(UPDATED) Cornell’s Library Shutdown Count Up to Three

So, I log into facebook and find this page being posted into my news feed.

So, this comes as a bit of surprise. But I don’t buy into it. First of all, there’s nothing online — nothing on the Daily Sun, nothing on the engineering website, no data to back this up at all. Secondly, decisions like this are usually made over the span of months, even years (for example, the physical sciences library’s shutdown was formalized in March 2009 (an attentive reader of this blog actually told me about it before the Sun even had published the story); the library did not shut down until nearly a year afterwards (and no offense to Munier, but that library was definitely one of the lesser-used and therefore more expendable library facilties on campus). Decisions like this aren’t just “made” without a great deal of debate beforehand.

The one grain of truth I can throw into this is that the master plan indicates that the facilty to replace Hollister and Carpenter is under way — but that would suggest Carpenter getting demolished, not reappropriated. Plus, that’s still in the planning phases. Maybe a library would be in the Gates Hall plans, which are currently at the very beginning of the funding and approvals process; but I doubt it at this time.

I call bullcrap on this one until some information is published that indicates otherwise (see update). If there is any truth to it, going all alarmist  and calling the office staff (like the page suggests) is just going to make matters worse.

(UPDATED) So the author of the facebook page attached several official-lloking documents detailing the removal of the library’s book to Olin and Uris. IT would appear that the ACCEL computer labs would be kept and the labs would be made into a 24-hour unit (but isn’t that the lab in Upson exists?). Meanwhile, Munier has posted onto their page a link from Mann Library saying that the Entomology Library will be shut down and merged with Mann. So it would appear Cornell’s cost-cutting will shut down two more libraries they consider “less-used”.

I hope Cornell doesn’t release any more ads touting their expansive library system anytime soon.

Stupid Frat Tricks II: How to Screw Up Recruitment

So I checked my email today and received the following excerpt in an email from the IFC:

“I am writing to provide you all with an update of events that occurred last night that resulted in a fraternity having their university recognition temporarily suspended.  The suspension is in response to a recruitment event at the fraternity house that resulted in the hospitalization of three students due to alcohol poisoning.  These students were transported to the hospital by brothers of the fraternity late last night.  The Ithaca Police Department responded to the event as well and are currently investigating along with Cornell University Police.  This incident is being taken very seriously and will likely have repercussions that effect the entire system.  At this time the fraternity has been instructed to desist from all activities including recruitment.”

While the chapter at least got them medical attention, the act was stupid, dangerous and intolerable. To the point that the fraternity (rumor mill suggests Pi Kappa Alpha) has lost recognition and will not be allowed to have a pledge class. Well, considering the similar incident that happened with Sigma Pi a couple of years ago, I guess this is proof that history has a habit of repeating itself.

Rumor Mill: Alpha Xi Delta’s New House?

Being in another part of the country sort of limits my ability to keep this blog as active as it usually is. That being said, occasionally some tip or rumor comes along, and if it piques my curiosity, I’ll sooner or later get around to addressing it.

In this case, it would appear that popular rumor is ciruclating that Alpha Xi Delta sorority would be moving into Alpha Omicron Pi sorority’s old house. To make a long story short, AOPi closed this past year for a number of reasons, leaving their recently renovated (and rather luxurious, if I dare say) house on Ridgewood Road open. The house itself has a long storied history of being involved in the Greek system, with no less than four different Greek organizations calling at home at some point or another in its nearly one-hundred year history (see other entries).

The rumor has its plausible points. For one, Alpha Xi Delta doesn’t own their house at 115 The Knoll. That house is still owned by Delta Phi Epsilon sorority, which closed about six years ago [1]. Rumor mill seems to suggest that Alpha Xi Delta’s moving to Ridgewood may not be permanent, as AOPi stated that once the last sisters graduate (2011?), the sorority is hoping to reactivate itself, persumably in the house it owns.

I guess my question is, if the rumor turns out to true, then what’s being done with 115 The Knoll? Is Delta Phi Epsilon reactivating, or is the house intended for another purpose? I s’pose only time will tell on this one.

 [1]http://www.rso.cornell.edu/DPhiE/DRhistory.html

Trouble At “The Castle on the Rock”?

EDIT – So, they’re not going dry or closing, but they are reorganizing. Their Recruitment Chair was kind enough to offer an explanation on the validity of the rumors in the comments section.

Normally, I shy away from rumors, but this one has been persisting for some time, and so I’m going to address it now so that hopefully fact can be pulled from the fiction.

Naturally, this deals with the Greek system that has been the topic of many an entry. This is the story that rumor mill has supplied me, with little variation, from four seperate sources:

Beta Theta Pi will be either closing or going dry at Cornell University. Rumor mill claims that their alumni visited them on a Tuesday to find many of the brothers drunk, and they weren’t too happy. Apparently they were given the ultimatum to either go dry or disband. At this point, two sources said they’re going dry and half the brothers deactivated, and the other two sources said the fraternity is closing completely.

This vague passage from their website doesn’t help matters: [1]

“2009 marks a new chapter in the history of our great house. Reorganized, reenergized, and refocused, we are committed to developing worthy individuals to be the best that they can be.”

I think it’s a shame if their’s truth to the closing. Beta has been at Cornell uninterrupted since 1879 (it changed it name over after the original fraternity, Alpha Sigma Chi, merged with Beta Theta Pi [1]).

Not too surprisingly, the brothers I know in that house are staying fairly quiet about the whole situation, apart from saying that they have been having some problems lately that are being addressed. I s’pose is there was any truth to the rumors, I’d be keeping a low profile too.

[1]http://www.betadelta.org/history.html