Dear Reader,

Uncle Ezra is the caring spirit of the university that lives on and on.  Ezra is the warm body behind the glass and electronics that helps students, staff, alumni, and parents feel heard, consider courses of action, determine resources, and become empowered to move forward.

"Dear Uncle Ezra" was the first on-line helpline in the world,
created at Cornell in 1986.  Twenty years and 20,000 answers later Dear Uncle Ezra is still popular.  Why?  Maybe because the world is so transitory.  Maybe because people can ask questions anonymously about relationships,
emotional issues, or academic snafus.  Uncle Ezra is often a persons first step in defining their challenge before connecting with helpful resources.

Where else can you learn about how to build a 12 foot sphere you can stand inside or why there is a lion in a cage in the Helen Newman Gym or where to turn when you are feeling depressed or the history behind the Cornell Bear?

Uncle Ezra   

Dear Choco,

You are not alone! 

The rich, complex flavor of chocolate entices almost everyone.  Besides tantalizing the taste buds, chocolate provides theobromine ( a caffeine-like stimulant)  and contains many other biologically active components as well.  The health aspects of chocolate are still being researched, but you have pointed out that there may be a caloric cost of consuming too much.  What to do?

First, know that food cravings sometimes have physiological causes.  These causes are wide-ranging, and may include low food intake, low protein intake, lack of sleep, and even iron deficiency.  Second, food cravings can occur due to stress or just due to habitual eating.  Try this:  keep track of your sleep and your meals for a few days.  Does your sleep average eight hours most nights?  Are you eating regularly and getting balanced meals and snacks that include protein foods, starches, fruits, and veggies? 

Are you munching away, while also trying to get work done?  If so, see if you can separate snacks into distinct study breaks, and be sure to take other breaks from your books and your screen that don’t involve snacks.  If you do go for some chocolate, focus your full attention on eating it slowly, for maximum enjoyment.  But, before purchasing chocolate, you can also look around for some other interesting and strong flavors that might counteract a chocolate craving—such as grapefruit, salsa, kimchi, pickles, yogurt, etc., depending on your taste buds. For more information about healthy nutrition at Cornell, check out the website www.gannett.cornell.edu/chep. 

If you’re a Cornell student, you might benefit from a nutrition appointment at Gannett Health Services (255-5155).    Good luck!

Uncle Ezra   

Dear Mail Man,

There is no official listing of all mailboxes or mail room locations on campus; however, every dorm or residence hall has their own mail facility from which you can send both campus and off-campus mail. The exact location of these mail facilities can be found by contacting the residence hall office directly. Every building on campus also has their own mail facility, but it may not be open to the public.

There are two main areas that I can think of on campus from which you can send both campus and off-campus mail: The service center at Robert Purcell Community Center on North campus (as well as Service Centers in each Community Center) and the PostMarket in Ives Hall on Central campus. All mail is picked up from from different locations on campus in the morning and takes up to 24 hours to process.

Uncle Ezra   

Dear Burned to Deaf,

Uncle Ezra   

Dear Avenue Curious,

As noted previously in DUE (a student asked if his very much living professor named Thurston was related to the elder), Robert Henry Thurston (1839-1903) was a pioneering mechanical-engineering educator and dean of Sibley College, when it was still in Sibley Hall — instead of now where it’s a school within the Engineering College.

R.H. Thurston was sort of a “trophy hire,” lured from an established engineering academy (Stevens in Hoboken, NJ) to head Cornell’s new Land Grant program in mechanical engineering.  By 1900, Cornell’s engineering program (mechanical, civil, electrical) was regarded as the best in the country, and among the top in the world.  Thurston was the founding president of the ASME (American Society of Mechanical Engineers); inventor of the Autographic Recording Testing Machine; and a trend setter who brought laboratory-based scientific research to the engineering practice e.g. steam engines and boilers, thermodynamics, materials, friction, and energetics. 

So that’s why they named a hall after him, in the 1950s construction of the Engineering Quad.  He was honored with a street name when the Cornell Heights residential area (now a historic district) was developed in the late 1800s. 

Besides an Art Deco hall and a curvy street, Professor Thurston’s most tangible reminder might be the Reuleaux Collection of Mechanisms and Machines, which he commissioned in Europe and brought to Cornell.  Some of these Chitty Chitty Bang Bang gizmos are on display in the atrium between Duffield and Upson. The rest are in Thurston, where the marvelous models are still used in the teaching of design, dynamics, robotics, art, and architecture, as well as in historical research.  They are a link to the time when engineers made big honkin’ machines you could lay your hands on— instead of these teeny weenie nano things we have to take their word for.

