INDEPENDENT SINCE 1880
The Corne¬ Daily Sun Vol. 131, No. 40
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2014
!
ITHACA, NEW YORK
16 Pages – Free
News
Arts
Sports
Weather
Renaissance Man
Smash Hit
On the Move
Showers HIGH: 50° LOW: 45º
Prof. Robert Lieberman M.S. ’65 is not only a physics professor, but also a novelist and filmmaker. | Page 3
Calvin Patten ’15 says the “genre-smashing” Transparent is Amazon’s first success in internet television. | Page 11
The swimming and diving team beat the University of Buffalo in a pre-season scrimmage Saturday. | Page 16
Endowment Breaks $6 Billion
For second consecutive year, return percentage hits double digits By ANNIE BUI Sun News Editor
Cornell announced Tuesday that it earned a return of 15.8 percent on its endowment during the 2014 fiscal year, marking a more than four-percent increase from fiscal year 2013. This figure stands in stark contrast to the University’s endowment return just two years ago, when Cornell saw only a 0.14 percent gain during the 2012 fiscal year. This is the second year in a row where Cornell saw a return in the double digits. Cornell’s endowment reached $6.2 billion, surpassing the $6-billion mark that it previously achieved in
fiscal year 2008, according to the University. In comparison, the value of Cornell’s long-term investments at the close of the 2013 fiscal year was $5.7 billion. The University attributed the significant increase in the value of its long-term investments to “careful management and generally favorable market conditions.” However, despite the increase in its endowment return, the University has seen the second-lowest endowment return among the Ivy League institutions for the third year in a row. This year, Cornell barely edged out Harvard University’s return of 15.4 percent. Yale University saw the greatest endowment return See ENDOWMENT page 4
DATA COMPILED BY ANNIE BUI / SUN NEWS EDITOR
Raising the bar | This graph shows endowment returns for fiscal year 2014 among Ivy League institutions, by percent.
Cornell,County Prepare Local Ebola Responses Cornellians split by mandated University travel restrictions to Western Africa By ASHLEY CHU Sun Staff Writer
K.K .YU / SUN STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Prevention is key | John Rudd (center), president and chief executive officer of Cayuga Medical Center, speaks at the Ebola media roundtable held at the Tompkins County Health Department Tuesday.
Cayuga Medical Center, Gannett plan for potential virus threat Prevention’s recently intensified Ebola guidelines may require the hospital to adopt additional measures. The new guidelines encourage hospitals to Officials say Tompkins County is preparing itself to face Ebola, despite the low risk the deadly have three sub-zones within all disease isolation areas — a green, yellow and red room — with the virus faces to the community. During a panel held Tuesday, representatives rooms’ codenames correlating directly with the potential of Ebola contaminafrom the Tompkins County according to Dr. David Health Department, Cayuga “The key is continuous tion, Evelyn, vice president of medMedical Center and the ical affairs at Cayuga Medical University said they are lookmonitoring of what is Center. ing into strengthening key According to Evelyn, a health measures to prepare for coming out of the CDC green room is a safe place for a potential incident. and New York State medical practitioners to put “A coalition of health care, on protective gear, the yellow academic and first responders is actively developing strategies Health Department to be room is a buffer between the area and contaminatfor to respond in the event of a on top of compliance.” doctor’s ed space and the red room confirmed case of Ebola in houses the infected patient. Tompkins County,” said Frank John Rudd He added some of the CDC’s Kruppa, public health director other suggestions include of the Tompkins County Health Department. “This coalition has been more intensive personal protective equipment for engaged in collaborative planning since August.” hospital workers and toilets in patient isolation According to Kruppa, Cayuga Medical Center rooms. already has protocols for handling communicable See PANEL page 4 diseases, but the Centers for Disease Control and
By ALEXA DAVIS Sun Senior Editor
Following the University’s announcement that travel restrictions would be placed on certain West African nations, several Cornellians said they supported Cornell’s decision. Administrators announced Thursday that it would be placing restrictions on University-related travel to West African nations under the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention travel warnings, which for Ebola currently includes Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. Shivang Tayal ’16, international liaison at large and vice president of diversity and inclusion for the Student Assembly, said he agreed with the University’s response to the Ebola crisis.
“While these restrictions may create inconveniences to people and students who need to travel from Ebola-affected regions, I feel these are required to ensure that this outbreak is contained and restricted,” he said. Prof. Jens David Ohlin, law, said he believes that the University’s response seems “appropriate,” in light of the appeal process for exceptions. Those who request exemption from the travel restrictions must fill out an International Travel Advisory and Response Team application form two to six weeks before their anticipated trip, according to the University. “The risk at Cornell is very low, just as it is across the United States,” Ohlin said. “However, we See ABROAD page 5
Happy birthday
KERN SHARMA / SUN STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Cafe Jennie, located in The Cornell Store, celebrates its first birthday Tuesday with cake and fruit punch for students.