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CTP Moving – Replacing Mama T’s?

Posted by Alfonse Muglia on May 31, 2012

Photo by Oliver Renick

A new sign in the window of Collegetown Pizza (CTP) this morning announced that the popular pizza shop on the corner of College Ave. & Dryden Rd. will be moving downhill, to 139 Dryden Rd. An employee at CTP confirmed that the sign was legitimate, but the owner was not available for comment.

The enthralling point of this breaking news is that 139 Dryden Rd. is the address of Mama Theresa’s Pizza and Italian Restaurant, longtime rival of CTP in the Collegetown pizza market.

The owners of Mama T’s have put the business up for sale multiple times in the last few years, most recently with James Orcutt Real Estate at an asking price of $149,000.

One can only speculate on the reason for the move until further details are released, but the relocation does prolong the trend of Collegetown business either closing or moving away from the prime, expensive intersection of College Ave. and Dryden Rd. Across the intersection, the space that formerly was Green Cafe has remained vacant since the eatery’s closure in Aprill 2010.

Collegetown Pizza has been serving the Cornell Collegetown community at its current location since 2001. It’s unclear at the moment if Mama T’s will take a new location or close entirely.

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Class of 2012 Employment Increases from 2011

Posted by Alfonse Muglia on May 25, 2012

As senior week comes to a close and the Class of 2012 prepares to don their cap and gowns before friends, family, and Michael Bloomberg this weekend, a growing percentage of these graduating seniors will be leaving Ithaca with jobs, according to a survey by the Cornell Career Services Office.

The Dartmouth beat the Cornell Daily Stun to this story, reporting that 49% of Cornell graduates have accepted job offers – compared to 47% this time last year. The newspaper also commented that more students received multiple job offers than in the past.

At Dartmouth, a similar survey found that 36% of respondents have job offers, up from 20% in 2011.

While this survey only provides a snapshot of the class, it has proven to be extremely accurate.

Official statistics from last year show that 53.5% of the Class of 2011 had secured a job six months after leaving Cornell, suggesting that the distribution of respondents to last spring’s survey was an accurate depiction of the class. Few students apparently find success in landing jobs in the immediate weeks after accepting their diplomas.

The fact that this number is increasing comes as a welcoming sign for the graduating class, but the growth is slow, and those without a job now may find continued difficulty in their searches over the next six months.

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Cornell Adds Twitter Exec. to NYC Coalition

Posted by Alfonse Muglia on May 24, 2012

Another day, another potential breakthrough for the CornellNYC Tech.

The team that will lead Cornell’s development in New York City continues to grow, adding a familiar personality with ties to a technological powerhouse.

The University announced on Wednesday that Greg Pass, ’97, former Chief Technology Officer for Twitter, will serve as CornellNYC Tech’s founding entrepreneurial officer. The position will primarily be responsible for assuring constant communication between the school and local industries, while also promoting entrepreneurial skills in the classroom.

Pass graduated from Cornell in 1997 with a degree in Computer Science. He stepped down as CTO of VP of Engineering at Twitter almost exactly a year ago on May 20, 2011.

“The idea is for the new program, is that we really ought to have someone specifically focused [on] making sure that the academic program and industry partnerships will successfully result in entrepreneurial value for students and faculty and the New York tech community,” Pass said in an interview with Business Insider. “We want to bring students that are specifically interested in making a difference and having an impact on technological innovation and are entrepreneurial.”

With the move, Cornell has proven determined to demonstrate that they have the networks and influence necessary to make the CornellNYC Tech campus a reality and to turn New York into a technological powerhouse that can rival Silicon Valley.

In the last week, New York has been outshining its West Coust prototype. Two days after tech icon Google (who had previously backed Stanford in Mayor Bloomberg’s contest) announced that they will rent space to Cornell for the school’s first five years of operation, Pass has followed suit and cut his ties with his Silicon Valley comrades in favor of a move back East.

“I see this as a unique opportunity to give back to my profession and figure out how to better cultivate the types of students interested in making an impact,” Pass continued. “How can we actually educate those types of students better and give them a better education to increase the size and quality of the talent pool?”

Answering this question now falls on the shoulders of Pass and his growing team of technological gurus.

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Google Opens Door to Cornell in NYC

Posted by Alfonse Muglia on May 21, 2012

111 8th Avenue, New York – the temporary home of Cornell NYCTech

Cornell University’s new Applied Science campus in New York City will be temporarily housed in property owned by Google, according to a New York Times story this morning.The move will help the University live up to its promise of holding classes in the city this fall. President Skorton said in an interview with the newspaper that students and teachers would travel down from Ithaca for seminars and workshops this fall. Classes will begin in the Google building, located at 111 8th Avenue, in the fall of 2013.

