Lehman: Cornell is still 'beloved' and 'revolutionary'

By Susan Lang

On the glorious Saturday morning of Cornell's Reunion 2004 weekend, President Jeffrey Lehman told a near capacity audience in Newman Arena of Bartels Hall -- in his first State of the University address to alumni -- that "the state of our university is remarkable."

Jeffrey Lehman

Introduced by Peter Meinig '62, chair of the Cornell Board of Trustees, Lehman recounted snapshots from his first year, which he had devoted to listening, assessing Cornell's strengths and needs, and developing, he said, "a way of speaking about our revolutionary and beloved university that rang true." He told the gathering that by recounting some experiences from a day in each month since he arrived, he could help describe what he's learned about the state of the university in 2004.

In July, with boxes still unpacked, he and his wife, Kathy Okun, visited the Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections in the Kroch Library, where, Lehman said, "we saw things that made us gasp," including handwritten pages from James Joyce's manuscript of Ulysses and Abraham Lincoln's handwritten write-up of what he'd said in the Gettysburg Address. And, he pointed out, these are treasures that "any undergraduate, any Cornellian, can experience ... with no justification required beyond curiosity."

In August, Lehman welcomed his first freshman class; and in September, he attended the opening of a new exhibition on campus of works from the world's finest private collection of surrealist art, on loan from a Cornellian.

October's highlight was a visit to Doha, Qatar, where he helped dedicate the new campus of Cornell's pre-medical and medical program on the Arabian peninsula -- and witnessed an opera, in the desert. In November, the Lehmans attended an Iftaar banquet on campus marking the end of Ramadan, at which 1,000 students of diverse backgrounds discussed the similar but different roles that fasting plays in various faiths. In December, he was given an underground tour of the Wilson Synchrotron, the Cornell Electron Storage Ring and the Cornell High Energy Synchrotron Source, where Nobel Prize-winning research has been conducted.

January's highlight was visiting with alumni in New York City and donning 3-D glasses to watch the first images to arrive from Mars, with commentary provided by the mission's science team leader, Cornell Professor Steven Squyres. In February, Bill Gates came to campus. "He was impressed," said Lehman. "After his visit, he is reported to have told his colleagues that Cornell is the university that best understands how recent changes in information science have changed the way students need to be taught about the field."

In March, Lehman met with the Chinese ambassador to the United States, and they discussed Lehman's forthcoming trip to Beijing this summer "in which we will be building on China's historic relationship with Cornell through a new set of collaborative programs," he said. In April, the Lehmans again met with alumni in New York City, including one of Cornell's most senior alumnae, Helen "Happy" Reichert, Class of '25, who Lehman introduced to the Bartels Hall crowd.

And in May, Lehman addressed his first class of Cornell graduates during commencement ceremonies.

"What have I learned from the experience this year of listening, evaluating and speaking?" Lehman asked. "First, Cornell was founded as a revolutionary institution, and it still is a revolutionary institution. Ezra Cornell's ambition to found an institution where any person, from any background, can come to find instruction in any study completely transformed American 19th century higher education. The power of that ambition is every bit as significant today as it was in 1865.

"In the 21st century the university that was spawned by that idea has a daily impact as far as the influence of humanity extends," Lehman continued. "It is felt in Ithaca. It is felt in every county of New York state. It is felt across the United States. It's felt in the Middle East. It's felt in China. It's felt on Mars."

Lehman said he also learned that "the quality of this university is just staggering" and that the love Cornell stirs in its graduates is unique. "Cornell enters one's soul in a way that no other university does. It teaches us hope and optimism, and it makes us brave. It nurtures the conviction that what we do in the world really matters, and it inspires us to take chances so that we will leave that world a better place than we found it. Cornell binds us to one another as a community that transcends all boundaries of time and place. And, in turn, that community inspires Cornell to continue to evolve to meet the changing needs of humanity."

In the coming year, Lehman said, he will begin to build on the overwhelming response he received when he called upon Cornellians everywhere to engage with him in a project of reflection to chart a course for Cornell with an eye on its sesquicentennial celebration in 2015.

The full text of the president's State of the University address is available at http://www.news.cornell.edu/campus/StateofUniv6.2004.html.