EDITORIAL: Administrators Took a Shaky First Step. Walk the Walk, Cornell.

The University’s decision to suspend classes and accelerate the timeline for Ithaca departure is jarring. In the few days since President Martha Pollack’s Tuesday announcement, many students booked travel based on the presumed knowledge that they would not be ushered off campus until March 28. Professors have worked with students assuming that they had some in-person communication to make the transition to online learning as smooth as possible. Now, students have been forced to amend their travel plans again. Entire course syllabi have been destroyed and the academic merit of the current Cornell semester has been called into question.

EDITORIAL: Beyond Diversity, President Rhodes and the Journey Towards Inclusion

To say Cornell is the same institution today as it was in 1977, when former President Frank H. T. Rhodes took the helm, would be wrong. However, to say the University has had a vast character transformation over the past 43 years would ignore elements of this institution that still need to be changed. Yesterday, it was announced that the ninth president of Cornell, Rhodes, had died at the age of 93. Rhodes had the distinction of being one of the longest serving presidents of Cornell. He led the University across three decades, ending his term in 1995.