Momodou Taal, an international student from the United Kingdom and outspoken pro-Palestinian activist, received a startling email from the University Monday morning informing him that he had been suspended. The email directed Taal to a same-day noon meeting at Day Hall, where he would be handed a no-trespass order barring him from campus.
The reason for Taal’s suspension? Cornell University Police Department Lieutenant Scott Grantz ’99 picked Taal out of a crowd of more than 100 protesters when student activists shut down a career fair last week attended by defense contractors Boeing and L3Harris. Grantz then referred Taal to University officials in a complaint.
According to Grantz’s complaint, Taal entered the career fair alongside other protesters after being warned not to by University officials and participated in “unreasonably loud” chants. “I had no chance to dispute the charges, nor see the evidence or appeal,” Taal tweeted Monday afternoon. Taal told The Sun that he denies the allegations outlined in the complaint.
As a public-facing leader of the Coalition for Mutual Liberation — a student-led, pro-Palestinian activist group — Taal has been the target of an intense write-in campaign urging Cornell’s leaders to punish him for his politics. The University may well have buckled to outside pressure in suspending Taal, especially when considering that there were scores of others chanting at the disruptive protest.
At time of publication, The Sun has not learned of any other suspensions relating to the career fair disruption. It shouldn’t be surprising that Taal told The Sun he believes the University singled him out as a Black and Muslim man.
Hours after his suspension, Interim President Michael Kotlikoff and Interim Provost John Siliciano sent out an email statement promising one thing: consequences.
The administration took an uncharacteristically aggressive stance, vowing to discipline those who participated in the career fair protest with immediate suspensions, “sanctions up to and including dismissals,” and potential referrals to the Tompkins County District Attorney. Kotlikoff’s message was threatening by design and colors Taal’s suspension as an intimidation tactic, rather than a reasonable attempt at enforcing University guidelines.
What should make Taal’s suspension troubling to every member of the Cornell community is not at all about whether one agrees with his beliefs — it’s that the University hasn’t shown Taal the due process that all students deserve.
Instead, Cornell issued a suspension — apparently without presenting any evidence outside of a disputed complaint — and is enforcing it even while an appeal is pending. Moreover, Taal said Siliciano, the interim provost, now has the final say over that appeal. In his email, Siliciano advocated for severe punishments against pro-Palestinian activists, including legal action. Now we’re expected to believe that he’ll review the evidence without bias, overturning a punishment he’s already endorsed.
Without an independent party weighing the evidence, this can’t be called anything other than a kangaroo court in which the provost serves as judge, jury and executioner.
To make matters worse, Cornell may have violated labor law, too. In a first test of the administration’s attitude toward workers after this fall’s historic UAW strike, Cornell breached an agreement it had signed just three months ago with Cornell Graduate Students United, which requires the University to bargain with the union when graduate students might be de-enrolled or suspended. Here, no bargaining took place. The University simply chose to impose its will unilaterally.
When it comes to suspensions — particularly for international students who risk losing their visas — the burden of proof must be high, and the process must be transparent and fair to those being disciplined, no matter their political views. The University failed on both points: A student activist is facing serious, disproportionate consequences without the ability to defend himself.
Cornell must immediately commit to a clear, independent and well-articulated means of due process that cannot punish activists excessively or penalize them without sufficient evidence before they get a chance to argue their case. In its prosecution of Taal, the University has already failed spectacularly. The Sun’s Editorial Board calls on Cornell’s top administrators to go back to square one, reevaluate their biases, provide due process and reverse this specific targeted, unjust and possibly illegal suspension.
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