Uncle Ezra   

Dear Price Conscience Consumer,

People talk about prices going up all the time, whether it’s is food, gasoline, or medical care. Of course there is no one simple answer. But the following explains some of the factors that go into how Cornell Dining sets its pricing.

Each year, Cornell Dining completes an analysis of its pricing structure, including labor, food costs, competition, etc. Using this information, it sets its pricing for the upcoming school year and implements it before the fall semester.

Students returning for the fall semester may notice that some menu items cost more than when they left after the end of the spring semester. The price a consumer pays for an item on a menu factors in more than just the cost of the food that goes into preparing it. The price of a menu item also reflects the costs for someone to prepare it, serve it, and clean up afterward. It also considers overhead costs such as utilities to heat and cool the building, maintenance, equipment, insurance, and other operational expenses.

Uncle Ezra   

Dear Distant Wizard Relative,

I am sad to say that the train horn sounds that you hear in your dorm at night are not the Hogwarts express. These sounds actually come from the train that runs through Tompkins County, through the west end of Ithaca, delivering coal to the AES Milliken Station, a coal power plant in the Cayuga area, or picking up salt from the Cargill salt mine located on the east shore of Cayuga Lake. It is the Norfolk Southern freight train that comes to Ithaca from Sayre, Pennsylvania solely for this purpose. There have been no passenger rail services available in Ithaca since the 1950's.

Uncle Ezra   

Dear Cornell History Buff,

David Drinkwater was Cornell's Dean of Students from 1980 to 1988 and the 1991 Convocation speaker. He and his wife co-founded Wingspan Partnerships, a non-profit dedicated to narrowing the education gap. They have two children who attended Cornell.

The following bio comes from their website:
David Drinkwater holds undergraduate and doctoral degrees in History from Oxford University. He has served as Assistant Professor and Associate Dean at the State University of New York at New Paltz; Dean of Students at Amherst College; Dean of Students and adjunct professor at Cornell University; and Head of Friends Academy in Locust Valley, New York.

As Head of Metairie Park Country Day School from 1994-2006, David focused its strategic direction; strengthened its academic, athletic and artistic programs; greatly expanded its educational use of technology; strengthened its financial support, admissions and diversity; and added major facilities to its architecturally distinguished campus. David steered Country Day into a more active role in the greater New Orleans community and served on numerous city boards, including the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra, Longue Vue House and Gardens, the Metropolitan Crime Commission, School to Career, Inc, and the New Orleans Leadership Institute. Other trusteeships include the College of Preachers, Sonoma Academy, and the Sea Education Association. Currently, he is a leader in SC21 Napa, a model of community engagement for district wide school reform, focusing on project-based learning. Together with his wife, Jacqueline Smethurst, David has founded Wingspan Partnerships, a non-profit dedicated to narrowing the education gap through partnerships between public and private schools.

Uncle Ezra   

Dear Fearful Budding Thespian,

Wasn’t it Lucio (“Measure for Measure”) who said: "Our doubts are traitors, and make us lose the good we oft might win, by fearing to attempt."

Well, then maybe it was Cornell Professor of Theatre J. Ellen Gainor who said, in considerably more detail:

“As the Chair of the Department's Curriculum Committee, I am happy to put this student's fears to rest.  The Department of Theatre, Film & Dance has been undergoing a major restructuring and revisioning process, as a result of significant budget cuts to our programming and staffing.  While we currently offer three distinct majors in Theatre, Film & Dance, we anticipate, hopefully as soon as next fall, offering one combined major that will bring together training and study in all three areas. 

“Precisely because, for example, student actors or dancers might envision careers on stage, as well as in film, it will be important to provide them with training that will allow them to understand the important similarities and differences in their work across these distinct media.  So classes will integrate training accordingly.  Not only will the new major integrate training across our three areas of focus, it will also integrate the study and the practice of the performing and media arts.  So students will learn about these forms historically, theoretically, and critically as well as grasp the dynamic interactions between theory and praxis.

“While Professor Beth Milles, Chair of the Performance and Events Committee, can speak in more detail to the exciting changes in the production work of the department, let me say briefly that in this area as well, we anticipate even more opportunities for student engagement and student-initiated work than has previously been possible.  We envision more co-curricular student groups utilizing performance spaces in the building, as well as the mentoring of our majors to develop their own projects. 

