A generation of I-Bankers are we. Sure, we’ll do some volunteer work from time to time (three cheers for resume building) but when it comes down to it, we’re all about the Benjamins. Right?

Maybe not. These days, more Cornell grads are putting money on the backburner and opting for the path of public service. From the Peace Corps to Teach for America, Cornell is fast becoming one of the best sources of public service workers in the country. And the Kennedy spirit lives on.

As Cornell grads trend toward a life (or at least a few years) in public service, we are reminded of the University’s responsibility to the public welfare. Cornell is a private institution, but the Big Red must also demonstrate a commitment to the public good, to the world outside the ivory tower. From partnerships in Qatar and Saudi Arabia to engineering and ILR extension programs in New York City, Cornell has obliged.

The task of public responsibility, though, is not without its difficulties. As President Skorton told The Sun in a recent interview, the University must employ constant diligence in harmonizing its role in the public sphere with a commitment to its own institutional ideology.

Take ROTC as an example. Every year, the campus conversation inevitably turns to “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” and its place on a university campus. Cornell satisfies some of its public responsibility by hosting a ROTC chapter in Ithaca, but how does the University reconcile an on-campus organization that excludes homosexuals with its own institutional morality?

Along with tensions in ideology, a public responsibility can mire the University in some serious difficulty when it comes to student safety. Just last month, a group of Cornellians on a volunteer service trip to Kenya were forced to evacuate amid extreme post-election violence. The trip was for a good cause, but was it worth the risk?

This month, Princeton University announced the creation of a nascent and groundbreaking volunteer service program. Beginning in 2009, the university will send at least a tenth of its newly admitted students abroad for a year of foreign service before the start of their freshman year.

The “gap year” program at Princeton underscores an important responsibility of the university as an institution. While it’s important that schools like Cornell and Princeton focus on the needs of their respective university communities, it’s equally important that those schools recognize the world around them. Elite institutions and the students that attend them are privileged within our society. All the more reason for those institutions to take a more concentrated interest in the public welfare.

Universities like Cornell take a calculated risk when they involve themselves in the public sphere. But such universities are not alone. Cornell grads who volunteer in the Peace Corps or spend a few years teaching for America take some serious risks themselves: they risk the loss of a high-paying career, and they sacrifice money and luxury for a sense of civic responsibility. The risk is high, but the reward is worth it. After all, we’re more than a generation of I-Bankers. Aren’t we?