Well, I’m on the Downeaster ‘Cornell’
As May rolls around, we come again to the end of a turbulent academic year. Facing down finals, we are reminded of all the ways the storm has rocked the boat: Cornell’s negotiated settlement with the Trump Administration, large spending cuts and layoffs, a search for the University’s purpose in the world, political clashes that threw us into turmoil and so much more. Amidst that, we tried to maintain hope, and found solace in new experiences and faces.
In the stormy waters of this moment, we are riding the downeaster Cornell. To navigate the gales, one needs a compass to point us back home, back to the basic values of kindness, pragmatism, collaboration and wit that will carry us through. I started this column to do just that.
If you’re reminded of Billy Joel’s “The Downeaster ‘Alexa,’” that’s on purpose. The song (written about the eastern end of my home, Long Island) is about a fisherman who has worked his fingers to the bone to provide for his family. However, “these waters aren’t what they used to be,” and his misfortunes have made it almost impossible to live and work on his island home anymore.
In the storm, it’s easy to get washed away and lose hope, but still we must fasten ourselves to what matters most. We must champion each other, love those in the Cornell community, show up for those out of sight of it, remember our history, defend our neighbors and prepare ourselves to tackle the problems of tomorrow.
I have battled the storm with you, not only as a community member but as the founder of the Cornell Negotiation Student Society, a member of the Graduate and Professional Student Assembly Executive Committee, an employee of the University, a columnist for The Sun and the best friend I can be to those around me. The more involved you become, the rockier the waves feel.
It is from this involvement that I must pass to you the final reflections I have on the health of our Downeaster Cornell.
On Navigating National News and a Torrent of PR Disasters
Multiple times now, Cornell University has hit national headlines for less-than-rosy reasons. In November, Cornell reached a settlement with the Trump Administration that included payments to the treasury in exchange for released federal funding. Just days ago, President Kotlikoff made national headlines for allegedly striking two students with his car as he left an event.
It’s not our job as students to bear responsibility for these things, but it remains our responsibility to continue to do good work as students, faculty and staff. Doing so will allow us to continue demonstrating what makes Cornell exceptional, so that the public and political ecosystem sees Cornell’s excellence regardless of the news cycle. Demonstrating competence and productivity in this way, despite being in a difficult environment, will reflect positively on you and your career.
On Degree Divisions
Master degree students are the forgotten children of Cornell. As those spending the fewest years at the University, we are often seen as present too briefly to develop expertise on Cornell’s inner workings and not invested enough in the community.
The reason: Ph.D.s have a longer tenure. Since they are at this university longer, they are assumed to have more knowledge and experience of the University, and therefore are more capable of leading it. However, longevity does not translate into capability. Despite receiving direct training in organizational function, leadership and other competencies, master degree students are often overlooked in favor of tenured, recognizable faces that have lingered for four years or more.
It’s for this reason that the more you’re involved the more you realize that Cornell is built for Ph.D.s and undergraduates, and professional degrees are allowed, not encouraged.
Professional students must strategically challenge barriers to their involvement. It has taken years of cultivation and outreach, but finally more than one MPA student is active in the Graduate and Professional Student Assembly.
On the Graduate and Professional Student Assembly
The GPSA, and all of the assemblies, deserves our attention and scrutiny. The GPSA enjoys autonomy on how it spends over $1.1 million in annual funding and how it spends its reserve money.
While I believe the GPSA has handled this responsibility well, the Executive Committee can make decisions almost unilaterally due to weak oversight and scrutiny. Once the executive committee drafts a resolution on monetary expenditure, nine times out of 10, the rest of the assembly just approves without genuinely engaging in its merits. This happens because genuine engagement requires effort — it’s simply easier to just agree; there is no penalty for disengaging, and one can still enjoy the perks of membership.
To its credit, the executive committee is also made up of some of the only people at Cornell who understand our complex bureaucracy, and are therefore the most effective in navigating it. The solution: question your representatives on resolutions and funding. Attend meetings and engage when it matters. They’re deciding how your money is spent, and you should have a say in it. This year’s Executive Committee elections were suspended because all candidates ran uncontested — accountability should include larger fields of candidates and making them commit to policies that work for all of us.
The Compass’s Curtain Call
St. Elmo’s Fire is a movie you should watch. Born from the era of the ’80s teen movie obsession, it shows an unlikely group of friends who are freshly out of college and starting their lives in the city. Through the ups and downs of their relationships, it teaches us two things:
- A career opportunity is not more important than the people around you, with whom you should not miss a chance to have an experience with. You’ll remember the feeling of missing gatherings with your friends, not the job you applied to.
- It’s easy to make a big deal out of something that isn’t. At this stage in life, one can be quick to think small things are make or break — they’re not; you have time, and you’re doing a good job.
I attempted to live the most life I could at Cornell, and it nearly broke me. As someone who is investing in their education, I wanted to get the most out of it. At one point, it culminated in 15 credit hours, three part time jobs, and three extracurriculars, all while conducting a job search. While I lived a life checking items off the bucket list, I was chasing a problem that wasn’t really there: that if I wasted an opportunity or a moment, that I’d regret it — my own St. Elmo’s Fire.
Riding the downeaster Cornell, it feels treacherous to navigate the gales and provide for our community amid scandal and institutional challenges. We must all work to solve our problems at every level of governance, regardless of the support of our leadership, and always remember to do it with kindness.
Paul Caruso is an Opinion Columnist and a second year MPA student in the Brooks School of Public Policy and the Founder of the Cornell Negotiation Student Society. His column, Caruso's Compass, focuses on politics, international affairs, and campus life. The column seeks to identify issues with the status quo and provide solutions to them. He can be reached at pcaruso@cornellsun.com.
