The Cornell Grounds Department power washed several student-written chalk messages around campus that criticized the University on Saturday, according to video footage obtained by The Sun.
The messages, which were written by Students for a Democratic Cornell, mentioned recent events, including the University’s involvement with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, its $60 million deal with the Trump administration and an October letter sent to the University by United Nations Special Rapporteurs raising “serious concern” over alleged human rights violations on campus.
The chalk messages included statements such as “YOUR TUITION GOES TO ICE,” “THE UN HAS FLAGGED CORNELL 4 HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS,” “NO FREEDOM OF SPEECH AT CORNELL” and “KOTLIKOFF LOVES TRUMP.” The SDC members wrote the messages at multiple locations, including Ho Plaza, the Arts Quad, the Agriculture Quad and outside Bartels Hall, according to SDC member Soham Bera ’29.
Created in Fall 2025, SDC is a campaign that originally rallied for “a return to a judicial system independent of the University administration” through its support for Resolution 10, a Student Assembly resolution passed in October that called for the voices of elected assemblies to be included in the ongoing Student Code of Conduct revision process.
The SDC members chose to write these messages on Saturday because of Cornell Days, which are tour and information days for admitted students that take place on April 11,12, 18 and 19. The chalkers hoped to inform potential incoming students about “the experience that they could anticipate if they commit to Cornell” regarding free speech and funding cuts, according to SDC member Sophia Arnold ’26.
Multiple members of SDC tabled on Ho Plaza over the weekend, handing out pamphlets and encouraging admitted students and parents to come talk to them.
The Chalking
The SDC members first wrote their initial chalk messages at approximately 2 a.m. on Saturday, but when they checked on the messages around 9 a.m., they saw that their messages had been washed away, according to Arnold. They then re-wrote their messages only for them to be washed away again shortly after, Bera added.
Arnold claimed the power washers were “following [them] around power washing,” immediately erasing any chalk messages SDC wrote around campus on Saturday morning.
Cornell University Police Department officers also arrived at Bartels on Saturday after the messages were erased. CUPD officers told the students that they were not allowed to chalk and asked for their netIDs, according to Arnold.
The students told the CUPD officers that their actions were well within their rights per the Expressive Activity Policy, Arnold said. Eventually, the officers checked the policy, agreed and told the students that their actions were permitted, but that they were going to check their chalk messages to ensure that they were not “inflammatory,” according to Arnold.
The messages outside of Bartels were erased after the students left, according to Arnold.
The Expressive Activity Policy states that speech may only be restricted if it “constitutes harassment, intimidation, or a true threat; that is integral to violence or property damage; that violates the law” or “disrupts essential operations necessary for the teaching, research, patient care, or residential campus missions of the university.” The policy also emphasizes that any restrictions must be implemented with “due process and strict content and viewpoint neutrality.”
The policy does not explicitly reference the use of inflammatory language.
John Hartnett '29 said that the University “use[s] interim suspensions and the Expressive Activity Policy to pressure students and student organizations.”
When The Sun asked the University about why the chalk messages were erased, why students were asked for their netIDs, whether or not these students violated the Expressive Activity Policy and to comment on the sentiments the students expressed, a University spokesperson directed The Sun to the Expressive Activity Policy and wrote that they did not “have any additional information to share.”
Members of the Cornell Grounds Department who were power washing the messages spoke with the SDC members directly when they arrived outside of Bartels again to power wash the re-written messages on Saturday morning. When the students asked why the re-written messages were being erased, the department told them that they “were called by the CUPD,” according to video footage reviewed by The Sun.
Later in the day, when SDC members were writing chalk messages on Ho Plaza, the Grounds Department arrived again. The students first attempted to delay the power washers by standing in front of their truck, according to Hartnett, before standing on top of the chalk messages to prevent them from being washed away.
Hartnett said that the power washer then told the students, “‘If you stand on this, I’ll power wash over you.’”
After the students refused to move, a CUPD officer arrived and stated that the messages were permitted because they “were not any form of discrimination or hatred,” according to Bera.
Bera added that the officer told the students to call him if anyone tried to disrupt their chalk again because the actions of the students were within University policy.
“The real issue is if CUPD themselves acknowledged that our chalk should be here, why was it that CUPD also made the complaint to wash off our chalk?” Bera said.
The students’ messages on Ho Plaza remained intact as of Monday evening.
Giselle Redmond is a member of the Class of 2028 in the College of Arts and Sciences. She is a staff writer for the News department and can be reached at gredmond@cornellsun.com.
Shubha Gautam is a member of the Class of 2028 in the College of Arts and Sciences. She is a senior writer for the News department and can be reached at sgautam@cornellsun.com.
