Telluride House The Cornell Branch of Telluride Association

Ah, the Formal Dinner: a chance to forget our status as struggling college students and wine and dine in a manner that rivals any aristocracy’s. Trading worn-out denim and T-shirts for swanky cocktail dresses and starched button-downs, Telluride Housemembers enjoyed each others’ company at this black-and-white themed event  with great conversation and even better food.

Ian displays expert bartending skills during the cocktail hour

An attractive table: Kate, Liz, Desiree, Shubham, Hu, and I pose for the camera at dinner.

Lawrence, Harriet, Stephanie, John, Breanna, and Catherine smile over an impeccable dessert

The formal dinner turned out to be successful, low-key affair that brought a tasteful end to the semester. We greatly appreciate all of our guests who were able to attend and make fall 2009 at CBTA memorable.

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Before I arrived to the Telluride House, I promised myself that I would dispel all myths of the social ineptitiude people commonly form after meeting me for the first time. But as I look back on how orientation went and my general behavior as a new housemember, it’s easy to see that these efforts were a complete fail. No matter how many times I tell myself, “This will be the day that you convince everyone that you’re fascinating and insightful and amazing and (insert reinforcing adjective here)”, things never really go as ideally as I had pictured it in my mind. Not only has my silence at the dinner table and during house gatherings given life to suspicions of my “wallflower-ness”, it has also been one of several indications that being a part of CBTA is going to be one of the most emotionally taxing experiences of my young life. At any rate, I hope you guys have not lost hope in getting to know me on a personal level (hah, is it presumptuous of me to assume that you all are dying to be my friend?) and despite all outward appearances, I am sincerely honored to be here. Here’s hoping for a good year!

Stacy C.

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It’s a new year here at Telluride House and we’ve been having some orientation events, what with nine new housemembers needing to learn the ins and outs of the House fast. Today I’m going to be doing a technology orientation along with Ian, part of which consists of showing people how to blog, so I’m reminding myself how to do it. I remember that posting images can be tricky at times. Let’s see if I can do it:

We have a love-hate relationship with spiders in this house so I figure this would be appropriate.

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In the spirit of the house, a (circumstantial) amendment has been brought to the Austro-Hungarian rules. As you know, we play pool by house rules (see TARPool, Section 3.2). The Luxembourg Amendment, introduced by Florian B. as an experiment in the short pool meeting held two weeks ago, was BIRT-ed and voted last night. It is a generous concession made to the white ball. All players shall sign the house rules and no player shall be denied the right to invoke the Luxembourg Amendment (see Section 3.5).

(Seal and Signature) Elton   

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Thursday, April 23, 7-8:30 pm: Neoliberalism and the University (A Telluride House Faculty Panel)

with Professors Davydd Greenwood (Anthropology) and Pamela Tolbert (Industrial and Labor Relations)

What are the consequences of the neoliberal shift in university organization and governance? What does it mean for students to consider themselves consumers of education, for researchers to be sub-contractors in delivering knowledge to the private and public sectors, and for universities to increasingly fund their activities by selling knowledge and obtaining patents? What other models exist for universities? How can these organizations be held accountable to serving the public good without restraining the quality and freedom of academic research?

Join us for a lively discussion in the intimate space of the Telluride House living room! This panel is the third of four events in our spring event series; check out all four Telluride House spring events. And for directions, click here.

Davydd J. Greenwood is the Goldwin Smith Professor of Anthropology and Director of the Institute for European Studies at Cornell University where he has served as a faculty member since 1970. His work centers on action research, political economy, ethnic conflict, community and regional development, the Spanish Basque Country, Spain’s La Mancha region, and the Finger Lakes region of upstate New York. He is at work, with his long-time co-author Morten Levin, on a book on the reinvention of the public research university through Action Research.

Pamela Tolbert is Professor and chair of the Department of Organizational Behavior. She is broadly interested in processes of organizational change, the role of organizations in social stratification, and the impact of occupations on organizational structures. Her current research includes studies of the use of tenure systems by higher education organizations, the effects of organizational and occupational demography on career patterns, and the effects of earnings differences within dual-career couples on spousal relationships.

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