Time Flies
Fifty years ago this weekend we assembled in Barton Hall for our commencement—see the front page of the 1974 graduation edition of the Cornell Daily Sun below. My memories of that day are not crystal clear, although I do remember clear skies and a lot of excitement—maybe because of what we had accomplished or perhaps of what awaited us (or both).
Our classmate Barry Strauss, who was a guest columnist for the Sun in 1974 and is now a professor of history at Cornell, wrote this epilogue 50 years ago: “[The Class of 74] is intellectual , but sometimes anti-intellectual (remember booing Strom Thurmond?): tolerant and independent, friendly and unfriendly, rather skeptical, not very public spirited, but well-educated. Some of us will slip away from Cornell as easily as we slipped in. Some will pine for it for a year. Some will never leave.”
Most of us left, but many will return next week. (Note: We’ve smashed the previous 50th Reunion attendance record held by the Class of ’59—but we have still have room for more!) We will be greeted by a place that seems very familiar–the chimes still ring, the hills are still steep, the weather is unpredictable—but that is also very different. Regardless of how Cornell has changed, it remains a place of unlimited possibilities.
If you can’t be on campus for the reunion, here are some ways you can participate virtually:
Register for the Virtual Reunion.
Join Corey Earle’s talk about our Years on the Hill–Thursday at 8pm EDT.
Listen in to WVBR which will be broadcasting live from our headquarters on Friday night, 9-11pm EDT.
Go to your Spotify account and search for “Cornell Class of 1974 50th Reunion” and listen to 10 hours of the best music ever made (selected by our classmates, including you!)
And of course you can participate by making a gift to something on campus that is important to you.
So here’s to our Alma Mater,
