Cornell University has long been mired in controversies over the lack of intellectual diversity on its faculty and hostile free speech environment. In addition to controversial university policies, faculty members have allegedly sought to disrupt events, campaign against conservative faculty, target students for their opposing views, and remove of historical art. Cornell routinely falls near the bottom of free speech rankings. This history makes the current election of new trustees a major opportunity for alumni to seek reforms at the school. However, Cornell has been criticized for its extreme limits on candidates answering questions and its alleged favoritism shown to preferred candidates. Despite these limits, reformers are pushing alumni to vote before the February 28th deadline.
Cornell has long pointed to trustee elections as a way for graduates to have a real voice in the governance of their alma mater. However, the 2025 alumni trustee election has been criticized for what reformers view as a heavy thumb put on the scale in favor of “endorsed” or favored candidates of the administration.
There are long-standing rules at Cornell that prohibit any campaigning by alumni trustee candidates. While it may have been viewed at one time as a way of preserving decorum and focusing on individual qualifications, it creates a rather bizarre framing for one of the most important elections in the school’s history. Alumni want to address the host of incidents and controversies over the last decade, but candidates are sharply limited in their ability to reach out to such groups and engage in such discussions. This includes the university controlling what questions can be addressed by candidates.
Reformers also object that Cornell sent out a “volunteer toolkit” to a selective group of alumni that was viewed as a “get-out-the-vote” effort for administration-endorsed candidates. Yet, reformers are still tightly controlled in their own ability to campaign among like-minded alumni.
The Cornell Free Speech Alliance has been struggling with the university over these rules while pushing proposed reforms Lifting The Fog – Restoring Academic Freedom & Free Expression at Cornell University, as well as the candidacies of two CFSA members, Cindy Crawford and Ken Davis.
There is a concerning disconnect between the rules against campaigning and the use of “endorsed /unendorsed” alumni trustee candidate designations. Alumni-petitioned candidates (“unendorsed” by Cornell) can run, but only if they comply with the extreme limits imposed by the school.
Reportedly alumni trustee Andrea Van Schoick confirmed that the 28-member Committee on Alumni Trustee Nominations (CATN), screens and endorses four candidates based on their qualifications and board priorities. The “Unendorsed” candidates can only be considered through the petition process.
One critic confirmed that the “Volunteer Leadership Communities” receiving the email included the Board of Trustees, the CATN, and various identity groups viewed as allies of CATN.
Reformers have laid out their grievances and objections of alumni in an effort to achieve greater balance at the school.
Yet, given the overwhelming ideological bent of the faculty, it is doubtful that major reforms can occur without an active and transformative Trustee board. Otherwise, Cornell will continue to reflect that same echo-chambered environment of other private universities.
The Cornell trustee election rules are hardly ideal for allowing a full debate over the history and controversies at this premier institution. Nevertheless, reformers are pushing alumni to vote, noting that only roughly 3,000 votes are needed to elect a trustee.
Jonathan Turley is the Shapiro professor of public interest law at George Washington University and the author of “The Indispensable Right: Free Speech in an Age of Rage.”
Without knowing any of this, I voted for two non-endorsed candidates 😉
BTW, although a few have mentioned that Cornell is a mix of private (Engineering, for example) and public (Agriculture, for example) colleges, it bears reiterating since so many seem to think that Cornell is purely private. Either way, the University receives considerable federal funding directly and indirectly.
Cornell is unique in having around 13 undergraduate colleges, some very specialized like an entire college on industry-labor relations, which anywhere else would be a sub-sub-subtopic of economics. Then another one on “human ecology.” Who has ever even heard of that term, or knows what it means – maybe something about our gut biome – but it’s an entire college at Cornell.
The College of Human Ecology used to be called Home Economics. I guess they just wanted to keep the initials HE, which, come to think of it, is so anti-woke! BTW, Home Ec always had the best cafeteria for food and superior, larger trays that performed best on the Lib Slope.