Dignitaries and fellow Cornellians welcome Lehman at breakfast

Taking their seats at the speakers' table during the breakfast at Weill Cornell Medical College, Oct. 15, are from left, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg; Sanford I. Weill, chairman of the Weill Cornell Board of Overseers; Cornell President Jeffrey Lehman; and, seated, Weill Cornell student Rafael Vasquez. Robert Barker/University Photography

By Roger Segelken

NEW YORK -- For Cornell President Jeffrey Lehman, a busy day of inauguration-related events in New York City Oct. 15 -- including tours of Cornell facilities and programs around town and the second of three transnational inaugural ceremonies -- began at 7:45 a.m. with a healthful breakfast at Weill Cornell Medical College.

Hosted by Weill Cornell Dean Antonio Gotto, the breakfast featured welcoming remarks by Sanford I. Weill, chair of the college's Board of Overseers; New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg; Peter Meinig, chair of the Cornell Board of Trustees; two Weill Cornell faculty researchers and a medical student.

After being introduced by Gotto, Weill introduced Bloomberg, a businessman-turned-mayor, as "a man who is always thinking about what he can give back to society ... always thinking how we all can make our city a better place."

The mayor acknowledged some previous collegiate allegiances -- his first elected office had been as chair of the Johns Hopkins University board of trustees, he said. Bloomberg also noted Lehman's co-authorship, while he was still a Cornell undergraduate, of a book on winning Monopoly game strategies, and he asked Cornell's president "to figure out how to use Monopoly money to balance [New York City's] budget." Then the mayor congratulated Lehman on his inauguration by quoting a Cornell alumnus and consummate New Yorker, the writer E.B. White: "We should all do what in the long run gives us joy."

Weill Cornell faculty researcher Rache Simmons spoke to the gathering and said her surgical specialty -- breast cancer -- is not a depressing one for her because innovative treatments at the Medical College's hospital -- such as noninvasive surgery with lasers -- are giving patients better results and hope. Then gene therapy pioneer Michael G. Kaplitt, director of stereotactic and functional neurosurgery at Weill Cornell, said, "Like our sister institution here in New York, the Yankees, we always find a way to make it work and win."

Medical student Rafael Vasquez noted the college's growth -- both in construction of new facilities in New York and with the establishment of a new campus in Qatar. The native of Mexico said he chose to become the leader of the medical student council, which includes students on both campuses, "because I want to make sure all students are part of this growth." Vasquez said he knew that Lehman chose to become president of Cornell for the same reason.

Meinig, referring to the mayor's elected-office resume from Johns Hopkins, promised that when his own term as board chair was over, "I am not going to run for mayor."

Then it was Lehman's turn, and the first Cornell alumnus to become president of the university said he especially appreciated the vote of confidence by medical student Vasquez and that he intends to make student involvement a key part of his presidential tenure. Lehman, who had studied mathematics as a Cornell undergraduate before turning to the law -- and later became dean of the University of Michigan Law School -- said the university must capitalize on its strengths in the medical and life sciences, on both campuses. "Cornell has a unique contribution to make [in medical teaching and research]. I will work to shrink the distance between Ithaca and New York," he promised.