Page 4 - Sigma Chi - Cornell Fall 2018

Cornell Rowing Honors Brother Sig Serves on
Carl Ullrich ’50 Campus Climate

Note: The following is excerpted from Upon his return to the United States, he task force
CornellBigRed News, October 3, 2017. began a teaching career at a private high
school on Long Island. It was there that Stefan An-
ITHACA, N.Y. – The Big Red Rowing Ullrich met his wife, Becky, who was also tonsson ’19 was
program had a phenomenal weekend-long a teacher at the school. The two have been selected to serve as
celebration at the Cornell Rowing Center inseparable ever since, raising three sons a member of Cor-
as it welcomed back the 1958 IRA heavy- and two daughters. nell’s Presidential
weight champions, raced for the Schwartz Ullrich returned to Cornell Univer- Task Force on
Cup, and honored Carl Ullrich ‘50 with sity as the freshmen heavyweight coach in Campus Climate.
The Whitey Mullestein ‘32 Leadership 1955 and had a very successful record. He Following a bias-
Award. coached the 1958 freshmen crew to an IRA based incident in
Saturday night featured the premiere title and the 1959 crew to an undefeated Collegetown in
event of the weekend, The Whitey Mulles- season. He coached at Cornell University Stefan Antonsson ’19 September 2017,
tein ‘32 Leadership Award Dinner, where for five years and made a profound impact President Martha
more than 140 people gathered to honor on countless Big Red rowers. After leav- Pollock established this task force. The
former Big Red lightweight rower and ing Cornell, he would continue coaching
freshman heavyweight coach, Carl F. Ull- at Columbia University, Boston University mandate for the task force was “to exam-
rich ‘50. and the U.S. Naval Academy. After 11 ine and address persistent problems of
Born in Ridgewood, N.J., Ullrich years in Annapolis, Carl was hired as athlet- bigotry and intolerance at Cornell.”
played football and lacrosse as a high school ic director at Western Michigan University. Stefan was one of 36 faculty, staff,
athlete before enlisting in the Navy during After just one year at Western Michigan, and student members serving on three
the latter stages of World War II. After Ullrich was hired as the first civilian athletic subcommittees focused on campus ex-
his service, he enrolled at Cornell Univer- director at West Point. He would go on to perience, regulation of speech and
sity and joined the Marine Corps Reserves. have a very successful 10-year career. harassment, and campus response.
He continued his athletic participation as Ullrich retired from West Point in On June 8, each subcommittee sub-
a member of the Big Red rowing program 1990, but his career as an athletic admin- mitted their final report which can
and helped the lightweight team win the istrator was far from over. He took over as be found on the Cornell website at:
1949 national championship and served as the first full-time executive director of the http://president.cornell.edu/initiatives/
a captain in 1950. newly formed Patriot League, a position he presidential-task-force-on-campus-
With the outbreak of the Korean War, held until 1993. After deciding to give up climate/reports/.
Ullrich was called into active duty by the the conference job, he and his wife retired While simultaneously serving his
Marines in 1950. He served in the conflict to North Carolina. second semester as the Consul of Alpha
as both a platoon leader and company com- Ullrich has been inducted into the Phi, Stefan spent many hours each week
mander, experiences that shaped his future athletic Hall of Fame for West Point, St. meeting with the Campus Response sub-
leadership style. Andrews Presbyterian College, Eastern committee and conducting outreach to
While Ullrich’s service in Korea laid College Athletic Conference and the Na- community members to get a sense for
the foundation for his professional devel- tional Association of Collegiate Directors how Cornell currently responds to inci-
opment, the defining moment of his per- of Athletics. Carl also was recognized as a dents on campus, and how this response
sonal life occurred after he left the military. Significant Sig in 1987. could be more effective.
One of Stefan’s tasks was to interview
past Greek Tri-Council presidents, Stu-
dent Assembly leaders, diversity organi-
zation leaders, and other Cornell student
leaders. One observation made by the sub-
committee was that student leaders often
are asked to take on a disproportionate
amount of responsibility for responding
to incidents. Suggested recommendations
to address include: a) for the university
to engage a professional crisis manager,
and b) establishment of a mechanism by
which faculty members could advise stu-
dent groups in their response.
Upon reflecting on the experience
of serving as a task force member, Ste-
fan said, “it was very rewarding. I hope
the findings and recommendations help
Cornell to be a more inclusive and better
4 Carl Ullrich ’50 receives The Whitney Mullestein ’32 Leadership Award from Emily Farn- place.”
ham Mastrianni ’89 and Cornell’s Spirit of ’57 Director of Rowing, Todd Kennett ’91.

Alpha Phi of Sigma chi