I do not condone sneaking into private property to take construction photos. That being said, if I receive them I’m more than happy to post them as the ones seen below. Most of the photos would appear to be of the parking structure in the lower floors of the building. Too bad some of the exterior photos are a little blurry.
The house involved is Sigma Nu, off Willard Way near West Campus. Apparently, firefighters found a small pot-growing operation while investigating a busted water pipe. I would not be surprised if sanctions from their national or from the IFC are put in place against Sigma Nu as a result of this incident, as it is rather embarrassing for the Greek community (personally, I think it makes Sig Nu look like a bunch of dim bulbs).
ITHACA — A busted water pipe may lead to a drug bust after the discovery of a small marijuana-growing operation inside a Cornell University fraternity house.
The Sigma Nu house manager called firefighters about the broken water pipe on the second floor, Ithaca fire officials said. Firefighters contacted the Ithaca Police when they found the plants.
Ithaca firefighters found a half-dozen marijuana plants Tuesday afternoon while investigating a broken water pipe at the Sigma Nu fraternity house on Willard Way, Ithaca Police officials said. Officers seized the plants and though they’ve identified a person of interest, they aren’t releasing his name.
Water was running through the ceiling, they explained, and in the process of assessing the damage, firefighters found the plants in a tin-foil lined closet, surrounded on all sides and angles by several high-intensity lights.
Whoever was growing the plants will likely be charged with unlawful growing of cannabis, a misdemeanor, police said. Fire officials said the numerous electrical cords used to power the lights created a fire hazard.
The leaking pipe was part of the sprinkler system and had to be shut down for repairs, Ithaca Building Department officials said. Additional life and safety issues such as a defective smoke and fire detection system and missing exit signs were found, so they posted the house on Tuesday and told everyone to leave until the problems could be fixed, they added.
Bobby Quintal, a member of the fraternity’s executive committee and last year’s president, said the chapter housed members in local hotels and other campus fraternities donated space while contractors fixed the problems.
Friday evening, Ithaca Building Department officials said that the house would likely be safe and ready to be reoccupied later that night.
Quintal said he isn’t living at the house and has no knowledge of the marijuana found there, but that marijuana possession violates Sigma Nu fraternity rules. When rules are violated, the national chapter investigates and might sanction the local chapter, the fraternity member or both, depending on the outcome of their investigation.
The running title for this one was “The Best Seats on Campus”, but I thought that one was already used by the Sun.
Anyone who has ever been on campus knows that at one time or another, nature’s calls have to be answered. It helps to have a completely subjective and not all that extensive guide to consider when using them. The idea for this entry came from an eight-mile run I went on last week, where somewhere on mile four I was hit with the intense pressures of the excretory system, which left me hobbling half a mile to the southeast edge campus, trying six different academic buildings before I could find an unlocked door and make my way to a bathroom to relieve myself (it was about seven p.m., hence the problem with the locked doors). But look, it provided a lovely conversation topic.
Unless otherwise stated, all bathrooms are first floor or the main bathrooms for a given building. All bathrooms are also mens’ rooms, since being arrested is not high on my list of things to do before I leave Ithaca.
For those who may recall, the Sun did a nice little piece rating bathrooms some time ago, which I’m unable to find a link for online (if anyone does know the URL, I’ll be more than happy to post it here). I’ll be using the same three-star system.
Our first pit stop is Olive Tjaden. Tjaden satisfies the basic needs by being a clean, well-lit room, and amply stocked. the decor is (surprisingly) sparse for an arts building, and the panoply of pipes up at the ceiling leaves something to be desired in terms of aesthetics. But holy crap does this room have a lot of space. Like, as much space as the big bathroom in Olin Libe that should really only be used by handicapped people, only this one you don’t risk getting yelled by some woman in a wheelchair as soon as you open the door. I threw in Bishop’s History of Cornell book to give a sense of space.
