The Cornell Daily Sun (https://cornellsun.com/tag/interim-president-kotlikoff/)
Interim President Michael Kotlikoff and Vice President for Student and Campus Life Ryan Lombardi fielded questions at Thursday’s Student Assembly meeting on the housing process, Greek Life, protected speech and co-op funding.
All across the country, there is a battle taking place for free speech and the future of university education. Swarthmore students face expulsion for using bullhorns, Penn police launched an early-morning raid on a student’s home, Harvard banned silent library “study-ins” and is actively intimidating faculty over their speech. At Muhlenberg College, a tenured professor was fired for social media posts about the genocide.
Coming back to the question the student asked, no one has been referred for their speech, and free expression remains fully protected at Cornell. But we must understand the difference between protected speech and speech or actions that are designed to suppress the speech and rights of others.
Black Students United said the University is not providing due process in an international graduate student’s suspension since administrators refuse to bargain with the Cornell Graduate Students Union.
To some extent, the conversation, however tedious, is the point: the fact that we’re discussing the process or severity, rather than the policy itself — or god forbid the genocidal horrors Taal and others were protesting — takes up air and emboldens Kotlikoff.
A pro-Palestinian international student has been barred from campus after participating in a disruption of a career fair attended by defense contractors L3Harris and Boeing.
The Sun questioned Interim President Michael Kotlikoff on protester repercussions, institutional neutrality, the Class of 2028 demographic data and financial aid.