Briefs

A forum on military recruiting on U.S. campuses and the Solomon Amendment will be held at 2:30 p.m. on Feb. 28, in Myron Taylor Hall, room 390 (the Moot Court Room). The forum stems from an ongoing debate surrounding whether Cornell, including the Law School, must allow the U.S. military to recruit on campus despite its refusal to sign a non-discrimination statement required of all other campus recruiters. The controversy stems from the Solomon Amendment. Through Solomon, the U.S. Congress mandated a denial of all federal funds to any universities that deny military recruiters effective access to students. Speakers thus far include Law School Dean Stewart J. Schwab, university counsel, a member of President Jeffrey Lehman's office, and others. Recently, two cases challenged the enforcement of the Solomon Amendment. The first, Forum for Academic and Institutional Rights v. Rumsfeld (2004), stated that the "Solomon Amendment requires law schools to express a message that is incompatible with their educational objectives, and no compelling governmental interest has been shown to deny this freedom ...," thus holding that the Solomon Amendment infringed on the free-speech rights of law schools. In the second case, Burt v. Rumsfeld, the Federal District Court for Connecticut declared the Solomon Amendment unconstitutional and enjoined the law's enforcement against Yale University.

Life Science Technology Building gets site approval from the city:

The City of Ithaca Planning and Development Board granted final site plan approval Tuesday, Feb. 22, for Cornell's Life Science Technology Building, the cornerstone of the university's New Life Sciences Initiative, a campuswide, faculty-driven research, development and educational program to maintain Cornell's leading role in the study of life sciences. The building, perhaps the university's most ambitious research facility ever, will be constructed east of the Biotechnology Building, between Tower Road and Lynah Rink, with construction scheduled to begin this spring and to be completed in August 2007. The architect for the building is Richard Meier & Partners Architects of New York City and Los Angeles, led by internationally renowned architect and Cornellian Richard Meier '56, B.Arch '57. The anticipated budget for the project is $146 million. The next step, said project director Robert Stundtner, will involve meeting with people in the neighborhood of the planned building to discuss construction impacts and how to mitigate them.