The Cornell Daily Sun (https://cornellsun.com/tag/suspensions/)
The problem runs deep at Cornell. It’s deeper than any one frat, deeper than any generation of students and certainly deeper than can be solved with any one action or suspension. It’s the result of misogynistic, hierarchical organizations that are themselves rotten to the core.
Speakers at an anti-fascism protest organized following Donald Trump winning the 2024 presidential election criticized both major parties’ Israel-Palestine stances and Cornell’s discipline of protesters.
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.
In ignoring antisemitic slurs hurled at Jews protesting on behalf of Palestinian lives, while issuing punishments that bar Jewish students from participating in their chosen Jewish prayer communities, Cornell is inappropriately weighing in on Jewish debates about Jewish values and practice.
As the Cornell University administration continues to threaten Black graduate student Momodou Taal with de-enrollment and deportation we, as organizations representing Black students, want to reiterate that Black students do not feel safe at Cornell.
When it comes to suspensions — particularly for international students who risk losing their visas — the burden of proof must be high, and the process must be transparent and fair to those being disciplined, no matter their political views. The University failed on both points: A student activist is facing serious, disproportionate consequences without the ability to defend himself.
The temporary suspension violates Cornell’s own Student Code of Conduct Procedures, constitutes an extreme and disproportionate punishment imposed without just cause and without due process and violates academic freedom and freedom of expression.
The movement pushing for Cornell to divest from companies engaging in “morally reprehensible activities” in Gaza was a central theme of the Spring 2024 semester.
The Sun asked five students with varying perspectives to reflect on the pro-Palestine encampment on the Arts Quad, which has been up for over a week. They spoke about the protests, the administration’s response and the events at Columbia University that sparked it all.
Nick Wilson ’26 was offered to effectively regain academic credit in exchange for discontinuing his participation in the pro-Palestine encampment. He declined the offer.