Ensuring that the university has a diverse and exceptionally talented student body is critical to the advancement of the university’s mission. Cornell University’s origin story, as reflected in its founding principle of “any person . . any study,” is unique and distinctive in its commitment to broad-based and inclusive admissions practices. The 2022-2023 Presidential Task Force on Undergraduate Admissions is charged with developing and recommending a university-wide undergraduate admissions policy, as well as principles of practice to guide each of the colleges’ undergraduate admitting offices.

The university-wide admissions policy should embrace Cornell’s founding principle and its core values; be responsive to the current legal and demographic landscapes; advance compliance with applicable accreditation standards; and inspire admitting units to recruit a class of the appropriate size that is diverse across a range of different categories and that exhibits excellence across an equivalently diverse range of attributes.

The principles of practice should examine pipelines and pathways to college, and recruitment and retention strategies. It should then recommend implementation priorities and assessment mechanisms that are tailored for the residential, undergraduate experience. The principles of practice should provide guidance to admitting units on ways to effectively identify attributes and experiences of applicants that have prepared them to succeed in the university’s academically rigorous programs, positively contribute to the campus community, and exhibit the potential to use their Cornell education to address the most challenging problems of society and the world. The principles of practice should draw from faculty expertise across a broad range of relevant academic disciplines, as well as from the expertise of admissions, enrollment management, and student success professionals to consider all aspects of the admissions process (e.g., prospect identification, recruitment, professional relationships with schools and community-based organizations, application process and timeline, standardized test scores, yield management, and support for admitted student success and retention). Lastly, the Task Force should recommend principles of practice that will directly generate the educational benefits of a diverse student body and facilitate student contribution to the creation of knowledge, art, and community.

While the Task Force is encouraged to think broadly, it should focus its recommendations on the following topics:

• What applicant characteristics or indicators should be prioritized to craft a class that furthers the university’s mission and yields the educational benefits of a diverse student body? How should these characteristics be determined and used as selection criteria?
• What, if any, are the appropriate uses of data analytics and machine learning technology as a tool to enhance the holistic and individualized review of all applications?
• What research protocols should be designed to assess the effectiveness of the recommended principles of practice?
• Which pipeline, recruitment, and retention programs should be prioritized across the individual undergraduate admitting units to generate the maximum impact on undergraduate student body diversity and the educational benefits that derive therefrom?

In order to use the work of this committee as soon as the next recruiting cycle, we would request an interim report no later than the end of the current academic year (May 31, 2023), and a final report no later than Aug. 31, 2023.