Each year in February, Cornell alumni elect two trustees for a four-year term. The election process is controlled by the Cornell Alumni Trustee Nominations Committee (CATN). Under those procedures, alumni can be placed on the ballot either by an CATN nomination or by a petition signed by at least 400 alumni.
Two alumni are currently circulating petitions to get on the February 2025 ballot. J. Kennerly (Ken) Davis, Jr. ’68 was a Vice President of Dominion Resources and has served as Deputy Attorney General of Virginia, and as a legislative aide to a U.S. Senator and a U.S. Congressman. Davis graduated with honors from Cornell University with an A.B. degree in Government. He earned an M.A. degree from Pembroke College, Oxford, in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics. He was awarded a J.D. degree from Harvard Law School, and an M.B.A. degree from Virginia Commonwealth University.
Cindy Crawford – M.B.A. ‘90 also holds a B.A. in Applied Mathematics from the University of California, Berkeley, an M.A. in American Government from Georgetown University, and a J.D. from Georgetown’s Law Center. Crawford works on First Amendment issues, advocating for freedom of speech and assembly. She also focuses on education issues, including protecting the constitutional rights of college students on campus and children and parents’ rights to direct their education.Crawford is senior policy counsel with Americans for Prosperity Foundation, focusing on regulatory issues, freedom of expression, and educational freedom. Prior to joining AFPF, Ms. Crawford was senior litigation counsel with Cause of Action Institute, where she focused her practice on defending clients against government overreach, with an emphasis on constitutionally protected individual rights. Previously Ms. Crawford was in private practice with Nixon Peabody LLP and LeClairRyan where her practice focused on complex business litigation.
The Election Process
Nominating petitions are due by 5 p.m. on July 31. Currently Davis has about 80% of the necessary signatures, and Crawford has about 60%. Cornell alumni can add their names to the petitions using a Cornell-operated form:
Ken Davis / Cornell ’68 : https://cornell.ca1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_bd2E2iTlJLLFN0q Cindy Crawford / Cornell ’90 : https://cornell.ca1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_e2pia4oiLZ6z4F0 |
Any alum can sign an unlimited number of petitions. If Davis and Crawford receive sufficient signatures, they will appear on the February 2025 ballot along side four candidates selected by the CATN. In that election, each voter must vote for two candidates, and the two candidates with the highest vote totals will be declared the winners and will be announced in June. The winning candidates will serve as Trustees from July 2025 to June 2029.
In order to be allowed to run as a petition candidate, the candidate must promise not to do any campaigning from August 1, 2024 through the end of the February 2025. However, alumni voters will receive the biographies of all candidates as well as their answers to questions framed by the CATN.
