INDEPENDENT SINCE 1880
The Corne¬ Daily Sun Vol. 130, No. 11
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2013
!
ITHACA, NEW YORK
16 Pages – Free
News
Arts
Sports
Weather
Get Away
Leaning In
Kickin’ It
Partly Cloudy HIGH: 90 LOW: 63
A man in a black bandana has been accused of a South Hill robbery. | Page 3
Madeleine Salinas ’16 says she found Sheryl Sandberg’s Lean In to be “uplifting.” | Page 9
The men’s soccer team tied one game and won one game this past weekend. | Page 16
Cornell Responds Behind the Scenes of Cornell Concerts Concert Commission budgets $170,000 for performances annually To Obama’s Plan For College Ratings By ASHLEY CHU
Sun Staff Writer
By CAROLINE FLAX Sun News Editor
Following President Barack Obama’s announcement in Binghamton, N.Y. last month to make colleges more affordable, Cornell administrators say the University is committed to its financial aid program. O b a m a’s proposed plan “I can’t imagine [the is to reform government] will devise student aid, create tuition a system in which Cornell policies and wouldn’t continue to be work to enroll more students rated as excellent.” from lowDiane Miller income backgrounds. Additionally, Obama hopes to rate colleges and universities based on their value to students, measured by criteria such as average tuition, scholarships, debt after graduation, graduation rates and earnings after graduation, according to The Washington Post. Cornell administrators say that although it is not definitive how universities will be ranked, or how much each measure will be weighted, Cornell already strives to of help its lower income stuSee OBAMA page 5
If you were the third largest byline-funded student organization on campus and had $170,000 to spend over the course of the year, how would you decide what performers to bring to campus? That’s the situation Cornell Concert Commission finds itself in year after year. The group says it has tried to be as inclusive as possible in order to bring the most democratic choices to campus. CCC receives $12 from the mandatory student activity fee of $229 Cornell undergraduates pay, according to the University’s release of the 2012-2014 allocation. The group spends about $10,000 to $20,000 on administrative expenses — items like concert insurance, data and phone lines for their office and for production in Barton Hall — and uses the remaining money, including rollover from previous years, to plan concerts for the year,
November 2012 COURTESY OF ISLAND DEF JAM
April 2013 LUKE SHARRETT / THE NEW YORK TIMES
according to Joe Scaffido, CCC Advisor. CCC does not have a set number of concerts it has each year; rather, it plans the maximum amount of performances it can given budgetary constraints, Scaffido said. “We kind of project that in a perfect world, here’s what we’d like to have,” Scaffido said. “Welcome weekend concert — love to have that every year. Homecoming concert — that’d be great if we can. And then maybe depending on what dates are available, maybe one or two Barton shows, maybe a Bailey show or two per semester.” The number of concerts CCC can organize each semester also depends on the state of the music industry, he said. “The industry could be fantastic one year where we have people calling us asking us if they can come to Cornell, or it could be a year when everybody’s going overseas and we have no concerts,” Scaffido said. “We’ve literally done three or four Barton shows in one year and could See CONCERTS page 4
September 2013 NAN PALMERO / FLICKR
September 2013 CHAD BATKA / THE NEW YORK TIMES
Rage | Nas, Bob Dylan, Third Eye Blind and Ke$ha are some of the performers Cornell Concert Commission has brought or invited to Cornell’s Barton Hall.
Congressional Scholar:Gridlock Result of Political Polarization By NOAH RANKIN Sun Staff Writer
Polarization in American political life has reached an all-time high, congressional scholar Thomas Mann said at a lecture in
Goldwin Smith on Monday. Mann, a Brookings Institution senior fellow and the author of It’s Even Worse Than It Looks, a book on the topic of his talk, was the first speaker in the biweekly Ethics and Public Life Fall Lecture series.
RYAN LANDVATER / SUN SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHER
Speak now | Thomas Mann discusses the political implications of intervention in the Syrian conflict to an audience in Goldwin Smith Monday.
Mann said the current Syrian crisis is a answer is, ‘Who are the nine percent?’ What good opportunity for political debate as are they happy about? John McCain thinks opposed to the gridlock that usually occurs they’re down to blood-relatives and staffers.” in conflict, since policiticans on both side of Mann said that political engagement and the aisle have similar thoughts on how to act civic activism in this country is in crisis as a in Syria. result. Mann then spoke about the perpetual “[Voters] have no confidence that they’re inaction and adversiarial nature of Congress acting through voting and contributing and today, a result of what he participating in various called the “tribal war” would end up lead“Congress, of course, ways between two very polaring to some desirable ized political parties. always had low ratings, outcome, and for good “Everybody talks reason,” Mann said. but reaching single about dysfunctional poliMann added that tics,” Mann said. there are three sources of digits really took “They’re talking about an dysfunction in the federal some work.” absolute lack of public government: a mismatch support for the primary of the level of internal Thomas Mann institutions of our govunification within each ernment.” major party and the adverMann added that this inaction has lead sarial nature between them, the level of parto Congress’ current lack of popularity ity between each party and the discrepancy among voters. between how polarized each party is. “Congress, of course, always had low ratAccording to Mann, the Republican ings, but reaching single digits really took party has become an insurgent outlier — some work,” Mann said. “People are rejecting institutions that have been in place amazed: ‘How could Congress be approved by only nine percent of the public?’ My See POLITICS page 4