Dear classmates —
Our 45th Reunion is just around the corner! In the next month, registration packets will be going out via email to the 1400 or so classmates for whom we have valid email addresses, and hardcopy packets will follow for the rest of you. I hope you will join us on campus June 7 – 10 for this grand celebration.
In this letter:
- Recap of our Reunion plans
- Don’t let a mobility problem stop you from attending Reunion
- We need updated email addresses for some of your friends
- Our Reunion Challenge is more than halfway home
- There was a good class turnout at Homecoming 2017 and CALC 2018
- Have you read the Cornell Alumni Magazine lately?
Recap of our Reunion plans
- Our class headquarters will be the Carl Becker House. We were there for our 35th Reunion. It is air-conditioned (not that we’ve always needed a/c at all our Reunions).
- Thursday evening dinner (gourmet tacos!) will be at our headquarters, as will breakfasts on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.
- The Friday evening reception and dinner will be at the Cornell Botanic Gardens.
- We will join with the Cornell Black Alumni Association to present the documentary film Agents of Change, on Friday morning. This film is about the April 1969 Willard Straight Hall takeover by Black students and the events that led up to it. A presentation of this film at the 2017 Reunion by the Class of 1972 was standing room only. If you want a preview, here’s the trailer.
Reunion Co-Chairs Danielle and Debbie take a Dairy Bar break with a bovine friend - There will not be a class lunch on Saturday. There will be an open-seating lunch for all between 11 am – 2 pm at the Statler, which you may attend if you like.
- The Saturday evening reception will be at the Andrew Dickson White House garden, with dinner to follow at the Statler, a short walk away.
- We have a dedicated email account for Reunion, so if you have ideas, questions, or concerns, send them to CornellReunionClass1973 (at) gmail.com.
Don’t let mobility problems keep you from Reunion
A classmate contacted me after my October letter and said he had an injury which has severely reduced his mobility. Other classmates with mobility or health problems might be wondering if it is possible for them to attend and enjoy Reunion. The answer is most definitely yes! I contacted Kate Freyer of Alumni Affairs, who coordinates transportation during Reunion. She gave me the following information:
We contract with CU Lift and Gadabout for accessibility transportation. Between the 2 vehicles there is almost always a driver on site (with the exception of overnight). It is an on-demand ride service that can be scheduled once Reunion is open as of noon on Thursday. Ride requests can be made on a one-off basis or a guest can request multiple rides be scheduled all at once and the staff person taking the call will put them on our ride board.
The phone number to reach this service will be listed prominently on our Reunion Transportation Brochure that will be available at all class/group HQs and the Reunion Info Centers at Balch and Tsai Family Atrium (Statler Hall main entrance).
Additionally, we have van drivers that operate mini-vans and circulate between parking lots and dorms during peak arrival and departure times on Thursday, Friday, and Sunday of Reunion. Each class will have a rental van as well.
All state and municipal accessibility parking tags that a guest may come with in their car will be honored during Reunion and will allow them to park in mobility-impaired parking spaces throughout campus. Additionally, our office arranges for temporary mobility passes that can be picked up at our staff HQ in Tatkon Center, Balch Hall upon arrival to campus should a guest need one.
Finally, if a guest feels they need a motorized scooter and is not bringing their own with them, they may try renting one through Guthrie Medical Supply. We do not rent them for alumni for liability concerns. Guthrie Medical Supply can be reached at 607-273-4727.
In addition, there is at least one handicap-accessible room in the Becker dorm. You must request this on registration.
So don’t let mobility problems stop you from attending! If you have any questions, please contact our Reunion chairs Debbie Rothman and Danielle Trostorff.
We need updated email addresses
As I mentioned in my last latter, we are going green for Reunion by emailing the registration packets to all our classmates for whom we have valid email addresses. After sending our my October class letter, we had about a hundred email bounces — bad email addresses from classmates who have previously given us their addresses and allowed us to email them. Please check the list, and if you know anyone’s current email address, please ask them to take 30 seconds to update it here. That will ensure they get their Reunion email packets soonest.
Our Reunion Challenge is over halfway home
As I mentioned in my previous letter, our Reunion Cornell Fund Committee has generously put up a matching challenge grant to encourage classmates to break the participation record for number of donors at any level. The current record (held since 2000 by the Class of 1955) is 637 donors. The Committee’s challenge is that they will match every gift up to a maximum of $50 per gift — and when the 638th person donates, they will add another $25,000 in honor of the class’ breaking the record. We have had more than that number of donors in every Reunion year going back at least to our 20th Reunion (except for last Reunion where we narrowly missed it).
Participation matters because the rankings of colleges and universities, such as US News & World Reports’ rankings, use the alumni giving participation rate as a component of the overall score. As any of you who are Cornell Alumni Admissions Ambassador Network members know from talking to high school seniors, applicants to Cornell and their parents care about these ratings.
So please give whatever is comfortable for you and help the class set a new record! Giving Day (March 20) is coming up soon and would be a great time to join the nearly 400 classmates who have donated already.
Class of ’73 at Homecoming 2017 and CALC 2018
A number of classmates showed up for Homecoming 2017 and the 2018 Cornell Alumni Leadership Conference, so I thought I’d share a few pictures of the events.
Have you read the Cornell Alumni Magazine lately?
In the past I wrote about the differences between class dues and donations, and how your class dues support the work of the class. This year I want to focus on another dues benefit, namely, the Cornell Alumni Magazine (CAM). Founded by alumni in 1899, it is the only independent alumni magazine in the Ivy League. Under its editor Jenny Barnett, Oxonian and former editor of Harper’s Bazaar, CAM has taken on a new look and has run some really interesting stories:
- Cornell has become a leader in teaching students to speak (not just read) Latin — something that classics prof and former Cornell President Hunter Rawlings III admits he can’t do.
- A photo tour shows Cornell Tech’s amazing, other-worldly NYC campus.
- As the men’s and hockey team attains heights seldom seen since our freshman year (and the women’s team is doing pretty well, too), you can relive some of the highlights of past years in a new book.
For a single dues payer, just over half your dues amount goes right to CAM for your subscription. The subscription year and the dues year run from July 1 to June 30, so the dues you pay before July 1 get you the full magazine subscription, starting with the July/August 2018 issue (you can always request back issues if your subscription starts later). Don’t delay — pay your class dues today. (And please support students while you’re at it by donating to our class scholarship fund.)
In conclusion…
To find events near you, check out this University events link.
I look forward to seeing you at Reunion, or at a Cornell event before then!
best regards —
Paul
Paul M. Cashman
President, Cornell Class of 1973