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Archives
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May 2010
Skorton Increasingly Lehman-esque
As we noted back in October, President Skorton's speeches are increasingly becoming Lehman-esque in their style and content. Yesterday, Skorton delivered a commencement address complete with literary references to E.M. Forester and Water for Elephants, while also including an itemized list of charges to newly minted Cornellians: The fourth charge, no doubt, might be impeded by certain fences on campus. At any rate, while adopting some of his techniques, Skorton has forgone the extended (and sometimes mixed) metaphors of Lehman's addresses for a more concise, direct delivery. I'm not certain much of the Crescent wanted to receive an extended treatise on the nature of the Star Wars Dark Side in tandem with a lengthy discussion of Thomas Pynchon's The Crying of Lot 49. The other big address this weekend was Nancy Pelosi's. Reading through her remarks, I found the first and last third passable, but the middle third -- which dealt with education, health care, and energy policy -- unnecessarily political. (And this coming from a person who is a big fan of the education and health care reforms enacted by our current Congress and is desperately hoping for a carbon tax one of these days.) As I suggested last year, and as Elie blogged this weekend politicians don't usually work as commencement speakers, and a better policy would be to limit speakers to professors or alumni. But I digress. Congratulations to the Class of 2010. I've been blogging from far beyond Cayuga's waters for a couple years now, but for whatever reason I developed more connections with the Class of 2010 than other recent graduating classes. Here's an A.R. Ammons poem from a couple years back. Matthew Nagowski | May 31, 2010 (#) On The Sport of Lacrosse I'll confess to having a minor fascination with the sport of lacrosse; not just the sport itself, but also the culture it breeds and its meanings for American life in the twenty-first century. It's ostensibly a perfect sport, combining finesse and skill with speed and force, team and individual play, and a fair amount of randomness. It also offers a healthy balance in scoring, mediating the gulf between soccer's doldrums and basketball's hyperactivity. And John McPhee has written about it beautifully. The sport's roots as a Native American pastime, nay deeply meaningful ritual, and its subsequent subjection to white, French-Canadians are pretty compelling. Add to this history its current status as the de facto sport associated with the wealthy, privileged, East Coast establishment types, and you have enough material for a Tom Wolfe novel. Matthew Nagowski | May 28, 2010 (#) Fuchs: I Am The Decider The University Faculty recently released a whole bunch of transcripts from the faculty senate meetings, and I think one dialog by Provost Fuchs from last November is particularly telling: "I feel I have to manage the process. I don't think I'm going to do it perfectly, but we'll do our very best. In those areas where there's strong contradictions, it's likely -- and they affect the institution -- likely, the provost will have to make the final decision. He further elaborates on how much Reimagining Cornell will be sui generis, as opposed to being informed by outside factors: We actually welcome external input from stakeholders, and our alumni, our friends of the university, sometimes companies, foundations, but they're not going to be making decisions. Sometimes they have valuable input. I just read a long letter today from a former faculty member who's no longer here, with a strong opinion about a certain area, and I learned a little bit by reading that; but I don't think any of us would allow it to be inappropriate. Their suggestions may be inappropriate, but the input will not be inappropriate. So, for instance, the issue of AEM will not be settled at the college level. No surprise, but this all ties back into the University's proposed new budget model. Matthew Nagowski | May 28, 2010 (#) The Cornell Reunion Blazer! With my very first Reunion right around the corner, it's kind of hard not to get excited about all of the upcoming festivities -- Cornell trivia contests, a midnight run to Hot Truck, and Cornelliana night. Not to mention tents with copious amounts of liquid refreshment! So naturally I'm going to want to be decked out in true Cornell style, just like Dave the Zamboni guy:  A couple of minutes of searching on eBay has yielded what perhaps may be the most distinguishing mark of Reunions tomfoolery -- a jacket that nobody in their right mind would want to be seen wearing off-campus. But on-campus? Oh, we will live it up. And best of