To the Editor:

Re: “Social Sciences Task Force Calls For New School of Public Policy,” News, Dec. 2

This article about a call for a new school of Public Policy is missing one main fact, there is currently a masters program in public affairs at Cornell housed in the Cornell Institute of Public Affairs.

The desire to collect all of the University’s studio-based programs into a “gathering point” for design within Cornell is an ambitious but concise goal. The College of Art, Architecture and Planning Task Force Report explores the potential to become a new and entirely unique type of design college — a school of Architecture, Art and Design — and provided numerous examples of how to achieve such a transformation. The administration can start with an imaginative use of the building it fought for over a decade to construct, Milstein Hall.

A School of Public Policy could be in Cornell’s future if the University decides to implement the recommendations of the Social Sciences Task Force Report. The report, released on Nov. 5, focuses on improving the quality of Cornell’s social sciences while simplifying the departments’ complicated and dispersed organizational structure.

Faculty members who had been eager to see the University’s strategic planning task force reports got their wish last Friday when Provost Kent Fuchs released the documents to the public. Most faculty members have praised the decision as a giant step towards greater transparency in the “Reimagining Cornell” process. According to the Dean of Faculty’s Office, approximately 27 people have read the reports thus far — at least 13 of whom were University faculty members.

It’s difficult to glean any concrete predictions from the task force reports. I applaud the administration for this surprisingly high level of transparency during this process, but some of the ideas being tossed around in the summaries of the reports unsettled my stomach. In Cornell's effort to rapidly streamline our university, I fear we may lose some of the unique programs that make me so proud to be a Cornellian.