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Moral Moments

Unprincipled Principles

by Joel Marks

“I would found an institution where any person can find instruction in any subject.” That was Ezra Cornell’s motto for my alma mater, and it seems an apt characterization of the university where I am currently employed. A student can prepare for a career in resort management, engineering, interior design, accounting, music, law enforcement, you name it. But what would the founders of these two institutions have thought of a course called ‘Arson for Profit’?

I kid you not: We have it on the books. Any undergraduate who has met the academic prerequisites can sign up for FS409 in our program in ‘fire science’.

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