NEED COMPUTER ACCESS? Mann Ubrary opens a 'course-free' computer lab for stUdents,students, relievingrelieVing some congestion on the information superhighway. A DAY AT THE FAIR The governor honors retiring Dean David L. Call, and President Rawlings tours Cornell exhibits at the State Fair. Returning Cornell students register online, not in line By Larry Bernard cally by computer, and from wherever they students may take advantage of enhanced line. Then, they would have to go elsewhere are, even from their homes. features that eliminate the need for valida­ to clear up the hold and return again to lines Students returning to Cornell face regis­ Cornell offices ofStudent and Academic tion stickersstickers. on their ID cards. Charlayne for registration. tration with about the same enthusiasm as Services, University Registrar, Bursar, Fi­ Beavers ofthe University Registrar's office But now,now,""JustJu t the Facts" on BearAccess they do a surprise exam. But this year,they nancial Aid and Student Employment, with is project manager of the "Just the Facts" shows whetherthey are registeredregi tered or ifthere have a welcome surprise: They can register staff from Cornell Information[nformation Technolo- Management Team. is a "hold" on their eligibility. Bear Access online instead of in line. gies/Informationgies/lnformation Resources (CIl)(CIT) and its In the past, continuing studentsstudent - stu­tu­ is the Internet-based suite of network ser­er­ Responding to student needs, a team of Project Mandarin Inc. team, have worked dents returning for another semester - had vicesforinformationandaccevices for information and accesssonon coursecourses,, staff members from several Cornell units together to improve students' access to their to wait in line to get a sticker on their ID the World WideWeb, news and chat groups, has improved the process students mustmu t go accounts, both academic and financial. cards showing they were registered. Ifthere the library catalog and other databases. through to pick and choose courses and to Using "Just the Facts," the more than was a "hold" on their registration - for "Students can log on to any computer register. No longer do continuing students 2-year-old user-based service that lets stu­ unpaid bills, unpaid tuition, academic, health wherever they are and look up their registra­ have to wait in long queues to check if they dents view information about their Cornell or disciplinary reasons - they would not tion status," said David S. Yeh, assiassistanttant vice are registered- now they can do it electronelectroni-i- status on the Bear AccessAcce s menu, returning have known that until they were through the Continued on page 2 Rawlings and freshmen enter 'new frontier' By Dennis Shin '96 HavingHavi ng moved into dorm rooms the day before, new students poured into Barton Hall on Saturday to hear President Hunter RawlingsgreetRawlings greet the entering class 00,200 freshmen and their families during the university's traditional Convocation cer­ emony. A highlight ofthe annual orienta­ tion program for new students, the president's address officially welcomed the Class of 1999 to campus. Comparingthe new Cornellians to pio­ neers standing "at the edge of a new frontier full of promise," Rawlings em­ phasized the importance of students tak­ ing an active role in shaping the course of their education. "It is not enough to be here soaking up knowledge in lecture halls. You have to be more than a sponge."advised Rawlings. He encouraged students to immerseimmer e themselves in the rich and vibrant intel­ Adriana RO~'ersIUni"ersityRo~ersJUnl\'er lIy Photography lectual environment that Cornell provides.provide. President Hunter Rawlings converse.converses with students at the President'.President's Reception on the Arts Quad Aug. 27. Describing the university as "a place of great popossibilitiessibilities and yet paradoxes,"paradoxe ," Rawlings invited students to explore their self to the entering frosh and shared hishi affected by it from the very beginning as intellectual vitality on campus and new home in such ways as attending lec­ own experience of arriving at and adapt­ Elizabeth and I have been," he said. strengthening the bondsbond between teach­ tures, volunteering in the community and ingingtoto Cornell. Citingsuchuch ritesofpassage Oneofhis chiefpriorities as university ing and research. participating in extracurricular activities.activitie . as scaling the infamous Libe Slope and president, Rawlings announced at Con­ La!Lastly,t1y, Rawlings assured the entering IfRawlings appeared to speak with the strollingthrough the Plantations, hespoke vocation, will be to enhance Cornell's class that his door would always be open. bright-eyed enthusiasm ofa Cornell fresh­ ofthe numerous ways