Ithaca College Digital Commons @ IC The thI acan, 2008-09 The thI acan: 2000/01 to 2009/2010 4-30-2009 The thI acan, 2009-04-30 Ithaca College Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.ithaca.edu/ithacan_2008-09 Recommended Citation Ithaca College, "The thI acan, 2009-04-30" (2009). The Ithacan, 2008-09. 23. http://digitalcommons.ithaca.edu/ithacan_2008-09/23 This Newspaper is brought to you for free and open access by the The thI acan: 2000/01 to 2009/2010 at Digital Commons @ IC. It has been accepted for inclusion in The thI acan, 2008-09 by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ IC. OPINION STUDENTS SHOULD HAVE MORE INPUT, PAGE 12 BACK TO THE DIAMOND ACCENT PROFESSORS STRESS FASHION AND STYLE, PAGE 15 Senior infi elder returns for fi nal season, page 27 PHOTO FINISH BLUE AND GOLD TOP HARTWICK, PAGE 32 Thursday Ithaca, N.Y. April 30, 2009 The Ithacan Volume 76, Issue 28 College gathers Hidden in the to remember life promisedland of active student BY ELIZABETH SILE Migrant workers in Central New York NEWS EDITOR More than 100 students, faculty, staff choose lives of loneliness and fear and community members gathered at Muller Chapel yesterday to mourn the loss of junior Andrea Morton. Morton passed away yesterday morn- ing because of a sudden medical condi- tion. Dave Maley, asso- ciate director of media relations, said Morton went to the Health Center last Th ursday when she fi rst felt ill. She was transported to Cayuga Medical Center and then on Friday was transferred MORTON passed from CMC to SUNY away suddenly Upstate Medical Uni- yesterday morning at the hospital. versity Hospital in Syracuse, N.Y., where she passed away. Morton, a clinical health studies major and resident assistant in Emerson Hall, Migrant workers on New York’s farms face uncertainty as the U.S. government’s was recently honored with the Peggy R. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency cracks down in the area. Williams Award for Academic and Com- PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY ALLISON USAVAGE munity Leadership. She was a member of the Physical Th erapy Association, Oracle BY ERIN GEISMAR the United States you have to be stronger.” keep walking.” Society and Ithaca College Chorus. She EDITOR IN CHIEF He would keep saying that again and again. It’s another two hours through miles and was also an active member of the Vineyard Blood mixes with sand, and with every “Th ink about how much money you’ve al- miles of sand when the guide lets them stop for Church of Ithaca. painful step Román takes, it feels like he might ready spent,” he continues. Román thinks about a 20-minute rest. It’s 5 a.m. now; the sun will Maley said her death was not related to as well be taking one back. Ahead of him there money all the time. About how much he’s spent be out soon, and they’ll be forced to fi nd hiding the swine fl u outbreak. is a line of people. In the cold darkness of trying to get to America — so far, he was down for the day. Th ere are three others, like Román, On the tiered steps in Muller Chapel, the desert at night, a group of 15 trudges on almost $1,000. But he thought about how much who are hurt and having trouble walking. friends gathered to share their stories and diligently, though a few, Román included, are he hoped to make when he got there. When they stop, the guide hands out salve to memories of Morton, who many said was faltering. His shoes are broken, the sand leaks “Th ink about how much you’ve already rub on their trembling knees. He gives out pills selfl ess, jovial and always smiling. through, weighing his steps. His toes have been suff ered,” he says. Th is is their third night in for the pain. For the weak, he has some sort Senior Ara Eckel, a fellow RA and rubbing together for hours, and two toenails the desert, coming from Guatemala, crossing of juice; it’s for energy, he says, but it’s wasted friend, said Morton excelled in all she did dig their way into the fl esh of other toes. He’s Mexico and aiming for Arizona. Th ey walk on them. Th ere are just a few things that could — athletics, academics and as an RA. bleeding, he’s hungry, and he’s tired. Th e food from dusk until dawn and hide during the day. rejuvenate them — a real meal, water, uninter- “She was always happy and the rea- is gone. Th e water is gone. He can’t keep walk- Th ey rest as little as possible. Last