 Before the university opened , the State Legislature amended Cornell 's charter on April 24 , 1867 to specify alumni elected trustees . However that provision did not become operative until there were at least 100 alumni in 1872 . Cornell was one of the first Universities to elect trustees by direct election . ( Harvard was probably the first to shift to direct election of its Board of Overseers by alumni in 1865 . ) Cornell 's first female trustee was Martha Carey Thomas ( class of 1877 ) , who the alumni elected while she was serving as President of Bryn Mawr College . 
