Time Flies
/in 50th Reunion, Front Page, Welcome Letters /by Shelley Cosgrove DeFordFifty 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,
Momentous Times–Now and Then
/in 50th Reunion, Front Page, Welcome Letters /by Shelley Cosgrove DeFordWell, big things have been going on Far Above over the last couple of weeks:
- President Martha Pollack announced her retirement effective June 30 of this year; Provost Mike Kotlikoff will be assuming the presidency through June 2025 and John Siliciano (Cornell ’75) will be Acting Provost.
- The encampment on the Arts Quad was closed peacefully.
- Thousands of students jammed on Slope Day under blue skies.
- The University is preparing for its 156 Commencement this coming Saturday. Nowadays, to accommodate all graduates, two separate but identical graduation ceremonies are held on Commencement Day, at 10am and 2:30pm.
Of course there are always things going on on campus! If your memory is a bit hazy about events from our years, tune in, in person or via Zoom, to Corey Earle’s talk called A Look Back at the Notable Class of 74’s Time on the Hill, on Thursday night of Reunion, June 6 at 8:00pm EDT. If you can’t be in Ithaca, click here for Zoom instructions.
Friday night of Reunion, June 7, WVBR 93.5FM will be broadcasting around the world from our Headquarters at Ruth Bader Ginsburg Hall. Again, if you can’t be there in person, join remotely at https://www.wvbr.com/live. (Note: VBR still features Rockin’ Remnants and Bound for Glory—some things don’t change….)
Ribbon cutting ceremony–WVBR back in Collegetown at new headquarters on Buffalo Street–May 2014
Finally, there is still time to register for Reunion and to make a gift to Cornell to commemorate our 50th.
The Sun, The Moon and Our 50th Reunion
/in 50th Reunion, 50th Reunion Welcome, Front Page, Welcome Letters /by Shelley Cosgrove DeFordCornell is back in session after “Spring” Break (which weather-wise felt like it was in January). But the campus is beginning to show some spring color and you can feel the students’ sense of purpose to get things finished up in a short five weeks.
Looming academic deadlines did not stop everyone on campus from pausing for a couple of hours to witness the eclipse which was 98.8% totality in Tompkins County, albeit with cloud cover. The last total eclipse in Ithaca, in 1925, was captured in this oil painting by Louis Agassiz Fuertes, Class of 1897. Our Cornell Observatory, where we will be stargazing at Reunion, is named for Fuertes. You can see this painting on Reunion weekend in Cornell’s Kroc Library.
While we did not have an eclipse during our time on the Hill, there were equally momentous occasions that we will celebrate at Reunion on June 6-9.
Registration for Class of ’74 events and housing is now open—just click here to register.
Plan on coming Thursday for a premier showing of a new movie with deep Cornell roots, The Artist & the Astronaut, (4:00pm Thursday), followed by a festival with food trucks, music, etc. on the Quad next to our headquarters in the new Ruth Bader Ginsburg Hall (you are going to like the rooms, coffee shop, etc.). Thursday night also features Cornell historian, Corey Earle ’07, giving a retrospective of Cornell in the early 1970’s (to jog our memories!).
Reunion enthusiasm is running high, so get your registration in (and send me your favorite 70’s song to be included in our Reunion playlist).
We are looking forward to seeing you in June!