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Below you'll find a message from distinguished Professor Richard Korf:

Dear President Skorton,       

You may perhaps remember me as the Emeritus Professor of Mycology involved in the repatriation of the Fungi of China herbarium specimens. I am writing you today because of the frightful news of the proposed budget cuts singling out significant cuts to the Department of Theatre, Film & Dance. Since the very first days of my arrival on campus as an undergraduate student in 1942 I have been closely connected to the then Theatre Arts Department, mostly as an actor, throughout my undergraduate years, my Ph.D. training, and as a Professor in the Department of Plant Pathology. What you probably don't know about me is that at a time of true crisis in the Theatre Arts Department I served one year (1985-86) as Chair of that Department, appointed by the then Dean of the College of Arts & Sciences (and my fellow Thespian), Alain Seznec, giving me insights into that Department's modus operandi. I am of course fully aware of your commitment, and that of your wife, to the arts both at Cornell and in the Ithaca community. It is clear that the cultural impact of the Theatre, Film & Dance Department, the Music Department, and the Johnson Museum on life in Ithaca each outweighs that of any of the other departments in our university. They are so much a part of the cultural life in Ithaca and the Ithaca/Cornell interface that they must be viewed as of special importance. What I fear most is that those academicians who are now proposing cuts to the budget for, specifically, the Theatre, Film & Dance Department, are unaware that the structure of that Department is fiscally quite unlike other departments. There are relatively few tenure-track lines. Professors (and Senior Lecturers, with the College's approval) do teach some academic courses in Theatre Studies, Film Studies, and Dance Studies, but practice classes are a primary focus. The Professors not only teach, but also supervise and work with many non-tenured Senior Lecturers and Lecturers who are essential in producing plays, films, and dance concerts. Without these staff members such productions would be shallow in comparison to the high quality that Cornell has given us. Since the budget cuts are not to affect professorial positions, it can only mean that the proposed cuts will necessarily hit those we can least afford to lose, effectively gutting the artistic output of our university. One cannot equate a budget cut to departments such as Mathematics, History, English, or Comparative Literature, for example, to that on Theatre, Film & Dance. The university's impact on our local citizenry is indisputably at stake. I urge you personally to do all you can to change this ill-advised budget decision. Belt-tightening is surely necessary, but those proposing the cuts must understand that what they have proposed will have drastic consequences for the Cornell image, not only here in Ithaca and its environs, but amongst our loyal alumni.

Cordially, though clearly in distress,

Dick Korf

Richard P. Korf
Emeritus Professor of Mycology
Plant Pathology Herbarium
Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853