Thousands of faculty and staff, tens of thousands of students, hundreds of thousands of alumni – the Cornell community is large. It’s diverse. And every Cornellian has a place in it. 

“Every single one of you is here, because we saw something special in you that meant you belonged at Cornell,” President Michael I. Kotlikoff told the nearly 4,300 first-year and transfer students who, with their families, gathered Aug. 18 at Schoellkopf Field for New Student Convocation.

Credit: Sreang Hok/Cornell University

“So if at some point in the months ahead, when you’re wrestling with a problem set or a paper, and you start to wonder if maybe somebody in Admissions made a mistake – I can tell you right now, they did not,” Kotlikoff said. “You are a Cornellian. And this is where you belong.” 

Kotlikoff gave the new students a brief history lesson about how that community took shape. He looked back to April 1865, when the university was first chartered and Ezra Cornell visited Ithaca’s East Hill with the new University Board of Trustees to decide where his namesake university should be built. While the trustees looked to the flat stretch of land that is now West Campus, Ezra Cornell looked higher.  

“He swung his arms all around this entire hilltop, which was much larger, and said, ‘Here.’ The trustees thought he was crazy,” Kotlikoff said. “There were no roads, there were no bridges, and sure, there was a great view, but was it really necessary to put the university all the way on top of a hill that high? You will probably ask yourselves the same question when you’re trucking up that slope at 8 a.m. in the snow.” 

That was the right spot, Kotlikoff said, because Cornell was planning a far larger and very different kind of institution: “the first truly American university, built on the aspirational principles of our democracy … where any person could find instruction in any study … women and men of every race, religion, nationality and background, regardless of their ability to pay.” 

“For a vision that radical to be successful, it had to be set just enough apart from the world to create a new model for American education – by building a new community of academic discovery,” Kotlikoff said. 

That community arrived at Cornell from hometowns all over the world: Incoming students hail from 49 states plus Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico, American Samoa, the U.S. Virgin Islands and 62 other countries. 

“Let's give a shout out to all the places we come from,” Provost Kavita Bala said. “Like Odysseus coming to Ithaca, you have traveled far and you worked hard for many years to get here. But … your journey is just beginning. You’re entering a world of knowledge and learning that will transform who you are.” 

Marla Love, the Robert W. and Elizabeth C. Staley Dean of Students, who emceed the event, and Ryan Lombardi, vice president for student and campus life, both encouraged students to take a breath, look around and relish the moment.  

“This is a magnificent evening and a really special moment. Enjoy it. You have earned it,” said Lombardi, who went on to list a few themes he “borrowed” from Cornell’s first president, Andrew Dickson White. 

“In 1873, at Cornell’s fourth commencement ceremony, he offered graduates four relatively simple pieces of advice: be honest, be zealous, have faith and have joy,” Lombardi said. “More than 150 years later, I think that advice resonates and offers a potential roadmap as you think about how you are going to shape your experiences as a Cornellian.”

Credit: Sreang Hok/Cornell University

When reflecting upon what kind of advice he could offer, Eeshaan Chaudhuri ’27, undergraduate president of the Student Assembly, told the new students to have confidence, to trust their community and to find the people who will support, uplift and inspire them “to do better both today and tomorrow.” 

“I think we owe that not just to ourselves, but to all of those around us who are close here now, and those who will come after us,” Chaudhuri said. “Family, friends and strangers alike have worked very hard to get us all here in this moment today. So make those who supported you in getting here proud by believing in yourself, forging your own path and inspiring those who come after you.” 

Kotlikoff’s own advice to the students was to “embrace this community and all its diversity,” from faculty, staff and students to local upstate residents. And interact with them in person, not online, he added. 

“Because your years at Cornell will offer you unparalleled opportunities to learn from and work with people who are not like you,” he said. “And the more you take advantage of – and learn from – those opportunities in this community, the more ready you’ll be to enter, contribute and thrive in every community that will become yours, throughout your lives.”