Since Cornell’s endowment took a massive hit during the 2008 financial crisis, the university has been managing its own structural deficit problem. Cornell administrators have led an initiative to cut costs and restructure the budgets, faculties, and operations of all seven undergraduate colleges. From the University’s website:
Provost Kent Fuchs, at the request of President Skorton, has led Cornell University in a comprehensive, coordinated set of planning and implementation activities upon which the future health of our great university depends. This work had two goals: (1) to position Cornell for excellence in priority areas, and (2) to ensure the ongoing financial health of the university. The directions Cornell takes in years to come have been determined by crucial decisions that were made in the months past.
The year 2010 showed us that the Strategic Plan’s goal of reestablishing Cornell as a top 10 research university would not be achieved without cuts to many different academic departments. While the Swedish and Dutch language programs were the first to get the axe in 2009, 2010 began with an announcement of cuts to the Theatre, Film, and Dance Department. Early in the fall semester the administration also stated that it would cut four assistant professor positions in the Math Department.
Some departments were set to be phased out all together. Earlier in the spring semester the Russian Department came under scrutiny when the administration announced plans to eliminate the Russian major and merge faculty members into Comparative Literature. Then in October CALS Dean Boor stated the college’s intentions to phase-out the Department of Education.
But not every part of “reimagining Cornell” involved budget cuts. Over the summer the University took the first step towards moving the business major out of CALS with the establishment of the Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management. It’s still in CALS, and not much has changed after the initial acquisition of new business cards and email addresses, but many feel that this is the first step in the most common sense adjustment the University can make. Then, just a couple of weeks ago, Provost Fuchs announced that the Africana Studies program would be merged into Arts and Sciences. While this appeared to be a beneficial move for the program, some did not agree.
The Reimagining Cornell initiative takes the #1 spot for the top story of 2010 because of its direct impact on the lives of current students as well as its lasting impact on the future of the University. I wrote back in June that this story would also likely be the most important one of 2011- that prediction remains intact. The Cornell of 2020 may look very different from the Cornell we students knew in 2010- the next few years will be decisive for the future of the University. Against the backdrop of all that’s going on in the world, it is certainly a turbulent time for decisive change. But as they say, at least we are living in interesting times.
Runners Up: Two popular stories that failed to make the list were the “yawn heard across academia” and the December 3 Africana protest outside of Day Hall. Talbert’s tirade made its rounds on just about every internet news outlet, prompted a “Yawn In,” inspired a great music mix (will be played at Dino’s next semester, just watch), created a new fashion trend, and basically took the cake as the most virally explosive news story reported by the Cornell Insider this year. But it failed to make the list for two reasons: 1) Most of the interest surrounding the story pertained to the hilarity of the video- the incident was ultimately inconsequential, and there would never have been a story without the youtube clip. 2) Despite the negative attention that Talbert’s outburst might have brought to the school, it is unlikely that the yawn incident will have any lasting impact on academics or student life at Cornell. The Africana protest was big news at the end of this semester, but it wasn’t the first protest we’ve seen outside of Day Hall, and don’t expect it to be the last. We’ll wait until this story resolves itself before we make an assessment of its ultimate impact on Cornell.
