Sun not included: A solar home designed and built by a team of students was sold for $121,000 at a campus auction held--in a heavy rainstorm--on April 7. The 640-square-foot house, which won second place in the U.S Department of Energy's 2005 Solar Decathlon competition, was purchased by an anonymous alumnus and moved to his property in nearby Lansing to be used as a second home.

Hate Crime?  STUDENT STABBING INCIDENT STILL UNDER INVESTIGATION

EARLY IN THE MORNING OF FEBRUARY 18, ILR STUDENT Nathan Poffenbarger '08 was arrested after allegedly stabbing a visiting student during an altercation near the Baker Tower archway on West Avenue. Charles Holiday, a senior at Union College in Schenectady, was stabbed in the chest and taken to the trauma unit at Arnot Odgen Hospital in Elmira, where he was treated for a collapsed lung and released several days later. Poffenbarger turned himself in to University Police later that night. He was charged with second-degree assault, a Class D felony, and later released on $20,000 bail.

The incident reverberated on campus for weeks because of its racial dimension: Poffenbarger, a native ofWoodsboro,Maryland, who had transferred to Cornell in September from Frederick Community College, had been expelled from a West Campus fraternity party earlier that evening, reportedly for his repeated use of racial slurs. Ithaca Police Chief Lauren Signer told the Albany Times Union that Poffenbarger was "yelling and screaming things of a racial nature" when he and a female companion encountered a group of three black Union College students, including Holiday, walking nearby. The ensuing scuffle was witnessed by a patrolling Ithaca Police officer, but Poffenbarger fled before he could be apprehended. Tompkins County DA Gwen Wilkinson says that she will give the grand jury the option of charging Poffenbarger with a hate crime, a Class C felony. If Poffenbarger is indicted, a criminal trial is likely.

In the wake of the stabbing, a number of student and community forums and rallies focusing on racial concerns were held on campus and in the Ithaca community. On February 28, Interim President Hunter Rawlings fielded questions from students and staff at a meeting in Willard Straight Hall. The incident, he said, "has had a galvanizing effect on all of us. . . . This is an incident that makes us all think seriously about violence in our midst and racial issues in our society."

Future Perfect  UNIVERSITY HIRES MASTER PLANNING FIRM

IN APRIL, STEPHEN GOLDING, EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT for finance and administration, announced that Cornell has hired Urban Strategies Inc. of Toronto to head a consulting team charged with developing a comprehensive master plan for the campus. The master plan, scheduled for completion in 2007, will address land use, building construction, and transportation issues on the Hill over the next ten to twenty-five years. According to Cyndi Rottenberg-Walker, a principal with Urban Strategies, environmental issues will be a key consideration. "The master plan will provide a tremendous opportunity for Cornell to become a model of sustainable campus planning, which will benefit not only the University but the entire region," she says. Development of the plan will include outreach to faculty, students, and staff as well as residents of neighboring communities through meetings, interviews, and workshops. Urban Strategies has prepared master plans for the University of Minnesota, the University of Toronto, and the University of Ottawa.

CU Raises $354 Million  GIVING TOTAL DOWN FROM PREVIOUS YEAR

ACCORDING TO THE CHRONICLE OF HIGHER EDUCATION, private donations to Cornell for the 2004–05 fiscal year totaled $354 million. This represents a decline of 8.3 percent from the previous fiscal year, when the University raised a record-setting $386 million. Cornell's total for 2004–05 placed it fifth on the year's list of top fundraisers; Stanford was first, with $604 million, followed by the University of Wisconsin,Madison ($595 million), Harvard University ($590 million), and the University of Pennsylvania ($394 million).Wisconsin's total was inflated by an unusual $296 million donation from Blue Cross-Blue Shield ofWisconsin. (When the company changed from nonprofit to for-profit status, the state required it to distribute some of its holdings to nonprofits.) Overall giving to American colleges and universities increased by 4.9 percent for the year, although the proportion of alumni making gifts declined.

Work Zone  BRIDGE IMPROVEMENT AND OTHER PROJECTS TO DISRUPT TRAFFIC FLOW

DRIVING ACROSS CAMPUS WILL BE EVEN TRICKIER for the next year and a half, as a reconstruction project is under way at the Thurston Avenue Bridge. On March 20, the City of Ithaca began work on an $8 million widening of the campus landmark, which spans Fall Creek Gorge just west of Beebe Lake. During the first phase of construction, one lane is remaining open in the southbound direction (from North Campus to Central Campus). Both lanes will be closed for about a month during the summer; car and bus traffic will be detoured to the Stewart Avenue Bridge, and pedestrians will be rerouted to the Triphammer Footbridge. Construction work will stop during Commencement and Reunion, allowing traffic to move in both directions. It will also be halted over the winter.

When work resumes next spring, the bridge will be closed in both directions. The scheduled completion date for the project is October 31, 2007. The renovated structure will have wider motor vehicle lanes, wider sidewalks, bicycle lanes, and better lighting. The intersection at the south end of the bridge will also be improved, with the addition of a turning lane onto University Avenue.

Getting around campus--or trying to park--will be further complicated by a raft of other projects, including ongoing work on the Life Sciences Technology Building, adding another level to the Hoy Road Parking Garage, the expansion of Lynah Rink, and continuing construction of residential halls on West Campus. In addition, work on the $85 million physical sciences building, to be located west of Clark Hall, is expected to begin in about a year. For information on project schedules, parking lot closings, and traffic detours, go to: www.aff.cornell.edu/SpecialConditions/CampusConstruction.

Two Trustees  ALUMNI ELECT BROWN AND REILLY

IN EARLY APRIL, INTERIM PRESIDENT HUNTER RAWLINGS called Kelly Smith Brown '88, MBA '92, and Philip Reilly '69 to give them the good news that their fellow alumni had elected them to the Board of Trustees. Their four-year terms begin on July 1.

Brown, a brand manager at Procter & Gamble, has served on the CALS Advisory Council, the JGSM Advisory Council, and the University Council; she has been president of her class (1993–2003), vice president of CAF (1999–2001), and president of CACO (2001–03). Reilly, the CEO of Interleukin Genetics, holds a JD from Columbia and an MD from Yale in addition to his Cornell degree. He has taught at the Harvard Medical School and was director of the Eunice Kennedy Shriver Center for Mental Retardation from 1992 to 2000.