all, it fits like a glove:  I'm pretty excited to see how many people will be decked out in full Cornell regalia in June. It's obviously not going to be a level approaching that of Princeton, but maybe I will be able to help inspire some kindred spirits. Nevertheless, this will be coming soon to an East Hill near you. Now if only I can find myself a boater's hat. Matthew Nagowski | May 26, 2010 (#) AAP Has Erosion Issues Back in 2006 I suggested that Milstein Hall's footprint -- so close to the Fall Creek gorge -- could possibly disrupt the soil in the area and encourage erosion and stability problems for buildings in the area : As Brian notes, there's reason to suspect that this is Milstein-related. Matthew Nagowski | May 22, 2010 (#) An Interview With Student-Elected Trustee Nighthawk Evensen A PhD student in Cornell's Department of Natural Resources, Nighthawk Evensen, recently was elected to a two-year term to Cornell's Board of Trustees, beginning July 1st. Nighthawk was kind enough to sit down during a busy finals week and chat with MetaEzra about his background, his aspirations for his tenure as trustee, and why Cornell's lacrosse team is better than Princeton's. We have yet to see how Nighthawk's tenure as trustee plays out, but any person who capitalizes the U in 'university' when referring to Cornell is a friend of MetaEzra's. Below, a picture of Nighthawk:  MetaEzra: We should probably start with the obvious. You go by the name 'Nighthawk', and I think our readers will immediately be wondering about this. Was it a given name to you in your infancy, or is it something that you have adopted more recently? Nighthawk Evensen: My birth name is Darrick Trent Evensen; my current name is Darrick Trent Nighthawk Evensen. During my year off between undergraduate study at Princeton and my graduate work at Cornell, I worked as an environmental educator at an alternative school. Entire grades of middle school children would come to the school and live in cabins at our school for one week at a time. In the mornings I would teach the children field ecology, taking them out in the woods, and in the afternoon I would teach general interest classes on science or history. After the kids went to bed for the night, I would often climb into the trees and sit in the branches about ten feet off the ground. I enjoyed observing nature with senses other than sight, listening to and smelling the natural world when my eyesight was of little use. I feel that people all too often focus primarily or solely on the wonderful visual aspects of nature; neglecting their other senses. My nights in the trees caused my fellow staff members to bestow the name Nighthawk upon me. I legally added "Nighthawk" as a second middle name about a year later. You're a graduate student in the field of natural resources. What attracted you to Cornell? Cornell is a great school with top-level programs, as everyone is well aware. Natural Resources is no exception to this rule. When applying to grad school, the choice was ultimately between becoming an Eli at Yale or joining the Big Red. My major advisor here, Dan Decker, made me realize how welcoming and down to earth the Cornell faculty are. At Cornell, it was refreshing to see that the academic leaders in my field were so approachable and willing to engage with students. The department of Natural Resources also takes a different approach to natural resource policy and management than I was exposed to at Princeton (as an undergraduate). Cornell's land grant mission is fully present in my department; I found this research and public engagement approach to be refreshing and engaging. A final factor that helped me make the decision to come to Cornell was my comparison of Ithaca to New Haven. I am a Natural Resources major and previously worked as a wilderness guide; for anyone who has ever been to New Haven, I need not explain further why I ended up in Ithaca. What motivated you to run for student-elected trustee? It may sound painfully insipid, but the primary reason that every trustee serves the University is that he or she has a deep love for Cornell. I am no exception. Everything this University has to offer academically, socially, and culturally has made it a home that I love. My love for Cornell is the ultimate reason I sought to serve on the Board. The more proximate reason for seeking election stemmed from my work as a member of the GPSA (the graduate and professional student assembly). I have been involved with the GPSA for the last three years, serving as GPSA president last year. This experience in campus governance taught me that the decision makers at Cornell really do care about and listen to student voice. My consistently positive interactions with the University administration and my