>> Jim said:  While Cornell refused to replace the
>> retiring Dr. Nick Calderone, and ceased providing their traditional
>> "land-grant college beekeeping extension" services, they do intend to
>> resurrect Nick's "Cornell Master Beekeeper" program, as they see that it
can
>> provide them with a solid revenue stream.  Cynical, aren't they?

> In defense of Cornell's Department of Entomology, Jim, they 
> have NO (zero) obligation to provide NY beekeepers with 
> any extension services.

Sorry to be so slow in reply, I've been away.

I know that the stance is that there is "no obligation", but that's just
their opening negotiating position.   The argument does not seem to stand up
to even cursory scrutiny. 

If the (Ithaca) Dept of Entomology wants to "own" the assets of value to
beekeeping, such as the Dyce Lab, and the intellectual property created from
it, but without having the obligation to use them in the manner for which
they were bought and paid for, then what can they (legally) do with any of
it?  The State of NY owns these assets, not Cornell itself.

There's a word that the legal beagles use for this sort of situation -
"Conversion".  We beekeepers call it "theft".

Let's walk through all the money Cornell has taken, and see how many times
they have been paid to do the job that they now refuse to do.

TL;DR: They have been paid over and over and over again.

1) The Morrill Act 

Signed by Lincoln in 1862. The full title was "An Act Donating Public Lands
to the Several States and Territories which may provide Colleges for the
Benefit of Agriculture and the Mechanic Arts".  The act did exactly what it
said in the title.  The Act provided each state with 30,000 acres of Federal
land per member of their Congressional delegation, which was a rough
estimate of population. The land was then sold by the states and the
proceeds used to fund public colleges that focused on agriculture and the
mechanical arts. Sixty-nine colleges were funded by these land grants,
including Cornell University.

With the passage of the 2nd Morrill Act in 1890, the director of the Sibley
College begged the Cornell trustees to have the new $15K of land-grant
funding directed to that college instead of the Ag departments. His pitch
was "the demands for instruction and legitimate expenditure being greater by
far in this direction." He did not get the $15K
(See http://dpb.cornell.edu/documents/1000046.pdf)

2) Smith-Lever Act of 1914 
This was an act that specifically further funded extension work.  Cornell
agreed to specific terms with the USDA concerning their extension work in
the 1950s,
http://ccetompkins.org/resources/cornell-usda-memorandum-of-agreement
http://tinyurl.com/hjobxge

Cornell admits to this general obligation, but somehow, beekeeping is not a
part of any co-op extension plan, because it was staffed within Ithaca's
Entomology Dept:
http://putknowledgetowork.org/about-us/history-of-cooperative-extension
http://tinyurl.com/o6m2wa5

Cornell also admits that the Dyce Lab was bought and paid-for with creamed
honey process royalties and USDA funds, and still classifies it as an
"extension unit".
http://vivo.cornell.edu/display/individual7298
http://tinyurl.com/z4vbsw9

So, what happened?  When did Cornell decide that they could just take stuff
that was paid-for, and use it as they please, rather than in the manner it
was entrusted to them?  Is the concept of a "trustee" no longer understood
by Cornell's Board of Trustees?  If Cornell is dissolving their Ithaca-based
bee extension program, shouldn't the funding and assets go to the Cornell
Co-op Extension group? 

This was in my 2016 follow-up list, and I assume that everyone else's
efforts have wound down, and that I won't be stepping on any toes by taking
a personal interest.
So, first of the year, I'll ask around down at USDA NIFA, and see what they
think about having funded assets end up outside the reach of any extension
program.

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