As the Academic Freedom Committee of the Cornell Chapter of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP), we write in support of our colleague Dr. Eric Cheyfitz, the Ernest I. White Professor of American Studies and Humane Letters in the Department of Literatures in English and a member of the American Indian and Indigenous Studies Program, whose rights of academic freedom and due process have been violated by the Cornell administration.
As The Nation reported last week, in Spring semester 2025, a student filed a complaint under Cornell Policy 6.4, “Prohibited Bias, Discrimination, Harassment, and Sexual and Related Misconduct,” alleging that Professor Cheyfitz had discriminated against the student based on his Israeli national origin during the Spring 2025 course, “Gaza, Indigeneity, Resistance.” Policy 6.4 governs allegations of discrimination and sexual harassment and sets forth procedures for the investigation and resolution of such complaints.
As provided in Policy 6.4, the Faculty Senate Committee on Academic Freedom and Professional Status of Faculty held a hearing to consider the allegation against Professor Cheyfitz. Based on its review of all the evidence, the six-person AFPSF Committee panel concluded unanimously that the Cornell administration had failed to prove its allegation of discrimination. Based on their decision in favor of Professor Cheyfitz, the AFPSF Committee panel further found that the question of sanctions was no longer relevant.
Cornell’s Policy 6.4 unequivocally states: “The dean or equivalent unit head must accept the Committee's findings of fact and conclusions.” There is no exception to this requirement, so this is where the case should have ended. Instead, Cornell administrators disregarded University policy and ran roughshod over the unanimous findings of the AFPSF Committee.
Ignoring the clear mandate of Policy 6.4, the Dean of the College of Arts & Sciences announced that he was recommending to the Provost that Professor Cheyfitz receive a severe sanction of an unpaid two-semester suspension. The Provost likewise cast aside the AFPSF Committee’s findings. Apparently dissatisfied with the result, she ordered new disciplinary proceedings against Professor Cheyfitz, based on the same evidence that the AFPSF Committee had just considered. Another hearing will be held by a new faculty panel, this time constituted under Section 6.6 of the Faculty Handbook. If this were a court of law, the new proceedings would be dismissed as double jeopardy — a bedrock constitutional principle that protects all of us from being subjected to repeated, frivolous prosecutions.
The Provost’s actions thus violate Policy 6.4 and due process. They also demonstrate complete disdain for the unanimous conclusion in Professor Cheyfitz’s favor by his faculty peers on the AFPSF Committee. Why would the Provost ignore mandatory policies endorsed by Cornell’s Administration? The only conclusion we can draw is that she was unhappy with the outcome. This is the height of arbitrariness and it sets a dangerous precedent for faculty members under Cornell’s current administration.
The Provost has claimed that the Committee’s findings were inconsistent with federal law — elevating her singular interpretation of the facts over the considered and unanimous finding of six appointed faculty members. The Provost has implied that a finding of discrimination is required under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits federally funded institutions (including universities) from discriminating on the basis of race, color, and national origin. This misapprehends the mandate of Title VI. Contrary to the Provost’s assertion, Title VI requires that universities promptly respond and investigate allegations of discrimination. This is what Cornell Policy 6.4 is designed to do — and this is what was done in Professor Cheyfitz’s case: the university promptly investigated the facts, held a hearing before the AFPSF Committee, and received the Committee’s findings and conclusions, which the Dean and Provost are obligated to accept.
Adding insult to injury, the Provost has gone even further in failing to comply with Cornell’s own policies by taking punitive action against Professor Cheyfitz even before the second hearing has been held. One week before the start of this Fall semester 2025, the Provost suspended Professor Cheyfitz from teaching this semester, cancelling his two courses, “Contemporary Native American Fiction” and “Thinking from a Different Place: Indigenous Philosophies.” Suspending Professor Cheyfitz violates Section 6.6 of the Faculty Handbook, which allows for an “emergency suspension” only where the faculty member’s “continuance threatens imminent, serious harm to the member, to others, or to property.” There is not a shred of evidence to support this suspension. This is retaliation, pure and simple.
There is no mystery about why the Cornell administration is acting in such an egregiously unfair manner. As the national AAUP stated in its September 19, 2025, letter to Cornell President Kotlikoff:
"We are also deeply concerned that the administration’s action against Professor Cheyfitz has occurred in the context of external political pressure and escalated demands nationwide that higher education institutions restrict what can be said or expressed on campus, especially in relation to the war in Gaza."
Within this national context, the AAUP letter recounts the specific context in which President Kotlikoff criticized Professor Cheyfitz’s course, “Gaza, Indigeneity, Resistance,” even before it was taught:
"[The] investigation [of Professor Cheyfitz] was initiated in the context of fall 2024 complaints from Cornell alumni and faculty to [President Kotlikoff] about the course on Gaza, several months before it was scheduled to be taught in spring 2025. You [President Kotlikoff] reportedly responded to the faculty members’ complaint by stating that you 'shared' the faculty members’ concerns and that you were 'extremely disappointed with the [school] curriculum committee’s decision to offer the course and the course’s apparent lack of openness and objectivity.'"
The political context and President Kotlikoff’s bias against Professor Cheyfitz’s course explains the vehemence with which the Dean and Provost seek to impose an extreme disciplinary sanction on Professor Cheyfitz. Given his own negative views of the course content, the President is hardly a neutral arbiter, underscoring the importance of deferring to the findings of a properly constituted faculty committee. Should the Provost and President continue to override the decision of the AFPSF Committee, it will signal a dangerous double standard for those who speak out about topics disfavored by the current Presidential administration.
The Cornell administration’s actions violate Professor Cheyfitz’s academic freedom and due process rights under Cornell’s policies and under the principles of the AAUP. But it is not too late for the Provost to rectify the situation. We call on the Provost to immediately dismiss all charges against Professor Cheyfitz and to accept the Cornell Faculty Senate AFPSF Committee’s unanimous decision in favor of Professor Cheyfitz.
Signed,
The Cornell Chapter of the AAUP Committee on Academic Freedom
Risa Lieberwitz
Sandra Babcock
Eli Friedman
Bianca Waked
Dan Hirschman
Paul Nadasdy
Suman Seth
Risa Lieberwitz is a professor of Industrial Labor Relations. She can be reached at rll5@cornell.edu.
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