ONE SHOT CAREER TIES DOUBLING UP Los Angeles intern Alumni weekend Sisters use chemistry on court describes singing gives students the to set tone for women’s tennis at American Idol opportunity to team, page 23 audition, page 13 network, page 10 Thursday Ithaca, N.Y. September 30, 2010 The Ithacan Volume 78, Issue 6 International student level remains low BY MIKE MCCABE CONTRIBUTING WRITER While the number of interna- tional students enrolling in U.S. colleges and universities is in- Back creasing nationwide, growth in international enrollment at Ithaca on College is at a relative standstill. In total, about 586,000 foreign students studied in the U.S. last year, an increase track from 568,000 the previous Ruling restores funds year, according for stem cell research to visa figures from the U.S. — for now I m m i g r at i o n and Customs Enforcement’s Cornell University staffer Christian Abratte takes a closer look at animal cells through a microscope MAU G IRE said Student and Sept. 21 in the Cornell Stem Cell Lab. Research at the lab could be affected by fluctuating federal funds. the college is CLAUDIA PIETRZAK/THE ITHacaN reaching out to Exchange Visi- foreign countries. tor Information System. BY KELSEY FOWLER embryos — most of which are given for research But over the past four years, STAFF WRITER purposes from the donor or would otherwise be the undergraduate international University researchers still face an uncertain thrown out as medical waste. The cells are char- population at the college has shift- future as the debate over human embryotic stem acterized by their ability to change into any kind ed from a high of 156 students in cell research funding continues. of cell type in the body and therefore can be used the fall of 2006 to a low of 111 in The U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the to regenerate and repair tissue, according to the the fall of 2009. Since 2007 the District of Columbia permanently suspended National Institutes for Health, the organization number of international students an Aug. 23 injunction Tuesday that had brought that distributes most of the federal funding to re- enrolled at the college has hovered federal funding for the research to a halt. Re- searchers, including universities. around 2 percent, according to the searchers had been able to resume work with Scientists who work with human embryonic college’s enrollment reports. stem cells in early September when the issued stem cells have faced a tumultuous year — from This academic year, 121 inter- injunction was temporarily lifted, but the federal President Barack Obama allowing federal re- national students made up about appeals court, which is currently reviewing the search funding that had been limited during the Bacterial fluids are placed into a petri dish 2 percent of the undergraduate case, could rule to block funding once again. for a Cornell Stem Lab experiment. See STEM CELLS, page 4 student population and repre- CLAUDIA PIETRZAK/THE ITHacaN Human embryonic stem cells are derived from sent 55 different countries. The college is responding to the lagging enrollment levels of international students by plac- ing more emphasis on attracting COLLEGE ACCEPTANCE RATES IN 2009 foreign students, Eric Maguire, IC scores well among 140 vice president of enrollment Based on the Common Data Set used by management, said. national organizations like the College Board Maguire said the college is less selective schools 100% aiming to increase its visits to 94% countries like China and India, the BY AARON EDWARDS was at about 69 percent. 84% 83% NEWS EDITOR two largest exports of foreign stu- “Our acceptance rate historically 75% *79% dents, according to a Chronicle of EqualApp, a virtual counseling has been somewhere in the 60-some- Higher Education report. service that provides tools for pro- thing percent [range],” Maguire said. Currently, the college sends spective college students, ranked “I’m a little surprised EqualApp used admissions officers about once Ithaca College as one of the 10 best one year of data to generate that list 50% every two years, Maguire said. U.S. colleges with acceptance rates as opposed to looking at a running “There are enhanced efforts in of more than 70 percent. five-year average.” recruitment already underway,” But EqualApp’s ranking comes Stephen Friedfeld, EqualApp 25% Maguire said. “It’s an expanded after a year of over-enrollment prob- COO and a Cornell University grad- The Evergreen University University Ithaca recruitment philosophy that we lems that put the college at 25 percent uate, said the college made the list State College of Colorado of Iowa College control internally.” over its target enrollment. based on factors including the prom- The primary