[6] During his short time as chancellor, Corbally faced crises spurred on by civil unrest surrounding the Vietnam War and race relations.

Tolley, his predecessor, was a proponent of military education on campus;[10] this included the establishment of a Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC) program.

By the time Tolley left office, the university faced major financial issues and there was uncertainty regarding the future of the ROTC program.

[6] Corbally advocated for keeping the program and its academic accreditation, an idea which was opposed by students hostile to a military presence on campus, some of whom participated in a sit-in of the ROTC building in February 1970.

[14] The peace was short lived, however, as in August 1970, eight black players on the Syracuse Orange football team did not show up for preseason practice, citing systemic racism in the program and discrimination by coach Ben Schwartzwalder.

[15] A university report released in December of that year declared that there was a chronic problem of racism in the Syracuse athletics programs, though in some cases the discrimination was unintentional.

[18] The suddenness of his resignation at Syracuse led to speculation that he had been pressured to leave due to the tense events of 1970 or that he wanted to jump ship from a school still facing financial difficulties.

[9] After his time at the MacArthur Foundation, Corbally retired to his home state of Washington, where he served as a board member for various Seattle-area organizations, including the Rural Development Institute, now known as Landesa.