Statements Prod

Tag: Pollack

  • Update on diversity and inclusion initiatives

    Sept. 7, 2018 Dear Ithaca Campus Community, As virtually all Cornellians know, our university has a founding commitment to being equitable, inclusive and welcoming: This is our “… any person …” ethos. Last fall, I convened the Presidential Task Force on Campus Climate and charged it with developing actionable recommendations to enhance campus climate. At…

  • Welcome message

    Aug. 23, 2018 Dear Members of the Cornell Community, On this first day of classes on the Ithaca campus, I want to welcome everyone to the new academic year. Whether you just arrived or have been a member of the Cornell community for years, I hope you find the start of the year as exciting…

  • Statement on recent acts of gun violence

    Aug. 6, 2018 This past week, dozens of people lost their lives in three separate mass shootings, at least one of which appears to have been racially motivated. The horrific and evil acts in Gilroy, El Paso, and Dayton have shaken us deeply as a nation and have further diminished our sense of personal security.…

  • Statement regarding U.S. Supreme Court travel ban ruling

    June 27, 2018 Members of the Cornell Community, I am deeply disappointed by the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to uphold the administration’s executive order restricting entry from certain countries to the United States. The Court’s decision sends a signal to the world that the United States is no longer a welcoming place for international students…

  • President Pollack endorses consensual relationship policy

    May 21, 2018 Members of the Cornell Community, Earlier this month, the Consensual Relationship Policy Committee submitted an extremely thorough report outlining its recommendations for a consensual relations policy governing student-faculty and student-staff relationships. The committee came to these recommendations after months of work, during which they reviewed the policies of many peer universities and…

  • Trustees express support for Greek letter organization reforms

    May 4, 2018 Today, President Pollack announced a series of policy reforms for Greek letter organizations at Cornell in response to a troubling pattern of hazing and related misconduct. President Pollack has our full and unanimous support in instituting these measures. Cornell’s Greek letter organizations have a long and rich tradition of contributing to the…

  • President Pollack initiates reforms for Greek letter organizations

    May 4, 2018 Dear Ithaca Campus Community, Greek letter organizations have a long history at Cornell University and have been a prominent feature of the undergraduate experience since 1868. Members of these organizations have made great contributions to our university; year after year, sororities and fraternities have helped to foster a vibrant community spirit on…

  • Update from President Pollack

    May 2, 2018 Dear Cornell Community, Last fall, I asked our community to come together to address several issues of critical importance to the university, leading to the establishment of three working groups: the Presidential Task Force on Campus Climate; the Consensual Relationships Policy Committee; and the President’s Visioning Committee on Cornell in New York…

  • Statement from President Pollack and VP Lombardi on Collegetown incident

    March 10, 2018 Dear Ithaca Campus Community, Early this morning, Ithaca and Cornell police responded to an assault in Collegetown in which racial slurs were used. The Cornell police have launched an investigation and are searching for the individual responsible. While we know very little about the details of the incident at this time, if…

  • Presidential Task Force on Campus Climate membership announced

    Dec. 4, 2017 Dear Ithaca Campus Community, Earlier in the semester, I asked the Scheinman Institute on Conflict Resolution at the School of Industrial and Labor Relations to engage with the Ithaca campus community in a clear and transparent manner to identify students, faculty and staff willing to serve on the Presidential Task Force on…

  • In honor of our nation’s veterans

    Nov. 10, 2017 As our nation honors U.S. military veterans, past and present, this Veterans Day, I extend my gratitude to those in the Cornell community–faculty, students, staff, and alumni–who have served our country in the armed forces. In keeping with our status as a land-grant university and our founding aspiration to be an institution…

  • President Martha E. Pollack responds to fliers promoting white supremacy, anti-Semitism

    Oct. 23, 2017 Dear Ithaca Campus Community, The campus awoke this morning to find fliers posted in several locations on and off campus with a clear and hateful message of anti-Semitism and white supremacy. Whoever is responsible for these fliers is hiding under the cover of anonymity, having posted them overnight. Whoever they are, they…

  • President Martha E. Pollack announces co-chairs, charge of task force addressing bigotry and intolerance

    Oct. 11, 2017 Dear Cornell Community, I am writing today with two important updates regarding the Presidential Task Force that will examine and address persistent problems of bigotry and intolerance at Cornell. First, I am pleased to share the task force charge that has been carefully developed with the input of faculty, staff and students.…

  • Statement from President Martha E. Pollack on events of the past few weeks

    September 17, 2017 One of the main reasons I came to Cornell was my admiration for its founding principle to be a university for "…any person…" The events of the last few weeks are thus deeply painful; and, of course, the pain is magnified a thousandfold for those whose dignity and, indeed, very bodies have…

  • Statement from President Martha E. Pollack on White House rescission of DACA program

    September 5, 2017 Dear Cornell Community, Earlier today, the Trump Administration announced that the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program is being rescinded. This policy reversal, the enforcement of which we believe will be delayed for six months, puts our DACA students’ futures in jeopardy and, as such, is extremely troubling. As I wrote…

  • Welcome back message

    August 22, 2017 Dear Members of the Cornell Community, On this first day of classes on the Ithaca campus, I want to welcome everyone to the start of the 2017-18 academic year and to all the possibilities and opportunities that lie ahead of us, individually and as a university. Since my husband, Ken Gottschlich, and…

  • Statement of President Martha E. Pollack on yesterday’s events in Charlottesville

    August 13, 2017 Members of the Cornell Community, Like so many of you, I followed the news from Charlottesville, Virginia, over the past 36 hours with shock, horror, anger and revulsion. The white supremacists’ support for racism, anti-Semitism and raw hatred is vile and antithetical to what this nation and Cornell stand for. Cornell was…

  • President Pollack reasserts student privacy protections

    May 9, 2017 Dear Cornell Community, Earlier today, an independent contractor for the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) arrived on the Ithaca campus to conduct a routine background check related to an individual’s application for a job with the U.S. Customs and Border Protection. When the contractor identified himself at a visitor booth, a…

  • Arrival message from President Martha E. Pollack

    April 17, 2017 Dear Members of the Cornell University Community, I am honored to begin my service today as Cornell University’s 14th president and to join all of you in shaping the future of this distinguished institution. The Board of Trustees has entrusted me with a great responsibility, and I will do my utmost to…