Google bought the property in 2010 for $1.9 billion. Cornell will have access to the top floor, which Google executives have valued at $12 million.

The deal with Google says that we must be out of the building in five and a half years.  This ties in exactly with the fact that Cornell has promised to begin holding classes on Roosevelt Island in 2017. It leaves little room for error, however, throughout the construction process.

Perhaps the most significant implication of this partnership is that it indicates that large technological corporations are behind Cornell (and its Israeli partner Technon) in its quest to establish a stronghold in the New York City High-Tech labor market. Previously, Google had publically announced its support of Stanford University in Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s contest for $100 million and the plot of land on Roosevelt Island.

This is not the first time that Cornell and Google have gotten together on a technological endeavor. In January 2011, the Insider reported that Google had given Cornell faculty members $800,000 to research the usefulness of social media networks like Facebook.

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Ron Paul Talks to the Review’s Zach Delle

Posted by Alfonse Muglia on April 21, 2012

The Cornell Review caught up with Ron Paul following Thursday evening’s rally in Lynah Rink. Editor Zach Delle asks Dr. Paul about his plans to reach out to Rick Santorum supporters in the upcoming primaries:

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The Insider’s Quest for Romney’s Ideal Running Mate

Posted by Alfonse Muglia on April 16, 2012

It was announced this morning that Beth Myers – a longtime Romney aide – will be leading the former-Massachusetts governor’s search for a running mate for the upcoming presidential election. Neither Romney nor Myers has yet to give any indication of who the early favorites may be, leading many to continue speculating about who Mitt will tap to help with his imminent battle against President Obama.

Here at the Cornell Insider, we decided to conduct a little search of our own; we’re looking for the “Ideal 2012 Running Mate.” All this week, our writers will be discussing who they would like to see on the ticket alongside Governor Romney. They will highlight specific issues that will be important in Myers’ ultimate decision, from targeting certain demographics to securing votes in key swing states. They will accentuate the political capital of each potential Vice President, while also considering their liabilities. All of this will lead up to the unveiling of the Insider’s “Ideal 2012 Running Mate” – an accumulation of the very best of each potential Vice President tied together into one candidate.

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BREAKING: Ron Paul is Coming to Cornell

Posted by Alfonse Muglia on April 12, 2012

Your eyes are not deceiving you. Ron Paul is speaking at Cornell!

The Cornell Republicans announced this afternoon that GOP Presidential hopeful Ron Paul will be coming to Cornell next Thursday, April 19.

Paul’s decision to come to Ithaca is undoubtedly affected by the fact that Cornell currently has the seventh largest Youth for Ron Paul chapter in the United States, with 1,381 members. He will hope to rally support among students and those in the greater Ithaca community to vote in the upcoming New York state primary, which will be held on April 24. With Rick Santorum’s departure from the race earlier this week, Paul will look to mobilize many in the conservative base looking for an alternative to Romney heading into the convention.

The campaign event will be co-sponsored by the Cornell Republicans and Cornell Libertarians. The announcement comes after months of behind-the-scenes work on the part of the Republicans and their president Raj Kannappan, who has been in contact with Paul’s team since last semester.

With one of the largest turnouts in Cornell Republicans’ history expected, the club has booked Lynah Rink as the venue. Clink here for out more information about the event and to reserve your ticket.

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Barack Obama’s Government-Centered Society

Posted by Alfonse Muglia on April 4, 2012

With a vast American flag suspended behind him, Mitt Romney took the stage full of pride last night after a sweep of the evening’s three GOP primaries. Romney scored large wins in Maryland and Washington D.C., and captured the much-contested state of Wisconsin – after a week of campaigning alongside Paul Ryan - by a substantial seven percentage points. With the victories, last night perhaps represented Romney’s first speech as the undeniable GOP nominee. Because of this, it is important to pay special attention to the words of this victory speech. While Romney has been speaking all along as if he was already the nominee and was campaigning against President Obama, I believe that last night was the first night that he actually was.

