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Part 2: Partisan Debate on The Diplomacist

Posted by Cornell Insider Staff on March 3, 2011

Check out the second installment of the new Partisan Response feature on the Diplomacist- this week’s article is titled “Why India May Hate Republicans.” Here’s Review staff writer Michael Alan ’14′s response:

There’s no question that weather conditions in individual regions are affecting rising food prices, however any connection between protests over food prices and government corruption in India and American efforts to curb its tremendous public debt (a tactic the Indian government is also employing in its ongoing war against inflation) is totally unfounded.

The idea that anthropogenic global warming (AGW) is causing these weather events or, for that matter, that AGW even exists to the extent purported by politicians and activists wishing to tax businesses based on carbon emissions is questionable to say the least. In fact, the November 2009 uncovering of a scheme by prominent climate change researchers to manipulate data on AGW to support political efforts calls into question the true motives behind the left’s railing against the business community.

Furthermore, the notion that Republicans are against efforts to develop clean energy and that the rest of the world, including China and India, is “moving in the other direction” is simply wrong. Republicans are proposing deeper cuts to the EPA than President Obama as a part of a greater effort to reduce spending, but clean energy programs like the cost-effective nuclear power expansion remain in the proposal, which leaves behind the President’s plan to grant the EPA the ability to enact economically debilitating emissions restrictions on businesses during an already difficult recession. Using such measures to address climate concerns puts us at a disadvantage in the global economy against rising economic superpowers like China and India, who would not answer with similar programs of their own and are bearing an even greater responsibility for rising carbon emissions every day as their economic growth continues to skyrocket.

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Partisan Debate on The Diplomacist

Posted by Cornell Insider Staff on February 24, 2011

Today the Diplomacist blog debuted a new feature, Partisan Response, which provides contrasting partisan commentary on international affairs issues from the Review and Progressive.

Here’s Executive Editor Joe Bonica’s response to the article titled “The Reality of Cuba’s Reforms”:

Though President Raúl Castro has acted on behalf of his Fidel brother to “liberalize” the economy by reducing Cuban state employment and allowing limited entrepreneurship, much more needs to be done to truly facilitate this transition, including allowing free access to information. Unfortunately, the Castro regime has a terrible history of real reform.

The position of the United States should therefore be one that is firm but non-interventionist at the same time, being especially steadfast in the need for information to flow freely in the country. Cuba is off to a fairly good start with its current liberalization reforms; the United States should encourage continued liberalization of the economy as the best engine to lift Cuba out of its terrible doldrums.

However, the United States should also inform the Castro government that a liberal economy functions best when full information is available to the purchasing public. It would also be hugely positive for the Cuban economy to allow free trade in the region. Perhaps, then, a deal could be worked out between the U.S and Cuba: if Cuba promises to vastly increase the flow of information to their own citizens, then the United States will either greatly modify or completely eliminate the decades-old embargo on the country. Whether or not this realpolitik will work waits to be seen, but if the Castros truly intend a liberalized Cuban economy, this will prove a very telling test.

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Scrivens Close to NHL Start

Posted by Cornell Insider Staff on February 20, 2011

Last year’s standout senior goalie Ben Scrivens backed up Toronto starter James Reimer on Saturday night against Ottawa. Scrivens’ quick ascent up the Toronto depth chart- helped along the way by an injury to J-S Giguere and poor play by Jonas Gustavsson- makes him the second Big Red alumnus to get a call up this year. Given the tremendous odds he has already overcome to get to the Toronto bench, don’t count him out in terms of making an NHL start this season.

Correction: Scrivens would be the third Big Red alumnus called up this year- Brendon Nash made his debut with Montreal last week. Thanks to MA for the catch.

