The Cornell Daily Sun (https://cornellsun.com/tag/kotlikoff/)
Kotlikoff owes Cheyfitz an apology. But he owes the University community something more. He owes us an affirmative, public commitment that going forward University leadership will not respond to inquiries about individual faculty, students or staff with anything beyond a statement of Cornell’s commitment to academic freedom and free inquiry.
At the end of the day, the value of our education at Cornell is contingent upon our ability to take full advantage of it. When the conditions of our country, our town and our campus become too overwhelming, too dangerous to focus, we need to be able to step back and focus on recentering our community. Kotlikoff this semester has deluged our inboxes with more email statements vowing to punish students than promising to help build us up, and that just about sums up the legacy he’s making for himself.
The Faculty Senate shared mixed views on proposed changes to Cornell’s expressive activity policy and a resolution condemning Vice President for University Relations Joel Malina’s statement that “in class activities would be scrutinized” on a private Zoom call.
Cornell declined to answer whether members of six extremist groups would be allowed to speak on campus if invited by a faculty member or student group.
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.
It is not ridiculous to ask the institution that takes my tax dollars to divest from war profiteers. It is not a fundamental misunderstanding to think that Cornell’s administration should not prioritize the speech of weapons manufacturers and the KKK over that of their own students.
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.
Administrators’ fear of issuing proper consequences proves that Day Hall’s residents have been comfortable with a new culture that feeds the egos of rule-breakers.
The administration prefers this approach because their charges — and, in this case, their racialized rhetoric — do not hold up to scrutiny. They hope the public will look away.