Quizzes & Puzzles Test Your Knowledge of the Cornell Board of Trustees As alumni prepare to vote for their representatives on the University’s governing body, we offer a dozen trivia questions Have you read our Trustees 101 story? Spoiler alert: it contains much of the information covered in this quiz. You can either test your raw knowledge here and then check it out, or—in a flashback to all those undergrad prelims—you can read that story first and then see how much you’ve retained! Voting for two alumni-elected trustee positions is open February 1–28, 2026. Learn about the candidates and find out more! And to hear directly from the candidates, tune in at 6 p.m. EST on Tuesday, February 10, for a webinar on live.alumni.cornell.edu (requires log-in with Cornell NetID). It will be hosted by Alumni Affairs staffer, Big Red history expert, and Cornellians contributing editor Corey Ryan Earle ’07. 1) Which Ivy League school has the largest board of trustees? Harvard Yale Cornell Brown None 2) How many active trustees serve on Cornell’s board? 24 48 56 64 None 3) What’s the minimum number of times per year the full board must meet? 2 4 6 8 None 4) As stipulated by its charter, the board includes six trustees representing which three New York State industries? Agriculture, labor, and business Media, finance, and agriculture Tourism, media, and finance Labor, media, and agriculture None 5) Which of the following state officials does NOT have a spot on Cornell’s board as an ex-officio (“by virtue of their office”) trustee? Governor State Senate majority leader Speaker of the Assembly Comptroller None 6) Which of these is NOT a responsibility of the Board of Trustees? Approving the operating budget Setting tuition and financial aid policy Declaring the University closed for inclement weather Choosing the president None 7) A representative position from which campus constituency was the most recent addition to the board? Alumni Faculty Staff Students None 8) Which University leader also serves as a trustee? Provost President Dean of the Faculty Ombudsman None 9) Cornell’s charter stipulates that alumni could elect a representative to the board once there were how many total graduates? 100 250 500 1,000 None 10) What year did Cornell alumni reach that number and elect a trustee? 1874 1889 1904 1919 None 11) What’s the minimum age to serve as a Cornell trustee? None is specified 18 20 21 None 12) The charter originally stipulated that the University’s life trustee be the eldest male lineal descendent of the Founder; when did the role become gender-neutral? 1969 1978 1984 1999 None Time’s up Published January 17, 2025; updated January 9, 2026. Leave a Comment Cancel replyOnce your comment is approved, your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *Comment * Name * Class Year Email * Save my name, email, and class year in this browser for the next time I comment. Δ Other stories You may like Alumni From Meet-Cutes to a Single Rose, Alums Recall Romance on the Hill Bear Hugs What Makes a Beautiful Campus Even Prettier? Hydrangeas! Quizzes & Puzzles July / August ’24 Trivia Roundup