DAY HALL—Just after 3:00 PM this afternoon, the Board of Trustees announced their vote to officially appoint Michael Kotlikoff president of Cornell University, effective immediately. Unfortunately, sources indicate the guy you’ve been seeing is less ready than ever for the same kind of commitment.
Although Kotlikoff’s tenure as Interim President was host to a number of continuing controversies, Board of Trustees Chair Kraig H. Kayser and Executive Committee Chair Anne Meinig Smalling highlighted his years of service to the University and lauded his “institutional knowledge, expertise and passion” in their decision to extend his acting role. Meanwhile, an analysis of the last six months shows that you have texted first 94% of the time to a 31% response rate.
While Kotlikoff’s appointment does renege on the Board’s earlier promise to “stand up a search committee to select Cornell’s 15th president”, our data shows that you’re the one who needs to stand up if you’re expecting him to walk back last week’s request to “just keep things chill and casual”.
In addition, nothing in today’s statement indicates that Kotlikoff was seeing other Universities in the intervening time. Experts warn that the administration would be much less inclined to let that slide than you’ve been.
