Well, he isn’t really a new guy. Last month, when I called on the Board of Trustees to deliver us a courageous president, Michael Kotlikoff wasn’t on my list. He had publicly refused the job, telling The Sun’s managing board he would retire after his interim term, and I took him at his word. But last Friday, the trustees officially appointed him Cornell’s 15th president — and I’m confident they made the right choice. Though Kotlikoff may have taken the job quietly, he has the potential to make the principled stand the University needs.
President Kotlikoff now faces a daunting challenge. No longer a temporary caretaker, our 15th president must lead decisively in an era of mounting federal interference in higher education. But time is not on his side; he must stake out his position against the Trump administration's attempts to undermine academic independence — quickly. He has the potential to unify the Ivy League in resistance against Trump at a time when elite universities are fractured and adrift.
Since Trump’s reelection, Ivy League schools have wildly vacillated in their reactions to the administration’s attacks. On one end of the spectrum, Columbia has already capitulated to Trump’s demands, overhauling sensitive academic areas as the administration threatened pulling $400 million of federal funding. Dartmouth, meanwhile, hired a Trumpian loyalist as general counsel, seemingly bracing for executive overreach and confrontation. These moves reflect an absence of a crucial coherent, collective strategy among our nation’s top universities.
Kotlikoff can change that. The 25-year Cornell veteran, who has served as professor, dean, provost and interim president, has comprehensive knowledge of our University. He’s seen all flavors of campus issues before. In obscuring his candidacy for University president, he proved his political skills shouldn’t be underestimated. And since Kotlikoff began his interim term in July, campus tensions have rapidly deflated. The University, once engulfed in controversy, has grown remarkably calmer in the last year. Pro-Palestinian protests have subsided substantially, which is in no small part a result of Kotlikoff’s firm but fair decisions around the suspension of protesters. But now, concerns about campus tensions are almost quaint.
Today, Kotlikoff’s biggest threat comes from beyond campus gates. Cornell cannot afford to follow the fate of other universities and cave to the threat. As the president of a university founded on the radical promise and principled mission of “any person… any study” — a mission antithetical to Trump’s worldview — Kotlikoff must make clear that Cornell will take a stand.
Cornell’s mission in 2025 doesn’t look like staying silent and quietly ceding demands when the Department of Education looks to cut research funding or walking back institutional promises of diversity, equity and inclusion.
It looks like making the hard choice of refusing to compromise institutional values in the face of crippling executive power. It looks like rallying donors and cutting expenses in the expectation of reduced federal funding. And most importantly, it looks like uniting the Ivy League to stand strong with a unified message against the gale-force winds of authoritarianism. It’s time that universities must act in concert. Any attack on one should be treated as an attack on all.
Kotlikoff must lead that charge to protect our academic freedom; he can start by calling a meeting of Ivy League presidents to address the mounting threats. Recently, the Ivies have been a league in name only when it comes to executive interference; they need to put their alliance to work. Kotlikoff should take the opportunity to bolster a powerful group that Trump will have more difficulty attacking. Ivies and other elite institutions should file their lawsuits against the administration together, as one. An attack on any individual member school should be seen as an attack on the academic freedom of all.
Born amidst the carnage of the American Civil War, Cornell University has weathered the storm of political struggle before. Now, 160 years later, it must continue to endure, and with Kotlikoff at the helm, I believe it will. From his prestigious new perch, Kotlikoff must courageously defend academia against unique threats, by leading not just Cornell but the entire Ivy League through these dark days for higher education. He has the opportunity to leave his mark on not only the school but also education as a whole.
Henry Schechter is a Senior Editor on the 143rd Editorial Board and was the Opinion Editor on the 142nd Editorial Board. He is a third-year student in the College of Arts & Sciences and an incoming Cornell Law student. His fortnightly column Onward focuses on politics, history and how they come together in Ithaca. He can be reached at schechter@cornellsun.com.
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