Students gathered at Day Hall on Wednesday to protest the recent $1 billion funding cut to Cornell by the Trump administration, condemning both federal action and Cornell’s “compliance and complicity.”
Organized by the Coalition for Mutual Liberation, Jewish Voice for Peace, Cornell Students for Justice in Palestine and Young Democratic Socialists of America, the protest aimed to highlight how University policies — particularly those related to immigration enforcement, disciplinary transparency and divestment — “laid the groundwork for these cuts by capitulating to fascism’s demands in advance.”
“Cornell has stayed silent while the Trump administration defunded universities, disappeared students to abusive immigration detention facilities, and attempted to shutter the Department of Education,” the organizations wrote in a collaborative Instagram post on Tuesday. “Cornell’s stated commitments to ethics and fairness have eroded as they cater to donors and trustees more than students and workers.”
The statement also accused the University of failing to protect immigrant students and international scholars, citing the case of Momodou Taal, a graduate student who fled the U.S. after facing deportation proceedings, which the post said was exacerbated by University cooperation.
Protesters gathered near Day Hall at 5 p.m., where they started with a chant of “Free, free Palestine,” after which they began using pots, pans, recorders and their voices to make noise and list their frustrations with University administration.
Throughout the event, protestors criticized specific administrators, including President Michael Kotlikoff and Christina Liang, Senior Associate Dean of Students and Director of the Office of Student Conduct and Community Standards.
“F*ck you, Kotlikoff” and “F*ck you, fascists,” students chanted towards Day Hall.
The protest featured four speakers, including Sam Poole ’28, who criticized the University’s decisions to suspend protestors, allow ICE on campus and retract commitments to DEI policies and gender-affirming care. He also called for administrators to fight back and stand with its student body, concluding with a chant of “No hate, no fear, immigrants are welcome here.”
“We’re giving our administration feedback from its student body, from its faculty, from its graduate students, from its community: we will be on your side if you stand up,” Poole said to the Sun. “But we’re not going to support you unless you do that.”
Another speaker, an organizer from JVP, criticized the Trump administration’s labeling of past protests as anti-semitic, saying that protesting is “actually a very Jewish thing to be doing.”
A member of SJP, which has been suspended after 17 of their protestors were detained at the Pathways to Peace event in March, also spoke to the crowd, condemning the actions of the University and the Cornell University Police Department at the event. 13 protestors were arraigned at Ithaca City Court earlier that day.
At one point, students passing by interrupted the protestors as they walked past, shouting at them to “Read a book,” among other remarks.
Organizers ended the demonstration with a statement vowing to continue pressuring the administration to resist the “demands from the fascist Trump administration” and to stand up for and protect each other.
