The Cornell Daily Sun (https://cornellsun.com/category/opinion/lettersto/)
For “any person any study” to mean anything, the campus must be a welcoming place and not make people who have traditionally been impacted by discriminatory policing tactics feel further discomfort constantly. The creation of a heavily monitored environment will further hinder the University’s commitments to free inquiry and the pursuit of knowledge, hindering debate and stifling dissent.
Tell your representatives to vote for his removal.
Valdez justified the statement by citing ignored reports of messages inciting harm against others. Have we reached a state where it is acceptable to respond with violence to equally harmful statements?
oin us in taking students seriously when they ask the University to invest in education, not in war; when they advocate for a global vision built on solidarity and care.
Kassam articulates a hopeful vision for the way forward.
She goes too far when she
claims that her crude advocacy of mass violence is connected in any plausible way to “free and open inquiry.”
Kotlikoff fails to acknowledge his role in censoring dissent, and by claiming that Cornell does not punish students for expressing themselves, he disregards experiences like mine.
Editor’s Note: This column responds to Seth Berman’s Oct. 29 column titled Your Vote Won’t Matter, But You Still need to use it. I write in response to a recent Sun column that claims the votes of Cornell students “won’t matter” because New York is not a presidential swing state. Although the column ultimately encourages students to vote in spite of this supposed irrelevance, it is irresponsible and ill-informed to claim that our votes at Cornell don’t matter. Despite New York’s solid-blue status on the presidential level — not to mention Ithaca’s political leanings — our congressional district (NY-19) is one of the most competitive in the country.
To those who now possess my green gems, I only have the following to offer.
Flip over your ballot and vote “yes” to Proposition One.
My comments, in response to a question from a participant in the meeting about the KKK, were made in the context of my being challenged on why Cornell is allowing some hurtful speech to take place and to illustrate Cornell’s deep commitment to free expression. In retrospect, it was a terrible analogy that was posed, and a false equivalency, and I should have said as much in response. To be clear, the KKK is abhorrent by any standard, and Cornell University would never invite a representative of the KKK to campus. Any speaker invited by a faculty member or student organization is reviewed by the University Events Team and is only allowed to come to campus if the safety of all in our community can be assured.