Cornell

I used to really love Cornell.  

I did volunteer alumni interviews for 40+ years; my name is on a plaque somewhere.  TBG and I donated a landscape installation alongside a well traveled path; our names are on a bench there, too.  I've been on Alumni Boards and College advisories and been president of our local alumni club.  

We've donated every year since graduation; Cornell is mentioned in our will.  At least it has been up until now.

First, there were internal machinations within the Colleges that drew my attention and ire.  I protested and supported the student protesters and wrote letters/emails which received boilerplate, anodyne responses.  Then, the administration complied instead of fighting the bullying, sending control over $60 million to the Felon in Charge.  

That's when we stopped sending them money.  I didn't stop telling every entity asking for my dollars why they were being denied.  There was a say-nothing response from the President's Office, but only one person seemed to have read my words.  He promised to take me off all the mailing lists;  unfortunately, they keep coming.  

So the news that they bungled the investigation into a gang rape was less surprising than it might otherwise have been.  Statistics are kept about these things and no campus wants to see statistics like this one from the Presidential Task Force on Campus Sexual Assault Final Report:

According to Cornell’s 2025 Survey of Sexual Assault and Related Misconduct (SARM), 35% of undergraduate women and 8% of undergraduate men report experiencing sexual assault (defined as nonconsensual sexual contact involving force or incapacitation) during their time at Cornell.

The student newspaper named names.  The victim is suing the University.  There's an independent investigation.  Everyone is outraged.

I wonder about the people in the room during the Title IX hearing.  Were they disgusted by the outcome?  We'll never know, because there are federal privacy laws about those kind of thing.  What punishments were meted out?  Apparently, no one got away with just writing an essay... though I wonder what that essay might say.

More than anything, I wonder about the boys who received the snapchat message, inviting them to join the party.  Perhaps the independent investigation will reveal horrified responses from the brothers.  Perhaps.  

Right now, I'm in mourning for what once was.  Little Cuter referred to Cornell as our family school, really.  The alma mater was one of the songs in their bedtime routine.... both verses.  I loved the public/private nature of the institution.   I loved taking classes with farm kids and football players and legacy rich kids, different but all of us Cornellians. 

My memories are vivid and beautiful.  The backdrops and the B-roll for the reporting from campus were gorgeous; autumn in Upstate New York is incomparable.  TBG and I had thoughts about every place they showed.  

Unfortunately, we had to listen to the words, too.  They sullied the experience.