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Lehman Resigns QUESTIONS ABOUT ABRUPT DEPARTURE ARE UNANSWERED

ON JUNE 11, PRESIDENT JEFFREY LEHMAN '77 DELIVERED HIS State of the University address to a Reunion audience of about 700 alumni, administrators, and staff gathered in Newman Arena on a hot and humid morning. He reviewed Cornell's accomplishments, citing recent triumphs and looking back at what he termed "the distance we have gone in the direction of the goals we chose" during the University's 140-year history. He reviewed the three "challenges" he had articulated last fall--life in the age of the genome, wisdom in the age of digital information, and sustainability in the age of development--and talked about what Cornell has done, and will do, to meet these challenges.

Then, as he concluded, Lehman stunned the gathering. "Over the past few months, it has become apparent to me that the Board of Trustees and I have different approaches to how the University can best realize its long-term vision," he said. "These differences are profound, and it has become absolutely clear that they cannot be resolved.

"Imagine for a moment an airplane that is supposed to fly from New York to the beautiful island of Bali. It can get there by flying east. Or it can get there by flying west. But even if the pilot and co-pilot are each highly skilled, even if they have the highest regard for one another, the plane will not reach its destination if they are unable to agree about which direction to take.

"Cornell University is meant to fly. Its pilot and co-pilot must agree on the strategic direction to be taken. Since I now understand that it is impossible for such an agreement to emerge as long as I am president, I have notified the chairman of the board, Peter Meinig, that I will step down as Cornell's eleventh president at the end of this month."

The room fell silent for a moment, and then gasps and murmurs of disbelief rose in the steamy air. Lehman resumed speaking, saying that Cornell had "entered his soul and would never leave" and that it had taught him "to believe in the capacity of great institutions to evolve to meet the changing needs of humanity." He left the stage to a sustained standing ovation, during which he embraced his wife, Kathy Okun, and then shook hands with the administrators and dignitaries in the first row. President Emeritus Frank H.T. Rhodes enveloped him in a hug. Lehman then walked slowly from the building.

Meinig '61, who had introduced Lehman, moved back to the lectern and announced that President Emeritus Hunter Rawlings, who was in attendance, had agreed to become Cornell's interim president. The audience dispersed slowly, many stopping to talk about what they had just heard. Questions hung in the air: How could this have happened? What differences could have been so profound that resignation was Lehman's only recourse?

In the ensuing days, neither Lehman nor Meinig offered real answers to those questions. Lehman told the New York Times that "what's best for Cornell is to have a president who's in perfect alignment with the chairman of the board," but refused to elaborate on just where and when he had fallen out of step with the chairman. He told the Ithaca Journal that it was a "question of strategic chemistry," adding that there are "situations where everyone agrees on the big picture, but not the strategy for getting there."Meinig emailed a statement to alumni, stating that Lehman's decision to resign was based on "differences with the Board of Trustees regarding the strategy for realizing Cornell's long-term vision" and that "this decision is in the best interests of Jeff and the University and all of its constituents."CAM's requests for interviews with Lehman and Meinig were refused, and Tommy Bruce, vice president for university communications, said that he could "only characterize this decision as Jeff wants it to be characterized."

In the absence of substantive information, there was a great deal of conjecture, much of it centered on fund-raising issues. The Chronicle of Higher Education reported that "there was speculation on the campus that the trustees blamed Mr. Lehman for the sudden departure of Inge T. Reichenbach, the university's chief development officer, just as the campus was in the early stages of a major capital campaign. Ms. Reichenbach, who had been at the university for twenty-five years, left with little notice to become Yale University's vice president for development." Lehman denied this allegation, telling the Ithaca Journal that the disagreements were not over "a personnel matter."

Other clashes were said to have centered on the role played by Okun, who had been associate vice president for development at the University of Michigan before coming to Cornell with Lehman. She held the title of senior university advisor and had an office in Day Hall.While members of the administration and faculty who worked with Okun praised her intellect and good ideas, questions were raised about whether her position was appropriate for a presidential spouse. Lehman also denied that this was a factor in his decision.

A number of other areas of friction were mentioned by campus observers, including such specific incidents as a recent dispute between Lehman and the ILR faculty over the appointment of the school's next dean, and broader questions, one being a board-level discussion about centralizing Cornell's administration by diminishing or even eliminating the independence of the constituent colleges. Some trustees reportedly felt that Lehman's focus on Cornell as a "transnational" university was too vague and did not translate well as an incentive for donations, while others were said to be disappointed by his often quirky speeches, especially this year's commencement address with its Star Wars references. There were rumors of a dispute over military recruiting on campus and other policy disagreements. In the end, though, none of the issues raised seemed sufficient to justify Lehman's sudden resignation, although perhaps they added up to the series of "bumps" that Lehman told the Ithaca Journal raised a question in his mind: "Do you change who you are . . . or should you, for the good of the institution, step aside?"

