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Badger Bullies

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As an administrator, former Provost Biddy Martin was devoted to improving the lives of students, faculty and staff. As President David Skorton’s first deputy officer, she pioneered initiatives to increase financial aid, appoint new deans and increase communication and cohesion across our large and disparate University. It’s because of her stellar academic and administrative record at Cornell that we’re disappointed to learn of the controversy surrounding her appointment as the new chancellor of the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Two weeks ago, a blog post on the National Review Online criticized Martin as a “self-indulged, theory-laden, post-modern scholar.” And after Wisconsin State Rep. Steve Nass circulated a link to the blog within the State House, state representatives have made public a debate over Martin’s administrative qualifications.

Based on the tenor of the controversy, it seems that the folks in Wisconsin have chosen to ignore the breadth of Martin’s administrative record. The Review’s post asserts that Biddy’s “best known work” is “a little something called Femininity Played Straight.” And while we fail to see a problem with the significant academic contributions Martin has made to the field of gender studies, it is obvious that her most significant work at Cornell has been to improve the University far beyond the LGBTQ community.

Martin — who received a doctorate in German literature from UW-Madison in 1985 —was a professor of German and women’s studies at Cornell prior to her tenure as provost. She served as senior associate dean in the College of Arts and Sciences and as chair of the German studies department from 1994-1997.

In her eight years as provost, Martin made far-reaching changes to the University. She was a principal architect of Cornell’s new financial aid policy, a plan that will eliminate loans for families with an annual income below $75,000. Martin was also integral to the recent success of Cornell's $4 billion Capital Campaign, and played an important role in the conception and planning of Weill Hall — a $162 million state-of-the-art life sciences research facility that will open in October.

To focus on Martin’s broad administrative achievements, though, is not to ignore what she has done for Cornell’s LGBTQ community. Back in 1994, Martin played a direct role in drafting policy changes that would offer same-sex domestic partners of Cornell faculty and staff the same benefits available to heterosexual married couples. Cornell was not alone in its initiative — at the same time, universities across the country were drafting similar resolutions to recognize the rights of same-sex couples. Ironically, the University of Wisconsin failed to jump on the bandwagon, and 14 years later, UW-Madison is the only Big Ten school to deny domestic partner benefits.

Martin was indeed a proponent of gay rights and a student of gender and sexuality in her time at Cornell, but we are unsure how state officials could see that as a stain on her administrative credentials. Our provost is a leader in the field of academia, and she has proven time and again her capacity to lead a university in the right direction. As Martin takes the reigns at her alma mater, we can be certain she will bring with her the persistence and determination that she used to make her mark on Cornell.

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