Black Students United said it would “deem Cornell an unsafe space for all Black students” if the administration followed through with the suspension of pro-Palestinian international graduate student Momodou Taal, according to a Thursday Instagram post.
After four representatives of Black Students United met with Interim President Michael Kotlikoff and Vice President of Student and Campus Life Ryan Lombardi on Monday morning, the organization said it remains concerned about Taal’s suspension, claiming a lack of due process. If Taal is withdrawn from the University, he will be in violation of his F-1 visa status, likely leading to his deportation.
BSU is an umbrella organization that encompasses dozens of cultural, mentorship, performance, professional and Greek organizations.
Two members of the BSU negotiating team — who spoke on the condition of anonymity — said BSU was granted a meeting with administrators while Cornell Graduate Students United was denied the same opportunity. CGSU wanted to meet with administrators to discuss their demands to bargain Taal’s suspension with the University, according to the BSU representatives.
According to a University statement released on Sept. 18, the career fair disruption Taal was suspended in connection with involved shoving police officers, making guests of the University feel threatened and denying students the opportunity to experience the career fair.
BSU representatives claimed that when they asked how the latest rally was considered more disruptive than other demonstrations in libraries and Klarman Hall — where no students were suspended — administrators could not give a concrete answer.
“If they’re going to draw this line [of what’s considered peaceful] and have these types of consequences for it, it can’t be blurred,” one of the representatives said. “They have to be able to describe what is peaceful and what is not.”
Nearly 20 pro-Palestinian protesters who helped shut down a career fair attended by defense contractors earlier this month have been identified through video and photographic evidence and have been referred for disciplinary action, according to a Monday afternoon email from Interim President Michael Kotlikoff to the Cornell community.
Kotlikoff wrote that protesters were explicitly told that they were not permitted to enter Statler Hotel by Cornell University Police Department officers. They pushed through police at the ground-floor and second-floor entrances, according to Kotlikoff.
Sun reporters on the scene did not witness violence against law enforcement.
BSU representatives asked for the video evidence the University claimed to have and used to identify protestors. Kotlikoff and Lombardi denied their request, explaining the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act protects the records of individual students from being shared by the University.
BSU representatives claimed CGSU has the right to bargain over the effects of academic disciplinary action against graduate students — under a Memorandum of Agreement from July 2024 between the University and the union — as long as that discipline affects their working conditions.
CGSU is arguing that the MOA is applicable in Taal’s case since he taught “What is Blackness? Race and Processes of Racialization,” a First-Year Writing Seminar under the Africana Studies and Research Center. In a Monday, Sept. 23 meeting, Taal was informed by Christina Liang, who directs the Office of Student Conduct and Community Standards, that he would no longer be allowed to teach the course.
According to the representatives, the administration claims they are using their interim measures instead of the memorandum to manage the case since they are “prioritizing the safety and the health of the community.” BSU representatives argued that was a violation of due process.
“The issue is that this sets a precedent of when the University deems your action to be a so-called health and safety risk without even investigating it, then you lose all of that protection,” one of the representatives said.
The OSCCS assesses whether interim measures are “immediately necessary to protect the community” when students are referred for an alleged Student Code of Conduct violation, Kotlikoff wrote in the Monday afternoon statement.
Taal had been reported to the University by CUPD Lieutenant Scott Grantz ’99 for not complying with orders from University officials at last week’s protest.
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 think that it is very concerning when you have CUPD dictating the status and the life of a Black man,” one representative said. “I think when you have this police interference and framing it as he’s so violent and such a risk to public safety, then that’s a concern.”
According to the representatives, administrators said there was a miscommunication regarding the initial information provided to Taal about requiring him to leave the country as soon as he was suspended from the University, clarifying that Taal would not be officially withdrawn until the appeal process was completed.
Under the Code of Conduct, students placed under interim measures such as suspension are provided information about the charges and the appeal process, with full temporary suspension allowing for “two independent levels of appeal, the final being to the provost of the University.”
Taal’s first appeal was denied by Lombardi, according to Taal’s post on X on Thursday. He has a second appeal pending, which will be decided by Interim Provost John Siliciano.
According to the representatives, when they asked about if Taal’s first appeal was properly considered, Lombardi said he stood by the decision based on information available to him. BSU representatives said they were not convinced the appeal was properly considered based on the arguments raised by the administration.
“It’s only that he just so happens to be an international student, that it seems harsher, but they’re trying to apply the same level of adjudication to all people, which I don’t think we take to be true,” one of the representatives said.
Following the meeting, BSU posted on Instagram that they “remain unsatisfied” with the administration’s response citing concerns for student safety.
“The lack of safety that Black students feel based on this situation is vindicated and has since intensified,” the post read.
When asked by The Sun about the meeting with BSU and the organization’s statement after the meeting, Lombardi wrote that he was looking forward to continuing the discussion.
“We always appreciate the opportunity to speak with student leaders. We share a commitment to the safety and well-being of the Cornell community and look forward to continuing this important conversation,” Lombardi wrote.
BSU has agreed to a follow-up meeting with administration, which the representatives said they hope to take place by early next week. The representatives also encouraged their members to attend CGSU’s upcoming rally on Wednesday as part of their ongoing efforts to negotiate a contract with the University that includes protections for graduate students’ speech.
“We definitely encourage everyone to attend,” one of the representatives said. “We’re in heavy solidarity with CGSU.”