So what did he say? Two themes of the speech stood out to me more than any others. In his attempt to draw clear lines between himself and Obama, Romney included many pro-business innuendos throughout the speech. Secondly, in a more fundamentally conservative move, Romney attacked Obama’s “government-centered society,” repeating that phrase five times in the 13 minute speech. What Romney failed to do, however, was to differentiate how a pro-business government is different than a “government-centered society.” But it was a victory speech, after all, and I predict that Mitt’s ability to clearly highlight the differences between these two ideas is what will ultimately decide the general election.

Look for these themes as you listen to Mitt’s first speech as the GOP Presidential nominee. Also, note how his tone differed from that of Rick Santorum, who warned his party last night that they were making a catastrophic mistake.

“Time and time again the Republican establishment and aristocracy have shoved down the throats of the Republican Party and people across this country, moderate Republicans because ‘We have to win by getting people in the middle,’” remarked Santorum. “There was one person who understood that we don’t win by moving to the middle. We win by getting people in the middle to move to us and move this country forward.”

That’s right. Rick Santorum is the modern-day Ronald Reagan.

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Wolfowitz’s Return to Cornell

Posted by Alfonse Muglia on April 2, 2012

Among a long list of prestigious Cornell alumni are many top political figures that have done a great deal behind the scenes to affect the future of our world, without receiving the same glory as those in more publicized offices. Perhaps chief among them is Paul Wolfowitz, ‘65, whose three decades of political service have included influential positions ranging from President of the World Bank to Deputy Security of Defense under Bush during the early years of the Iraq War.

While at Cornell, Wolfowitz studied mathematics and chemistry. He lived in the Telluride House, whose faculty mentors at the time included Frances Perkins, the former Secretary of Labor and the first women to be appointed to U.S. Cabinet. At that time, she was serving as a professor in the School of Industrial and Labor relations. Wolfowitz was a pallbearer at her funeral.

Despite his father’s wishes, Wolfowitz gave up his studies to pursue a career in political science. He enrolled in the University of Chicago following his graduation. The decision is captivated well in an article in the Cornell Alumni Magazine.

“One of the things that ultimately led me to leave mathematics and go into political science was thinking I could prevent nuclear war,” Wolfowitz once commented.

Now, Wolfowitz is coming back to Cornell to comment on the future of America’s role as a leader in public policy.

The College Republicans will host “An Evening with Paul Wolfowitz ’65: Is the Era of American Leadership Over” next Thursday, April 12. The event is free and open to the public, and will be held in Bailey Hall starting at 5:30 PM. Tickets are available at Willard Straight Hall. Check out the Facebook event for details.

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Students Optimistic that New York GOP Primary Will Matter

Posted by Alfonse Muglia on March 6, 2012

Today’s Super Tuesday primaries across the nation will undoubtedly play a large role in determining the eventual GOP Presidential nominee, as well as setting the course for the remainder of the 2012 primary election season. This has caused some in the Cornell community to wonder if the race will still be relevant by the time that the state of New York holds its primary on April 24.

Amidst the Super Tuesday hype across the internet this morning, CBS News ran an article addressing this very point.  Depending on today’s results, many are predicting that few candidates will drop out of the race. This has some, including Guy Molinari – head of Mitt Romney’s New York team – gearing up for continued consequential primaries down the road.

“Now everybody’s going to be involved, and that’s good in the long term. It’s good for everybody because more people become involved,”  said former Rep. Guy Molinari.

In 2008, New York held its primary over two months earlier, on February 5, 2008 with 20 other states. John McCain was victorious, with 51.8% percent of the vote. In the Democrat contest, Hilary Rodham Clinton defeated Barack Obama by 17.4% to carry her home state.

This year, a meaningful New York primary will depend on a prolonged primary season. This could bode well for Ron Paul, who has a tradition of staying in primary contests until the very end. Paul also has strong support among the youth in upstate New York. Cornell University has the 3rd largest Youth for Ron Paul group in the nation. Nearby Ithaca College, University of Buffalo, and SUNY Oswego (among others) also boast campus chapters.

Noah Kaplan, leader of Cornell’s Youth for Ron Paul chapter, acknowledged that Paul’s message has resonated with many around the Cornell community. “Ron Paul support is insane,” he commented in a recent interview with The Cornell Review.

It is these passionate student leaders who are hoping that the primary season will still be exciting come April 24.

95 delegates are up for grabs this year in New York. Neighboring Pennsylvania (72 delegates) will also hold its primary on April 24. It will be the next busiest day – by delegates at stake – following today’s contests. This year’s New York primary is further complicated by the fact that state legislatures have yet to reach a redistricting agreement following results from the 2010 Census that declared that New York would lose two seats in the House of Representatives due to population loss.

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