To the Editor:

Re: “It’s Not Just Paper Clips They’re Cutting Back On,” Opinion, Oct. 15

In yesterday’s editorial, you asked whether recommendations from Bain & Company would have consequences for our core mission, asserting that “it is important that the academic core of Cornell remain untouched by non-academic consultants,” and if our new procurement initiative will affect the readings faculty assign, the publications the library purchases or the equipment used in classes.

As project manager for our engagement with Bain, I have spent the past four months working with colleagues from Cornell and Bain to ensure that our project stays on the right side of the line between academics and non-academics.

Cum Laude. Latin translation: with honor. The epitome of scholarly distinction. The acme of a superbly-executed undergraduate career.

With this semester winding down, a select group of seniors are laboring over final theses, fine-tuning lab reports and opening the doors to culminating performances — all with the hopes of securing those two striking Latin words (three if they are lucky: Magna Cum Laude, “with great honor,” or Summa Cum Laude, “with highest honor.”)

Others are sitting tight with the knowledge that, with their 3.5 GPA, they have already nailed it — and that they have done so without having bothered with any of that tiresome thesis / lab / performance work.

How much is an honors distinction worth at Cornell?

Buying textbooks at the start of every semester has become significantly cheaper for the hundreds of students across the country who have taken advantage of Skoobit.com.

Skoobit is an online textbook rental company that enables students to potentially save money by renting, as opposed to buying, their textbooks. Textbooks can represent a large chunk of the cost of higher education and it can be exasperating for students to spend hundreds of dollars per book, only to turn around and sell it at the end of the semester for only a fraction of the purchase price.

When the weather drops and the lights go up, it’s a sign that Christmas is around the corner. But those engaging in the holiday light tradition should worry about more than just watching where they step while scaling the roof to hang the season emblems. According to one Cornell researcher, many light sets contain high levels of lead.

Prof. Joseph Laquatra, design and environmental analysis, headed the study, which found that some lead levels in Christmas light sets exceed limits set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Housing and Urban Development on floors and windowsills.

This time of year, as predictable as the grey overcast sky and the fog rolling in from the lakes, a pall of anxiety descends over Cornell students. No, it is not the inevitable hangover one expects after the frenetic excitement of a historic presidential election. Nor is it the case of post-birthday blues, felt by Carrie Bronsther ’10 and myself, but few others. Somehow, there is an eerie feel of familiarity to this anxiety, like an old friend knocking on the door: it is the stress of prelims.

Yesterday’s CoursEnroll proceeded with no issues, according to David Yeh, vice president for student and academic services. The program allowed more than 2,000 seniors to submit their course requests for the Spring 2009 semester within the first half hour of the enrollment period, he said.

The apparent success of CoursEnroll came as a sigh of relief to students who had experienced bugs and glitches in the program when it was launched in April. The program’s subsequent failure to allow students to add and drop courses earlier this semester caused further distress.

As incoming provost Kent Fuchs begins his transition to his new post I call upon him to consider a new graduation requirement for seniors: a workshop in personal finance. The changing of the guard at the University’s highest academic office offers a unique opportunity for Cornell to become a leader among its peer institutions by educating its students in not only the writings of philosophers, the theories of physicists, or the greatest works of artists and architects, but also in pertinent subjects such as credit card debt, mortgages, and saving for retirement.