Dear Contemplating the Ivy,

Sounds like you are biding your time here rather than passionately connected to your dreams and goals in life.  I'm not sure I would support either of the pictures your shared; yours of boredom or others who are obsessive about getting a certain grade.

I suggest spending time thinking about what you would like for your life's work.  What are you passionate about?  What sparks your interest?  What do you want out of life and from your education?  What issues are you concerned about that could use your efforts?  Also look at what you are good at and what skills you have that you enjoy using.

It's possible you are in the wrong major.  It's possible that you have been lulled to sleep by the evils of our educational system that focuses so much on grades and exams that you haven't had the space to think about what is important to you and what you are hungry to learn.  You will have this summer to do some serious thinking and maybe the ability to try out a profession through reading or an internship or apprenticeship.

Another possibility is that some aspects of your experience here are boring and not up to snuff.  Instead of standing by and being the recipient of your education, become an active consumer of your education.  Active participation is energizing and will not only improve your experience but the experience of everyone else as well.

You have taken the first step, which is to recognize the problem and get in touch with the fact that you are unhappy with things as they are.  Now it is up to you to take the steps to make some changes so that you are actually getting the most you can out of your education.

If you would like some help thinking this through, try EARS.  Everyday from 3 - 11 PM on the second floor of Willard Straight Hall.  They are trained counselors and their service is available for free and it is completely confidential.

Uncle Ezra   

Dear Looking UP,

Wire mesh was installed several years ago to alleviate the problem of pigeons roosting in archway. At that time, there was a significant problem with the number of birds gathering in the archway, as well as bird droppings (in the nicest way I can think of to say that). Believe me, aesthetically, the wire mesh is far superior to the alternative.

Uncle Ezra   

Dear Deer’s Best Friend,

I am so glad that you find comfort in the deer. They are very peaceful animals and a beauty to behold.

There are an overabundance of deer on campus and in the surrounding communities, because we live in the country where deer roamed long before any of us, they multiply and hunting isn't allowed in these areas.  We've killed or moved out any natural predators, taken over the deer habitat, and haven't figured out a way to control their population.  The only two things that keep the population under control at this point is starvation during the winter and their main predators, cars.

Those tagged and collared deer are part of the Cornell University Deer Research and Management Study, which was mentioned in Dear Uncle Ezra’s Question 10 for November 4, 2008, and is covered in more detail at this web site: site.http://wildlifecontrol.info/deer/Pages/default.aspx.

Essentially, the wildlife biologists are trying to find out what campus-area deer prefer to eat—kind of like Cornell students participating in taste tests at Food Science. Admittedly, that’s not a perfect analogy.  Student volunteers are paid to eat experimental things in Food Science. The deer are “paid” by getting to wear funky “jewelry.”  One of your Uncle’s helpers—who lives in an off-campus community where deer have been studied for years while wearing “earrings and necklaces”—says it doesn’t seem to affect their social lives or self-esteem. “They’re still finding mates and reproducing like, well, like rabbits,” he reports.

Your Uncle realizes that deer management is kind of controversial around here, and fully expects to hear more on the topic.

Uncle Ezra   

Dear Too Hot,

According to my friends in Student & Academic Services Facilities Management, all of Cornell’s residential buildings allow occupants some control over their room temperature. However, in the case of older buildings, the heating system is powered by steam, and has a long response time when a change is made to a setting – it may even take a couple hours after you adjust your thermostat before you notice a difference. In newer buildings, the response time is much faster; however, you may only adjust your room’s temperature within a certain pre-set range (usually between about 68 and 72 degrees).

If you are still concerned about temperature issues in your room, you should speak with your RHD or Assistant Dean to see whether they might offer some advice. If you believe your heating system may be broken, please submit a maintenance request by visiting housing.cornell.edu and clicking “Place a Maintenance Request” in the left-hand menu bar.

Uncle Ezra   

Dear Student of Design,

Ask that question of an architectural historian— like the author of “The Cornell Campus,“ Kermit C. Parsons— and you’ll get the following: “If the need for administrative office space on the Cornell campus is best expressed in a frank, economical adaptation . . . of the better-class post-war New York City office building, Day Hall does it well.” 

But you asked Your Uncle, who must observe: When Day Hall opened in 1945, student riots were far from the top of the “Official University Administration Worry List and Plan B.”  That’s not to say that the hall, named for the University’s fifth president, Edmund Ezra Day (1883-1951), never experienced student occupations, protests, and other expressions of passionate concern for the issues of the day. A traditional  (if rarely successful) tactic was to occupy the president’s office (or as much of the building as could be secured) and refuse to leave until demands are met. 

Over the years, Cornell Police have learned to deal with protest-occupations of that building. They know their way around Day Hall (all the doors and stairwells, elevators and alarms, from the roof to the sub-sub-basement) and how to read the “riot act” (essentially, “What you’re doing is wrong. You have been warned.  Now we’re going to do something about it.”)   If any “riot-proof” features have been added since that “better-class post-war” hall was first designed, no one in authority is apt to comment. 

Uncle Ezra   

Dear W’happened,

In cases of menu-debarment and other kinds of e-confusion, Your Uncle tends to turn to CIT’s HelpDeak (helpdesk@cornell.edu} where CIT Consultant Chris shot back this explanation:

“You're right, it looks like the link to iGoogle is no longer built into the current igoogle page. There isn't much we can do about this, because we don't actually work on the Cmail program itself.

However, an easy way to access iGoogle is to type in http://www.google.com/ig. As an added bonus, now that Cmail Google Apps accounts have been transitioned to being actual Google accounts, you can use your own Cornell email address as a login for iGoogle. Please feel free to contact the CIT HelpDesk (helpdesk@cornell.edu) if you would like additional clarification about this.”

