{"id":77444,"date":"2026-10-16T12:28:08","date_gmt":"2026-10-16T16:28:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/?p=77444"},"modified":"2026-10-16T16:29:14","modified_gmt":"2026-10-16T20:29:14","slug":"sotu-october-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/sotu-october-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018The Challenges That We Must Rise to Meet\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In his State of the University speech, President Mike Kotlikoff addresses ‘one of the most difficult moments in Cornell\u2019s 161 years’<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn the President\u2019s Words\u201d brings Mike Kotlikoff\u2019s major messages to the broader Cornell community, so alumni can hear from the University\u2019s leader first-hand.<\/em> He delivered the following address at the Joint Annual Meeting of the Board of Trustees and the University Council, following an introduction by the board’s chair, Anne Meinig Smalling \u201987.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Mike Kotlikoff<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Photography by Jason Koski<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Good afternoon everyone, and welcome to this year\u2019s Joint Annual Meeting, held for the first time in this beautiful new Meinig Fieldhouse, named for our beloved Board Chair Emeritus, Pete Meinig \u201961. And I want to thank all of the alumni and friends who came together and decided that on a campus famous for winters that are long, dark, cold, and wet, our hardworking community and athletic teams really needed somewhere to play and practice that\u2019s big, bright, warm, and dry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the new Meinig Fieldhouse, the recreational activities, university clubs, intramural leagues, and varsity programs that mean so much for our community\u2019s wellness can keep running\u2014metaphorically, and literally\u2014all winter long.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Like so much else at Cornell, the Meinig Fieldhouse was made possible by the incredible commitment and dedication of our Cornell community\u2014the alumni, parents, and friends who take so much pride in our university, and its achievements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Who have come together, in so many ways, over the past years, \u201cTo Do the Greatest Good.\u201d And have come together, here in Ithaca, at one of the most difficult moments in Cornell\u2019s 161 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I had a plan, up until a few weeks ago, for what I was going to say to you this evening.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was going to talk about the many crises and challenges we\u2019ve overcome together over the past year\u2014the enormous work we\u2019ve done across our schools, colleges, and campuses to adapt to a changed reality and prepare for an unknown future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

I had a plan, up until a few weeks ago, for what I was going to say to you this evening. I was going to talk about the many crises and challenges we\u2019ve overcome together over the past year.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

How we kept our research\u2014on everything from propulsion systems to cancer treatments to flood-resistant wheat\u2014moving forward, through nine months of federal funding freeze; and the agreement we reached that restored that funding, while protecting Cornell\u2019s independence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How we\u2019ve rebuilt our operating model from the ground up, to ensure a more resilient Cornell; and the enormous progress we\u2019ve made at Weill Cornell Medicine to enable new discoveries and new cures, better medical education, and better patient care.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

About the work that goes on day after day, across and beyond our campuses\u2014work that transforms lives, powers our economy, advances our national strength, and safeguards our common future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Anne
Anne Meinig Smalling \u201987, chair of the Board of Trustees, introduced the president.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

And the strategic work that we\u2019ve undertaken to position Cornell to lead, in restoring public trust and \u201cdoing the greatest good.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That isn\u2019t a speech I can give this evening. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our community is reeling. From reverberations of the appalling assault on Jane Doe by members of our community, and everything the events of the past weeks have brought to the center of our conversation, and our attention, at Cornell.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On behalf of our entire community, I want to again apologize to Jane Doe, and to the many women I have spoken to, who have shared with our community, and with me, personally, their experiences: of sexual assault at Cornell, at other universities, and in other spaces. I am sorry, for all of the ways that you were failed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

Our community is reeling. From reverberations of the appalling assault on Jane Doe by members of our community, and everything the events of the past weeks have brought to the center of our conversation, and our attention, at Cornell.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

And I am deeply grateful to everyone who has come forward, who has shared their stories and their understanding. Enough is enough. And we must do better.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is the beginning of what will become the defining effort of the rest of my presidency. It comes at a point of major and historic shift at Cornell.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the place we are in right now, as a community, is not anywhere we want to be\u2014perhaps it is where we have to be, where we must be, in order to move forward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And so I want to take the time I have this evening to talk to you, our community, about where we are, and the larger lessons we\u2019ve taken from what has become a global conversation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n