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c1CAMMA06 11/29/06 3:46 PM Page c1 March/April 2006 $6.00 alumni magazine President-Elect David Skorton An Exculsive Interview 8 4:00am 5:00am 6:00am 7:00am 8:00am 9:00am 10:00am Leave house for airport 10:30am NetJets flight out of Teterboro 11:00am 12:00pm 1:00PM ARRIVE WEST PALM BEACH 2:00pm 3:00pm 4:00pm 5:00pm 6:00pm 7:00pm 8:00pm 9:00pm 10:00pm 11:00pm 12:00am 1:00am 2:00am WITH NETJETS, GETTING THERE IS Having a plane where you want when you want, free of crowds and endless lines, is just the beginning. Your NetJets Owner PART OF THE VACATION. Services Team sees to every detail, ensuring you’re as comfortable onboard as you are at home. Knowing the industry’s most experienced pilots are flying the largest, most proven fleet in the fractional sky will surely contribute to a parent’s peace of mind. As will never hearing, “Are we there yet?” To make NetJets part of your life, call 1-888-858-3977 or visit www.netjets.com. © 2006 NetJets Inc. | NetJets is a Berkshire Hathaway company. T 001-001CAMMA06toc 11/29/06 3:04 PM Page 1 Contents MARCH / APRIL 2006 VOLUME 108 NUMBER 5 alumni magazine Features 40 Frank’s Place 9 DAVID DUDLEY 2 Letter From Ithaca Foreign policy expert Francis Fukuyama ’74 found fame when he Meet and greet predicted the “End of History” and spent over a decade manning the 4 Correspondence intellectual wing of the Republican Party’s neoconservative move- Science vs. religion, round two ment. But for the last two years he’s been publicly criticizing that movement—and the war in Iraq that his former comrades so fer- 8 From the Hill vently support. Behind the surprise defection that might not be such Rem’s turn. Plus: taking a (tuition) hike, a surprise. Bill Gates signs a check, a museum makeover, Mars rovers reach Hollywood, and a plan to reduce hot air on campus. 44 A New Day 14 Sports JIM ROBERTS ’71 Youthful complexion On January 21, the Board of Trustees announced the appointment of the 18 Authors University’s twelfth president, David On the trail Skorton. He’s a cardiologist/saxophonist who writes haiku and is no stranger to 36 Camps high office: Skorton has been president 38 Wines of the Finger Lakes of the University of Iowa since 2003. CAM editor and publisher Jim Roberts Featured: 2002 Chateau Lafayette Reneau Pinot Noir visited the president-elect in Iowa to sound him out on the challenges of state 56 Classifieds & Cornellians funding, the importance of supporting in Business the arts, the perils of town/gown rela- tions, and what he knows about his 59 Alma Matters predecessor’s controversial resignation. 44 62 Class Notes 50 First Among Equals 106 Alumni Deaths BRAD HERZOG ’90 Only seventy-two men graduated in the University’s first four-year 112 Cornelliana class, but the lives they led validated Ezra Cornell’s bold experiment Sssss . in higher education.The members of the Class of 1872 went on to become leaders in science and literature, captains of industry, 22 Currents and college presidents. One of them was even inspired to found a university of his own. DOG DAYS |Vet college battles poisoning outbreak TRUE STORIES | Alison Lurie’s novel approach FAMILY PICTURES | Dad, the documentary THE NUTTY PROFESSOR | Finding a forgotten forest SHANTYTOWN REVISITED | Divestment veterans look back Plus |Writing the book on the Ivies 50 Cover photograph by Robert Barker / UP Cornell Alumni Magazine (ISSN 1070-2733; USPS 006-902) is published six times a year, in January, March, May, July, September, and November, by the Cornell Alumni Federation, 401 East State Street, Suite 301, Ithaca, NY 14850. Subscriptions cost $30 a year. Periodical postage paid at Ithaca, NY, and additional mailing offices. POSTMAS- TER: Send address changes to Cornell Alumni Magazine, c/o Public Affairs Records, 130 East Seneca St., Suite 400, Ithaca, NY 14850-4353. MARCH / APRIL 2006 1 002-003CAMMA06lfi 2/13/06 1:49 PM Page 2 Letter From Ithaca Welcome, David and Robin A MESSAGE FROM THE CORNELL ALUMNI FEDERATION UR LOCAL PAPER IN NEW JER- sey, the Morristown Daily Record,is o a Gannett newspaper, a parentage it shares with the Ithaca Journal.That may be why the Sunday, January 22, edition included a prominent photo of “the incom- ing president of Cornell University talking with his predecessors.” However, I’d prefer to believe that the photo was published more in recognition of the significance of the occasion than because of a family con- nection between the newspapers. The cover story in this issue is an interview that CAM editor and publisher Jim Roberts ’71 conducted with Presi- dent-Elect