Rating: * * *
Likewise, McGraw is adequately equipped to handle bathroom needs, but lacks the spaciousness of Tjaden, and we all know that space can be a big plus if you’re carrying a lot of crap (no pun intended). However, it does have a nice cheap-looking pillar running throught the stalls, as if to make a half-hearted appeal to be different.
Rating: * *
Uris Library is designed to be a high-capacity facility, so as a result, the frills are lacking. I maintain that the bookshelf against the wall of the urinals probably has some of the least-used shelves on campus. My one complaint is that on particularly wet and muddy days outside, all that just gets tracked into here, since the bathroom is so close to the entrance. Therefore, the rating changes depending on the day – decent (* *) on a good day, poor (*) on a messy day outside.
Rating: * * (dry weather day) / * (wet and/or muddy day)
Getting a photo of Olin’s bathroom was notoriously difficult thanks to the high volume traffic, even during this time of the year (these photos were taken during last week). Olin Libe’s main bathroom is in the basement, so it benefits from being a farther walk, as people have a chance to shake the mud and water off their shoes before they make it to the bathroom. While most restrooms make use of a privacy hallway to prevent peepers, Olin makes use of a second door , which can be both a blessing and a curse if someone is coming from the other direction.
Of course, in the 1980s, Olin Library bathrooms were much more invasive; here’s a DUE from Janurary 1987 [1]:
WHY ARE THERE NO DOORS ON THE MEN’S ROOM STALLS IN OLIN LIBRARY?
????????
[1]http://ezra.cornell.edu/posting.php?timestamp=538462800
[2]http://www.fs.cornell.edu/fs/facinfo/fs_facilinfo.cfm?facil_cd=2020
I knew that sooner or later, I would have to cover what is perhaps the most iconic building on campus. So here we are.
All citations, unless otherwise noted, are from Morris Bishop’s A History of Cornell (Cornell University Press, 1962).
Prior to renovation in the 1960s, the building was simply known as “The University Library”, even as other libraries were built across campus. It was Andrew Dickson White’s belief that “A large library is absolutely necessary to thr effiency of the various departments. Without it, our men of the highest ability will be frequently plodding into old circles and stumbling into old errors.” (77) The library was appropriated in September 1867 to the tune of $7,500 (175). The amount was up to $20,000 by 1880 (213).
Daniel Willard Fiske was appointed the first librarian. He was also head of the university press and an instructor in German, Swedish and Icelandic. It was his belief (and rather progressive for the time) that the library should be a reference library, open to enhance both faculty studies and student interests. As a result, his goals was to obtain, by purchase or gift, extensive book collections, such as the library of Goldwin Smith (6,000 books), Charles Anthon (3400 books) and the like. A.D. White was also known for buying rare books on his overseas trips (both with his own funds and with university money). As a result, by 1873, there were 34,000 books and 8,000 pamphlets in the libe—a substantial figure for an American university. When it first opened, the library boasted that it was open longer than any other U.S. university — nine hours a day. (108)
Fiske himself was easy to irritate and known for holding deep grudges from insults or perceived slights. Because the first university Vice-President William Russel was known for a gift of mockery, the two absolutely despised each other. However Fiske was also very kind and generous; he was particularly fond of the Psi Upsilon fraternity men, and was once chastised by White for giving an inordinate portion of his salary to the chapter and its needy brothers (108). He also was chastised for offering a glass of ale to a student, to which he responded that the student interrupted him in his drinking time with a friend, and he felt obliged to offer a glass (108).
