A Cornell faculty committee has proposed five commitments to help the university respond to artificial intelligence, strained public trust and other pressures on higher education, following a year of conversations with more than 6,000 people inside and outside the institution.
The Committee on the Future of the American University released its report and vision statement Sept. 22. Provost Kavita Bala formed the group in October 2025 to examine how Cornell could adapt while preserving teaching, research and public service. Bala endorsed its vision but the announcement did not set a timetable or budget for particular changes.
Five commitments, not a single program
The report calls for rigorous deliberation and engaged discourse, including a human-centered approach to AI; stronger two-way relationships with the public; resilient research and scholarship; a more connected university community; and better coordination across learning experiences.
Its proposed unifying purpose is an integrated learning environment that cultivates sound judgment. Bala framed the central question as whether a university education remains worthwhile and said the committee's answer is yes if institutions clarify and renew their purpose.
The committee identified three disruptions in its original charge: rapid technological change, including AI; friction between universities and the federal government; and declining public trust. Conversations during the year also raised the fragmentation of learning experiences, weaker connections within the institution and concerns about the cost of education.
Those are broad institutional commitments rather than adopted curriculum rules, tuition changes or new funding awards. The university said it would take action on each commitment, but its Sept. 22 announcement did not identify a specific approval, appropriation or implementation date.
A year of faculty and public input
Four faculty co-chairs led the 18-member committee: Ariel Avgar of the ILR School, Phoebe Sengers of the Bowers College of Computing and Information Science and College of Arts and Sciences, Praveen Sethupathy of the College of Veterinary Medicine, and Adam Smith of the College of Arts and Sciences.
Each co-chair oversaw work on a core mission: undergraduate education, graduate and professional education, research and scholarship, or public impact. The group used town halls, webinars and individual meetings to hear from faculty, staff, students, administrators, alumni, government officials and outside advisers. Cornell characterized the total engagement as more than 6,000 stakeholders, not a representative survey of public opinion.
Avgar said the yearlong process was itself an opportunity to discuss long-term issues that the university rarely examines together. The committee's work, he said, was intended to address how Cornell can thrive rather than simply survive the challenges facing higher education.
Sengers cautioned that stronger coordination should not mean centralizing the university or erasing its varied disciplines. The aim, she said, is for parts of Cornell to learn from one another and move in a similar direction without imposing a single top-down account.
Sethupathy said the committee had to engage with real disagreements instead of obscuring them. Smith urged wider participation as the university responds to the report, including criticism of proposals that may be wrong and new ideas from colleagues.
Bala said Cornell's history of intellectual breadth and opportunity gives it a role in shaping a model for universities confronting those pressures. Whether the proposed commitments produce operational changes will depend on the decisions and work that follow the report.
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