Dear Student and the Cornell Community,

I sent your message to the Grounds Department that is shoveling as fast as they can.  Here is their response:

Ahhh, just when we had received so many KODOS this winter (which can be found on our Facilities Services Web site) from all around campus for all of our good efforts in keeping our campus open and cleared for safety – back to reality – it’s a big Campus!  

We have over 60 miles of walks and over 100 acres of lots to plow, 3823 steps and ~ 2 acres of landings that must be cleared by hand and when finished with that the unenviable task of restocking 40 tons of bulk salt, again-by hand, for our building custodial colleagues. 

I must say that even today, with temps in the mid 30’s, there shall be slippery areas on campus and we are still not out of the woods yet – now comes the detail work that involves cleaning of loading docks, handicap parking/walkways, clearing around trash and recycle dumpsters, finding the curbs along roadways and finding the corners in parking lots, shoveling out bike rakes and clearing of bike lanes, bucketing out snow behind and around the vehicles at Hasbrouck and Maplewood.  YIKES!

What we do offer - for anyone with specific concern about sidewalks or a snow related issue that may be hazardous is to call the Grounds Dept. (254-1661) or if we can’t be reached to call Customer Service (255-5322) and they will relay that concern to one of our Supervisors in the field.  We will investigate the situation and correct the problem as soon as resources are available.

Please do not hesitate to let us know of any potential hazardous for they are easier to address at the time rather than after-the-fact.  Specific and timely communication is the key and it may only require informing our good snow fighting teams of it.

Uncle Ezra   

Dear Ice Cream Lover,

This University has a long-standing policy of not competing off campus with local businesses in the sale of Cornell-grown and –produced goods.  That’s the reason those tangy Cornell apples (and cider, pears, grapes and so forth) are available only at the Cornell Orchards store—and not in local markets where free-enterprise farmers and shopkeepers are trying to make a living.  The policy stems from the University’s not-for-profit status. 

The University has the advantage of not paying property tax on land and facilities used for educational purposes, whereas local farmers and other business people have that added expense. (However, this University does make generous allocations, in lieu of taxes, to the community.)

Sadly (even tragically) off-campus sale of Cornell ice cream is a moot point right now and for a couple years— because the Dairy Plant and ice cream production have shut down until the buildings are renovated.  When ice cream production resumes on campus —unless the University’s non-compete policy changes — this will still be the only place to get that rich, creamy, butterfat-laden treat.

Uncle Ezra   

Dear Whistle Blower,

I often wonder the same thing.  Some of it is historical; difficulty changing old traditions.  The Cornell Administration is 100% behind decreasing alcohol consumption and appreciates the irony that you describe. They also know, all too well, that a very large percent of all accidents, crises and deaths on campus involve alcohol or drug use. Alcohol is also a depressant.

The Cornell administration has been working very closely with fraternities for the past few years to curtail serving alcohol at events.  It is the students in the greek houses that have been against the change, although some are now saying that the changes to rush this year were a pleasant and accepable change.

See this Cornell Daily Sun article for more details: http://cornellsun.com/section/news/content/2010/09/08/greeks-administrators-clash-forum-over-new-drinking-rules.

Uncle Ezra   

Dear Happy Transfer,

Thanks for giving us the opportunity to know you a bit better.  Your suggestion for meeting people outside your own clique is a very good one and one that we all could benefit from.

Uncle Ezra   

Dear Student,

Ahh, it is amazing how much can be learned while getting a college education!

Uncle Ezra   

Dear Strolling,

This University’s natural areas might not resemble the meticulously over-manicured woodlands (nary a fallen branch nor pine needle out of place) you see some places (tourist-trodden parts of Germany’s Black Forest come to mind) so please watch your step when you stroll off-trail hereabouts.

Here’s an explanation from Todd Bittner, who manages the campus Natural Areas for Cornell Plantations (custodian of gorges, gardens and just about everything not paved, mowed or crop-planted around here):

“Historically, a fair amount of downed trees and dead wood in a woodland was a sign of a mature, healthy forest. Decaying wood provides an important food source for detritus-consuming organisms, which are an essential element in the food chain. Decomposing wood also provides important habitat for many species, a number of which complete their entire life cycle within a single decomposing log.  Within Plantations Natural Areas, dead and dying trees are left as part of the natural cycle, unless they pose a safety hazard for the public.