Since Fiske was in Egypt when the university opened in October 1868, the actual first librarian was a prominent local lawyer, Thomas Frederick “Teefy” Crane, of “Give My Regards to Davy” fame. Crane studied languages in his private time, and as a result he also was the German instructor at opening. Crane enjoyed the experience enough that he himself went abroad, came back and switched places with another professor to become the instructor of French, Spanish and Italian in 1870. (109)
So, now we get to the “Great Will Case”. Jennie McGraw, aged 37, received a large inheritance after her father’s death in 1877. Already battling tuberculosis, a number of men offered to marry her, some of which were gold diggers I’m sure. One of the men who courted her was Willard Fiske. He wrote love poems to her, but he never showed them for fear of being called out as a gold digger. Anyways, as the rich and bored are wont to do, McGraw arranged to have a fabulous house built off of University Avenue, bordering Fall Creek, and then bought thousands of dollard of furnishing for it (224). In the meanwhile, both McGraw and Fiske went abroad to different parts of Europe in 1879. There is no record of contact in Europe between the two prior to April 1880. During this time however, Fiske used his influence on A.D. White to work over affairs back at Cornell. Locals assumes that because White was known to have lent Fiske money, and the two were close, that he and Sage were buttering him up so that if he and Jennie were to get hitched, that her fotune would be given someday to Cornell. (225).
In April 1880, Fiske went to Rome to join Jennie, now invalid and near death. The courtship between 48-year-old Fiske and the dying 40-year-old McGaw was short. They became engaged in Venice. Fiske announced it in a letter in May 1880 to A.D. White (along with a request for money). As one can imagine, some people looked upon Fiske’s behavior as mercenary. The two were married in Berlin on July 14, 1880 (226). At the time, Fiske signed a letter giving up his rights to Jennie’s property, under Prussian law.
The two spent the winter on the Nile, and then returned to Europe. By June 1881, the two were informed in Paris that Jennie had only a few weeks to live. Her dying wish was to pass on in Ithaca, so they made the trip back by September. I know, more than a few weeks, but whatever. She saw her mansion, newly built, and said (as she was propped up from her pillows) “it surpasses all my expectations”. It was the onlt time she ever saw the mansion, as she died September 30, 1881. When she died, Judge Boardman (of Boardman Hall) asked for the will. No one could find it, which would really suck for all parties because then they would have to use John McGraw’s will, and then the inheritance would go to John McGraw’s brother and his five kids since Jennie had no hubby or kids. Luckily, they found it in a secret pocket in a handbag that had been dumped off as junk in Fiske’s attic (227).
The will stated that Fiske would get $300,000, $550,000 to her uncle and his kids, and $200,000 for a library at Cornell, $50,000 for McGraw Hall improvements, and $40,000 for a university hospital. The university also gained her land estate, including the mansion (valued at $600,000+), which A.D. White thought would be a dream home for an art gallery (227). Fiske, as custodian of the mansion, was to contine to occupy the house, and this raised issues. Namely, that he was known for being very needy financially; he offended Henry Sage by having parties in the room she died in no more than two months after her death; and Boardman simply didn’t like him, perhaps because of a rumor that Fiske suffered from marital indescretions while in Europe. (228).
Here’s where the real fun begins. In May 1882, the state changed Cornell’s charter a little bit, but in one embedded section, it removed a portion detailing that the university couldn’t receive or hold personal property equal to or more than $3 million dollars. This was very convenient. In June 1883, Fiske was about to settle his affairs by going abroad, when an apprentice lawyer in Elmire told him of the change, and that state law said that a wife can’t leave more than half of her property to charity. As you might guess, the sh*t hit the fan. (228).
So, we have two lawsuits, one to break the will by Fiske on the grounds of Cornell’s underhanded actions, and then another one by Jennie’s cousins, out for more of the fortune. Fiske sailed for Europe, leaving a surrogate to handle things (Judge Marcus Lyon). White sailed after him to beg him to reconsider, but then Sage cabled White to tell him he was to make no offer to Fiske. Most of the Ithaca and Cornell crowd hated Fiske now anyway. After much media attention (like an OJ Simpson trial for the 1880s), in May 1886, the ruling was in favor of Cornell. White wanted to let Fiske save face by offering concessions; Sage would hear none of it. Fiske appealed the judgment, and it was overturned in August 1887, so Fiske won the suit, and the mcgraws won theirs. So Cornell appealed to the Supreme Court (231). Meanwhile, the friendship between White and Boardman/Sage had deteiorated to animosity, although Sage made an offer to build a library himself if they failed to get the inheritance. All the while, Fiske was living in a luxurious Italian villa.