“The Department of Theatre, Film & Dance has always provided its students with training in the context of a Liberal Arts education, and that will remain true for this new major.  Students with interest in pursuing professional careers in the performing and media arts will be encouraged to apply to appropriate graduate training programs or for appropriate entry-level internships and other professional opportunities after completing their work at Cornell.

“Our new major has just received approval from the College of Arts & Sciences' Educational Policy Committee and will soon be reviewed by the full faculty in the College.  There are other approvals required within Cornell, including by the Board of Trustees, as well as external approval by the New York State Department of Education.  Once all those approvals are secured, we'll be able to share more detailed information about what incoming students can anticipate with our new major.  For now, we welcome students who are already at Cornell to enroll in our classes and pursue a major with us.  Our existing structure will remain in place until the new major is approved. Thank you again for asking!”

Uncle Ezra   

Dear Hurting Niece,

I am so sorry that you have had to endure this disappointment.  I can see how difficult this experience has been for you and understand how traumatic it can be to work for something for two years only to be rejected by the very same entity that you put your efforts into.  I am very sorry that you had this experience at Cornell and I don't support this competitiveness around relationships.

On the other hand, I don't control all that happens here and only hope that your letter will help inform others about how their system affected you.

I sent your letter to the IFC to share your frustration, disappointment and the difficulty you face now.  Here is their response:

"The young woman who is upset about not being selected by Phi Sigma Sigma should have received communication from Phi Sigma Sigma as we asked them to do several weeks ago, when you first sent this along to me. Unfortunately the selection process for student groups sometimes leaves people without the opportunity to join. This is a difficult experience to undergo.

"Phi Sigma Sigma, like other sororities at Cornell, determined their selection criterion, interviewed prospective members, and selected those with whom they found a connection to the values of Phi Sigma Sigma. I am sure each candidate was a wonderful woman with many talents and skills. I would hope that those who were not selected do not judge their worth by whether or not a sorority selected her as a member. I am sure each woman has close friends she has made throughout her four years at Cornell.

"I would encourage each woman to continue to nurture these relationships and enjoy her senior year at Cornell. Should she wish to discuss this further she may contact me lew76@cornell.edu or Phi Sigma Sigma through their Director of Recruitment and Extension Laura Landry llandry@phisigmasigma.org."

Another option to resolve your feelings so that you can move forward with your life would be EARS, Empathy, Assistance and Referral Service, 255-EARS or visit their counseling room for free, confidential support 3PM - 11PM everyday.  No appointment necessary.

Uncle Ezra   

Dear Student,

If you think there is any possibility that you won’t end up studying abroad next year, for whatever reason – like you’re still waiting to hear back about whether you’re accepted into a program – then you should definitely participate in the Housing Lottery and Room Selection process at the beginning of this upcoming spring semester, and sign a housing contract for a room for the whole 2012-2013 academic year. If you then decide to study abroad, the Housing & Dining Contracts Office will release you from your housing contract free of charge with documentation that you’re participating in a Cornell study abroad program.

But assuming you will study abroad next fall (and we hope you do get the chance!) then you will apply in fall 2012 for spring 2013 housing. Applications are accepted online in September, and housing offers are made on a first-come, first-served basis as spaces become available due to students leaving the university, studying abroad, or moving out of university housing. Housing wouldn’t be guaranteed for the spring semester, but most students who apply to live on-campus in the spring do receive a housing offer. It just might not be a single – it all depends on which rooms are vacated by your fellow students.

Uncle Ezra   

Dear Jessica,

My descendents were entitled to free tuition by resolution of by the Board of Trustees in the early years of the institution.   In 1932 the tuition scholarship for descendants was limited to the 4th generation.  The last eligible descendants were of college age approximately sixty or more years ago.  Many descendants of Ezra Cornell (born 1807) in each generation attended the university.

Uncle Ezra   

Dear Boxed In,

The lockbox is a term used by the bursar office to identify the location of where a check or a payment was processed. For example, when a payment is made by sending a check, it gets sent to a payment center where it is processed by a representative from that office. Essentially, this processing payment is called "lockbox," and that is what you see on your bill. When payments are made via wire transfer; however, they are processed by the bursar office directly.

Uncle Ezra   

Dear Anxiously Awaiting,

Direct from Admissions: The date has not been decided on yet, as we have not reached the deadline for Early Decision Applications. Please inform the student that we will be sending applicants information about our December notification date by email and they will receive special instructions regarding the notification process. Until then, we thank them for their patience and wish them the best of luck.

Uncle Ezra