http://web.cornell.edu/redesign/images/2510867.jpg

They have logoized the color out of their arms for their new logo. The one pictured on the mug is the 1909 version, which is still used on special occasions.

Possibly blazoned: Per pale Argent and Carnelian, an open book inscribed with the words "I would found an institution where any person can find instruction in any study" proper, on a chief Or the shields of the Unites States of America and of New York State proper.

Carnelian?

Let the university call it what it will—in my opinion, for heraldic purposes, it’s still Gules.