Cornell's enrollment trends are excellent, and the university showed a very strong financial performance last year, members of the university's board of trustees learned at their annual fall meeting, Oct. 27.
"In terms of enrollment, we've had a very strong start to this academic year, at both undergraduate and graduate levels," President Hunter Rawlings told trustees at their first meeting of the academic year.
"It was a banner financial year for Cornell," said Yoke San Reynolds, vice president for financial affairs and university controller. Reynolds said total assets increased by 16.2 percent, primarily the result of strong investment performance and significant contributions.
Those reports and others contributed to the already upbeat mood expressed by trustees and other members of the campus community in the wake of Rawlings' annual State of the University message Friday morning (See story). Rawlings told trustees in that report that Hank and Nancy Bartels, both members of the class of 1948, had made a major new investment in Cornell's athletic programs, with the gift of $15 million in endowment funds as a challenge match. The gift is on behalf of the Bartels family.
On a more somber note, Rawlings briefed trustees on the recent incidents of bias-related harassment on campus. "This is a communitywide concern," he said. "These incidents are very disturbing. They create a climate on campus that we abhor."
He said the administration is working very closely with student leaders to develop better safety measures, including improved campus lighting and reporting protocols.
Reynolds reported that Cornell ended the fiscal year on June 30, 2000, with total assets of $6.34 billion, total liabilities of $1.07 billion and net assets of $5.27 billion. Total assets increased by $884 million, or 16.2 percent. Net assets increased by $799 million, or a record 17.9 percent.
Reynolds noted, however, that of that additional $884 million in total assets, $400 million is in pledges and unrealized gains. The rest, with the exception of $15 million in unrestricted funds, is restricted, in the form of gifts to the endowment or construction funds.
Reporting on enrollment trends, Rawlings said he was particularly pleased with another large increase in the enrollment of underrepresented minority students in the Graduate School -- an increase of 6 percent over last fall and 20 percent over fall 1997.
Further progress also was made with the enrollment of women in the Graduate School, with women now at 41 percent of all graduate students, he added.
"The efforts we have made are beginning to pay off. We are seeing some dramatic increases in minority enrollment when many other institutions are reporting decreases," Rawlings said. "These signs are very encouraging and reflect a lot of work on the part of faculty. The faculty have taken a very proactive role in recruitment."
In undergraduate enrollment, this fall's freshman class had a yield of 51 percent on acceptances, the highest in 16 years. "This confirms that Cornell continues to be a much sought-after institution by the very best students," Rawlings said. And, he added, while that yield resulted in a larger entering class than had been targeted, with some initial overcrowding in residence halls, the bottom line was that these students were just too well qualified to turn away.
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