reason for the Last year’s incoming freshman inence of its liberal arts programs *The Common Data Set reported Ithaca College’s 2009 acceptance rate as SOURCE: COMMON DATA SET increase in international students class marked the first time in 10 years and efforts to promote sustainability 4 percent higher than the college’s reported acceptance rate of 75 percent. DESIGN BY COLLEEN LOWERY studying in the U.S. is the stron- that the college had an admission rate on campus. ger global prestige of American that exceeded 70 percent, making it “EqualApp doesn’t recommend former over-enrollment. students showed up this year. We schools as compared to foreign an eligible institution for EqualApp’s that students only look at colleges Tom Moore, spokesman for the think that speaks very well the to ones. The U.S. has become the list only once. that have a 15 percent or lower ad- University of Iowa, another college reputation of the university.” most popular destination for in- The list ranks colleges based on mit rate and think, ‘Oh, these are on the list, said his university has Maguire said the ranking, how- ternational students, according to geography, academics, social data and the only good colleges,’” he said. been aiming to increase enrollment ever, has its benefits and setbacks the Chronicle. popularity with college review orga- “There’s a great college out there over the past few years, so getting for the college’s reputation. Junior Romi Ezzo, a health nizations like the Princeton Review. for everyone.” on the list was not much of a sur- “It’s sort of a double-edged sciences major from Kuwait, The college accepted about 59 Since its release, the list has prise to him. sword in terms of the distinction said studying in America is a percent of its applicants in 2008. been picked up by a variety of news “Our original plan was to add in that it’s nice to be recognized common trend in his country. In 2009, the college accepted about sources, including Yahoo! News. roughly 100 students to the stu- for the quality of the institution,” He said the majority of his peers 75 percent. This year, however, Eric The attention brought about by the dent body per year over the next he said. “At the same time, being decided to study away from Maguire, vice president of enroll- list could serve the college in many five years,” he said. “But our efforts known for a higher acceptance rate ment management, said the college’s different ways, Maguire said, but succeeded beyond our wildest ex- is not the most impressive thing in See FOREIGN, page 4 acceptance rate for the class of 2014 still draws notice to the college’s pectations and almost 500 [extra] the entire world.” find more. online. www.theithacan.org [THURSDAY BRIEFING] 2 The Ithacan Thursday, September 30, 2010 Nation&World Threat of attack alarms Europe and threatening to destroy rival South Korea. European security officials said yesterday Analysts see little prospect of that strat- a terror plot to wage Mumbai-style shooting egy changing, though some speculate that sprees in Britain, France and Germany is still ac- Pyongyang could seek a period of calm — tive and that sites in Pakistan — where the threat after a turbulent past two years — to mini- was intercepted two weeks ago — are being mize confrontation with the outside world as scoured for al-Qaida operatives. it enters a time of transition in its top ranks. Theplot was still in its early stages and not This week’s elevation of Kim Jong Il’s young- considered serious enough to raise the current est son, Kim Jong Un, as a four-star general and terror threat level, officials said. Still, the Eiffel to a key position in the ruling communist party Tower in Paris was briefly evacuated Tuesday, at a political convention, signaled that the little- for the second time in the past week, because known 20-something is on track to eventually of an unspecified threat, and police were on succeed his 68-year-old father, who is believed alert in Britain and France. to have suffered a stroke in 2008. The announcement came ahead of the Underscoring Kim Jong Il’s intent to usher anniversary of the Prophet Muhammad the dynasty into a third generation was the cartoons published in a Danish newspaper promotion of his 64-year-old sister, Kim Kyong and as Spanish authorities announced they Hui, to the same military rank and into the par- had arrested a U.S. citizen of Algerian origin ty’s political bureau. She is married to another on suspicion of financing al-Qaida’s North key member of North Korea’s ruling elite, Jang African affiliate. Song Thaek, who holds the No. 2 position on Mohamed Omar Debhi, 43, was arrested the powerful National Defense Commission, Tuesday, though the Interior Ministry of Spain led by Kim Jong Il.