The Ithacan Thursday, December 1, 20 11
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Volume 79, Is s u e 1 2
Student vote lacks impact in election By shea o'meara
assistant accent editor
As the final absentee ballots for the 2011 Ithaca mayoral race are being tallied, new poll data shows that students in Ithaca haven't jumped on the bandwagon of local politics. The majority of students at Ithaca College and Cornell University did not choose to join permanent residents in casting a ballot in the City STEIN said she of Ithaca, but will expected more still be targeted students to come to vote in the up- out and vote. coming presidential election. Stephen DeWitt, Democratic commissioner of the Tompkins County Board of Elections, said the board is just finishing counting the absentee ballots and have found that the overall voter turnout is about 39 percent of total registered voters, slightly lower than the turnout for the last contested mayoral election. Dewitt said the board does not track student voters specifically, but said students tend to live in the 4th Ward in the City of Ithaca and in the 10th District in the Town of Ithaca. He said students did not account for much of the vote that put mayor-elect Svante Myrick in office. “It’s mainly permanent residents,” he said. “You do see a spike in involvement during presidential elections, but even though students do vote they don’t vote what I would call great numbers.” Junior Rob Flaherty, communications director for Myrick’s campaign, said Myrick visited the colleges early on to attract the student vote, but the campaign staff shifted gears to target more of the general public because the student vote would not drastically affect the turnout. In the last contested Ithaca mayoral election, which took place in 2003, only about 27 people between the ages of 18 and 24 voted, he said. “There’s a great myth that went around about the Svante Myrick campaign that we were shepherding college students in to register and affect the election," he said. "Realistically if the Myrick campaign had targeted young voters and only young voters we probably would have lost badly." Irene Stein, chair of the Tompkins County Democratic Committee, said she expected more students to vote because college students were involved in the campaigns, the election was highly contested and Myrick visited campuses to speak to students directly. “I don’t think it’s lower particularly
See turnout, page 4
Empty shelves Food stamps provide vital support for students in tough economy photo illustration by rachel orlow
By taylor long staff writer
Dwindling resources for food stamp programs have left Tompkins County residents hungry, filling pantry dining rooms and struggling to put food on the table. According to the New York State Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance, 8,762 county residents have collected food stamps in 2011, compared to 8,103 in 2010 and 6,766 in 2009. The trend isn’t limited to Tompkins County. Mark Dunlae, executive director of Hunger Action Network of New York, said the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program already struggles to meet the needs of New Yorkers. A proposed 2012 reauthorization of the Farm Bill, which funds food assistance and rural development, threatens to
cut programs by $23 billion. The SNAP program provides financially eligible shoppers with a supplemental EBT card to offset the cost of groceries. Patricia Carey, commissioner of Tompkins County Department of Social Services, said the bill might change who is eligible for food stamps or decrease the amount of benefits some SNAP recipients collect each month. Senator Kristen Gillibrand, D-N.Y., released a statement advocating for an increase in SNAP benefits and food pantry relief. “Hunger and food insecurity in New York have reached disturbing, historic highs, and food bank shelves have gone bare,” she said. “We must take immediate action to make sure we’re helping New York children and families
during these difficult times.” College students are among the record number of New York state’s impoverished, and are increasingly turning to food assistance programs. John Ward, director of homeless services at the Tompkins County Red Cross, said he attributes the rise in food stamp usage to the growing county poverty rate, which currently rests at 19 percent. Half of the county’s population below the poverty line is between 18 and 20 years old — a figure that Monika Roth, agriculture issues leader at the Cornell Cooperative Extension, said is skewed by local students. “If you look at poverty data, students fall into that group of people with low incomes because
See ASSISTANCE, page 4
Entrepreneurial contest inspires student innovation By ithacan staff Three student groups have been chosen as the first-place winners of Ithaca College’s first Business Idea Competition, sponsored by the School of Business, in the categories of web service, product and software. The Business Idea Competition is an event created to foster student learning outside the classroom by coming up with business proposals, with the added bonus of a financial incentive. Juniors Justin Lee and Michael Wehrhahn won for web service with RevoPT, a website that allows physical therapists to record personalized rehabilitation videos. Sophomore Shanshan Mei won the product category with Screen Cleaner, a portable screen cleaner for mobile electronics that is meant to be functional and fashionable. Senior Adiba Afros and sophomores Martin Cerny,
Dirty Dancing Students from the college strip in order to pay their bills, page 13
From left, sophomore Morgan Lemke moderates and senior Adiba Afros presents her group's software idea Nov. 10 in Emerson Suites.
courtesy of jake Tenenbaum
Adeesha Ekanayake and Morgan Lemke won the software category with traceIT, a mobile phone app that allows users to scan a barcode on their phone to
see if the product was produced in a socially ethical way, or if it contains ingredients that pose a health risk to the individual. Each of the winning teams
globe trot
Junior players bring experience overseas to men's basketball team, page 23 f ind m or e. onl ine. www.t heit hacan.org
received a $5,000 prize, and will be provided with up to an additional $5,000 if they decide to follow through with their business ventures. The other nine finalists will also receive a cash prize of lesser values based on their place won in each category. The contest was launched after Christopher Burch ’76, who began a successful start-up business by selling sweaters as a student during his time at the college, and Mary Ellen Zuckerman, dean of the School of Business, discussed ways they could provide more hands-on experiences for students. The competition was announced in October, which gave students about a month to develop their business ideas. Burch, who provided the $85,000 funds necessary for the competition, served as one of the three judges for the showcase which was held Nov. 10
See business, page 4
IN CHECK Students should balance personal and dollar value of education, page 10