Changing Campus

I do not have too many opportunities to return to the Cornell campus any more. I worked there in the late 1970's and 1980's.  Currently, we attend an evening event in December, but it is dark then and the campus is not really visible in all its glory.

Recently, we attended an Alumni Breakfast and I got to see many of the changes that have occurred to the buildings and grounds, as well as some familiar faces.

I've always been amazed by the changing nature of that campus.  In the 35+ years since I first arrived there,  it has been a place of constant renovations, newly emerging buildings, leveling here, building there.  In fact, my 'retirement' from the university coincided with the demolishing of the buildings in which I had worked.  I could no longer return to the beloved and familiar Roberts Hall,  because it would no longer be there!  A new one emerged, but that one is a stranger to me.

I have seen universities where all the buildings look alike, built at the same time.  Not so at Cornell.  In fact, I think it can best be described as an architectural smorgasbord, in a good way.  The new buildings all shaped themselves around and fit into the shape of the hill or the field, or the curve, always mindful of the environment.   All are complementary--the old and the new;  black and white;  brick and stone;  ivy covered; or sleek and glass.

 Maybe a garden is a better analogy for describing the infinite variety of the campus constructions and dwellings.   They are like trees and flowers and shrubs of various colors and shapes.  They are sometimes uprooted and pruned;  new plantings emerge;  old ones are ripped up.  The beauty remains.

I did take some "garden pictures" while I was there.  I remember when it was always filled with tulips.  Of course,  we are past tulip season, so other flowers are now in bloom,  as are other programs, departments, majors, students, faculty.

The changing campus is a metaphor for the vitality of the university itself.