Author: Jeremy Candelas
If you haven’t already heard the latest news to hit the Slope, shortly before Winter Break, Cornell announced the anticipated formation of a College of Business, formed by a merger of the Dyson School of Applied Economics Management, the School of Hotel Administration, and the Johnson Graduate School of Management. Today the Board of Trustees voted to approve the merger, and now Slope is here to give you the run-down of the situation, with the help of billionaire businessman and Republican presidential candidate, Donald Trump.
The announcement came as a surprise for most people.
Most of those who’d be affected by the change didn’t find out until the plan was announced back in December. With the announcement made while many were already away on break, and with essentially no prior notice to students, faculty or alumni, it’s easy to see why not too many were pleased with the administration.
It will be “huuuuugggeeee”.
As mentioned, the school would combine the Hotel School, the AEM/Dyson major, and the MBA program under one roof. In total, it was announced that the proposed College of Business would be comprised of about 2900 undergraduates, professional and graduate students combined, as well as some 145 research faculty.
No one really wanted it (at least not yet).
With the plan to form the College of Business having been proposed on such short notice, many believed that the university should at least put the plans on hold for now. Those who would be affected by this change hoped to at least be able to have an open discussion of the effects such a change would make first, and rightfully so.
The Student and University Assemblies, as well as the Faculty Senate, voted to table it.
A lack of transparency led to the representative bodies voting to recommend to the Board of Trustees that the motion to form the new College of Business be tabled until further dialogue could first be held. For the most part, their votes appear to have fallen on deaf ears.
The Administration and Board of Trustees approved it anyways.
Despite all the controversy at hand, the Board of Trustees have approved the new College of Business. All in all, it seems that it’s back to business as usual for Cornell.
