The Cornell Daily Sun (https://cornellsun.com/tag/cornell-president/)
President Pollack celebrated the University’s accomplishments at the annual State of the University Address on Friday, Oct. 20, with an audience of over 500 trustees, council members and guests.
Just as the queen was, Pollack is cut off from the population which she reigns over, locked behind closed doors, inaccessible to her subjects. That is not to say that being the president of a university is not an important job, but Pollack is missing out on a prime opportunity to engage with students as a strong female role model.
Pollack made a base salary of only $671,693 in her first year, with an additional $16,000 in benefits and “other” compensation, according to Cornell’s tax filings for 2017-2018.
The ninth president of Cornell, former President Frank H. T. Rhodes died on Monday at age 93.
Pollack confirmed that her second year on campus has been “great,” and believes that some of the things that came out of the “tumults” of the first year have helped shaped the policies and decisions this year.
Pollack, who began her term in April, also repeated her commitment to free speech and said the University community needs to be more kind following concerning episodes, including an assault in Collegetown.
Martha Pollack is now in charge of a campus so on-edge that a rope keeping electrical wires away from a construction site was mistaken for a noose by students on Sunday.
Two weeks into her presidency at Cornell, Martha Pollack on Monday proclaimed an unwavering commitment to free speech, reaffirmed the importance of diversity and inclusion, and responded to questions about much more.
“I am honored to begin my service today as Cornell University’s 14th president,” the statement read.