Kotlikoff: Education is key to a better future

Societal divisions and seismic shifts in technology make this "an enormously consequential time for our university, for all of higher education and for our country," President Michael I. Kotlikoff said Oct. 24 in the annual State of the University address.

"Every university president now finds themself seeking, with fresh urgency, new answers to old questions around higher education in America: How can the university best prepare its students for the future they will inhabit - and build the best future for our nation?" said Kotlikoff, Cornell's 15th president.

The address, delivered in Call Auditorium during the 75th Trustee-Council Annual Meeting and punctuated by applause, sought to answer that question by highlighting Cornell's history, its commitment to academic freedom and access to education, and its impactful research, innovative faculty and passionate students.

"At our founding," he said, "Cornell offered almost anyone a brilliant window into a larger world - introducing students from remote farms and rural towns to a life of the mind, and to ideas and people unlike those they had ever known. Today, we open that window for more students than ever before - giving students from every background the essential and enlightening, challenging and rewarding, often difficult and always human experience of a Cornell education."

Cornell - which enrolls more transfer students and Pell Grant recipients than any other university in the Ivy League - has a profound responsibility to future generations, he said.

"Educating capable citizens and leaders, ready to take on every new challenge, is part of Cornell's mission," he said. "And in an era of identity politics, that means working thoughtfully to ensure that ours is an institutional culture of open-mindedness: one where students listen respectfully, think critically and speak freely."

Research is another pillar of Cornell's mission, and Kotlikoff gave a few examples of the critical work ongoing in Ithaca and beyond: prostate cancer research at Weill Cornell Medicine in New York City; steroid-induced glaucoma studies at Cornell Engineering; robotics in agriculture at Cornell AgriTech in Geneva; semiconductor supply chain studies in the Cornell Jeb E. Brooks School of Public Policy; and songbird migration research at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.

"And on, and on and on," he said. "Cornell faculty, and Cornell staff, and Cornell students, pursuing the research that answers needs, solves problems and enables progress - across issues that affect us all."

But the enterprise of research now faces drastic changes in the long-standing partnership between research universities and the federal government.

"For 80 years, this partnership has been an endless wellspring of good for our nation," he said. "The source of new knowledge and expertise that fuels our economy, strengthens our military and advances our well-being."

Some researchers have received stop-work orders; at the same time, many other research grants, while not officially canceled, are no longer being paid. Still, the researchers with unpaid bills continue performing the work they're under contract to do, Kotlikoff said.

"Although we've never received a formal letter as Harvard did, the government has indicated publicly that it has taken these actions because of concerns around antisemitism following pro-Palestinian activities on campus beginning in fall of 2023," he said. "I want to be clear that there are established procedures in place for the government to handle such concerns. Accusations of discrimination should be supported by, and adjudicated on the basis of, facts. This has not happened."

And after six months of discussions with government officials, he said, no resolution has been reached.

"We entered those discussions in good faith, in the hope that we would be able to identify their concerns, provide evidence to address them and return to a productive partnership," he said. "We continue to work in good faith toward a resolution, while remaining clear in our guiding principles: that we welcome diversity in our community in all of its forms; that we do not discriminate against anyone; that we make merit-based decisions; and that we follow the law."

He added, to an extended standing ovation: "We also continue to be clear about what we will not do: We will not agree to allow the government to dictate our institution's policies, or how to enforce them."

He closed with a call to action - "Stay on top of federal developments affecting universities … share them with your circles. … call your representatives. … stand up for universities, and stand up for Cornell" - and a reminder of what universities contribute to democracy, including the shared understanding that "the truth is not negotiable, that difference and diversity make us richer, [and] that free expression and free inquiry underpin every other freedom."

A transcript of Kotlikoff's address can be found here.