“Today, the amount of dead and dying forest trees has been accelerated for certain species due to introduced, non-native species and pathogens.  American chestnut and American elm were very common forest species a century ago, but were nearly lost due to chestnut blight and Dutch elm disease.  Presently, one of our most common forest species, American beech, is succumbing to a non-native fungus, and our grand hemlock and ash trees are threatened by the hemlock wooly adelgid and emerald ash borer respectively.  As a result, our forests will be quite different than those that the first Cornellians knew and studied.”

Thanks, Todd, for that.  Your description of “detritus-consuming organisms” in the so-called dead wood makes us realize: There’s still a lot of living going on in the silent woods.

Uncle Ezra   

Dear Curious,

You might think— knowing that Stimson Hall, designed by Class of 1870 architect William Henry Miller, was the Ithaca branch of Cornell University Medical College, because White Hall had no space to study human anatomy — that mysterious door was used to move cadavers.  Indeed, during four decades of use, more than 1,500 medical students studied in Stimson Hall. 

Regarded as the finest medical-college facility in the country when it opened in 1902, Stimson Hall temporarily served as a hospital during the typhoid epidemic of 1903.  Some 130 of Ithaca’s 681 typhoid cases were Cornell students and 13 of those died (another 160 students went home to be nursed through the disease, and 16 more died off campus.)  President Schurman visited every stricken Cornell student at their Ithaca bedside every day until the epidemic passed.

So the cadaver-elevator story sounds plausible, right? 

Not so, according to Stimson’s building coordinator, Linda Capogrossi, who says:

“The door is used by maintenance workers to access pipes that serve the building.  The doors continue down the hallway toward G25, but in that area they are at floor level.  The door you are referring to actually is at the same height as the rest of the doors, but the floor is lower in this area which is why the ground floor is labeled upper ground and lower ground.  (This designation is also used in the elevator.) I am sorry this isn’t exciting or mysterious—but the door just gives access to utilities.”

Thanks, Linda, and no need to apologize.  Stimson Hall has housed its share of ghoulish studies:

  For years it was the Ithaca outpost of Professor Perry Gilbert, a world expert on lethal shark attacks (Gilbert’s sharks were in Florida, not Beebe Lake).

Dr. Burt Wilder, who started the Cornell Brain Collection, taught there (Cornell offered a  science-based pre-med curriculum, beginning in the 1870s when most students went directly from high school to medical college without passing university biochemistry.) 

All those skulls in the Human Biology lab belong to Professor Kenneth Kennedy, a forensic anthropologist who pioneered the study of “occupational markers” on human bones (if you wear down your thumbs by texting too much, he can tell from your skeleton).

Prof. Kennedy is still alive and kicking BTW although the aforementioned docs who dealt in death haven’t shown up for work in Stimson Hall lately.

Uncle Ezra   

Dear Searching,

I don't know about the stamps, but EBay is probably your best bet for locating missing plates.  There is no special Cornell repository of such things.

Uncle Ezra   

Dear Skill-seeking,

I shoulda known someone like you would come along, when I uttered my famous “Any person . . . any study” promise.  Some person — a solid-state chemist, perhaps — who wouldn’t be satisfied with fluffy courses like MS&E 4100 "Physical Metallurgy and Applications.” Something seriously solid like . . . well, like blacksmithing. 

Lo and behold, there is such a course offered here.  The Vet College calls it farriery. (Be careful how you say that, mister; the farrier wields a heavy hammer!) And that instructor would be Michael Wildenstein, the University’s resident farrier, and the only American certified as a Fellow with Honors of Distinction by the international Worshipful Company of Farriers.

No need to worship Mr. Wildenstein, though.  He would be honored if you’d sign up for his course (for details, see http://www.vet.cornell.edu/education/farrier/) and you’ll meet some awfully nice horses, too.

Uncle Ezra   

Dear Musical,

At Cornell, clubs and organizations abound.  When browsing for the word music on the Student Activities website the opportunities are varied; http://sao.cornell.edu/SO/browse?action=search&termID=8&q=music.

JAM (Just About Music) is a residence hall at Cornell specifically set up for those interested in music, but not necessarily music majors.  Many other musical students live in Risley Hall.

If none of these opportunities work for you, I suggest that you talk to your friends and acquaintances to see who might be interested in creating an informal jam session.

Uncle Ezra   

Dear Record Checker,

Most departments do not keep student records for very long.  Some colleges keep a very minimal amount from a student’s educational record and usually none from that far back.

The university’s registrar’s office has transcripts going back a long way. This is where historical information is kept.  The university understands the need for confidentiality and only the administrators who need access to these records would be able to access them.

Uncle Ezra   

Dear Reader,

Thanks for your insight.

Uncle Ezra