limited exposure to the Board of Trustees told me that dedicating my time to Board would be a wise investment. Matthew Nagowski | May 19, 2010 (#) The Real 161 Things Dear Uncle Ezra has a historically incorrect response today regarding the list of 161 things that every Cornellian must do: Although I don't want to take away any deserved credit to my fledgling partner-in-crime (who has been MIA since September), the list didn't originate with the Class of 2005. What our class did was conduct a survey to update said list. The original list, a copy of which I've posted to MetaEzra was published in the March 1995 edition of the Cornell Alumni Magazine. Comparing the lists over the years, it's highly disappointing to observe how much the list has degraded in style and substance over time, not only from 1995 to 2005, but then again from 2005 through 2009. While the recent incarnations seem stuck on drinking and the hook-up culture, the original version of the list included such gems as reading Gravity's Rainbow, 'getting a mantra', debating the existence of God, and cross-country skiing in the plantations. At least skinny dipping in the gorge is still included. But any list that doesn't include a mention of Chapter House is clearly not authentic. Matthew Nagowski | May 18, 2010 (#) The Costs of Decentralization Two recent Cornell news items recently crossed my news feed, and I think both really stress the need to 'reimagine' Cornell beyond simple cost-cutting and streamlined procurement procedures to centralize a lot of the academic units at Cornell. Coincidentally, they both deal with issues of healthcare and health policy, another subject matter that needs more centralization as opposed to an overly bureaucratic, de-centralized system. The first is in regards to an ILR-sponsored conference on health care policy reform and the Affordable Care Act. President Skorton spoke: Successful reform demands listening to each other and to workers in the midst of delivering care, he said. "It's very important to listen to frontline workers ... they have the knowledge, experience and chance to be responsive" to patients. As a land-grant university, Cornell is ideally suited to facilitate health care reform by blending academic research and day-to-day applicability, Skorton said. Sessions on patient safety, electronic medical records, the role of unions in improving patient care and other issues were also held at the conference, co-sponsored by Cornell's Clinical and Translational Science Center, the Business and Labor Coalition of New York, Cornell University Cooperative Extension New York City and Weill Cornell Medical College. Funders included ILR's Pierce Memorial Fund and Cornell University's Institute for the Social Sciences. And the second pertains to a recent announcement that the Hotel School is planning on developing an institute to study the long-term care arrangements of our nation's elderly: Cornell University is developing plans for a major new project on Route 96 that could include senior housing, offices, small-scale commercial, and an institute for its hotel school. What's striking is that Human Ecology's Policy Analysis and Management Department, complete with experts in health economics, and its complementary Sloan Program offering a Masters in Health Administration are nowhere to be found in either news clipping. It's odd, of course, because you would think that the nature of these program would make them want to be part of the discussion. And likewise, you would think that ILR and Hotel would want them to be as well: (The MHA) degree prepares future leaders in health management with the knowledge and skills in management, health care organization, policy and public health to manage health care organizations and promote quality, access, efficiency and innovation in health care delivery and financing. I know I'm starting to sound like a broken record, and I wrote about this last year, but the sooner Cornell reorganizes its applied social science departments into broader business/management and public policy/public health units and unites them with cross-disciplinary centers and institutes, the stronger Cornell will be as a university. Late Update: Reader AF writes in to point out that Dartmouth College is implementing a cross-disciplinary center studying the modalities of health care delivery. From Inside Higher Education: Today (Dartmouth President) Kim launches the Dartmouth Center for Health Care Delivery Science, which will serve as a hub of instruction, research and advocacy on the college’s Hanover, N.H., campus. “We think that health care is one of the greatest issues and is something that our students should learn about,” he said. “It’s also one of the really large problems we at Dartmouth have