At 9 a.m. on October 10, 2024, I was preparing to leave for my discussion section. As I grabbed my bag and prepared to head out the door, my phone rang. The caller ID read Cornell University Police Department. My heart began to race, I could already predict what the call was for. Petrified, I let it ring, and ring again. After an uneasy silence, a notification that I had received one voicemail lit my screen. The voicemail then started with, “Hi Yihun, this is Investigator [John Doe] with Cornell Police … I have some charges that I need to charge you with. I need you to turn yourself into the Cornell University Police Department.” Mere hours later, I received notification of my temporary suspension from Cornell University. I don’t lead with this simply for dramatic effect, but because it’s an example of how Cornell treats those who fight for change.
My name is Yihun Stith and I was born in the south of Ethiopia as the youngest of seven children. At three years old, I was tasked with selling CDs on the side of the road and watching our animals. My life radically changed after the passing of my biological parents. My siblings put me up for adoption, which led to my current parents bringing me to America. Comparatively, I was stepping into a world of unimaginable privilege. I didn’t have to share a room with 6 other siblings. I no longer was forced to work in order to support my family. I had been given a lottery ticket and I knew I could not waste it. So when I received an acceptance letter from Cornell, I felt I had vindicated my siblings. I was living the American dream. “Any person, any study” included me.
Cornell had allowed me to realize that dream. My freshman year was solely focused on my computer science degree. The degree would be the final step in making both of my families proud. However, my priorities shifted after the start of the genocide in Gaza. This utterly destroyed my vision of the world, America, and Cornell. My naivete had led me to believe that genocide was impossible in the modern age. That America, the country that developed me, could never reach such a level of depravity. And that Cornell, a university for “any person, any study,” would never use the shield of “institutional neutrality” to avoid contending with the eradication of a people.
After months of watching Gaza bleed, it felt restless to stay idle. Learning of Cornell’s ties to weapons manufacturers and collaboration with an Israeli technical institute, I joined campus organizing. In March 2024, I supported the Day Hall sit-in during the Board of Trustees meeting. In April, I helped lead a historic divestment referendum in which 70 percent of students voted to cut ties with weapons manufacturers complicit in the war. That spring, I co-planned the Palestine Solidarity Encampment on the Arts Quad. And in September, I organized and joined the Statler Hall Career Fair protest targeting two weapons firms. For that action, Cornell imposed a three-year persona non grata order and a temporary suspension.
Today, Cornell’s administration continues to ignore the genocide in Gaza. From abandoning commitments to diversity to failing to protect its international students, Cornell has completely forsaken its morality and principles to the Trump administration. For much of my time here, Cornell has failed to live up to its highest ideals when financial interests are involved. My column, “Stand up, Fight Back,” explores the political structures and power dynamics that shape life at Cornell. Through analysis, critique, and calls to action, the column challenges Cornellians to engage with the world beyond the campus bubble and to fight for a more just and accountable university.
I truly believe that Cornell on paper is one of the best educational institutions in the world. In my short time here I’ve met students who are olympic level athletes, elected officials, union organizers, skilled orators, future engineers, politicians and leaders. Cornell’s motto, “any person, any study,” on a personal level still rings true in my heart. Many of my columns criticize the actions of this institution, not because I hate it, but because its ideals and existence are worth fighting for.
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Yihun Stith '26 is an Opinion Columnist and a Computer Science and Government student in the College of Arts & Sciences. His fortnightly column, Stand Up, Fight Back, explores the political structures and power dynamics that shape life at Cornell. Through analysis, critique, and calls to action, the column challenges Cornellians to engage with the world beyond the campus bubble and to fight for a more just and accountable university. He can be reached at ystith@cornellsun.com.