In May 1890, the Supreme Court ruled against the university. However, they did say that Cornell’s endowment could be used for any university purpose, which was a small consolation. in the end, Cornell paid $180,000 in legal fees to David Hill, the apprentice lawyer of Elmira, and $100,000 for the McGraw’s counsel. One of Jennie’s cousins bought the mansion for $35,000, much to White’s anger. The house was sold by the McGraws to Chi Psi in 1896. Its furniture was auctioned off, mostly purchased by the other McGraws. Fiske’s lawyer never took another case—it was rumored he drank himself to death during the celebration (232). Henry Sage donated $500,000 for the library to be built, as was done in 1891. Willard Fiske returned to hobnobbing with the rich and famous, and book collecting. When he passed in 1904, he donated his library as well as his estate to the university. He also requested to be buried with his wife in the mortuary of Sage Chapel; when the university granted the request, the Sage family severed all ties to Cornell. (232).
***
Long-winded, isn’t it? Well, I’ll go on for a just a little while longer. I have to make up for some lost time.
The actual cost of the libe was $227,000, with room for 400,000 volumes (Cornell owned about a quarter if that at the time) (271). when received ,the Fiske fund was used for salaries and upkeep, and later book expenses; the library was already overcrowded by 1906. The library expanded in 1936 with the construction of more stacks on the south and west wings. The Great Depression was quite hard on the libe, and the head librarian at the time, Dr. Otto Kinkeldey, frequently complained about the lack of space and funding. a special library fund would be set up in 1941 (531). The library was internally reorganized in the late 1940s (576), and the Cornell University archives were created about the same time (600).
The library was renamed for Harold Uris ‘25 in 1962, since he donated significant amounts to its renovation. In 1982, the glassy west wing was added, adding 214 seats , and was paid for my the Uris Brothers Foundation [1]. The 173-ft tall Library Tower was renamed “McGraw Tower” for Jennie McGraw in 1962.
As for the Chimes and more details about the tower, we’ll save that for another entry. For the Clocktower Pumpkin, we’ll leave that to a wikipedia quote:
“On October 8, 1997 a pumpkin appeared atop the spire of McGraw Tower. Because of the danger involved in retrieving it, administrators decided to leave it until it rotted and fell off. However, the pumpkin rapidly dried out in the cold air and remained on the tower until it was removed with a crane on March 13, 1998 (it was planned that Provost Don M. Randel would remove it, but in a practice run the crane basket was blown by a gust of wind and knocked the pumpkin off). Some people had claimed that a real pumpkin could not stay up that long without rotting and that it must be artificial. However, subsequent morphological, chemical, and DNA analysis by both faculty members and undergraduates confirmed that it was indeed a pumpkin.
In April 2005, a disco ball was attached to the top of the tower. A crane was hired to remove the offending orb in an operation which cost the university approximately $20,000.” [2]
[1]http://www.cornell.edu/search/index.cfm?tab=facts&q=&id=767
So, I’ve always found it vaguely amusing that although officially Ithaca College doesn’t recognize Greek fraternities and sororities, their letters still manage to appear at events like Relay for Life over at Barton Hall.
Officially, IC recognizes three professional music fraternities and a performing arts professional fraternity (which has since closed). In terms of the student population, these are a drop in the bucket when it comes to size and importance/recognition. [1, 2]
Not that it was always this way. Ithaca College once had a thriving if smallish Greek system. Thing is, Delta Kappa fraternity (which had only a few chapters anyway) brought the system down in 1980 with the death of a pledge. According to the book Wrongs of Passage:
“A long-standing tradition of forcing pledges to perform calisthenics in a steamroom with the heat turned up high finally claimed a victim, Joseph Parella, 18.”