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Random Thoughts / Diminished Posting

Posted by Oliver Renick on February 17, 2011

There’s some strange things goin on right now on which I’d like to briefly opine. I must also add that while I’ll be continuing to write for Insider, my presence on this blog will likely diminish over the course of the next few months as I personally have to re-evaluate my time commitments and priorities. My engineering advisor thinks so, too. I’m very thankful to the growing number of readers that visit Insider on a daily basis, and I hope that you will continue reading, as the site will still be updated regularly by my fellow colleagues. So, that was awkward. On with the post: here’s some things that have caught my eye this week.

Cornell International Affairs Review’s blog, Diplomacist, is off to a good start. A lot of blogs come and go, but at this point, it appears the foreign policy-focused blog has plenty of material and room to grow, the two biggest catalysts for successful blogs. Diplomacist has shown off a wide range of authors and perspectives. As many Cornell students – Daily Stun writers, Review and Progressive writers, activists, minorities – often bloviate about their hopes for “increased dialogue” on national topics, it’ll be interesting to see how they utilize the forum that Diplomacist offers. Even. If. Some posts. Have. A lot. Of sentences.

In other blog news, Brokman’s back! And pissed off about a lot of stuff.  OneCornell, the short-lived blog Andrew Brokman ’11 began last fall largely as a megaphone for his anti-discrimination resolution, is now up-and-running again. He blames the hiatus on… the Student Assembly (mutiny!). Originally designed to be ‘Cornell’s first online newspaper,’ Brokman has since cast off the Rupert Murdoch aspirations for a more TMZ-ish approach to covering Cornell’s student governance – except picture Harvey Levin being mad as hell and unwilling to take it anymore. Whether he’s still angry about Skorton O’Neal dominating the paint on Res.44′s court, his failed presidential run, or the fact that Day Hall doesn’t want to tell him if Susan Murphy gets a paid lunch, it’s apparent he’s seeking some justice from…someone. So, to get even, he’s written about a camera-less camera bag and a guy he doesn’t like in the SA – he’s even taken some pain to get to work on Windows Movie Maker (see image) to make sure you’re not confused about who’s not happy. Cause it’s Brokman. And don’t you forget it. Brokman is a very smart guy with a lot of ideas. OneCornell has the potential to save us all from contemplating harakiri during an SA meeting by providing transparency via an inside scoop. I hope the great idea doesn’t go to waste.

In even MORE blog news, via MetaEzra, this is kinda entertaining, especially for incoming Cornellians. Even more especially if you’re into the whole ‘Big Red arrows’ scene. I would have loved to have found this during my summer before coming, as it’s one of the few regularly updated and lively first-person narrative blogs.

Not news: Cody Gault still hates Christians, but at least at this point he’s weaning his own audience of thoughtful people off of his column. Perhaps one of those ex-readers could ask him which religion isn’t based in some form of creationism?

Townies are about to shoot a lot of deer. So that’s pretty cool. Can’t wait for venison night at RPCC.

Institutional racism was enacted against the Greek community today. How do I know it was racist? “There wasn’t much publicity about the intention to cut these courses,” said the President of Hellenic Students Association to the Daily Sun today. So obviously David Skorton hates Greek people. This community of small students (minority?) will now find it considerably more difficult to immerse themselves in Greek culture, literature, anthropology, and music, according to Jeffrey Rusten, director of Department of Classics. As a mature response, Rusten promptly penned a poisonous letter signed by Poseidon himself to the Sun and quit his position, then took it back! Ahaaa, nah, he didn’t. He basically just said funding cuts suck. Associate Dean of Fraternity Affairs Travis Apgar quickly showed support for the funding cut, saying “we’re not here to advocate for a dry campus or a dry Greek language, we’re just trying to be safe.” Fraternity members then rebutted, saying the study of Greek would just be pushed into unsafe areas like dorms and Collegetown.

Nelly for Slope Day? Ya, I guess he made a song recently.