in which he and his reputation as a university that "puts stu­ He stressed the importance of maintain­ man, perhaps it was because, in a number wife spent their first weeks here getting dents firs!."firsl."DemonDemonstratingtrating his dedication ing clearlines ofcommunication between of ways, he is one. Having succeeded acquainted with the university. to the scholarly development ofstudents, students,tudents, faculty and the administration. President Frank H.T. Rhodes thisthi sum­ "Theintellectual energy ofthis place is he asked them to join him in an educa­ He promised to keep in close contact with mer, Rawlings jokingly compared him- contagious - and I[ hope you will be as tional partnership aimed at improving the Continued on page 4 Birds offer clues to human family dynamics, biologist Emlen finds we understand when biological tendencies gists and anthropologists will have trouble long evolutionary history of living in ex­ By Roger Segelken are working against us, we can sometimes with the notion that many of our most cru­ tended family groups."group .n Each time the story ofa stepfather or a intervene and effect a better outcome." ciallifecial life decisions are influenced by natural Emlen's Prediction 9 - based on numer­ new boyfriend harming his mate's chil­ Emlen spent more than 10 years study­ rules-rules-rulesrules that were molded by evolution­ ous animal studies but proved almost daily dren hits the headlines, one Cornell bi­ ing the organizational structure and social ary forces during our pre-industrial history by human affairs - states that "replacement ologist is not surprised. interactions of birds that live in complex, of living as hunter-gatherers. breeders (as step-parents are known) will Stephen T. Emlen, author ofa new theory extended families before he issued 15 pre­ "["I don't disagree that human behavior is inveinvestt less in existingexi ting offspring than will of family social dynamics that explains the dictions that may be applied to human fam­ stronglytrongly shaped by our current cultural en­ biological parents." The prediction adds.add , evolutionary roots ofbehaviorssuch as infan­ ilyaffairs. vironment," Emlen said. "But we have "They may infanticidally kill current young ticide, has seen bird families act similarly. The 15 predictions and Emlen's "Evolu­ much more to draw on. Humans also pos­ when such action speeds the occurrence, or "As horrible as it seems, infanticide for tionary Theory ofthe Family" are published sess a set of biologically based predisposi­predi posi­ otherwise increases the successuccess,, of their the perpetrator can be ·adaptive''adaptive' in the evo­ in the Aug. 29 issue ofthe journal Proceed­ tions for interacting with relatives. That own reproduction." Replacement breedersbreeder lutionary sense," said Emlen, professor of ings ofthe NatiollalNational Academy ofSciences. biological heritage is based on flexible deci­dcci- do not gain a fitness benefit when they help neurobiology and behavior. "However, if He expects that somesociologists, psycholo- sionion rules that were adaptive during our Continued on page 6'6- 2 August 31, 1995 Cornell Chronicle BRIEFSRIEFS Community welcome • CampuCampus Club: The CornellCornelJ CampusCampu Club illilJ break \\ ith tradition next week hen it l pen the year with~ ith a morning offeeotic in.in.teadtead of the uualu,ual FallFalJ Tea. The offeeoffcc \\ ill take place ept. 7 from]from 100 a.m. to nm n ,Itat th"th heratonh raton Inn & onference C nter,nt r, adpcemadjaceOi to the Triphammer Plaza. 1Thhe club'sdub', newne\\ honorary president, Eliza­ hbethth Trapnell Rawlings,Rawling., wife\\ife of Cornell Pre,identPre. idcnt Hunter Rawlings, wilJwill be present tllto grcetthoegreet those attending. During the coffee, guestsgue.1. may join CampusCampu Club and 'ignign up for it·it manyman) activity and service'ervice groups.group..The duhc1uh alsoal. 0 sponsors a lecture series and sev­ev­ eral s(socialial eventse"enl. throughout the year. The Campuampu lub i. an organization open to \\\\omenm 'n in the Cornellom II community, includ­ ing tru.tru, tee,tee. facult),tacult), staff,taff, graduate tudent.tuden!. and theth . pausespou. of men in thesethe e categories. • EnglishEngli h teachers: Interested in help­ 109ing people from foreignfor ign countries associ­ atedat U with\\ith the Cornell community? The CornellomelJ CampusCampu Club has a program for AdrianoAdriana RO~'CTs!Unh'CTsityRovers/Univcrsity PhotographyPlrotography teateachinghing English as aeconda second language to Yukiko Matsuda, first-year graduate student from Japanmajoring in public affairs, talks with Richard DoigeDolge from per.onp r.on temporaril)temporarily 10in Ithaca. The classescia es the Tompkins County TNstTrust Co. on Aug. 25. Dozens ofmerchant,