the capacity to tackle.” It's striking because Dartmouth's new center purposefully unites all of its different academic units together for a common good. Matthew Nagowski | May 16, 2010 (#) University CIO To Start Own Hedge Fund The headline says it all. We previously noted that Cornell's CIO, James Walsh, would be leaving back in February. BusinessWeek now reports: The fund, named Cayuga Capital Partners for Cayuga Lake near Walsh's home in Ithaca, New York, will invest in easy-to- sell securities such as stocks and bonds globally, he said in a telephone interview. Walsh, who is English, will base the fund in London. He ran Cornell’s endowment as it lost 26 percent in fiscal 2009, in line with declines at Harvard University and Yale University, the two wealthiest U.S. colleges. Cornell said Feb. 17 the fund’s investments had risen 10 percent this year. Interesting to note that BusinessWeek reports (presumably straight off of Walsh's press release) that Cornell experienced a decline in its endowment in line with that of Harvard and Yale under Walsh's leadership. Of course, what they fail to note is that Cornell's endowment underperformed relative to the higher educational endowments as a whole last year. While Cornell was down 26.4 percent in FY 2009, the largest 42 endowments were down an average of 22 percent, and some of Cornell's peers, like Vanderbilt, Penn, and NYU, were all down less than 20 percent. It's also curious that Walsh would name the fund after Cayuga Lake, a body of water that I imagine most people in England wouldn't be familiar with. Waslh, after all, is relocating back to his native England. It would be the equivalent of somebody in America naming their business after the Malverns in Western England. Still, we give Walsh credit for adopting a more investor-friendly fee model, and we wish him the best of luck in merry England. Matthew Nagowski | May 13, 2010 (#) Overenrolled Again? Yield Higher Than Expected The New York Times reports that Cornell's Class of 2014 yield is consistent with last year's class, at 49 percent: 49 percent of the 6,678 acceptances this year yields 3271 matriculates, or around 120 more than the University's target of 3150. Back in January I predicted a yield of 48.3 percent. Of course, this is all before the "summer melt" whereby students get in off the waitlist at other schools and decide to renege their decision to attend Cornell. Interesting to note that the admissions may still decide to go to the waitlist. This is because it is possible that some of the individual colleges may be closer to under-enrolling than Cornell as a whole. The rise at Dartmouth is interesting. Not certain if it can be explained. Penn's advantage over Cornell, of course, is based in the fact that it accepts around half of its class early (as opposed to Cornell's third) which serves to artificially inflate its yield. Matthew Nagowski | May 12, 2010 (#) Supporting Students Around ten days ago, the University held an open forum with students, faculty, and staff to explore ways that Cornell could better support students and de-stress East Hill. (You can read the Sun's coverage here and the Chronicle's coverage here. Conversely, the full ninety minute forum has been filmed and can be streamed online.) First, some good news: Some of the ideas brought up were already being studied or implemented; including reconsidering prelim schedules and adding staff to Gannett's Counseling and Psychological Services. "This is a tough environment to add four to five staff members, at least, but it is our top priority," Murphy said. Adding five additional staff psychologists is certainly a good start. But what's unfortunate is that plans to build a new health services center and an expanded North Campus gymnasium and pool have both been put on hold as the recession has taken its toll to the campus's budget. Of course, the gym would have cost $30 MM while the health services facility would have cost close to $100 MM, so it's understandable why these projects have been deferred. Still, any wealthy alumna looking to invest in Cornell could certainly do worse than appropriate funds for a new pool. (Those Ivy League champion swimmers still have no new pool in their sights.) Otherwise, there has been continued talk about grading and the academic calendar. I'm not too concerned about grading practices, perhaps a couple of classes/majors need to be reviewed, but overall there has been a pronounced amount of grade inflation occurring on campus. But I previously wrote about the need to seriously consider changes to the academic calendar, especially by adding a midterm week and giving students and staff federal holidays off. Expanding the academic calendar could also help to develop more of a sense of community on