I can’t fully address grade deflation other than to say that I think the Cornell of today is a kinder, gentler version of the Cornell I attended. My son took Macro Econ last semester, in the same building and probably same lecture hall that I took it in thirty years ago. IIRC, our semester grade was calculated based on two pre-lims & one final exam. Nothing else. My son’s semester grade also included a 10% weighting for weekly on-line quizzes that the students could take twice w/o penalty, and another 10% for class participation measured via the iClicker. So, as long as a student showed up and did the work, he should be starting with 20% of his grade at close to 100%.
Now, many classes are curved so the abilities of one’s classmates affects your exam grades, but I don’t recall an exam ever being curved down.
Re: traveling to Syracuse airport. There are shuttle bus options for perhaps $25 (I think!) at the holidays. Students also post on Facebook looking for others to share a taxi/
If flying to NYC airports, once in NYC, the university’s Campus-to-Campus bus is a very luxurious bus option. Still not an easy trip to fly across country, travel into Manhattan via bus, train, or taxi, and then take four hour bus ride to campus.
To me, Collegetown has lost some of its charm, but the greater Ithaca area is absolutely lovely, as is the campus itself.