Alumni return to campus for Reunion 1998

By Paul Cody

More than 6,000 alumni of Cornell are expected to return to campus for Reunion Weekend, today through Sunday, stomping the grounds on which they were students anywhere from a year to three quarters of a century ago.

In his message to returning Cornellians, President Hunter Rawlings says, "This weekend the campus is yours. From the residence halls to the Suspension Bridge, from the bottom of Libe Slope to the top of Bradfield Hall, I hope you will revisit familiar places and make new discoveries."

Activities planned for returning alumni include campus walking and bus tours with student tour guides (call the Information and Referral Center, 254-INFO, for scheduled times); recreational activities, such as canoeing, horseback riding, the Outdoor Education program's Hoffman Challenge Course and the annual Reunion Run and Reunion Row; Cornelliana Night; special lectures and music; open classrooms; and, of course, the Reunion tents.

Two highlights of Reunion 1998 will be the Spencer T. and Ann W. Olin Lecture by alumna Dr. Joyce Brothers '48 Friday at 3 p.m., and Rawlings' State of the University Address Saturday at 10:30 a.m., both in Bailey Hall. A limited number of tickets for registered alumni and guests will be available for both presentations through class headquarters.

Brothers is a noted psychologist, columnist, TV personality, author and business consultant. She once was named by a United Press International poll as one of the 10 most influential American women. Her column appears in 175 newspapers, and she is a news commentator on NBC Radio.

Among other Reunion events for alumni and guests are:

·A current events roundtable discussion, "War and Peace Today," focusing on nuclear testing in India and Pakistan, with Ron Herring and David Lelyveld of Cornell's Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies; Walter Dorn, visiting scholar, Peace Studies Program; and Manoj Srivastava of the Indian Administrative Service, Friday at 1 p.m., G08 Uris Hall.

·A lecture by professors and historians Glenn Altschuler and Joel Silbey on "Presidential Peccadillos: What the Clinton 'Scandals' Tell Us About America and Americans at the End of the Twentieth Century," Saturday at 2 p.m. in Hollis E. Cornell Auditorium, Goldwin Smith Hall. The lecturers will assess the current crisis of the presidency in light of the experiences of other presidents, changes in media coverage and the transformation of American values.

For more information about Cornell Reunion activities, call the Office of Alumni Affairs at 255-2390 or visit the Reunion web site at http://www.alumni.cornell.edu/nea/Reunion/1998/.