Cornell University has been making an effort in recent years to foster diversity and tolerance, promoting concepts like gender-neutrality to ensure the comfort and safety of students who Gwendolyn Dean, coordinator of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgendered or Questioning Resource Center called “gender non-conforming.”

One event at Cornell featuring a gender-neutral environment occured last fall in the form of Hillel-sponsored speed dating. Ga’avah, Cornell’s LGBTQ Jewish group, held speed-dating for members of the LGTBQ community upstairs in Trillium. Graduate students also had a speed-dating event on the second floor, so that, according to Nomi Fridman, Ga’avah’s faculty advisor, no one going upstairs would stand out.

With the demolition of the Class of ’17 dormitory, home of the fondly remembered Transfer Center, Cornell’s newest transfer students have set up camp in Hasbrouck Apartments. Traditionally a graduate student living area with its family friendly playgrounds and picnic tables, approximately 200 undergraduate transfer students are now housed in the apartment style dorms on the far east end of North Campus.

“I feel like we have the best of both worlds,” said transfer student Joyce Ke ’10, “We have our own place, but we still have a meal plan and that community dorm experience.”

Number 68 on the infamous list of “161 Things Every Cornellian Should Do” is buy beer at Jason’s in Collegetown and charge it to City Bucks. Most Cornell students know that they can use part of their Cornell meal plan to purchase alcohol, but most do not know the ins and outs of the program and how the Univ­ersity benefits.

Ci­ty Bucks is Cor­nell’s off-campus debit meal plan that allows students to make purchases at participating businesses in Ithaca with a debit account. As a registered student, each Cornellian has a City Bucks account. The account can be activated by adding money, which is done online through the Cornell Dining website.

An individual reported a strong-armed robbery on the 200 block of Williams Street near Highland Place in Collegetown last night. According to a report by the Ithaca Police Department, a call was responded to around 9:15 p.m., and the victim stated that an unknown Asian male displayed a handgun and demanded money. The victim did not hand over money, but reported that a brief physical altercation took place before the unknown male fled the scene.

The suspect male was seen traveling on foot toward Highland Place wearing a blue polo shirt, jeans and a red Cornell baseball cap.

Anyone with information regarding the incident can contact the IPD at (607) 272-9973.

WASHINGTON (AP) - Congress sent President George Bush legislation yesterday to boost financial aid for college students by cutting some $20 billion in government subsidies to banks that make student loans.

Bush has indicated he will sign the legislation, despite previous objections to parts of the bill. Specifically, the administration has criticized a student loan interest-rate cut and a new loan-forgiveness program, among other things.

House Democrats had made the popular interest-rate cut a priority during the run-up to the last election in which they regained control of Congress.

The House voted 292-97 for the student aid bill yesterday. Earlier in the day, the Senate approved the measure 79-12. All the lawmakers who voted against the bill were Republicans.

The city of Ithaca contributed $75,000 to an urban design study at the Ithaca Common Council meeting Wednesday evening, the first time the city has donated funds to the Collegetown area in a number of years. Cornell collaborated with the city by agreeing to match the donation — dollar for dollar — totaling $150,000 towards the improvement of Collegetown.

The newest resolution is the latest step in what has been an ongoing process to study and recommend improvements for the future development of Collegetown as outlined by the Collegetown Vision Statement, which was presented to the Common Council in February 2006. The statement described how the community envisioned Collegetown in 20 years. The council also established a task force to help manage the project.

In a lab already distinguished for excellence, yet another great discovery has been made. At the United States Plant, Soil and Nutrition Laboratory, scientists have been able to isolate and clone an aluminum-resistant gene in sorghum plants that allows them to grow in acidic soil, the same acidic soil that covers over half of the world with a heavy concentration in under-developed countries in Africa, Asia and South America.

Leon Kochian, the research leader and supervisory plant physiologist at the United States Plant, Soil and Nutrition Laboratory USDA-ARS and a Cornell adjunct professor in plant mineral nutrition, has been working on isolating this gene for over ten years. According to Kochian, over that time, “a lot of breeding has been done to isolate this gene.”