2015 Holiday Gift Guide Inside INDEPENDENT SINCE 1880
The Corne¬ Daily Sun Vol. 132, No. 67
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 2, 2015
!
ITHACA, NEW YORK
16 Pages – Free
News
Science
Sports
Weather
Fight for Food
Powerful Polymers
Slam Dunk
Showers HIGH: 48º LOW: 34º
Proponents for Anabel’s Grocery held a panel to affirm the existence of food insecurity on campus. | Page 3
Prof. William Dichtel, chemistry, discusses potential uses for covalent organic frameworks. | Page 10
The women’s basketball team will host Towson University today and hope to improve their record. | Page 16
INSIDE THE J.A.’S OFFICE
Report Slams Judicial Administrator Office
J.A.under fire for lack of published misconduct statistics, increased use of temporary suspensions By REBECCA BLAIR
the University’s disciplinary practices merit attention.
Sun Assistant News Editor
How Did We Get Here?
At the conclusion of the 2014-2015 academic year, Editor’s Note: This is the first part of a two-part series Amanda Minikus J.D. ’15, who was then ending her examining the Cornell disciplinary system. Over the past decade, the number of temporary one-year term as JCC, released the first ever JCC Annual Report. In it, she suspensions used in alleged that the J.A.’s Administrator Judicial investigations has “Some information in the report is misleading office, understaffed and overloaded with cases, increased by 350 percent, and lacking appropriate context, giving was mismanaging investhe number of suspensions tigations, underreporton the merits of a case has community members a false impression ... ” ing its numbers and increased by 333 percent interpreting University and the number of expulJCC Annual Report codes in a way that sions has increased sevenreduced students’ fold. However, the number of referrals sent to the Office of the J.A. in the acade- rights. The report focused extensively on University Policy mic year 2013-14 was very similar to the number sent 10 years prior, seeing only a slight rise from 812 in 6.4, a modification to the Code of Conduct governing prohibited discrimination, protected-status harassment, 2004 to 862 in 2014. While the J.A. attributes these trends to an increase sexual harassment and sexual assault and violence. In her in serious cases, the law students tasked with represent- report, Minikus said lengthy investigations and haphazing students in J.A. proceedings, known as Judicial Codes Counselors, contend that recent developments in See JCC page 5
DATA FROM THE ANNUAL REPORT FROM THE JUDICIAL ADMINISTRATOR FOR THE ACADEMIC YEAR 2013-2014
Upward and onward | A graph shows the number of temporary suspensions, suspension based on merit and expulsions imposed on Cornell students over the past decade.
I.C. Students Vote U.A. Votes to Create Gender Inclusive Restrooms ‘No Confidence’ By ZACHARY KAPLAN
Sun Staff Writer
By GABRIELLA LEE Sun News Editor
Ithaca College students have voted “no confidence” in President Tom Rochon, with 71.75 percent of the over 3,700 students who voted, expressing no confidence, according to The Ithacan. The vote of no confidence comes after I.C. was rocked this semester by student and faculty protests that demanded Rochon step down due to his alleged mishandling of several race related incidents on campus. Following events that included a Oct. 8 college panel, when two I.C. alumni referred to a black alumna as a “savage,” and a “Preps & Cooks” themed party hosted by the Alpha Epsilon Pi fraternity, students accused Rochon of a delayed response to the events. Student organization POC@IC planned numerous rallies and protests in response to the events, even storming the stage at a meeting Rochon attended. Ithaca College’s protests drew national attention when hundreds of students and faculty members staged a walkout Nov. 11, demanding Rochon’s resignation. According to The Ithacan, the vote was sent to 6,907 students, with 3,756 students See ITHACA COLLEGE page 4
The University Assembly voted 9-0 to expand restroom accommodations for members of Cornell’s transgender community and discussed increasing student and faculty representation in administrative discussions on Cornell’s sustainability policy in a meeting Tuesday. The resolution, which was presented by U.A. executive committee member Ulysses Smith ’14, calls for the
conversion of single person bathrooms to be “gender inclusive” and urges Cornell to pursue a formal policy or issue a statement that says “all people can use the restroom that coincides with the gender to which they identify.” If the resolution is approved by President Elizabeth Garrett, all single person bathrooms at the University would be converted to be “all gender inclusive” by the beginning of the fall 2016 semester, given that it is permitted by law, according to Smith.
MICHAELA BEW / SUN SPORTS PHOTOGRAPHY EDITOR
Talk it out | The University Assembly met yesterday to discuss “all gender inclusive” restrooms and climate change initiatives to take hold next year.
The U.A. then voted to take action in January to create a mechanism to appoint individuals to represent the interests of students and faculty members in senior-level University discussions on sustainability policies and climate change. Faculty representative Prof. Martin Hatch, music, prompted this vote, arguing that the University has been active enough in shaping Cornell’s climate change policy. Hatch cited the weakness of the U.A.’s sustainability committee, which was created in 2007, and the exclusivity of today’s Senior Leaders Climate Action group in his complaint that the Cornell community has not taken meaningful steps toward addressing sustainability issues. Hatch suggested that the U.A. seek to include more diverse viewpoints in Cornell’s Senior Leaders Climate Action Group — which is currently composed of deans, vice-presidents and other campus leaders — according the Cornell Climate Change website. In response to Hatch’s proposals, U.A. chair Matthew Battaglia ’16 said the Senior Leaders Climate Action Group will meet later this week to discuss including more members of the Cornell community in their policy discussions. Zachary Kaplan can be reached at zkaplan@cornellsun.com.