During his inauguration speech, Cornell President David J. Skorton announced the establishment of the Jeffrey Sean Lehman Fund for Scholarly Exchange with China, in honor of Cornell's 11th president. A faculty and graduate student exchange program, the Lehman fund will support several projects per year involving substantive interaction between Cornell and the finest higher education institutions in China, Skorton said.

Skorton also spoke of efforts to bring "the expertise and heart of Cornell (to) the inner cities of our country and in Darfur."

"Recently I announced the divestment of Cornell resources in oil companies operating in the Sudan," Skorton said. "But as pointed out by wise colleagues in our board of trustees and elsewhere, divestment is not enough; Provost [Biddy] Martin and I are pursuing other avenues where Cornell can be a positive force in that and other troubled parts of our world. In the coming months, we will continue to seek the good counsel of our faculty, staff and students as to ways by which the Cornell community can effectively educate itself about this and other areas of Africa; sponsor serious discussions to include Sudanese academics and other knowledgeable colleagues; and contribute, within our capabilities as an educational institution, to the improvement of the educational and related environment in that country."