Cornell's campus, by allowing students more time to invest in their student clubs, explore the Ithaca area, enjoy sporting events, etc. Matthew Nagowski | May 10, 2010 (#) Steven Strogatz is a Cornell Treasure For those of you who haven't been following Cornell professor Steven Strogatz's math columns in the NYTimes for the last couple of months, you've been out on a gem of a series. In his last and final column Strogatz shows how certain types of infinity can be larger than others. He even writes it in a way that a Hotelie can understand: While this foray into set theory and the foundations of real analysis represents his last column in the series, the good news is that Strogatz is planning on expanding the series into book form, to be published in 2012. Do I smell the 21st century version of Strunk and White? Matthew Nagowski | May 09, 2010 (#) Happy Slope Day
May is always an exciting month to follow the activities of Cornell students for two reasons. First, you get to read about all of the outstanding graduating seniors and the ways that they intend to put their Cornell degree to good use. And secondly, reports start surfacing about the talents of the incoming class. Here's a heart-warming story of one future Cornellian: Sharmin Mollick '14, an immigrant who had to hide her studies from a family that thought females should not be concerned about academics: It's enough to send chills down your spine: At 15, with help from her largely absent father, Sharmin, her mom and her younger brother moved to The Bronx. Even there, however, the young girl found that her gravitation toward the sciences -- and to biology in particular -- ran counter to her mother's Islamic beliefs. Lessons on evolution and reproduction were taboo. "She would see the pictures [in my books] and ask, 'What the hell are you studying?' " said Sharmin. "I had to hide myself and study behind her back." This included epic sessions where she would lay towels down in the bathtub and recline against the basin for hours, hampered by her struggles with the English language. It wasnt until 11th grade when Sharmin aced the college credit-bearing Advanced Placement Biology exam - scoring a 4 out of 5 - that her mother began to come around. Conversations with teachers like David Meek helped persuade her mom even further. "I have taught at Marble Hill School for International Studies for five years and have never seen a more dedicated science student," Meek, an AP biology instructor, wrote in a recommendation letter for Sharmin's BlackRock-Schlosstein scholarship. Even with financial aid, however, she's still $2,000 short per year for tuition - an obstacle she has yet to overcome. Hopefully Sharmin will have no problem securing the financial resources for the final $2,000. Matthew Nagowski | May 04, 2010 (#) Munier's Swan Song I have never had the pleasure of meeting Munier, but his departing words in his last Sun Column brilliantly captures the marvels of Cornell: Of course, I find it altogether fitting that Cornell's last great Sun columnist was none other than Rob Fishman '08, a fraternity member and associate of the "douchoise" that Munier loved to hyperbolically egg on. Only at Cornell. Matthew Nagowski | May 03, 2010 (#) |
-- WSJ: Cornell Wins NYC Tech Campus Bid (EBilmes) -- Barrier Update: City Approves Nets (DJost) -- Big Red Cymbal Guy (Nagowski) -- New York Times Survey on Campus Recruiting is Flawed (KScott) -- Barrier Update: Legal precedent suggests City of Ithaca will not be held liable for gorge suicide (DJost) -- Despite MSG Loss, Big Potential for Big Red Hockey (EBilmes) -- City Council Will Vote on Suicide Nets (DJost) -- An Encounter on the Upper East Side (Nagowski) -- Showing Off Your School Spirit (Nagowski) -- Chipotle Ithaca? (KScott) -- Cornell at the ING NYC Marathon (KScott) -- Crossing Over a Fine Line: Commercial Activity on Campus (KScott) -- Milstein's Downfall (Nagowski) -- Can any Cornell-associated organization really be independent of the University? (Nagowski) -- Slope Media Revisited (EBilmes) -- Slope Media Group Approved for Byline Funding (KScott) -- Occupy AEM? (KScott) -- New campus pub to be good for both Greeks and non-Greeks (Nagowski) -- Gagging the Election (Nagowski) -- The Changing Structure of Rush Week (Nagowski) -- Ivy League Humility in the Midwest (EBilmes) -- Of Median Grades and Economics Minors (Nagowski) -- Homecoming Recap (Nagowski) -- My Cornell Bookshelf (Nagowski) -- The Sun's Opinion Section Has Suddenly Gotten Good (Nagowski) -- Remembering the 11th (Nagowski) -- Cornellian Tapped as Top Economic Advisor (Nagowski) -- Cutting Pledging, and the Good Which Comes With It (EBilmes) -- Why Cornell Should Not Close Fall Creek Gorge (Nagowski) -- Welcome to the Class of 2015 (Nagowski)  |
