To an enthusiastic round of applause, President Hunter Rawlings told members of the Cornell Board of Trustees, at their final meeting of the academic year, May 27, that they'll soon be sitting on more comfortable seats in a newly renovated Bailey Hall.
He also told them, to another round of applause, that "this was a sensational year for undergraduate admissions."
After hearing all the good news, the board approved a $1.69 billion spending plan for the university for 2000-01 at the meeting in the Trustee Meeting Room of the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art.
Harold Tanner, chairman of the board, elicited a standing ovation when he noted that it was "a good time of year for taking stock" and thanked Rawlings for a job well done.
"Cornell University is in very good condition," Tanner said. "This university has come a long way, and it is going much further. One of the reasons for that position is the successful leadership Hunter Rawlings has brought to this university over the past five years."
Rawlings said he was delighted that after Gov. George Pataki visited Cornell last year he promised to give proposed funding for the renovation of Bailey Hall his personal attention -- and that attention paid off. The State University Construction Fund will contribute $10.6 million of the $13.1 million renovation cost. See related story.
"We're grateful to the governor for his support," Rawlings said.
On undergraduate admissions, Rawlings said 3,115 first-year students are set to enter next year, 115 more than the target. That's partly because the overall yield on acceptances is up, to 51 percent from 49 percent a year ago. He added that the admit rate went to 30 percent, from 33 percent last year and from 37 percent four years ago.
"As a result, we are a much more selective university than we were before," Rawlings said.
Growth in graduate student admissions also remained strong, "and that is very good news indeed," he added.
Robert L. Harris, vice provost for diversity and faculty development, reported that the university's progress toward greater diversity and inclusion is mixed. He said that while some progress has been made in the recruitment of women and minority faculty and students, more needs to be made. He noted that Cornell ranks fourth among the eight Ivy League schools in the percentage of black faculty on staff; fourth out of the five Ivies for which he could obtain statistics on minority undergraduate enrollment; and it has the smallest percentage of black student enrollment in all of the Ivies.
But, he added, with the hiring of Lynette Chappell-Williams as the director of the Office of Workforce Diversity, Equity and Life Quality, and the hiring of Doris Davis as associate provost for admissions and enrollment, "We now have the pieces in place to move forward over the next few years to make progress in the recruitment of both minorities and women."
The $1.69 billion spending plan approved by the trustees for 2000-01 is 4.5 percent more than the $1.62 billion that is forecast in expenditures this year.
The budget includes a 4.2 percent increase in tuition and fees, a projected 10.9 percent net increase in investment income, an expected 2.4 percent increase in unrestricted gifts and an expected 2.6 percent increase in restricted operating gifts from 1999-00.
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