Free Republic

ITHACA, NY-Two months after an Africana professor allegedly called two black graduate students “black bitches,” members and allies of the Africana community — undergraduate and graduate students, faculty and alumni alike — have begun to speak out more fervently about the issue. Earlier this year, Prof. Grant Farred, English and Africana studies, invited two of his advisees — both female graduate students who wish to remain anonymous — to attend a Feb. 5 and 6 conference at the University of Rochester entitled “Theorizing Black Studies: Thinking Black Intellectuals.” The two students arrived late to a conference panel, after which Farred...

A teacher at Genesee Elementary School in Auburn has been arrested for stealing lunch money. Police say 37-year-old Alan Robinson of Ithaca, a third-grade teacher at Genesee, used children's subsidized school lunch cards to buy himself lunch, and then never repaid the students. Robinson would have kids bring their own lunch to school, and then use their personal ID numbers to buy himself lunch. According to a state database, Robinson's salary is $50,000 a year. The investigation began after a parent saw suspicious charges on her bill. Robinson has been charged with three counts of petit larceny and three counts...

So far this year, three Cornell students have leaped to their deaths in the famed gorges of Ithaca. This comes a year after a graduate from a decade ago was found dead at the bottom of one of them after having inexplicably returned to campus.

The City of Ithaca Common Council this month addressed the nationally contentious issue of immigration by unanimously passing a resolution on March 3 that calls on Congress to replace the enforcement-only policy, cease raids and provide a pathway for legal citizenship. Alderpersons Eric Rosario (I-2nd Ward) and Maria Coles (D-1st Ward) introduced the bill after working for months in conjunction with the Tompkins County Immigrant Rights Coalition, Catholic Charities Immigrant Center and Tompkins County Workers Center. The resolution condemns the current laws, stating that “our nation’s immigration system continues to be broken, with the federal government pursuing an ineffective enforcement-only...

Ithaca, NY — Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, will speak at Cornell University's senior convocation May 29. Pelosi, the first woman to be speaker of the House, represents San Francisco in Congress. The senior convocation, part of graduation weekend at Cornell, is open to the public.

ITHACA, NY--Somewhere, the late great Charles Schulz is rolling over in his grave. Schulz, the creator of the much-loved Peanuts comic strip (and a devout Christian), probably never envisioned a day when his characters would be appropriated for a “satirical story” about teenaged homosexuals. But that’s exactly what happens in the new play, “Dog Sees God: Confessions of a Teenage Blockhead," which the Ithaca Journal describes as “a satirical story that ... features characters from the ‘Peanuts’ comic strip gang in their volatile teenage years” It all begins with CB, Charlie Brown, who contemplates the death of his loyal dog,...

ITHACA -- A Tompkins County legislator is facing a misdemeanor charge related to an outstanding traffic violation. Martha Robertson, who also is the chairwoman of the legislature's public safety committee, said her arrest last week was the result of a paperwork mix-up and that the Ithaca Police shouldn't have taken her into custody, "They could've issued me a ticket right there," she said, adding that police refused her request to go to her house and see the paperwork. At the station, Sgt. Andy Navarro told her they were waiving her bail based on her community connections, and Patrick Kimmich --...

Rally Decries Crimes of Columbus; Stresses Importance of Native Cultures October 9, 2009 - 4:02am By Margo Cohen Ristorucci Propped against a podium in Ho Plaza, a poster of Christopher Columbus sat with the message “Hate, Lies, Torture, Slavery and Oppression” inscribed along his face. Anticipating the Oct. 12 holiday, Native American Students at Cornell organized a rally yesterday called "Indigenous Day Rally: Rethinking Columbus." Alia Jones ’10, co-chair of NASAC, explained that the event was aimed to both challenge Columbus Day and to raise awareness about present indigenous communities. “Question: why should the United States of America celebrate Columbus...

ITHACA, N.Y. -- President Obama has announced his intention to nominate a native Ithacan and Cornell graduate to a key post in his administration. Mary J. Miller is up for the position of Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Financial Markets. Miller grew up in Ithaca and received her bachelor's degree in government from Cornell. She is now the vice president of T. Rowe Price, a Baltimore-based investment firm. The post Miller is up for advises the treasury secretary on financial markets, government debt and credit and lending. Miller must first be confirmed by the Senate.

ITHACA — A group of upstate New York dog owners thinks it has a plan to profitably compost the tons of dog doo left behind by the roughly 50,000 canines that use the city’s pooch park each year. If their pilot project is successful, the Tompkins County Dog Owners Group and Cayuga Compost hope to market usable compost within the next two or three years. Dog and cat waste contain parasites and pathogens that make them unsuitable as compost for vegetable gardens and topsoil and can run off into local waterways and diminish water quality, said Cary Oshins, an assistant...