night, they rupted sleep and the fear of being caught. son was that she never stopped living ing. He stops and puts his hands to his knees; ran out of supplies, but earlier they found a Th at’s when they hear it. Th ere’s a helicopter life,” he said. “Everything that she could they’re throbbing now. When he walks he feels patch of land where cows had grazed, and coming toward them. It’s still far enough away do, she did it. And she did it to the fullest. bowlegged. He hangs his head low. they drank the water that was left behind. It that they can’t see its lights, but they hear the … Th at confi dence at such a young age is “If you keep walking like this we’re never was the only thing they’d consumed today. buzzing of the circling blades, slicing through something to admire.” going to get there,” the guide yells back from “Well, staying here in the desert will Senior Josh Giordano, an RA in Em- the front of the line. “If you want to make it to be much worse,” he says. “You have to See IMMIGRANTS, page 4 erson, said he will remember Morton most for her compassion. He said for his birthday a few weeks ago, when Morton was sick, she decorated a seat for him at Local papers consolidate an RA staff meeting with balloons and a sign that read, “Th is is reserved for the birthday boy.” BY ERIN GEISMAR just design decisions. To minimize “She made a dessert for me [even] af- EDITOR IN CHIEF costs in an economy that has proven ter she’d missed a couple days of school, In their nearly 200-year-old deadly for the newspaper industry, and she was not in peak condition,” building on West State Street, just the Journal, Th e Elmira Star-Gazette Giordano said. “It made my day, and it a few Ithaca Journal editors are and Th e Binghamton Press & Sun- was awesome.” working in the back of the dimly Bulletin — three separate Gannett Morton, a music minor, was known for lit offi ce. Sunday evenings are typi- newspapers that cover three “very having a moving voice. cally slow, said Tom Fleischman, diff erent” communities — have now “Whenever she was on offi ce duty you a 25-year veteran of the Journal, centralized a large aspect of produc- could always hear her playing or singing but, he admits, empty desks are a tion into one offi ce in Vestal, N.Y. along to [music],” he said. “You could just growing trend. Th e recession has worsened a walk past her room, and you would al- It was a transition night. On problem that started with a shift in ways hear her singing. … It just showed Monday morning, the Ithaca Journal the way people consume the news how happy she was.” would look diff erent, as described — circulation continues to decline From left, Bruce Estes, managing editor of the Ithaca Journal, and Tom Brian McAree, vice president of stu- by Managing Editor Bruce Estes’ though Web page hits are up. But the Fleischman, a 25-year veteran of the paper, sit in the newsroom Sunday. dent aff airs and campus life, said Morton’s front-page column that day and in digital news model has yet to help SARAH GANZHORN/THE ITHACAN death is a loss to the community. columns that ran over the previous advertising revenue, which newspa- “We have just lost an incredible young three Saturdays. pers need to survive. Just this year, papers were merged into one re- tor David Hill said the idea is to keep woman who was a valued member of the In his column, Estes mentions a at least 120 newspapers have folded, gional paper, Th e Journal-News. the fi nal product as close to what Ithaca College community,” he said. “Our new, cleaner-looking nameplate and according to Paper Cuts, a Web site Fleischman, one of the longest- readers expect of the Journal. hearts and prayers go out to her family, her a new home for features like weath- that tracks newspaper closings, buy- working people in the newsroom, “It’s not really three editions of friends, her faculty and her fellow students er, lottery numbers, obituaries and outs and layoff s. said when he started, there about the same paper,” he said. “It really is at this very diffi cult time. We will keep ev- local and state news, all of which Gannett used a similar consoli- a dozen full-time reporters. Now three separate papers.” erybody in our prayers.” were moved by just a page or two. dation strategy in the Westchester, there’s a small fraction of that. Anyone needing support can call the But the changes are more than N.Y., area in 1988.