To the Cornell Community:
In light of the Sun joining an array of student newspapers in support of The Stanford Daily lawsuit against State Secretary Marco Rubio, I thought I’d briefly revisit 2023, the so-called "Freedom of Expression" academic year.
At the time, former President Martha Pollack championed “learning from difference,” and Cornell displayed itself as an institution that encouraged academic freedom in all disciplines and across the political spectrum. Yet these principles deteriorated over the last two years — the original theme has morphed into a policing apparatus that perpetuates homogenous thought. With the recent violations against Prof. Eric Cheyfitz and previous arrests of pro-Palestinian protestors, this institution has, unfortunately, begun to mirror Columbia University.
During the Student Assembly’s session on Oct. 16, President Michael Kotlikoff had stated that students were welcomed to voice their opinions as long as “time, place and manner” were acknowledged. Restrictions are a natural component of the First Amendment; however, these limitations are “content-neutral.” Yet, as a spectator, I have noticed that Kotlikoff’s limitations have a hidden footnote: politics-induced division is forbidden. It’s a hilarious and embarrassing paradox — the alleged content-neutral limitations maintain “institutional neutrality” in a university that preaches academic freedom. We can go in circles dissecting this but for the simplicity of this column, Cornell’s administration is failing to promote the 2021 Student Code of Conduct's principles, including:
“Free and Open Inquiry and Expression
We are a community whose very purpose is the pursuit of knowledge. We value free and open inquiry and expression — tenets that underlie academic freedom — even of ideas some may consider wrong or offensive. Inherent in this commitment is the corollary freedom to engage in reasoned opposition to messages to which one objects.”
Cornell openly celebrates difference, yet the core of discourse is dismissed in favor of neutrality. The administration is constructing a simple-minded curriculum, packing it with faculty plagued with herd mentality, which explicitly contradicts Cornell's ultimate purpose: “any person, any study.” The “time, place and manner” limitations are applied to “protect” students from division, even though the Code itself champions opposition.
Now, as a senior columnist and editor, I am afraid that I fall under the category Cornell seeks to suppress: division. My sole purpose — along with the entirety of the Opinion Department — is to cause discourse. I stated as such in my introductory column: “discomfort and politics become unwanted acquaintances.” However, Cornell’s current neutrality toward Trump’s university deal and aforementioned paradox may affect my ability to express my opinions freely. In fact, I will divulge that my research interests lie in the development of conservative politics — though I do not subscribe to them — and I am worried that such research may fall in line with “punish, belittle and even spark violence against conservative ideas.” As stated by Brown University President Christina Paxson in a letter to Secretary of Education Linda McMahon, “the compact by its nature and by various provisions would restrict academic freedom…”
Currently, Cornell is an unpredictable paradox. Despite The Sun being an independent newspaper, I am admittedly concerned that we, as opinion columnists who indulge in political discourse quite openly, may find ourselves restricted for a cause rooted in fascist rhetoric.
Thus, in times when our governmental structures fail us, I turn to the people. Our readers are what keep these columns alive. Engaging far beyond simple reading gives us writers ample opportunity to discuss and develop ideas that actually promote academic freedom and diverse thought.
So I ask — no, I implore — you to protect us, to fight for our collective freedom of speech in such tumultuous times, and to stand up against an administration that does not have students’ rights in their best interests. Without division and without difference, we are not students, but instead an unchanging body regurgitating authoritarianism.
Promote division. Protect your columnists.
Hannia Arevalo '27 is an Opinion Columnist and a Government and Near Eastern Studies student in the College of Arts & Science. They also serve as the Graphics Editor on the Cornell Sun's 143rd Editorial Board. A native Texan and proud Mexican-American, their fortnightly column, Ni de Aqui, Ni de Alla, focuses on exploring the intersection between Latino politics, political visibility at Cornell, and the implications of religion in politics. They can be reached at harevalo@cornellsun.com.
