ITHACA, N.Y. — They call themselves “hotelies”: students and alumni of the Cornell University School of Hotel Administration, the world’s oldest undergraduate program devoted to the hospitality industry and, many say, the best.

The school is considered the Harvard of hospitality programs, consistently topping best-of lists and rankings. Its graduates, school officials like to say, do not just run individual hotels, they own entire hotel chains or groups of restaurants. Among its alumni are Drew Nieporent, the celebrated New York City restaurateur whose crown jewels include Tribeca Grill and Nobu; Ted Teng, president of Leading Hotels of the World; and Andrew H. Tisch, co-chairman of the Loews Corporation.

In keeping with their idiosyncratic nickname, hotelies have their own traditions: impressive tailgate spreads at Cornell’s homecoming game; an Introduction to Wines course that draws students from across the university; and front-desk duty at the Statler Hotel in Ithaca, the smart campus lodging, which serves as a trial by fire for students.

So perhaps it was no surprise that alumni and students reacted with something akin to a tirade on the hotel rating site TripAdvisor, when Cornell’s board of trustees recently voted to establish a new College of Business. The idea, university officials say, is to fold the hotel school, along with two other business schools, into the new college, strengthening the individual programs in the process.