Posted in Campus Insiders, Miscellaneous | Tagged: , , | 1 Comment »

And You Thought Cornell Had A Grade Inflation Problem

Posted by Cornell Insider Staff on February 12, 2011

A couple of weeks ago the Columbia Spectator reported on a leaked university document that revealed that at least 1 in 12 Columbia undergrads earned at least a 4.0 last semester:

The spreadsheet listed 482 students in Columbia College and the School of Engineering and Applied Science who earned perfect grade point averages. Whether the numbers reflect grade inflation, the criticism often aimed at universities giving higher grades than in years past, remains unclear.

Stuart Rojstaczer, a retired Duke professor who has written widely on grade inflation, said that since the data only includes students with a 4.0 or higher, the numbers were difficult to compare specifically to other schools.

As readers of this blog know, we’ve covered the Cornell grade inflation debate extensively over the past year.. here, here, and here. Rojstaczer is right, though- even the 1 in 12 figure is difficult to use in a comparison of grade inflation levels between schools. Cornell inducts the top 3% of A&S juniors into Phi Beta Kappa, all of whom had above a 4.0 GPA last year. The threshold for graduating in the top 10% of A&S is 3.92, so at least it’s pretty safe to say that fewer than 8% of Cornellians graduate with above 4.0′s.

Posted in Campus Insiders, Miscellaneous | 4 Comments »

“Statistically Impossible Lack of Diversity”

Posted by Cornell Insider Staff on February 9, 2011

That’s how UVA Professor Jonathan Haidt described the grand total of 3 self-identified conservatives at a 1,000 person social psychology conference. From the NYT article:

“This is a statistically impossible lack of diversity,” Dr. Haidt concluded, noting polls showing that 40 percent of Americans are conservative and 20 percent are liberal. In his speech and in an interview, Dr. Haidt argued that social psychologists are a “tribal-moral community” united by “sacred values” that hinder research and damage their credibility — and blind them to the hostile climate they’ve created for non-liberals.

“Anywhere in the world that social psychologists see women or minorities underrepresented by a factor of two or three, our minds jump to discrimination as the explanation,” said Dr. Haidt, who called himself a longtime liberal turned centrist. “But when we find out that conservatives are underrepresented among us by a factor of more than 100, suddenly everyone finds it quite easy to generate alternate explanations.”

In his speech, Dr. Haidt also revealed email correspondences from non-liberal graduate students who discussed the pressures and biases they felt from their liberal colleagues. One email read:

“I consider myself very middle-of-the-road politically: a social liberal but fiscal conservative. Nonetheless, I avoid the topic of politics around work… Given what I’ve read of the literature, I am certain any research I conducted in political psychology would provide contrary findings and, therefore, go unpublished. Although I think I could make a substantial contribution to the knowledge base, and would be excited to do so, I will not.”

The Cornell Review devotes many of its pages to reporting the harmful effects of liberal bias on campus, among students and with professors in the classroom. As any Cornell conservative- or for that matter, open-minded liberal- knows, a liberally-biased professor takes away from an enriching learning environment. Alternative historical perspectives are often not discussed, pro-market arguments are overlooked, and conservative political figures are treated with scorn and ridicule. But Haidt believes that the negative consequences of a liberal academe extend far beyond the classroom. Take, for example, the tens of millions of dollars that universities spend on research and diversity programs based on the assumption that women face systematic bias and discrimination in the academic workplace. Research contradicting this assumption, like a recent study by Cornell Psychology Profesors Stephen J. Ceci and Wendy M. Williams, is ignored, and universities continue to invest valuable dollars into misguided efforts:

“Thus,” [the Cornell researchers] conclude, “the ongoing focus on sex discrimination in reviewing, interviewing and hiring represents costly, misplaced effort. Society is engaged in the present in solving problems of the past.” Instead of presuming discrimination in science or expecting the sexes to show equal interest in every discipline, the Cornell researchers say, universities should make it easier for women in any field to combine scholarship with family responsibilities.