ITHACA, NY — Incoming students at Ithaca College will get together the day before the start of classes to discuss their summer reading assignment: Barack Obama’s “Dreams from My Father.” The 44th president’s autobiography was chosen as the 2009–10 First-Year Reading Initiative selection. “President Obama’s ruthlessly honest self-examination on issues of race and identity gives us an opportunity to lead students through what could be the most important conversation they will have during their freshman year,” says Ithaca College President Tom Rochon. The initiative was created in 2003 as a way to offer the incoming class a shared academic experience...

Are you someone who squirms when confronted with slime, shudders at stickiness or gets grossed out by gore? Do crawly insects make you cringe or dead bodies make you blanch? If so, chances are you're more conservative -- politically, and especially in your attitudes toward gays and lesbians -- than your less-squeamish counterparts, according to two Cornell studies. The results, said study leader David Pizarro, Cornell assistant professor of psychology, raise questions about the role of disgust -- an emotion that likely evolved in humans to keep them safe from potentially hazardous or disease-carrying environments -- in contemporary judgments of...

Anyone who rides a bike anywhere in the city would have to register it with the City of Ithaca or face a $10 fine, based on a law being considered tonight by Common Council. The law would apply not just to city residents, but to anyone who rides in the city, including visitors The purpose of the new law is to support and encourage bicycle riding, to assist in documenting bikes for planning purposes, to disseminate information to bike riders, and to facilitate the return of lost or stolen bikes, according to the Common Council's resolution.

The constant hum of the air conditioning units across the street could be heard clearly from Ralph Moss's home. At a word, they were shut off. Sounds of talking neighbors rose through the silence. "My front porch has become my haven, and my haven is threatened," Moss said, sitting on his porch on North Albany Street. "It's so much of a nuisance, I have to go inside and close my doors and windows to get some peace." Moss has lived in the neighborhood facing the east entrance of Beverly J. Martin Elementary School on and off since 1982. The newest...

A campus Christian group that receives funding from the student activity fee is coming under scrutiny after a student was asked by advisors to step down from its leadership team when he told them that he had openly accepted his homosexuality. This incident is also raising questions about the effectiveness of campus mechanisms for addressing instances of discrimination. Chris Donohoe ’09, who joined the Chi Alpha Christian Fellowship when he was a freshman, said he had been openly struggling to reconcile his sexuality with his faith in Chi Alpha before he was asked to step down from the leadership team...

As Cornell University faces greater need for donations in the current recession, it also faces having to get more funds with less money as a result of the economic crisis. In order to better focus its fundraising efforts to meet its needs and in response to the university cutting its budget by 5 percent, Cornell’s Department of Alumni Affairs and Development recently laid off 41 employees, around 10 percent of the department’s workforce. Richard Banks, associate vice president for alumni affairs and development at Cornell, said the positions were cut based on which positions were least crucial. He said Cornell...

ITHACA, NY--Nearly six months after the Presidential election, former Monty Python star John Cleese needs some new material.According to the Cornell Daily Sun, Cleese, in an appearance on campus, turned serious and launched into an attack on former President George W. Bush: Americans... are “much too respectful to the president,” said Cleese, who went on to say that George W. Bush would not be able to survive a single press conference in England. “It’s pathetic!” he exclaimed. “This is the most important country in the world ... It’s embarrassing because we want America to be great. There is emotion when...

ITHACA - The Ithaca Town Board supports raising taxes on New Yorkers who make more than $250,000 in order to stave off some cuts to education and healthcare and other "essential services." The Board unanimously passed a resolution Monday urging state leaders to pass the Fair Share Tax Reform Act of 2009, which would increase tax rates for the top 3.5 percent of New Yorkers, according to their resolution. Those with taxable income over $250,000 would see a 1.4 percent increase, to 8.25 percent of their total income. Those with income over $500,000 would see a 2.12 percent increase, to...

ITHACA, NY--Love — or, at least, lust — was in the air on Ho Plaza yesterday at 12:15 p.m. A group of roughly 20 students lined up to hold a colorful banner that read “QUEER KISSIN’ … in progress” and then proceeded have a queer kiss-in, which lasted about five minutes. Direct Action to Stop Heterosexism sponsored the event, according to kiss-in participant Ashley McGovern ’09. She explained that heterosexism is “kind of like homophobia except heterosexism has to do with all facets of society … so the normalization of heterosexuality in society.” Heteronormativity refers to the idea that heterosexuality...

ITHACA - A protester dressed in his 1950s-era military uniform threw his shoes at Mayor Carolyn Peterson and brought Common Council's Wednesday night meeting to an almost hour-long standstill, insisting that he wanted to be arrested in protest over the Council's position against the "immoral wars" in Iraq and Afghanistan. Long-time Ithacan and former Weather Underground member Robin Palmer began speaking at about 7:15 p.m., near the beginning of Council's privilege of the floor, during which any citizen may speak on any topic. Palmer handed out packets of information on the U.S.S. Indianapolis, a Navy vessel sunk during World War...