In between chants invoking items usually found in the catch-all liberation toolbox, it seems that University President Michael Kotlikoff, from his Herman Miller Eames lounger, somewhere in Day Hall, heard one more loudly than the rest.
Palestinians, transgender students’ rights, the Gayogo̱hó:nǫˀ and, of course, ‘Justice for Jane Doe,’ were natural talking points for organizers seeing no opportunity more fitting for breaking out the syllabus to Intersectionality 101. But underlying the dialectics of the Oct. 6 rally was the de facto indictment of Cornell’s archenemy: the fraternities. In a campus-wide email sent out on Tuesday morning, Kotlikoff made the fatal decision of imposing collective punishment unto the common man’s devil.
Typical of the administration’s retroactive and historically unhelpful statements, the buzzwords delude students aware of its shortcomings and imagine our institution on the frontlines of a manufactured culture war.
Charging himself with “sustain[ing] real change into the future,” Kotlikoff has, in the order listed, banned all fraternity events held in houses “pursuant to the ‘Student Organization Recognition Policy;’” reinforced the Title IX office with new officers and allowed New York State to proceed with “trauma-informed” investigations; and addressed the “duty of care” owed to survivors through the charmingly named Presidential Task Force on Sexual Assault.
To the ‘Flyover Freddy’ type or New York Times op-ed fanatic, these words come as sweet relief. An untouchable college known to propel promising scholars into suits has conceded the fight, and institutional change is underway. If only! Yet to students like you and me, it’s common knowledge that the University often facilitates the problems it seeks to sweep away.
Kotlikoff, falling in line with his fellow discredited liberal elites, should know better than to solve complex problems with simple solutions, and through in-house changes, no less. The commands ratified, especially the fraternity party ban, will only backtrack from the promised “first steps towards systemic change.”
Does anyone actually believe that shuttering frat doors, almost all overseen by the school, won’t result in a massive spillover into the annexes on the streets of Cook, Eddy and Catherine? Will increased administrative bloat be a cost the budget can reasonably bear when our new sexual assault counselors are left twidling their thumbs, after Greek Life exits Sorority and Fraternity Life’s jurisdiction? Can cracking down on alcohol and drug use seamlessly rid the hill of their allegedly “deeply disturbing prevalence” — or will students already restive over the mediocre social scene resort to consumption out of the school’s purview? One might’ve hoped these questions made it to the desk of the people in charge, but it’s much too late for takebacks.
Using the fraternity system as his scapegoat, Kotlikoff and his academically decorated goons have demonstrated their neglect of students’ voices and rights of association, demonizing alone a keystone of the social infrastructure and, well, Keystones. They believe blanket bans — not diligent reevaluations of campus’s bad eggs through rigid adjudicative procedures — can save face. His reckless decision, harping on not only the wants of a small minority of the school, but the now-international court of public opinion, is perhaps the most damning evidence of who our leadership really reports to: the mob. In trying to screw over the ‘patriarchy,’ he has screwed us all.
Setting aside the internal implications of the statement, Day Hall has made it clear that it prefers the easy route. Pandering to its potential applicants and donors ashamed by association, Kotlikoff tried flattering high school counselors whose students “might feel conflicted” about applying, shortly after sending down the hammer. In singing ‘Kumbaya’ for the American press and dozens of low-level reporters presumably still camped out next to Collegetown Bagels practically begging for another kernel for their beat, we the students come to realize the ordeal is, and never really was, about us.
Cornell does not care about Jane Doe. Neither does it seek a peaceable environment for our healthy academic and social cultivation. When the sun sets over Cayuga, we can safely assume that little beyond cobwebs, visions of Tel Aviv’s beaches and estimating when David Duffield ’62 will fund a particle accelerator of our own is circling through the President’s mind.
Hence, it is on us to manifest our will to, in Kotlikoff’s words, “provide actionable ways we can improve.” That begins with continuing to make our voices heard, as we so commendably did last Monday. It’s furthered by associating on our own terms in a safe and responsible manner; and acknowledging the necessary, mutual obligations owed from men to women, and vice-versa.
And it most certainly means having a stellar Homecoming this weekend, despite the toils.
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Francis Xavier Jaso '28 is an Opinion Columnist and a Government and Economics student in the College of Arts & Sciences. His fortnightly column A Contrarian’s Calamity defies normative, dysfunctional campus discourse in the name of reason, hedonism and most notably, satire. He can be reached at fjaso@cornellsun.com.
