Cornell is not and has never been a SUNY. It is not a “public Ivy”. It is not public. If the OP knew the history of Cornell and/or SUNY he/she would not suggest such a thing. Cornell is as much an IVY as Harvard. And I’m not alluding to the notion that the Ivy League is a sports league (another way some try to degrade the Ivy League schools). No, academically Cornell is as much an Ivy League school as is Harvard or Yale. (also known as find another way to feel superior besides trying to put down Cornell).
The OP is referring to the 4 contract or statutory schools of Cornell. The post reflects the fact that the OP does not really understand what they are and how they are administered. That’s ok. That’s the point of this site right? To educate those who lack information. It is possible the OP intends the post as a way to put down the school that a peer is attending but maybe it is just a knowledge deficit.
I’ll assume the 2nd and try to fill in his/her knowledge gaps. I hope the OP @Riversider reads this:
By the early 1800s the east coast of the US had universities aplenty. In fact, Harvard was closing in on its 200th birthday. And there were tons of others, many of which still exist today. At that time, the students were considerably younger (often 15-18) than they are today; admissions criteria were far from uniform; few students would have been described by their instructors as “scholars” or as being close to “adults”-even at Harvard. But more importantly, then, as now, there was no clear consensus about the purpose of universities.
The early schools had been established (funded by various religious organizations) to train clergy/ministers and by the early 1800’s most were still focused on providing education in the classics-meaning steeped in Greek and latin readings. {In the meantime, European education was looking increasingly like contemporary education}. Yet discontent was escalating; reaching a boiling point. Students and parents called for a gentleman’s education, well rounded and in contemporary languages. This was not so much a debate about liberal arts vs professional training (although you may read other sources that say it was) as it was about maintaining education in the classics vs contemporary liberal arts vs religious training. In 1828 (actually Sept 11 '27) Yale doubled down on education in the classics and produced what would become known (then but rarely ever mentioned now) as The Yale Report. And while the report claimed “to lay the foundation of the superior education”, more apt is “to lay the foundation of education for the superior”.
Not everyone was on-board with Yale’s conclusions. At Harvard, Josiah Quincy’s response was to expand the curriculum to include both a classic and contemporary course of study; something that may have given Harvard the edge from that point onward. Other educators rejected the premises of the Yale Report completely. NYU can trace its roots to those revolting against the conclusions of the Yale Report; yet, the Report impacted Yale education for generations.
In the meantime, outside the Ivy tower, the need for people with science, engineering, and agricultural skills, discussed in the early to mid 1800’s, reached a peak at the end of the civil war; something that was not satisfied by schools teaching Greek and Latin but which eventually lead to (or perhaps more accurately supported) the Morrill Act of 1865. The Morrill Act used federal funds procured via sale of federal land to establish agricultural and mechanical training programs though out the US.
The Morrill Act made western expansion more feasible. Its goals were consistent with Ezra Cornell’s goals for establishing (see https://ezramagazine.cornell.edu/FALL12/CornellHistory.html) “an institution where any person can find instruction in any study.” Funds via the Morrill Act were allocated initially for the Agricultural school (but ultimately to 4 statuary college). The statuary schools are not “part of SUNY”. Legally, they are private nonprofit institutions. The state plays a fiduciary role in the statuary schools (but not the others) and has something akin to veto power over (only) certain hiring decisions at Cornell. Employees are private not public employees. Thus, Cornell can’t be a public Ivy cause it is a private Ivy-(aka:Ivy League University).
There are other elite private schools that are also land grant universities. MIT comes to mind as one.
An interesting aspect of the Ivy League schools is that those schools that rejected the premises of the Yale Report soonest ended up developing far better “tech” (STEM) than those that adhered to it longer. And Yale is still bringing up the rear in terms of STEM at IVY League schools. Perhaps unbeknownst to the OP, the roots of a snobby attitude towards Cornell go back to the idea that the noble class keeps their hands clean and does not “work”. Only the working class needs to learn how to “do” things like STEM. Me thinks that is a very dated erroneous concept.
