McKinney: 'It's Time for Us to Change'
New Rhodes Professor receives mixed reception in first appearance
By MARC ZAWEL
Former congresswoman Cynthia McKinney (D-Ga.) drew a mixed reception yesterday at her first public appearance as a Frank H.T. Rhodes Class of '56 University Professor. McKinney lectured and then fielded questions from students in GOVT 366: American Political Thought from Madison to Malcolm X taught by Isaac Kramnick, the R.J. Schwartz Professor of Government and vice provost for undergraduate education.
McKinney was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives from Georgia's fourth congressional district in 1992, becoming the first African-American woman from the State of Georgia to be elected to the U.S. Congress.
McKinney's three-year appointment at Cornell has created much controversy in Ithaca over the Rhodes selection process and has garnered national media attention because of McKinney's outspoken criticism of the Bush administration.
In his introductory remarks, Kramnick gave a brief bio of McKinney, including her graduation from the University of Southern California in 1978. "Why'd you have to give the year?" McKinney piped in from her seat on the side of Hollis E. Cornell Auditorium.
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