Which just goes to show you what can happen when people in charge of safety and planning exercise incredibly poor judgement.
Still, the system does exist in some weird underground sort of way. I don’t think they even had houses back when they were recognized, since Ithaca College is an all-residential college (meaning most students live on campus, with the exception of seniors in an apartment perhaps), and they certainly wouldn’t have them. A relatively thorough google search brings up some of the underground fraternities and sororities of IC:
Delta Kappa- Apparently it still exists, though merely as a shadow of its former self. [3]
Pi Lambda Chi
Phi Kappa Sigma
Alpha Epsilon Pi
Phi Iota Alpha (Latino interest fraternity)
Phi Mu Zeta (sorority)
Gamma Delta Pi (sorority) [7]
In conclusion, they’re underground; most of the IC students think they’re stupid or haven’t heard of them; and they barely manage to exist. If anything, this should be a lesson on what can go horribly wrong if due safety and precaution aren’t exercised.
[1]http://collegeprowler.com/colleges/ithaca-college/greek-life/
[2]http://fuse.ithaca.edu/1455/
[3]http://members.tripod.com/deltakappa/
[4]http://www.ithaca.edu/ithacan/articles/0412/02/opinion/3greek_l.htm
[5]http://www.ithaca.edu/ithacan/articles/0009/28/news/fraternities.htm
[6]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ithaca_College
[7]http://www.freewebs.com/gammadeltapisisters/currentsisters.htm
First off, let me say I do not support nor condone any illegal activity, especially for the purpose of information gathering. That being said, going into prohibited construction sites is a lot of fun if you’re careful where you step and you can avoid the workers leaving for the evening.
So, this started when a friend of mine who happened to figure out that I was the writer of this blog sent me a message asking if I could go through the new West Campus and take some photos. Knowing he wasn’t in Ithaca, I decided that I would be happy to oblige this time (but I certainly won’t be making it a habit).
Token War Memorial shot.
First off, the War Memorial. These photos are actually from my fraternity photo tour last month. The War Memorial was constructed from 1926 to 1931. It honors the 264 Cornellians who were killed in action in World War I. However, it does not honor a 265th death, that of Hans Wagner 1912, who was killed in action while fighting for the Axis Powers [1].
Noyes and Hans Bethe dining hall have grass roofs. Cornell, take note to not follow IC’s folly and set off fireworks right next to a building with a grass roof; it just might catch fire.
Any makeshift fence can be scaled. But why bother when there’s a narrow space between it and the wall?
Base of the War Memorial steps, being renovated.
A new central plaza area between House 5 and Bethe.
House 5, south face
Don’t mind my shadow.
Curious horizontal window slits near the entrance of House 5.
Nameplate, unfinished for now.
House 5 Dining area, NW corner
north face, house 5
House 5 dining area interior, unfinished
Keeton House, north face
Noyes, from Keeton
A corner plaza next to Keeton. Psi Upsilon is in the back.
A plaza/planting area just outside of Keeton.
Keeton’s connective corridor.
A staircase at Keeton that leads under the corridor.
A large blank wall next to the previously mentioned staircase.
Note the coloration of the glass in the connective corridor.
Keeton’s south wing. Notice how the top floor has a different window pattern and uses different materials.
An interesting if not aesthetically pleasing entrance area for Keeton’s north wing.
Had to hide from construction workers by hiding behind the board next to the Penske truck.
The unfinished nameplate for Keeton.
Keeton’s balcony.
An architecturally interesting juxtaposition of Baker Tower, Becker House and the Johnson Museum.
Keeton’s lobby area
The dining area and an adjacent lounge in Keeton House.
A random hall of dorm rooms in Keeton.
***
Boldt Hall and Tower
ATO painted their house, it seems.
As for the photo request…consider it fulfilled.
[1]http://cornellsun.com/node/19107
