All of the advice the search committee has received and Cornell's own past experience indicate that a confidential process is critical to a successful search. The best candidates will not appear for an open or compromised search. Toward that end, all members of the Presidential Search Committee and the staff supporting the committee have signed a confidentiality agreement. A copy of that agreement is reproduced below.
The search committee is comfortable that the significant efforts to obtain input at the beginning of the process, as well as the broad representation of campus constituencies among the membership of the committee itself, will allow the committee to consider all community voices throughout the search process.
In consideration of my designation as a member of the Cornell University Presidential Search Committee (hereinafter search committee) and the resulting access I will have to confidential information and materials related to the presidential search, and with full knowledge of the critical importance of the principle of confidentiality to the integrity and success of the search process, I hereby agree:
I have read, understand, and agree to abide by all of the terms of this confidentiality agreement as a condition of my continued service as a search committee member.