INDEPENDENT SINCE 1880
The Corne¬ Daily Sun Vol. 131, No. 50
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2014
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ITHACA, NEW YORK
20 Pages – Free
Science
Arts
Sports
Weather
Global Disaster
What a Show
Shine Bright
Partly Cloudy HIGH: 54ºF LOW: 41ºF
A Cornell study found that the Southwest is at risk for megadroughts in the next century. | Page 12
Zachary Zahos ’15 urges critics to get over themselves — himself most of all. | Page 15
The Cornell men’s and women’s polo teams split their weekend sets. | Page 20
REPUBLICANS SEIZE CAPITOL HILL
Incumbent Rep.Tom Reed tops Robertson’75 to keep House seat By ANUSHKA MEHROTRA Sun News Editor
Incumbent Rep. Tom Reed (R-N.Y.) bested Democratic challenger Martha Robertson ’75 in the race for a seat in New York’s 23rd Congressional district Tuesday night. Reed claimed approximately 62.4 percent of the total votes counted at 1 a.m. Wednesday, defeating Robertson in a margin significantly larger than the 52-48 margin he eked against Ithacan Nate Shinagawa ’05 M.A. ’09 in 2012. In his victory speech at the Radisson Hotel Corning, Reed said he seeks to “solve” See REED page 5
TODD HEISLER / THE NEW YORK TIMES
Going red | Senator Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), current minority leader of the Senate, and his wife, Elaine Chao, celebrate his re-election to Senate. Tuesday’s results mark the first time in eight years Republicans took control of the Senate.
After Eight Years,GOP Regains Control of Senate WASHINGTON (AP) — Republicans claimed the Senate majority Tuesday for the first time in eight years, riding President Barack Obama’s unpopularity to victories in every part of the country. Republican challengers ousted Democratic senators in Arkansas, Colorado and North Carolina, and took seats from retiring Democrats in four other states. Equally important, Republicans held off spirited challengers in Kentucky, Georgia and Kansas, guaranteeing they will control both chambers of Congress for Obama’s final two years in office. In every contested race, Republicans tied their oppo-
nents to the president, whose fortunes have sagged since his re-election two years ago. Democrats awkwardly tried to distance themselves from Obama without denouncing him. Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, who won a sixth term Tuesday, was almost assured of being elected by his colleagues as majority leader, a lifelong dream. His party can send piles of legislation to Obama’s desk — for his signature or veto — on topics such as health care, environmental regulations and dozens of other issues. McConnell immediately warned Obama of coming confrontations. “For too long, this administration has tried
to tell the American people what’s good for them and then blame somebody else when their policies didn’t work out,” he told cheering fans. The final Senate partisan breakdown won’t be known until Dec. 6, when Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu of Louisiana will face Republican Rep. Bill Cassidy in a runoff. But the GOP’s majority was assured, regardless who wins there. A GOP-run Senate will be an obvious aggravation to Obama and congressional Democrats, but it’s unclear how See SENATE page 5
WCMC Faculty Member Target Olympic Swimmer to Speak InYale Sexual Harassment Scandal At Straight About Athletic Career By TALIA JUBAS Sun Staff Writer
A sexual harassment case at the Yale School of Medicine — where the victim of the harassment is a current assistant professor at Cornell — is surfacing after five years with new criticisms of the institution’s response to harassment, according to The New York Times. Yale’s former head of cardiology, Dr. Michael Simmons, allegedly “professed his love” and attempted to intervene in the personal relationship of Dr. Annarita Di Lorenzo, who relocated to Weill Cornell Medical College in 2011, where she currently serves as an assistant professor pathology and laboratory medicine, according to The Times. Simons has since “decided not to return” to his position after the incident, a Yale University spokesperson told The Times.
In February 2010, Simons — who is married — gave Di Lorenzo a handwritten love letter, written in Italian, according to The Times. Di Lorenzo rejected his advances, saying she found the letter “insulting” to his wife, her and her then-boyfriend. When Di Lorenzo moved to Cornell in 2011, her then-boyfriend and now-husband Dr. Frank Giordano stayed at Yale. According to the Times, Giordano claims that Dr. Simons stymied his career advancement following the incident. After Di Lorenzo and Giordano filed a formal complaint against Simons in 2013, Yale’s University-Wide Committee on Sexual Misconduct concluded that the cardiology chief had sexually harassed Di Lorenzo and “publicly derided” Dr. Giordano, though they See SCANDAL page 4
Will speak as part of Hillel Major Speaker Series
Minton ’15, chair of the committee. Minton said she hopes Spitz — the first athlete sponOlympic swimmer and sored by Hillel’s speaker nine-time gold medal series — will attract a winner Mark Spitz will “different” crowd than come to Cornell Nov. 17 prior speakers. to speak about his experi“He is our first athence on being the most lete,” Minton said. “We decorated athlete in believe that Spitz will Olympics history for over attract a different kind of 30 years. crowd and will generate a Spitz will be coming SPITZ lot of buzz in several comto the University as the second major speaker for the munities.” Hillel Major Speaker Series See OLYMPIC page 4 Committee, according to Rachel By ANUSHKA MEHROTRA
Sun News Editor