Perhaps equally outspoken academics like Dr. Haidt can continue to bring attention to and eventually mend- or at least ameliorate- the problem of underrepresented conservatives in academia.

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Christina Aguilera Destroys National Anthem, Embarrasses Americans Everywhere

Posted by Brendan Patrick Devine on February 6, 2011

Perhaps you haven’t heard, but at Superbowl XLV singer Christina Aguilera just butchered the National Anthem. Rather than singing ”O’er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming,” she sang ”What so proudly we hailed at the twilight’s last gleaming.” I happened to be the only person in the room where I was watching the game to notice her error, but then again everyone else in the room was British. Rather than listening attentively to their security provider’s… err, ally across the pond’s national anthem, they were aggressively trying to plug their ears through her shreaking and shrilling twists at the end of the song. To Miss Aguilera: bury your head in the sand and come back in one year! —but not to the Superbowl.

Posted in Miscellaneous, National News | Tagged: | 3 Comments »

Cornell’s NFL Playbook: $100,000 Grant

Posted by Oliver Renick on February 6, 2011

Though Cornellians won’t be seeing any recent graduates on the field in Arlington, TX today, the University has reserved a position to play an integral part in next year’s big game. Cornell received a $100k grant from the NFL to research artificial spinal discs, WNYC News reported on Friday. The NFL hopes that the research will create a new generation of replacement disks that are capable of sustaining the heavy blows and impacts that football players receive every Sunday.

Dr. Roger Hartl, a neurosurgeon at Weill Cornell Medical Center and a team physician for the New York Giants, is concerned by the fact that no such device is currently available. “Artificial discs that are on the market and that we’re using on regular patients right now – these discs are not being used in professional athletes because of concerns they may not be as stable, especially during high-velocity impacts,” he told WNYC News.

Spine problems of course, aren’t just limited to linebackers and wide receivers – nearly 11,000 Americans suffer from new spine injuries every year. While 6% of those are sports-related, the majority are a result of vehicular accidents and violence.

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Greening A Senator

Posted by Cornell Insider Staff on February 2, 2011

 

http://senators.nhl.com

No, not the Mark Kirk ’81 kind. Earlier today MetaEzra first picked up on Colin Greening’s recent call up to the Ottawa Senators. Greening has spent the beginning of the season playing for the minor league Binghamton Senator of the AHL. From Ottawa’s website:

It wasn’t exactly what the Cornell University grad had in mind when he and his girlfriend, Tissy, arrived in Chicago to spend the AHL all-star break. They’d barely landed in the Windy City when Greening got the call to head to Ottawa.

“She was saying to me ‘where do you want to go to eat in Chicago first?’ and then I’m getting this call,” said Greening in recalling the frenzied events of Sunday afternoon. “So I had to tell her ‘I don’t think I going to be able to do that anymore.’ It was just a lot of surprise. She was happy for me, but it was kind of a whirlwind. I had to get back here and get all my gear and things like that. It was an exciting time, to say the least.”

Greening had 8 minutes of ice during the game- not bad at all for a rookie call-up in his first NHL start. This appearance makes Greening the first 2010 Cornell Hockey senior to get a big league start. While it’s not clear how long he will stay with Ottawa- he’s not on the roster for tonight’s shootout against Detroit- the call up is already a significant accomplishment. Who’s next? Nash or Nash?

Posted in Campus Insiders, Miscellaneous | Tagged: , , | 1 Comment »

Harvard Caves

Posted by Cornell Insider Staff on February 1, 2011

And finally allows peer institutions access to its enormous library collection. From the Cornell Chronicle:

Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have joined Borrow Direct, the rapid book request and delivery system that enables Cornell library users to get materials quickly from a network of partners. Their regularly circulating materials will be added to the combined catalog, bringing the total to more than 70 million.

I remember that on my visit to Cornell, back in 2006, Harvard’s refusal to share was a major source of chuckles for my tour group.

According to the ALA they have a lot of books.

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