David Skorton. Several things stood out for me: President Emeritus Frank Rhodes’s comment that this marks “a new day for Cornell”; Skorton’s open- ness; his willingness to continue some of the significant parts of Jeff Lehman’s legacy, while making it clear that he’s ROBERT BARKER / UP going to “go forward” and not dwell on whatever factors led to Lehman’s resignation; and the breadth of thoughtfulness, not to mention his reputation and experience. Skorton’s interests, including research and teaching, and ranging No,he’s not an alumnus of Cornell, but he has many connections from cardiology to jazz, from engineering to the arts. (As an engi- to the University. We as alumni should put aside any lingering neering graduate myself, perhaps I can be forgiven for hoping that resentment about what may have led to Jeff Lehman’s departure having an engineering professor who’s also an avid musician and and, while we may not display quite the same level of exuberance haiku author will have beneficial effects on the image of engineers as we did for Jeff’s arrival, neither should we let the past color our in general.) perceptions or the warmth of the welcome we extend to David Given the volume of information that’s been published in the and Robin. I’m looking forward to the opportunity to personally last few weeks about David Skorton and his wife, Robin Davis- invite them to participate in the breadth and depth of activities son, it’s not clear that I can contribute anything new. The Cornell that characterize Cornell alumni. Chronicle, the Cornell Daily Sun, the Ithaca Journal,and the Uni- We still have nearly a decade to go before Cornell celebrates versity’s website would seem to have said just about everything its sesquicentennial. At the end of Jim’s interview, President-Elect there is to be said. Yet one thought persists that I would direct Skorton directly addresses us, as alumni, and at one point pref- specifically to the audience of this magazine: As alumni, many of aces his thoughts by saying “ten years from now, if I’m still hon- us were ecstatic to have one of our own named as Cornell’s ored enough to be the president.”Here’s one alumnus who’s wish- eleventh president, and many of us were equally disturbed by his ing him well—a long term in office would be an effective way to resignation. Neither those extremes of enthusiasm nor those counter the perception of a loss of stability engendered by recent depths of frustration (and even anger in some corners) were events, and his stated intent to hold open discussions with fac- probably appropriate, and we should be willing to ulty, staff, students, and the Ithaca community should leave them—especially any bitterness—behind as we RNE build the foundation for a celebration appropriate to O LL welcome David Skorton into the Cornell family. C that important anniversary. So welcome, David and A As is often the case, Frank Rhodes has it right: N Robin—may Cornell become your long-term home. L U this is a time for new beginnings. In everything I’ve O — Rolf Frantz ’66, ME ’67 I M read, I’ve been impressed by Skorton’s candor and T President, Cornell Alumni Federation N A I R F E D E 2 CORNELL ALUMNI MAGAZINE 002-003CAMMA06lfi 2/13/06 1:49 PM Page 3 004-007CAMMA06corr 2/13/06 6:14 PM Page 4 Correspondence Point/Counterpoint THE I.D. DEBATE CONTINUES AS A CORNELL-TRAINED ENGINEER, I extraterrestrial or superdimensional being, can agree with Hunter Rawlings that intel- highly advanced, but still acting within the ligent design (I.D.) is not valid as science laws of nature? Even a supernatural inter- and is at its core a religious belief (“God vention, at some point, must manifest and Man at Cornell,” January/February itself as a change in commonplace, meas- 2006). He made a good case for this by urable things. If the designer drives evolu- stating what makes something valid as sci- tion by causing members of a new species ence: (1) it must have the ability to develop to suddenly appear, that is an event that is, new knowledge through hypothesis test- at least in principle, observable. The ing; (2) it must allow modification of the designer might act in more subtle ways, original theory based on experimental such as causing the same mutation to results; and (3) it must allow renewed test- occur simultaneously in many individuals. I would be willing to follow the scientific ing through more refined experiments, We certainly possess the statistical tools to evidence to its rightful conclusions. which lead to more refinements and detect these presumptive events after the Hannah Maxson ’07 insights.