OP-ED: Let’s Get Rid of the College of Engineering

I loved my time in Cornell’s College of Engineering. It was fundamental toward my growth as a human being and as a career-oriented undergraduate; some of the kindest, most intelligent Cornellians I’ve met have been my peers studying engineering. That said, the whole College of Engineering is despicable, and we should just get rid of it.

For those who don’t know, the College of Engineering is—at least in theory—supposed to be about the practical applications of math and science. But visit the Engineering website, and you’ll find dozens of self-centered phrases celebrating “enrollment,” “alumni,” and “Carpenter Hall.” Like, we get it. You have buildings. God.

For seniors in high school, the interview process for engineering during college applications is pretentious, and frankly idiotic. What makes an alumni of the College of Engineering qualified to judge admissions into the College of Engineering? It’s a cult. What we are looking at is a cult.

Here is a College that encourages people to “work together” and “have regular meetings.” Remind you of anything? Fraternities. Indeed, there exists within the College a culture of clear and systematic hazing. Every single course in engineering hazes students (including freshmen) with the same cruel, exploitative stunt: making them do engineering. And to think, my fraternity was shut down just for smashing construction tools into our pledges’ nuts.

Are there solutions to these problems? Most likely. Is this major part of Cornell’s academic framework worth fixing? Probably. Should we let that get in the way of the number of clicks this piece will get? Absolutely not.