A few selected scenes from Cornell's historic inauguration festivities

By Blaine Friedlander Jr. and Roger Segelken

In New York City, there was a harmonic convergence: To open the inaugural festivities at the Weill Cornell Medical College, Oct. 15, a recently formed a cappella singing group at the college -- The Aneurythms -- provided a rousing version of Cornell's alma mater. This group, composed mainly of first-year medical students, also performs for patients in the NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital and sings carols in the halls during the holidays. The medical students in the group include leader Josh Levinger '05, Josh Muyderman '07, Kathleen Forcier '07, Sarah Collins '07, Katisha Baldwin '07, Kevin Cheung '05, Sing Your Li '07 and Terry Ann Chambers '07.

The next day in Ithaca, Cornell Catering opened four tents at noon on the Arts Quad prior to the inaugural academic procession. Hot apple cider, apples, cookies and the new inaugural ice cream, Ezra and Andrew's World View, were served.

Digging into the new inaugural ice cream, Brian Fugate '05, from the tasty town of Hershey, Pa., said he enjoyed the flavor. "It has a lot of espresso in it, which is good because we need a little refresher."

Kristin Lampe '04, from Syracuse, N.Y., also tried the new ice cream. "I like coffee flavored ice cream, but then again I am a fan of anything the Cornell Dairy does," she said.

Two medical doctors from India, here studying public health administration, also tasted the Arts Quad offerings. Kanthicharran Narra stayed with the vanilla ice cream, while his friend, Shravan Subramanyam, drank two glasses of the hot apple cider. Subramanyam said, "You know what they say, 'An apple cider a day keeps the doctor away' ... but we're doctors!"

Parade weather had seemed iffy for a while, and the gathering participants and spectators for the procession were seeking shelter from the rain beneath the autumnal orange-and-yellow foliage of Arts Quad trees. Meteorologist Mark Wysocki, a senior lecturer in earth and atmospheric sciences, looked south where stormy clouds were roiling and predicted periods of spitting rain. That forecast was enough to stop the rain, of course, and brilliant sunshine bathed the rest of the proceedings, to the accompaniment of a chimes concert from the carillon in McGraw Tower.

The brisk southerly breeze across the Arts Quad propelled the cause of students who circulated through the assembling crowd to distribute toy pinwheels and the label: "Wind Power Now! Cornell University needs to make a commitment to renewable energy." Engineering student Abby Krich said a survey of university-owned land atop the nearby Mount Pleasant might find an ideal site for wind generators. The wind-power advocates were trying to get a meeting with President Lehman to plead their case, she said, "but I know he's been busy lately."

A beaming Lehman witnessed the procession from a reviewing stand, set up near the statue of Cornell's first president, Andrew Dickson White, in front of Goldwin Smith Hall. First came the delegates from other universities and colleges, then representatives of learned societies and scientific and cultural institutions. Each of the university's colleges was represented by a dean and faculty members, bedecked in their distinctive academic regalia, as well as alumni, students and staff members from the colleges.

The soon-to-be-inaugurated president stayed until the last of the marching units, as well as the university trustees and administrators, had passed, then he brought up the rear of his own parade. Following the route up Tower Road and along Garden Avenue to Barton Hall, he acknowledged congratulations from passersby and from students and faculty members who lingered on the sidewalks outside classroom buildings. Even the surprised exclamation, "Oh, look, that's him!" earned a cheery wave from the president.

Some of the sidewalk throng outside Barton Hall, who didn't get the free tickets to the inauguration ceremony in time, left, reluctantly, to watch it on cable television. Dignitaries, including Cornell Presidents Emeriti Dale R. Corson and Frank H.T. Rhodes, took their places at the west end of the cavernous drill hall. Then the Cornell University Wind Ensemble set the tone with fanfares, including one by Professor of Music Emeritus Karel Husa, and University Marshal J. Robert Cooke called the convocation to order.

Making introductions, Cornell Board of Trustees chair Peter C. Meinig pointed out President Lehman's parents, both members of the Cornell Class of '49, and the president's children, and the two living former presidents in the audience, then presented the featured speaker, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a Cornell Class of '54 graduate.

Ginsburg's address skirted legal or political issues to focus on Cornell's history (see story, Page 9). Speaking about the 11th president, the justice quoted then-law-student Lehman's answer to a fellow student's question about his ideal job: "President of Cornell," Lehman had answered. "I love the place and the school. But, of course, it will never happen." "It is Cornell's great good fortune that Jeff's prophecy proved wrong," Ginsburg said.

Before Lehman's inaugural address, three tradition-laden matters of investiture remained: To Lehman's custody were transferred the University Charter, which had established Cornell in 1865, presented by a direct lineal descendent of the university's founder, lifetime trustee and Class of 1970 graduate Ezra Cornell; the Great Seal, bearing the profile likeness of founder Ezra Cornell and his words, "I would found an institution where any person can find instruction in any study," presented by American history Professor Mary Beth Norton; and finally the symbol of authority, the mace, given by Walter LaFeber, professor of American history emeritus. Use that authority, the president was told, "for the benefit of all Cornellians and for the benefit and good of men and women everywhere."