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Skorton and Fuchs Introduce Reimagining C.U. to Community

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President David Skorton made his public case for the University’s strategic plan to streamline University operations Friday as faculty, students and staff packed into Biotech G10. Showing up on time did not guarantee audience members a seat, as many were willing to stand for the duration of the public forum at which Skorton and Provost Kent Fuchs discussed the “Reimagining Cornell” initiative and its implications for the future of the University.

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Cornell President Justifies Symbiotic Planning Strategy

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As the University moves forward with the inevitable budget cuts, President David Skorton stands in a lonely position at the top. While task forces made up of faculty and staff work to suggest cuts from academic-related expenses, consultants from Bain & Co. will suggest cuts to non-academic expenses. Skorton must make sure that the two do not overlap during the process of the budget’s eventual alignment. The Sun sat down with Skorton yesterday afternoon to discuss some of the different facets of “Reimagining Cornell.”

The Sun: Why did the University choose Bain specifically, especially considering their dubious reputation in higher education?

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Trustees Vote to Allow University to Take on Debt, Reduce Endowment Spending

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The Cornell Board of Trustees unanimously agreed this afternoon to allow the University incur up to a half-billion dollars in debt and scale back its endowment spending.

The Trustees authorized the University to sell up to $500 million in taxable bonds to provide working capital and institutional liquidity.

The University is also set to reduce spending from the endowment by 15 percent starting July 1, with further cuts planned for subsequent years.

“[The University] can’t keep taking the money out as if it were a larger endowment,” President David Skorton said in an interview Friday.

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Skorton Addresses State of C.U.

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Despite national economic turmoil and threats of the worst financial crisis since the great depression, President David Skorton assured on Friday morning that Cornell is “not in a financial crisis.” Still, in his annual State of the University Address, Skorton emphasized the need for the University to revise its economic plan for its future in light of recent “stresses and strains that deserve our serious attention.”

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Kent Fuchs Replaces Martin as Cornell's 15th Provost

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As Cornell’s highest ranking officers gathered in Ithaca this weekend, President David Skorton announced to a standing ovation that Kent Fuchs has been appointed as the University’s 15th provost. Fuchs, who currently serves as dean of the College of Engineering, will take the reins as Cornell’s chief academic officer and second-in-command to the president in January.
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Skorton chose Fuchs nearly five months after Biddy Martin decided to vacate the position to become chancellor of the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Currently David Harris serves as interim provost.

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Where Am I? and Other Tales of the Morning After

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At 17, R’s mom bought her her first fake ID so she could go to Vegas on spring break with her friends. A year earlier, another R found herself wandering through the seedy alleys of Chinatown to procure her very own false identification card. Little did they know that years later each R would meet an R much like herself, with whom she would use her trusty ID in good times and bad, until one R’s ID was taken away at Ruloff’s two weeks ago. RIP R’s ID.
Up until that fateful, tragic, soul-crushing night, neither R encountered any challenges in the pursuit of superfuntimes, other than the oft-confusing plight of remembering to pretend to be who our I.D.’s said we were. Interestingly, R’s ID said she was R.
R: Who’s that?

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Skorton, Murphy Answer GPSA’s Questions

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The Graduate and Professional Student Association met yesterday for the first meeting of the year in the Big Red Barn. In attendance were University President David Skorton and Vice President for Student and Academic Services Susan Murphy ’73.
“Any non-academic policy issue that impacts the graduate student body is within our interests,” said Mario Guerrero grad. “This is a meeting where we talk about some of the advocacy issues we’re looking into.”

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Skorton Names David Harris as Interim Provost

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Updated June 24

Plans have quickly fallen into place to find the University’s next chief academic officer. Less than three weeks after Provost Biddy Martin’s announcement that she will leave Cornell to become the next chancellor of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, President David Skorton named Deputy Provost David Harris to temporarily fill her position. Harris will serve as interim provost until Martin’s successor is chosen, according to the University.