Cornell's 13th president: Elizabeth Garrett, USC

[Trotsky]

The Ithaca Voice's seven best quotes from Garrett's inauguration speech.

6 empty cliches, but then this:

EG: "Realistically, no institution can be excellent in any study. The faculty instead must focus our energy and resources strategically. We must critically assess all that we are doing and choose which studies we choose to emphasize in our quest for excellence."

"We must organize ourselves in ways that ensure our work has the greatest impact, that propel us forward to new applications and allow fruitful collaborations among faculty and students ... In this analysis we must be guided by the spirit of 'Any Study' by defining our targets with breadth ... and by an openness to new understandings of disciplines, collaborations and methods of scholarship."

Jesus Fuck.  Why didn't she just say, "If it pulls in research dollars, we'll do it."

She came about as close as you can to completely reversing, in both intent and emphasis, the entire point of the motto (and the school).  It reminds me of Harvard's old defense of not admitting Jews, because "we must concentrate on students who can go on and make the greatest impact in society."

Dear Liz,

Blow me.

Sincerely, the Liberal Arts.

[George64]

The Ithaca Voice's seven best quotes from Garrett's inauguration speech.

6 empty cliches, but then this:

EG: "Realistically, no institution can be excellent in any study. The faculty instead must focus our energy and resources strategically. We must critically assess all that we are doing and choose which studies we choose to emphasize in our quest for excellence."

"We must organize ourselves in ways that ensure our work has the greatest impact, that propel us forward to new applications and allow fruitful collaborations among faculty and students ... In this analysis we must be guided by the spirit of 'Any Study' by defining our targets with breadth ... and by an openness to new understandings of disciplines, collaborations and methods of scholarship."

Jesus Fuck.  Why didn't she just say, "If it pulls in research dollars, we'll do it."

She came about as close as you can to completely reversing, in both intent and emphasis, the entire point of the motto (and the school).  It reminds me of Harvard's old defense of not admitting Jews, because "we must concentrate on students who can go on and make the greatest impact in society."

Dear Liz,

Blow me.

Sincerely, the Liberal Arts.

I hope that she watches our Sesquicentennial video again.  Justice Ginsburg "took only music and art courses" in her last year at Cornell.  "It was a wonderful education."

[Robb]

The Ithaca Voice's seven best quotes from Garrett's inauguration speech.

6 empty cliches, but then this:

EG: "Realistically, no institution can be excellent in any study. The faculty instead must focus our energy and resources strategically. We must critically assess all that we are doing and choose which studies we choose to emphasize in our quest for excellence."

"We must organize ourselves in ways that ensure our work has the greatest impact, that propel us forward to new applications and allow fruitful collaborations among faculty and students ... In this analysis we must be guided by the spirit of 'Any Study' by defining our targets with breadth ... and by an openness to new understandings of disciplines, collaborations and methods of scholarship."

Jesus Fuck.  Why didn't she just say, "If it pulls in research dollars, we'll do it."

She came about as close as you can to completely reversing, in both intent and emphasis, the entire point of the motto (and the school).  It reminds me of Harvard's old defense of not admitting Jews, because "we must concentrate on students who can go on and make the greatest impact in society."

Dear Liz,

Blow me.

Sincerely, the Liberal Arts.

Dear god, that's awful.  She's correct that no single institution can simultaneously be #1 in every field, but read the freaking motto again.  There's nothing horrible like the hackneyed Corporate Vision-Mission-Positioning statement "Be #1 or #2 in every market we serve."  The whole point of Any Study is that breadth is important for its own sake.  The commitment to Any Study is what attracts faculty with a passion for learning and finding unexpected collaborations with fields they never imagined.  Excellence follows from that - excellence is not the goal, it is the result.

Bah.  What do you expect from USC?

(says the UCLA student)