GUEST ROOM | It’s Time for Cornell Alumni To Withhold Financial Donations

I am a member of Cornell Courage, an alumni organization standing in opposition to Cornell’s $60 million settlement with the U.S. government. In a statement released after the agreement was announced, President Kotlikoff attempted to assure the Cornell community that “Cornell has not been found in violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 in any of the investigations or compliance reviews of the university’s programs pending at the Department of Justice, Department of Education, or Department of Health and Human Services, and the government has agreed to close all of these investigations and reviews.” Anyone who read the settlement took note that President Donald Trump never agreed to close pending or future Equal Employment Opportunity Commission investigations, yet Cornell signed the agreement and touted it as a victory. We now have confirmation that Cornell naively thought that Trump would leave it alone once it paid a ransom of $60 million. 

Not four months later, Trump is beginning another attempt at extorting Cornell. The EEOC sent an antisemitism survey to University employees that is like surveys sent to many other universities. Cornell finds itself again in Trump’s crosshairs along with Harvard University, the University of California, Los Angeles and the University of Pennsylvania that Trump has also targeted for retaliation using alleged antisemitism as his weapon. Federal Judge Allison Burroughs, who ruled in favor of Harvard in a case brought to challenge the government’s efforts to strip research funding, wrote that the government has used “antisemitism as a smokescreen for a targeted, ideologically motivated assault on this country’s premier universities.” These ‘investigations’ are nothing more than an effort to coerce universities to adopt more conservative policies and pay bribes in the false hope that Trump would leave them alone. The question now is whether Cornell has learned its lesson from its previous decision to capitulate to Trump or make the same blunder again.

Even before EEOC’s dissemination of its antisemitism survey to University employees, Cornell Courage demanded that the University take concrete steps “to protect Cornell’s values, principles” that are under attack by the Trump administration.

In January, members of Cornell Courage had a meeting with the Vice President for University Relations and Vice President for Alumni Affairs and Development, at which time we raised objections to the settlement and demanded information beyond what the University had previously provided. The meeting was highly unsatisfactory because of the administration’s failure to say anything beyond the carefully packaged public relations statements that had been disseminated following the settlement. 

When the Cornell representatives failed to respond as they promised, at the beginning of February, we sent a follow-up letter to the administration’s representatives confirming the information that we had requested. That was more than one month ago, and as of March 24, the administration continues to stonewall us. Here are some of the questions that remain unanswered:

1. The settlement includes Trump’s promise to withdraw all lawsuits and investigations upon Cornell’s payment of millions of dollars. Have all lawsuits and investigations been formally withdrawn? Do any lawsuits or investigations remain open?

2. Is there a list of the lawsuits that have been withdrawn? If so, it must be publicly released. 

3. What specific procedures has Cornell adopted, or will adopt, to ensure that any student data submitted to the federal government as required by the settlement will remain anonymous and not be susceptible to data mining by the government to identify individual students? Why is Cornell opposed to providing advance notice to any student whose data is going to be turned over to the federal government?

4. Why did Cornell agree to the settlement provision authorizing the federal government to share private student data with all federal agencies that include Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Department of Justice, the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI? What guarantees has Cornell received that this information will not target immigrants, foreign students, green card holders and other non-citizens for arrest and deportation?

5. When Cornell collects information about antisemitism, will it also collect and report on responses from students of other religious, ethnic and racial backgrounds, as well as from students of different sexualities and genders?

6. Has Cornell changed the title or names of any offices, programs, course offerings, residences, student centers, other meeting places or buildings or dropped any academic fields or courses following the signing of the settlement?

Until the Cornell administration engages in meaningful discussions about the past settlement and implements safeguards to protect students and the University’s independence, alumni should seriously consider withholding their financial donations to Cornell. In lieu of contributions directly to the University, I propose establishing a separate fund for those donations to be held in reserve until Cornell implements steps necessary to protect student privacy, academic freedom and its commitment to independence from government interference. 

Robert C. Gottlieb ʹ72 is a former member of the Executive Committee of the Cornell Board of Trustees, a member of Cornell Courage and a practicing criminal defense attorney. He can be reached at rgottlieb@gottliebtownsend.com. 

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