This is from the Cornell Alumni Blog MetaEzra. Here’s a passage from Dr. Rabkin’s interview with former Sun Editor Andy Guess ’06, and it does not bode well for the ability of Cornell to retain its top professors:
On the other side is this: Cornell made no effort of any kind to keep me here. I told my department chair that I had this offer. She told me I could have an “exit interview” to discuss my feelings about Cornell before I left. She did not offer to ask the administration for a counter-offer — which is the usual thing to do in these circumstances. She did not ask me to wait until I saw what Cornell would offer. She did nothing at all. I waited some five weeks, in the course of which I was never contacted by the chair (Val Bunce) or by anyone else. In the circumstances, I did not feel I had any choice. If an institution wants to keep a senior person, it does what it can to match an outside offer. Cornell didn’t even bother to inquire what the details of GMU’s offer actually were.
The fact that the Cornell Government Department made little or no effort to try to keep Professor Rabkin here is sad, to say the very least. It is distressing as a student (and soon-to-be alumna) to hear that as distinguished a scholar as Dr. Rabkin did not feel as though his contributions were being adequately appreciated at this university.
Well, let’s just be thankful third world war does not erupt this weekend, with all the muslim terrorists, falling jets, black student riots, Europe shootings and socialist/fascist election debates. Let’s just quietly enjoy our turkeys tonight (if we can afford that) before we stomp on each other on black friday sales.