Ithaca College Digital Commons @ IC The thI acan, 2008-09 The thI acan: 2000/01 to 2009/2010 12-11-2008 The thI acan, 2008-12-11 Ithaca College Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.ithaca.edu/ithacan_2008-09 Recommended Citation Ithaca College, "The thI acan, 2008-12-11" (2008). The Ithacan, 2008-09. 9. http://digitalcommons.ithaca.edu/ithacan_2008-09/9 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 ACTIVISM PROVIDES LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES, PAGE 10 NUTCRACKER RETURNS SPORTS TEAMS CROWD HILL CENTER FOR PRACTICE, PAGE 23 Ithaca Ballet reprises anticipated Christmas show, page 13 SPORTS SPRINTERS LEAD BOMBERS AT CORNELL RELAYS, PAGE 28 Thursday Ithaca, N.Y. December 11, 2008 The Ithacan Volume 76, Issue 14 Rochon hosts meeting with ALANA faculty BY LINDSEY HOLLENBAUGH ASSISTANT NEWS EDITOR What began as a miscommu- nication that left the voices of mi- nority faculty out of President Tom Rochon’s Academic Roundtable ended in a “historic meeting” be- tween the president and more than 20 ALANA faculty members Friday. Th e luncheon, where Rochon and Provost Kathleen Rountree met with African, Latino, Asian and Native American faculty members, was organized after these faculty members raised concerns when ap- pointees for the Academic Round- table were released Sept. 30. “I noticed that there was no fac- ulty of color, and it also didn’t seem that there were any international faculty,” said Asma Barlas, profes- HOUSING sor of politics and program director for the Center for the Study of Race, Senior Dave Newberg, a student living off Culture and Ethnicity. campus, points toward what he suspects Barlas said she then e-mailed is asbestos in his basement apartment. Rochon expressing her concerns. HEADACHES EVAN FALK/THE ITHACAN According to Rochon, no facul- ty members of color had submitted applications to him to be consid- Resources for help and support are available to students ered for the roundtable. “Th is was certainly something I noticed, and it was a disappoint- when faced with maintenance and housing issues off campus ment to me,” he said. BY KAYLA KLEIN a dangerous roommate to have — or his apartment last summer, he was unprofessional,” he said. “Th is wasn’t Rochon said the roundtable is CONTRIBUTING WRITER nothing to be worried about. met with unexpected diffi culties. something I was expecting to experi- an informal advisory and conver- Dave Newberg, a senior living off According to Linda Koenig, assis- “Th e deadlines weren’t met when ence when I moved off campus.” sation group. It will no longer exist campus, has a diff erent kind of living tant director of housing services and they said I could move into my unit John Graves, president of the South after this semester. situation than most. While looking at communication, 509 students live off in the summer,” Huber said. “I had to Hill Civic Association, said he wishes “It was just one way, among the pipes in his basement room one campus, some for the fi rst time. Th ey move into three diff erent units prior to students who live on South Hill would many ways, I was trying to get to day, Newberg noticed part of the insu- face everything from issues with land- getting my own because they weren’t take advantage of his group. Th e asso- know some faculty,” he said. lation was bulging out and damaged. lords to utility bills and maintenance. done with the construction.” ciation is a community organization In order to be considered for the He began to search the Internet After going back and forth be- During one of Huber’s moves in that students can use as a resource if group, faculty members were re- and found pictures of asbestos, a ma- tween his landlord and the City Build- the summer, he was given a two-day they are facing problems with their quired to send an e-mail directly to terial once used for insulation and ing Department, Newberg feels he is notice but couldn’t make the move landlords, but Graves said no students Rochon with a statement of interest known to cause cancer. without an advocate in his situation, date because he was on vacation. have come to express their concerns. and a brief description of their rele- Th is began Newberg’s struggle with but he is not alone. “Th ey had to move my stuff , and Students who moved off campus vant background and qualifi cations his landlord to fi nd out if the substance When Green Street resident se- I still get negative comments from they would add to the