Kotlikoff named President

[Chris '03]

https://news.cornell.edu/stories/2025/03/michael-kotlikoff-named-cornells-15th-president?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR2KlGbGxGKSRHlcP9_eArMZW6ER6CZbQMjARLewUnCJdgEcelVN8hNFQHw_aem_kr1r_2roCB7COmLCauOD8A

Effective immediately.

[stereax]

Woot!!!

[George64]

Was I sorta prescient, or what?

Thanks!  I think Kotlikoff's been a terrific interim president and before that an outstanding provost.  I wish he was 15 years younger, so our Board could simply remove the "interim" tag.
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I don't watch the wider Cornell community, so I don't know much about Kotlikoff, but he seems like a fine man from what little I've heard.

Here's a good summary of his achievements - [https://president.cornell.edu/about/]. Too bad, he's almost 75.
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God damn, that's impressive.

[Iceberg]

A less risky decision in no small part because of the current political environment and other forces that were already affecting the higher education sector but very good for him nonetheless

[billhoward]

You're not prescient, George, you're just applying common sense. One of those two is more difficult to attain.

[billhoward]

Mike Kotlikoff is the absolutely right choice to lead Cornell for 5 and lets see about 10 years. He is 73 or 74 this year (Penn undergrad '73) and we've seen how Trump, Biden and His Holiness are dealing with advanced years. Bernie has always been old-man cranky no matter what his age. Not every septuagenarian loses it but you do slow down a little.  

Kotlikoff seems a normal guy, he goes to basketball (well, hey, Penn grad of the '70s, probably remembers that Quaker Final Four team of 1979). He pushed back at some of the sharp-edged questions in his September 2024 Cornell Daily Sun interview and also give him credit for doing the interview. His handlers might have suggested "no interview" because much pain-little-gain (when you do PR in a small town, it's easy to push around local reporters but then, wham, the NYT or Fox News shows up, and it's a mismatch).

It's better for a permanent not interim president to handle the threat of several hundred, possibly the better part of a billion dollars in funding is at risk.

Some say a college president has ten good years when he can can be effective. We get five, that's okay, things may settle down, odds may favor a Democrat in the White House in 2029 and probably a Democratic House in 2027. One of Kotlikoff's greatest strengths appears to be a normal guy, just with a bunch of advanced degrees.

Also, all the Ivies have learned (some the hard way) that you prepare a college president for a Congressional inquisition different from how you prepare for a criminal trial. I.e. you don't stonewall or make CYA remarks.

Good luck, Mike.

[chimpfood]

I'll never understand why that sun interview was so abrasive. Their news department has been declining recently IMO.

[CU2007]

I'll never understand why that sun interview was so abrasive. Their news department has been declining recently IMO.

Pretty lame gotcha journalism. Ambushing him over some $50 political donation. Get a grip

[George64]

Here's the Cornell Chronicle article from when when Mike Kotlikoff was appointed interim president. A good read, it says a lot about the character of the man.

[CAS]

President Kotlikoff lists being a Cornell sports fan in his Instagram bio.  He and his wife sat courtside at Ivy basketball tourney @ Columbia last year.

[George64]

While we're discussing Cornell presidents, here's a fascinating article about A.D. White.  It was the relationship between the practical Ezra and the scholarly White that created the Cornell that we're so proud of today, years before the first intercollegiate hockey game in 1896.  BTW, Yale beat Johns Hopkins 2-1.

[ugarte]

I'll never understand why that sun interview was so abrasive. Their news department has been declining recently IMO.

That's exactly what an interview like that should sound like! They were real questions, the interviewers could provide the basis for them, and Kotlikoff answered exactly as he saw fit.

[chimpfood]

I'll never understand why that sun interview was so abrasive. Their news department has been declining recently IMO.

That's exactly what an interview like that should sound like! They were real questions, the interviewers could provide the basis for them, and Kotlikoff answered exactly as he saw fit.

You can ask real questions without being disrespectful and while it's hard to tell tone through a written piece they definitely seemed unnecessarily confrontational IMO.

[Trotsky]

Also, all the Ivies have learned (some the hard way) that you prepare a college president for a Congressional inquisition different from how you prepare for a criminal trial. I.e. you don't stonewall or make CYA remarks.

Correct.  You come right back at the Nazis and hope to god this country still has a modicum of sense and self-respect.

Spoiler: in this case it would not have helped, as the ruling class on both sides has neither.

[George64]

Mike Kotlikoff is the absolutely right choice to lead Cornell for 5 and lets see about 10 years. He is 73 or 74 this year (Penn undergrad '73) and we've seen how Trump, Biden and His Holiness are dealing with advanced years. Bernie has always been old-man cranky no matter what his age. Not every septuagenarian loses it but you do slow down a little.  

Kotlikoff seems a normal guy, he goes to basketball (well, hey, Penn grad of the '70s, probably remembers that Quaker Final Four team of 1979). He pushed back at some of the sharp-edged questions in his September 2024 Cornell Daily Sun interview and also give him credit for doing the interview. His handlers might have suggested "no interview" because much pain-little-gain (when you do PR in a small town, it's easy to push around local reporters but then, wham, the NYT or Fox News shows up, and it's a mismatch).

It's better for a permanent not interim president to handle the threat of several hundred, possibly the better part of a billion dollars in funding is at risk.

Some say a college president has ten good years when he can can be effective. We get five, that's okay, things may settle down, odds may favor a Democrat in the White House in 2029 and probably a Democratic House in 2027. One of Kotlikoff's greatest strengths appears to be a normal guy, just with a bunch of advanced degrees.

Also, all the Ivies have learned (some the hard way) that you prepare a college president for a Congressional inquisition different from how you prepare for a criminal trial. I.e. you don't stonewall or make CYA remarks.

Good luck, Mike.

Kotlikoff in the NY Times.
.