â Goldstein said. âThere are still chances for you, as a new student, to get involved. âSome drawbacks are trying See FYSA page 5