In case you haven’t noticed, Cornell’s legendary Libe Slope has about a 3-acre soul patch growing on the north end – right below its Johnson (Museum of Art). Apparently, somebody decided earlier this year that a good tourniquet for our financial bleeding starts with cutting mowing costs. Of course, this makes us all ‘reimagine‘ if the culprit of our financial demise may in fact not be shoddy cinemas, old professors, or triplet business programs, but rather, grass? So basically, there is a bunch of wildly tall grass growing unabashedly on our school’s front lawn.
Yet the Ithaca Rotary Club (not to be confused with Ithaca Boatery Club) found it necessary to bestow upon our fine University their annual ‘Pride of Ownership’ award, a prize whose name inherently contradicts the reality of the soul patch (past winners of award utilized alternative energy methods, generally absurd architectural designs, and Weill Hall) . I was always taught growing up that we mowed our lawn because we cared. Because we took pride. Because we owned. But the commendation for the award says of the patch:
The result has not only been a conservation of labor and energy, but a beautifully textured counterpoint to the areas currently mown more frequently and a stunning setting for I.M. Pei’s Johnson Museum of Art. The university is to be commended for such a creative and aesthetically pleasing approach to sustainability and encouraged as they identify more areas to partially or fully ‘re-naturalize.’
I say we ‘fully re-naturalize’ the school bathrooms, as well. Extract all the concrete, plumbing, amenities and gender specifications, and let the soil take its course as Cornellians everywhere bask in the au-naturel beauty of public, unassisted number two’s. Of course, the absence of janitorial duties will help cut back on expenses, as well.
Or we could just hope Susan Murphy has made some progress on that Program House review…
Actually, I thought the meadowed part of the Slope looked really nice when I saw it this summer; quite like some of the parks around Oxford when I studied there.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Christ_Church_Meadow,_Oxford.JPG
It doesn’t necessarily TAKE anything off the table…but it doesn’t really BRING anything either. Maybe if it were as green as the one there at Oxford…
*shrugs* Thanks to the Gulfstream, England is a bit more verdant than Upstate New York.
Keep in mind that when Olmsted first offered his proposal for the campus design, he envisioned buildings rolling across a sheep pasture. So this is channeling history a bit, too. And if the aesthetics can be debated, but there are financial and environmental benefits, I see it as a net gain.
(Outhouses, however, would presumably end up costing the University more due to all of the public health issues it invites.)
I do agree that restructuring the business programs at Cornell will provide us with a lot more financial benefits. It’s not exactly low-hanging fruit though.