Uncle Ezra   

Dear Scholar,

Explore the possibilities in the Fellowships Section of Cornell Career Services http://www.career.cornell.edu/ in Barnes Hall.

Uncle Ezra   

Dear Clock Watcher,

Thanks for your timely observation, which has been relayed to the Athletics Facilities crew.  This year marks six decades for Teagle (built in 1951 in the Collegiate Gothic style, its craggy grey stone complementing the older Barton Hall across the road) and still, the Roman-numeralled clock is partly right — all the time.  (The minute hand is working, and is reasonably precise. The hour hand, not so much.)

Don’t expect a right-away fix, for two reasons: This is a busy season for AthFac. With playing fields to prepare for spring and summer sport and light bulbs to change in really tall ceilings —they do it all and more.

And in a time when money is scarce, repairs to University structures are prioritized.  Understandably, things like falling ceilings in McGraw move to the top of the list.  And repairs of lesser urgency tend to stay at the bottom of the list—unless? Unless some visionary Cornellian steps boldly forward and says: I would found a committee where any person who cares about old clocks can help to fix one.  What a timely 60^th birthday gift that would be for old Teagle.

Uncle Ezra   

Dear Reader,

There is no significant loss in nutritional value when you scramble an egg before cooking it. The physical force itself does not destroy any nutrients. When you whip eggs, you do incorporate air which contains oxygen and this could cause some loss of C and E through oxidation. However, eggs are not a good source of these vitamins so any nutritional effect is likely to be negligible.

Note - when you cook an egg the reason it goes from being liquid to solid is because the heat causes the proteins to unfold and then refold and bond together in a solid mass (i.e., coagulate). The same process can be triggered by bubbles of air, which is why beating egg whites can result in a more solid foam. The coagulation of the proteins also does not change the nutritional value.

Happy breakfast!

Uncle Ezra   

Dear Runner’s High,

That event, if it was Sunday, April 10, 2011, probably was the annual Skunk Cabbage Classic (a 10 K half marathon named for one of the first green signs of spring around here) and was a production of the Finger Lakes Runners Club -http://www.fingerlakesrunners.org/, which is a great way to start and be welcomed into the local community of runners at any level.

As for the runner’s high and endocannabinoid chemicals running through your brain—you’re asking an old guy with a cane and a telegraph on his statue? (Research in our own Psych Department with seed-storing birds once showed that blocking the cannabinoid receptors facilitates their memory. Where’d I leave that seed? Whereas unblocking receptors improves birds’ creativity in the search. Oh, look, those runners dropped some trail mix!)  Try to remember to ask your new running buddies about that. 

Uncle Ezra   

Dear Reading Room Reader,

The date was 1963, according to Uris Library’s Lance Heidig, who adds:

“The Dean Room in Uris Library is named for Arthur H. Dean, an Ithaca native, Cornell alumnus, attorney, diplomat, United Nations delegate, and Cornell University trustee.  He and his wife Mary provided funds for the renovation of Uris Library and the building of Olin Library. Thousands of rare books and manuscripts were also added to the library collections, as a result of their generosity. To foster a love of books and reading among Cornell’s students, they also began the library’s first undergraduate book collection contest, which lasted from 1966 until 1989. (from our Uris Library Historical Tour at http://libecast.library.cornell.edu/uris/dean.html.)

More about Mr. Dean from a Rare Books exhibition:

http://rmc.library.cornell.edu/footstep s/exhibition/foundingcollections/foundingcollections_4.html

“When the University Library was renovated and reopened in 1963 as Uris Library, the University Librarian Stephen McCarthy used the occasion to honor Mr. Uris, Mr. Dean and the four University Librarians that preceded him. The library building was named for Uris, the General Reading Room was renamed the Dean Reading Room and other reading rooms were named for the four librarians: the Fiske Room (now known as the Fish Bowl), the Harris Room (now used as staff space), the Austen Room (now a group study room) and the Class of 57 – Kinkeldey Room (recently renovated by the Class of 1957).”

Thanks to Lance, who knows how to find all this info because he is a reference librarian right there in Uris.

Uncle Ezra   

Dear Student,

You may contact the Student and Academic Services Facilities Management Office to find out about your specific maintenance request. Call (607)255-0328 and ask for Lisa. If you have the work order number that was referenced in your confirmation email, she can look that up – otherwise, give her your room number and the date on which the work was completed. Good luck!

Uncle Ezra   

Dear Wondering,

CALS requires full time enrollment with exceptions of students in the employee degree program, seniors in their 9th semester who get approved for pro-rated tuition, and students who need to reduce credits for extenuating circumstances which requires petitioning the college for approval. More specific information and advice is available at Student Services in 140 Roberts Hall.

Uncle Ezra   

Dear Transfer,

That’s a great question for a counselor in one of the college advising offices— so let’s start with the Arts College, where Assistant Dean Jim Finlay says:

“A&S transfer students must spend a minimum of four semesters in full-time study at Cornell.  Transfer students can graduate cum laude, magna cum laude, and summa cum laude; these honors are conferred on a student by a major department. I’m afraid I can’t answer the question about CALS—they have very different residency requirements than A&S and I know they do honors differently, too. Sorry I can’t help with that part.”

Uncle Ezra   

Dear Nephew-to-be,

Your recent accomplishments will demonstrate your new-found motivation and ability to apply yourself.  That will definitely be taken into consideration.  Your extra curricular record will also speak to your dedication to your field of interest. I suggest doing what you can to create or be engaged in internships or experiences that will further your understanding and knowledge so that you can bring that expertise to your academic work to provide a richer educational experience not only for you, but for your fellow students.

Uncle Ezra