Time to Say Good Bye
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Better teaching, better living and better rankings: these were the three campaign promises I made for the student trustee election in 2006. As my term comes to an end, I feel it is my responsibility to compare what I promised to do what I have actually accomplished in the past two years. During my tenure, my understanding of the original platform was deepened and broadened, but I have never, never forgotten my promises to you.
Better Teaching
My primary instrument to improve teaching was to declassify the course evaluation results. We began our efforts in CALS first, which was considered the most difficult to overcome. Several years ago, the CALS faculty senate passed a resolution prohibiting the dean and associate deans from seeing the evaluations. However, through our efforts, in February this year, they approved a resolution to openly provide the results to everyone in the Cornell community. After the resolution was passed, Provost Biddy Martin gave student trustee Kate Duch and me the opportunity to present the same idea to all the deans of Cornell. They were very receptive to our idea. I am confident that other colleges will follow in CALS’ footsteps.
Better Living
My plan was to create a low-cost health insurance plan for students with families. I worked on this project throughout the last two years. In my first year, I tried to use my economic knowledge to design a solution, but later found that no solution is possible without some initial subsidies. As a result, I set in motion a movement last October to ask the University to assist people without health insurance. This movement caught the attention of the trustees and the administration; President David Skorton mentioned my initiative in his article in Alumni Magazine on Jan. 24. Now I am a member of the student health insurance advisory committee and have begun working out feasible steps to solve this problem.
I should apologize that I did not fully achieve my goal due to the complexity of this issue. In the past year, many of my supporters asked me to run for reelection as student trustee; I considered this possibility. Based on my current progress in the health insurance initiative, I believe I would see this campaign promise come true with a second term.
But I need to apologize to my supporters that I chose to give up this opportunity. I believe it is not appropriate to run for a second term. Firstly, it is not fair. The incumbent student trustee has a huge advantage over the challengers. Secondly, every student leader has his or her personal bias. Since student leaders are not full-time representatives, we only have energy for a certain number of projects, while spending relatively little time on others. The best way for better representation is to have a new student trustee. Thirdly, being a student trustee is a life-changing experience. I hope more students can share this valuable experience with me, so we will have more committed alumni. I hope future student trustees can appreciate my thoughts on this issue and give more opportunities to younger students.
I did have some concerns, however: will I still have enough strength to continue my efforts after I step down? Finally, I came to an epiphany: Even though I will have less political power, the strongest source of influence is not politics, but rather justice. If you look at human history, politics sometimes leads people in the wrong direction, but ultimately justice always wins. I believe that everyone in this world should have some basic rights. Affordable health care is certainly one of them. As a progressive institution, Cornell should be a leader in fighting for justice worldwide, but such a commitment begins within our own community.
Better Ranking
My initial goal was to attract the best and brightest students from around the world to Cornell, thereby increasing Cornell’s ranking and prestige. I personally spoke in front of more than 20 Chinese newspapers, radios and television stations about the unique opportunity Cornell provides. My effort, in partnership with others, allowed Cornell to witness the greatest ever increase (66 percent) in applications from China in 2007.
My understanding of the importance of international exchange was considerably deepened during my term. In the past two years, I have witnessed — through media or my personal experience — how miniscule misunderstandings between people of different backgrounds can develop into hatred between them. I then realized that international exchange is much more important than “increasing Cornell’s rankings.” We need to promote interaction among young adults from different countries. The friendships developed when people are young will accompany them for their whole life and lay the foundation for the world peace.
Therefore, I arranged the Cornell Daily Sun’s trip to China last winter, and also helped arrange the Glee Club and Chorus club trip to China during spring break. In hopes of expanding my efforts to other countries, I have established a group called the “Student Overseas Exchange Steering Committee.” I hope our efforts can help Cornell to become a locus of dialogue for the next generation of global leaders.
New Initiatives
The biggest priority I have found during my tenure is sustainability. It not only includes the sustainability of the environment, but also the sustainability of Cornell. It is critical for the sustainability of Cornell to attract, educate and help current students so that they will be more committed to the University and come back to help the next generation of Cornellians. For that reason, I pushed terribly hard for no-loan financial aid, and I also advocated better career services, hoping it could help every student find his or her passion at Cornell.
When I ran for my first campaign at the age of 15, my mother told me that the most important thing is to “say what you can do, and do whatever you have said.” This is exactly the advice I have followed for the past two years. I would like to thank you all for electing me two years ago, and I apologize for the campaign promises which I have not fully achieved. I will continue to work on these promises even after I step down. My term as a student trustee comes to an end, but my service will not. I will continue to work for you and with you for a better Cornell.
Mao Ye is outgoing student trustee. He can be contacted at my87@cornell.edu.