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Whither Cornell?

CONSIDERING THE LEHMAN RESIGNATION

AS A LONGTIME SUPPORTER of Cornell and a former class president, I read with concern about the departure of President Jeffrey Lehman '77 ("Lehman Resigns," From the Hill, July/August 2005). I was sad that such an energetic and brilliant person would no longer lead our university, and distressed that his departure was shrouded in mystery.

If, in fact, he left due to disagreements about how the University can best realize its long-term vision, it certainly seems that we are owed a more detailed explanation regarding the substance of this disagreement. If there are divergent views on the University's plans significant enough to lead to the president's resignation, then alumni, students, and the entire Cornell community should have these views made public to discuss and even debate.

The absence of substantive information has caused lengthy discussions among many of my fellow alumni, and the creation of a vacuum has led to a variety of unfounded and unpleasant conjectures. I propose what my husband, Lee Levitt, a noted public relations professional, would recommend to the Board of Trustees: "Transparency!"

Marian Fay Levitt '59
New York, New York

IT WAS A MISTAKE AT THE OUTSET to put into office a specialized lawyer who was weak in general management. Placing his wife in a senior position in Day Hall reflects poor judgment. Losing Inge Reichenbach to the competition at Yale after twenty-five years of service is unconscionable.

The outside search firm involved should be asked for 50 percent of the fee returned and never used again. This firm did a poor job of vetting, as did the search committee, in not discerning the differences between the candidate and the Board of Trustees' strategy for Cornell's long-term vision.

Peter Replogle '55
Westtown, New York

THIS WAS NOT SIMPLY A DISAGREEMENT where Mr. Lehman chose to step down. Everything points to the fact that he was bluntly told he had no future at Cornell. The real question is how he managed to get to that point in two short years. In the men and women comprising the Board of Trustees, Cornell has extremely brilliant people with a diversity of business and educational skills. They deserve to be commended for taking this action quickly and efficiently.

Andrew Dickson White and Ezra Cornell dreamed of a university far different from the Cornell of Mr. Lehman's vision. Anyone who wants to run this great university would do well to look at their unique concepts of an education system and compare it with present-day Cornell. Under people like Mr. Lehman, Cornell's uniqueness will quickly ebb away.

Jen Gage Sage '83
Etna, New York

Another Connection

I ENJOYED YOUR ARTICLE ABOUT Cornell connections with Ithaca College and wish to let you know about another ("The South Hill Connection," July/ August 2005). In 1980, with the support of fellow students and faculty at both institutions, we developed an exchange program of sorts to benefit meteorology majors at Cornell and communications majors at Ithaca College. The idea was to give prospective weathercasters a chance to develop on-air television skills while acquainting IC-trained journalists with basic meteorology in the event they were ever called upon to give a weather report.

It should come as no surprise that the participants have achieved great professional success: Cornell meteorologists are now reporting the weather in major markets across the country, as well as on national cable networks. And many television careers, including mine, started at Ithaca College's WICB-TV.

Kevin Williams '81
Rochester, New York

Ed. Note: Kevin Williams is the director of meteorology for WHEC-TV in Rochester.

Redbud Repercussions

IT IS PERHAPS IRONIC THAT YOUR summary of the Redbud Woods fiasco ("Not Out of the Woods Yet," From the Hill, July/August 2005) arrived on the day on which the New York Times carried a story accompanied by a photo of Interim President Rawlings signing what should certainly be called the instrument of surrender. That story identified two of the protesters as twenty-two years old; others, being upperclassmen, must be either twenty-one or nearly there. At what age does Cornell feel that these people should be treated as adults and held responsible for their actions, which have cost the University hundreds, perhaps thousands, in security, clean-up, and other costs-- money which might have gone for more constructive purposes?

Isn't Cornell saying, by this action, that regardless of laws and other rules, regardless of the rights of everybody else, any small group of "activists"--a polite word for "agitators"--can, by being sufficiently noisy, destructive, and generally obnoxious, get away with almost anything--and not only that, but stick somebody else with the cost?

David Kopko '53
Nantucket, Massachusetts

Corrections--July/August 2005

"One Rare Bird," pages 36–41: Tim Gallagher of the Lab of Ornithology contacted us regarding inaccuracies in our article about the rediscovery of the ivory-billed woodpecker. Some of these arose from information provided by our sources, who sometimes used descriptions and terminology that Gallagher regards as incorrect. The following errors should be noted:

• The Singer tract, where Jim and Nancy Tanner saw an ivory-billed woodpecker in the early 1940s, is in northeast Louisiana, in what is now the Tensas River National Wildlife Refuge; the Atchafalaya Swamp is farther south in Louisiana.
• The correct date for the press conference when the bird's recent rediscovery was announced was April 28, not April 29.
• Kevin McGowan is a member of the Lab of Ornithology birding team, but not its captain.
• Van Remsen organized a search for the ivory-billed woodpecker in 1999, but did not lead the search himself.

"The South Hill Connection," page 43:We thanked Fred Antil '55 for giving us the idea for the article but misspelled his last name, which we greatly regret.

"The South Hill Connection," page 46: In our profile of Andrew and Nancy Ramage, we wrote, "Andrew even subbed for Nancy at IC during her sabbatical year." That's backwards; Nancy taught at Cornell when Andrew was on sabbatical.

"Finger Tips," page 93:We wrote that Dr. Alejandro Badia '85 is an alumni brother of Alpha Phi; that should have been Alpha Sigma Phi.

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