INDEPENDENT SINCE 1880
The Corne¬ Daily Sun Vol. 132, No. 22
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 2015
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ITHACA, NEW YORK
16 Pages – Free
Science
Arts
Sports
Weather
To The Moon
Scintillating Cinema
Race to the Top
Sunny HIGH: 77º LOW: 50º
Students led by Prof. Mason Peck design a satellite for a NASA contest in hopes of sending it to space. | Page 8
Daniel Fayad ’18, discusses how Baumbach tries to reach a larger audience in his new film, Mistress America. | Page 10
Women’s cross country took first place at the Yellowhacket invitational this past weekend. | Page 16
Cornellians Urge Change in Campus Sex Culture By YUN SOO KIM Sun Staff Writer
In light of the recently released results of the Association of American Universities sexual assault study, administrators and students stressed the need for a greater change in campus culture regarding the issues. “As President [Elizabeth] Garrett stated in her message to the community, even one instance of sexual assault is one too many,” said Ryan Lombardi, vice president for student and campus life, and Mary Opperman, vice president for human resources, in a joint-statement. “Sexual harassment and violence have no place in our community.” The administrators, referring to a campus-wide email sent by Garrett concerning the results of the survey on Monday, stressed that while Cornell has “devoted substantial attention and resources” to combating sexual assault, more work needs to be done. “We are focused on “We must stay focused on this improving our climate, and issue, and undersee these results as addi- stand and respond tional information to add to to what our students and others are saywhat we already know.” ing,” they said. In regards to Ryan Lombardi and Mary Opperman changing Cornell’s climate, Lombardi and Opperman said the campus “needs to start upstream by fostering a sense of community and challenging traditional student social interactions that create a risky climate.” “We will continue to work closely with campus resources — including the LGBT Resource Center, Women’s Resource Center, Gannett Health Services and other organizations — to clearly identify any and all issues these students, as well as faculty and staff, may be facing,” they said. Despite the low response rate of 19 percent of Cornell students, both Lombardi and Opperman said the results of
the survey still hold importance. “We would have preferred a higher response as it is important that every student voice be heard on this issue. But we take these results seriously,” they said, adding that the survey, combined with meetings with Cornellians from across campus, will be considered in future conversations. “We are focused on improving our climate, and see these results as additional information to add to what we already know. We also hope that an increasing number of
students will use these surveys, as well as Council on Sexual Violence Prevention and other student organizational meetings, to make their voices heard,” they added. Students Respond
Vrinda Shukla ’17 said she was “surprised by the amount of people who reported witnessing a drunk[en] See SURVEY page 4
The Pope is dope
DOUG MILLS / THE NEW YORK TIMES
President Obama and Pope Francis laugh upon the pope’s arrival on the latter’s first-ever visit to the United States yesterday.
Student Wins Humor Prize for Bee Sting Research S.A.Fall Elections Rates pain of more than 100 stings on 25 different body parts See Higher Turnout By ISABEL LING
insects on a scale of zero to four. “Humor is really important in science,” Smith said. “Nobody should be Many people vividly remember their taking themselves too seriously. It’s a first bee sting, but Michael Smith grad good way to get people interested and will be sure to remember the more than encourages people to explore new 100 stings he experienced stuff.” all over his body from his Smith, who is a graduate skull to his penis, which student in neurobiology and eventually yielded his Ig behavior, said his research on Nobel Prize. honeybee stings intended to Last Thursday, Smith study the pain levels of stings received The Ig Nobel Prize, in correlation to location on which honors humorous the human body. scientific research that “first Working with Schmidt makes you laugh, then to determine which parts of SMITH GRAD think.” The award presentathe body to test, Smith said tions are a parody of the Nobel Prizes he had honeybees sting him on 25 body and often feature real Nobel Laureates parts three times, rating the pain on a awarding Ig Nobels to researchers. scale from one to 10. Clad in a honeybee costume, Smith According to Smith’s report, the received the Entomology and body parts where stings hurt the least Physiology Prize along with his collab- were the skull, middle toe tip and upper orator Justin Schmidt, the creator of arm, which all scored a 2.3, whereas the the Schmidt Pain Index, which mea- body parts that hurt the most were the sures the pain of stings from different nostril, upper lip and the penis shaft, Sun Contributor
scoring a 9.0, 8.7 and 7.0 respectively. Smith, who first became interested in honeybees while beekeeping in high school, said, “I’ve been working with honeybees for 10 years, so being stung is just a part of the work. As a scientist, when there’s a question, I have to go through with it in order to get an answer.” In addition, he added that he chose honeybees because they scored in the middle range of Schmidt’s Pain Index. “I just fell in love with [the honeybees],” Smith said. “They’re a really cool superorganism. They’re all individuals, but they’re working as one.” Through this study, Smith concluded that location is a reliable predictor of pain when it comes to stings. When not working on his research, Smith said he is an active member of the Beekeeping Club and Cornell Garden Plots. Isabel Ling can be reached at igl3@cornell.edu.
By MADELINE COHEN Sun Assistant News Editor
With the highest voter turnout for Fall Student Assembly elections in the past three years, four freshman — Dustin Liu ’19, Varun Devatha ’19, Miranda Kasher ’19 and Paul Russell ’19 — and one transfer representative — Jordan Chessin ’18 were elected Tuesday. According to the Office of Assemblies, 44.6 percent of the combined freshman and sophomore classes voted in this fall’s SA elections, an increase from last year’s 39.7 percent turnout and greater still than the 37.1 percent of 2013. Eighteen candidates ran for these five positions — 16 for four freshman representative positions and two ran for one transfer position. Liu received 691 votes, the most in the freshman race, followed by Devatha, who received 478, Kasher, who received 366, and Russell, who received 346. Chessin received 86 of the 138 transfer votes. The new representatives expressed a range of goals they hope to achieve as new members of the See S.A. page 4