Setting the record straight about the strategic planning process
I read with interest your interview with Provost Kent Fuchs (January/ February 2010) and President Skorton's interview with Professor Ed Lawler (March/April 2010). In neither did the subjects say anything about their committees reviewing the binders assembled by former Cornell president Jeffrey Lehman '77. President Lehman spent considerable time soliciting alumni responses to his "Call to Engagement" and filing those responses in several binders. It would appear that there might be information in those volumes that could be of value to the committees involved in the Reimagining Cornell and strategic planning processes. Do you know if they have consulted these references?
Edward J. Taylor Jr. '58
San Antonio, Texas
Ed. Note: In his November/December 2009 column, "Another Call to Engagement," President Skorton acknowledged President Lehman's effort and wrote: "This yielded a cornucopia of helpful thoughts, aspirations, and perspective that set an important tone for a new presidency. We will also use the input from that process to inform our thinking. . . ." Provost Kent Fuchs adds: "The Strategic Planning Advisory Council has benefited from a number of previous and present planning initiatives. The 'Call to Engagement' documents developed by President Lehman provided important and comprehensive input from the Cornell community. The planning document developed by Provost Biddy Martin and the strategic plan developed by President Rhodes were particularly helpful. Recent planning initiatives by the colleges, schools, and units from across campus, and the ongoing accreditation self-study also provided important input."
Pool Party
In your story about the parcel by Highland Road containing an old pool and cabin (Cornelliana, March/April 2010), you write about a sign declaring "Open Doors, Open Hearts, and Open Minds," suggesting that "it looks to date from long before the University adopted the phrase—a variation on the credo of the United Methodist Church —as its diversity slogan a decade ago." Assuming the photograph shows the sign in question, then it appears to date more recently—to the fall of 2005, in fact, when the University administration installed big red arches around the campus in celebration of "diversity." These arches were decried as aesthetically repugnant by the student body, so the administration later allowed them to be garnished with diversity-related items in order to quell the complaints. (Oddly enough, when, as chairman of the Cornell College Republicans, I garnished the arches with numerical charts demonstrating the utter lack of ideological diversity in relevant academic departments, they were the only flyers torn down from the arches—within two hours.) The sign in the pool appears to be the top board of one of these arches. I am not quite sure how this relic came to occupy such an ignominious position, but come to think of it, this position flatters it no less than the status most of the student body conferred upon the arches that autumn.
Paul Ibrahim '06
Reston, Virginia
When I was at Cornell, that pool and the surrounding acreage belonged to Phi Kappa Sigma fraternity, occupants of the Greentrees house at the time. Every spring, we fraternity members would clean out the pool and have it ready for swimming. While it was usually cold, we had no shortage of hardy swimmers who would brave the temperatures. Our fraternity went under in the early Nineties, which precipitated the sale of the property with the pool. Thanks for the article—it brought back memories of some fun times.
Pete Robison '72
Katy, Texas
Pelosi Poesy
When I got to page 13 of the March/April issue, I was inspired to compose:
The Convocation of two-thousand ten
Is to uplift our women and men.
In the ground is Lugosi,
So they hired Pelosi.
A mortal sin, this transaction, Amen!
Paul Snare '56, MBA '58
University Place, Washington
Correction—March/April 2010
Letter from Ithaca, page 10: We referred to "an energetic talk by ILR professor Samuel Bachrach." The correct spelling of his last name is Bacharach.