Letter to the Editor: Dr. Michael Cornelius

The following is a letter to the editor from Dr. Michael Cornelius clarifying his representation in a recent article that can be found here:

Dear Billboard Editor:

I read with great interest your recent article on the all-campus forum. I am thrilled to see the campus newspaper cover such important events, as it aids in communicating what is mentioned at these important forums to all members of our campus community.

However, I wished to point out two items in regards to the quotes attributed to me in the article. I understand that, in a forum such as that, it is difficult to sometimes get everything an individual says. However, my questions and comments regarding salary were not pointed to faculty, but to all employees of the College, faculty and staff. Every employee of Wilson College works tremendously long hours and all of them deserve consideration regarding their salaries. For me, this is an important distinction because, too frequently, our staff can feel publicly voiceless in what transpires here at Wilson. When I spoke on issues of compensation, I spoke with every employee not only in mind, but in my voice and heart, as well.

On a similar note, my comment regarding being people’s landlords was clearly said in jest. I am not the landlord of any regular full-time faculty or staff, and only wished to alleviate the tension in the room (anyone who has ever had me as a professor knows I can rarely go two minutes without cracking a bad joke.) I wish to point this out because I do not want people to be titillated by the notion of me being a landlord in any capacity when, indeed, I do know of many employees who struggle to pay their monthly bills. I did not wish to make light of this, as it is a very serious situation, and am chagrined the Billboard presented that quote as they did.

I appreciate the opportunity to “set the record straight.”

Michael G. Cornelius, Associate Professor of English, Wilson College