In the wake of this year’s double digit tuition hike in the statutory colleges, President Hunter R. Rawlings III and the Cornell administration announced the University’s decision to discontinue all financial association with the State University of New York (SUNY).
Privatization of the colleges, however, will have far reaching implications for students and faculty alike, as it will take the University at least five years to become financially stable and independent from the funding it annually receives from the state of New York, according to Provost Biddy (Carolyn A.) Martin.
“Yes, students will feel immediate effects in that the tuition may rise a bit over the next few years. But the future of this University that is at stake,” Rawlings said, when asked how the University will compensate from a loss of funding.
In his slideshow presentation of the details of the separation, Vice President for University Relations Henrik N. Dullea ’61 estimated “a bit” of a tuition hike over the next five years as approximately double the current tuition in the statutory schools.
“The statutory colleges at Cornell already have the highest tuition in the nation for any state school. I think they’ve had it pretty good,” Dullea said.
Dullea noted that added tuition revenue would provide funding for rennovation projects across campus and increasing faculty salaries.
The president presented the decision to the University Board of Trustees on Saturday in the conference room at the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art.
“We can’t be dependent on the state – we have come up short handed year after year and it’s high time we broke free,” said Harold N. Tanner ’61, chair of the Board.
Despite trustee enthusiasm, disgruntled statutory students were in an uproar.
“I’m just going to get out of Cornell and go SUNY Cortland or something. This has just gotten ridiculous,” said one student in the College of Human Ecology.
EDITOR’S NOTE: April Fools! We got you this time. This story is not real.
Archived article by Alison Thomas