After ending the shortest presidential term in Cornell's history, Lehman left Ithaca to begin a one-year appointment as a senior scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, D.C., where he plans to write a book on the role of the transnational university.He still holds the position of professor of law at Cornell, although many wonder if he will ever return to the campus to teach.

Even though the question of "Why?" remained unanswered, the University moved quickly to address "What's next?" Provost Biddy Martin and other administrators issued statements to notify those on campus that academic initiatives would move forward, and to assure community leaders that the University would honor its agreements. Meinig announced that the search for a new president would be completed as soon as possible. The Board of Trustees met in New York on June 16, at which time they formally approved the appointment of Rawlings as interim president. In a statement released after the meeting, Meinig said, "Hunter is the perfect leader to guide Cornell through this period. His talent, enthusiasm, and proven leadership are well known to trustees, faculty, alumni, and students."No clarification of the reasons for Lehman's resignation was offered.

Scott Jaschik '85, writing at the Inside Higher Ed website, noted that many Cornellians have expressed profound sorrow about Lehman's resignation, praising him for such innovations as the Call to Engagement and for the "gusto and passion" he brought to the job of president. One gets the feeling that while he may have vacated the office at 300 Day Hall, this won't be the last hurrah for Jeffrey Lehman.

Not Out of the Woods Yet   STUDENTS STAGE PARKING LOT PROTESTS

STUDENT PROTESTS AGAINST THE UNIVERSITY'S PLAN TO build a 176-space parking lot on the forested area near West Campus dubbed "Redbud Woods" continued this spring as eight students staged an occupation of President Lehman's office on April 28. The six-hour stand-off ended when Cornell Police alternately escorted and carried the "Redbuddies" out of Day Hall, charging them with trespassing and resisting arrest. "We respect students' creativity and advocacy, but today they crossed the line," said Tommy Bruce, vice president for university communications, at a press conference during the occupation.

The students set forth several demands, insisting that campus green spaces be spared from further devlopment. "We are holding Cornell accountable," student leader Danny Pearlstein '04 told the Daily Sun. "We demand to know how this parking lot is at all considered sustainable and whether the president is simply paying lip service to the concept." Pearlstein and Daisy Torres '05 had their diplomas withheld pending resolution of charges by the judicial administrator.

On June 6, University efforts to move forward with construction were further thwarted by Redbud protesters, several of whom climbed trees to stop crews clearing the disputed site; at press time construction remained halted. After President Lehman's resignation, activists vowed to fight on. "In this time of administrative turnover, we won't let this get swept under the rug," Pearlstein told the Ithaca Journal.

CAM Gets Gold  FEATURE ARTICLE WINS AWARD

EVERY SPRING, ALUMNI MAGAZINES FROM ACROSS THE country face off in the Circle of Excellence competition held by the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE).When the dust had settled this year, Cornell Alumni Magazine had won a gold medal in the Best Articles of the Year category, one of only three awarded in a field of more than 100 entries. The prize-winning story was "Dr. Eponymous," a profile of Henry Heimlich '41, MD '43, inventor of the Heimlich maneuver. The article was written by longtime CAM contributor Brad Herzog '90 and published in the March/April 2004 issue.

Right to Die  SERIAL KILLER EXECUTED

MICHAEL ROSS '81 WAS PRONOUNCED DEAD BY LETHAL injection at 2:25 a.m. on May 13, ending years of legal drama surrounding the Connecticut serial killer's right to pursue his own execution. It was the first execution in New England since 1960. Ross confessed to eight strangulation murders and several rapes committed between 1981 and 1984; he was convicted and sentenced to death in 1987. Claiming he wished to spare his victims' families further pain, Ross waived his right to further appeals in October 2004, after his mandatory appeals had been exhausted, and hired a lawyer to speed the execution. That decision led to months of maneuvering among Connecticut authorities, Ross, and his former public defenders, who argued that eighteen years on death row and Ross's history of psychological disorders had rendered him incompetent to make legal decisions.

During one six-day period in January 2005, Ross received five different execution dates, all stayed after various eleventhhour appeals from death penalty foes, public defenders, and family members. After a federal judge ordered new hearings to investigate the possibility that "death row syndrome" had made him suicidal, Ross was found mentally competent in April, clearing the final hurdle to execution.

Ross's first known murder was committed while he was a student at Cornell, just weeks before graduation. The body of graduate student Dzung Ngoc Tu was discovered on May 17, 1981, at the bottom of the Fall Creek Gorge. The connection between Tu and Ross had not been made until he confessed to her murder in 1987. He was never tried for that crime.

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