group. sharing his living space was asbestos — nior David Huber went to move into them because of this, which is very See APARTMENTS, page 4 ALANA member Raj Subrama- niam, associate professor for health promotion and physical education, later told Barlas that he had submit- ted his name for consideration de- Endowment drops $66 million in fi ve months spite what Rochon had said. When Subramaniam ques- BY DAVID DURRETT what we’ve been going through the The college’s endowment tioned the president about why his AND ELIZABETH SILE last several months,” he said. DRAMATIC DROP has risen steadily every application was not considered, it SENIOR WRITER AND NEWS EDITOR Th is drastic decline puts the col- 250 year since 2006. Since May was then they realized there was Th e college is facing a $66 million lege in a challenging position of re- 31, the end of the college’s 237 a miscommunication. loss to the value of its endowment as it building its endowment during dif- fi scal year, the endowment has dropped 28 percent “Dr. Subramaniam believed he fi cult economic times. dropped from $237 million in May to because of the economy had submitted an application but $171 million as of Oct. 30. While economic conditions could and the stock market. he sent it to a fellow faculty mem- According to Carl Sgrecci, vice discourage people from making do- 206 ber rather than to me,” Rochon said. president of fi nance and administra- nations to colleges, the college is ac- “Th ough it was forwarded to me, I tion, even though the college lost 28 cepting alternatives in order to enable 200 didn’t recognize it as an application percent of its endowment, the drop is donors to give back to the college and therefore, obviously didn’t act not as much as the markets as a whole. without directly giving money. 182 millions of dollars on it.” Sgrecci said the Standard and Poors 500 Shelley Semmler, vice president of Subramaniam said the misun- index dropped 30 percent and the Rus- institutional advancement at the col- 171 derstanding sparked the need for a sell 3000 index was down 31 percent. lege, said people can make “deferred larger discussion with the president Th e endowment, which is invest- donations” such as including the col- 150 about diversity at the college. ed in stocks, bonds and real estate, lege as a benefi ciary in a will, giving 2006 2007 2008 October 31, 2008 Gossa Tsegaye, professor of generates income that goes into a appreciated stock or property to the SOURCE: CARL SGRECCI, VICE PRESIDENT OF FINANCE AND ADMINISTRATION television-radio, said the lun- pool of money used for the college’s college, or paying out of their salary. DESIGN BY ALEXIS MCNUTT cheon was an unprecedented operating budget. Semmler said people were less like- meeting between ALANA faculty Sgrecci said the loss was more ly to reduce deferred donations in eco- get better, people’s deferred deci- According to Semmler, of the $145 and any president in the history significant than the blow to the nomic crisis than they were to reduce sions won’t change, necessarily,” she million raised in the last capital cam- of the institution. endowment after 9/11. outright gifts but said the college’s do- said. “What might change is if they paign, which concluded last spring, “With the previous presidents, “Th ere was an incredible day at nors have not taken back their pledges. were giving us $1,000 last year or the $2.8 million came from deferred gifts the stock market the next day after “Assuming that we’ll ride out this year before, they might say, ‘Well, See MEETING, page 4 9/11, but it was not as precipitous as wave, whatever it is, and things will maybe I’ll give less than $1,000.’” See MONEY, page 4 find more. online. www.theithacan.org THURSDAY BRIEFING 2 The Ithacan Thursday, December 11, 2008 THIS Nation&World WEEK US mistake ends in Afghan deaths 11 THURSDAY U.S. Special Forces killed six Afghan police and wounded 13 early yesterday in a case of mis- Create-a-Cookie Day, a taken identity by both sides after the police fi red fundraiser sponsored by the on the Americans during an operation against an Culinary Club, from 11 a.m. to insurgent commander, offi cials said. 2 p.m. in IC Square A U.S. military statement said police fi red on the American forces after the troops battled and Extreme Dreidel Tournament, killed an armed militant in the city of Qalat, the sponsored by Hillel, in Muller capital of the southern province of Zabul. Th e Chapel from 12:05 to 1:10 p.m.