Several organizations on campus are calling for President Michael Kotlikoff to resign following an incident where he drove his car into a current Cornell student and ran over a recent graduate’s foot during a confrontation with people affiliated with Students for a Democratic Cornell on April 30.
The local executive board for the Cornell Graduate Students Union and its affiliated labor union, the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America Local 2300, sent an email to graduate student workers on May 5, calling for Kotlikoff’s immediate resignation.
A group of graduate student organizations added to CGSU-UE’s call for Kotlikoff to resign on May 6 in a letter to the editor sent to The Sun, calling Kotlikoff’s actions “abhorrent, cowardly and unacceptable.”
The incident happened after SDC members followed Kotlikoff out of a Cornell Political Union debate and questioned him about free speech on campus.
After engaging with the students in a "dismissive" manner, according to SDC member Aiden Vallecillo ’26, Kotlikoff entered his car. SDC members stood around the vehicle, blocking its exit. Kotlikoff then backed out of the parking spot, reversing into SDC member Hudson Athas ’27 and running over Vallecillo’s foot in the process before driving away, according to videos obtained by The Sun.
On the morning of May 1, before video footage was released, the president emailed the Cornell community calling the incident “intimidation and harassment," adding that students banged on his car doors and shouted at him, and did not mention any collision between his car and the individuals. Security footage released by the University and phone recordings obtained by The Sun from SDC showed people surrounding the president’s car, but not banging on it.
“I waited until I saw space behind the car and then, using my car’s rear pedestrian alert and automatic braking system, was able to slowly maneuver my car from the parking space and exit the parking lot,” Kotlikoff wrote in the email.
Later on May 1, the University released a statement from Kyle Kimball, vice president for university relations, titled “Video of harassment and intimidation incident at Day Hall” that included a written statement and security footage of the incident.
“We are updating our previous statement to provide security camera footage that shows students following President Kotlikoff to his car and surrounding the car to prevent him from leaving after the Cornell Political Union event,” the statement reads. “This is complete footage of the parking lot interactions, instead of clips to support a narrative.”
The CGSU-UE local executive board criticized Kotlikoff’s “dangerous actions” in their call for the president’s resignation.
“Instead of having dialogue with students about one of the most pressing issues of our times—both on our campus and in the world at large—Kotlikoff escalated a situation to violence, putting the lives of multiple Cornell students at risk,” CGSU-UE wrote. “This lapse in judgment—to intentionally back his car into a group of undergraduate students and drive away—is inexcusable.”
The statement and the letter from the graduate students also criticize Kotlikoff’s past behaviors, writing that he has “persecuted” student workers, “repressed” pro-Palestine student activity and “enabled far-right ideology” by agreeing to a deal with the Trump administration, citing a “long history of oppressing students and workers at Cornell.”
CGSU-UE also released a shortened version of the statement in an Instagram post.
The “discrepancy between the president’s email and the video evidence” has also been criticized by the Cornell chapter of the American Association of University Professors, while the Student Assembly and SDC — a student group focused on reforming Cornell’s Student Code of Conduct — have criticized the University’s actions and response following the incident.
Cornell’s Board of Trustees announced an investigation into the incident in a May 7 email.
“The University is investigating the events that took place on April 30, 2026, involving a group of individuals and President Kotlikoff,” a University spokesperson wrote to The Sun. “The University will take action, as appropriate, based on the results of the investigation and in line with its policies, which are designed to uphold a safe environment for the Cornell community.”
In a May 4 statement posted on Instagram, SDC wrote that it had four demands: that the administration restore an independent judicial system, commission an independent investigation, hold a public meeting with students about the confrontation and end the suspensions of nonviolent protesters.
“Kotlikoff's violent response to student inquiry is just another example of his administration's repressive crackdown on student speech,” the statement reads. “Responsibility does not fall solely on Kotlikoff. Any attempts by the University to make him a scapegoat for an incident they are complicit in is yet another tactic to silence student dissent.”
The Student Assembly Executive Board announced its concern about the University’s response in a May 5 statement posted on Instagram, but did not call for resignation in its statement.
“This administration has historically shown a troubling lack of transparency, especially regarding communications, yet they are quick to issue campus-wide communications that misrepresent student protestors,” the statement reads. “We cannot stand idly by while administrators advance a narrative that appears inconsistent with the evidence available to students.”
In their statement, the Assembly also said they “urge the administration to communicate with honesty, transparency, and care.”
The statement was signed by the Assembly’s newly-elected 2026-2027 executive board.
In an interview with The Sun, Student Assembly President-elect Eeshaan Chaudhuri ’27 explained the Assembly’s concerns, pointing to “false statements” in Kotlikoff’s email that “mischaracterized” the events.
“We felt that it was a breaking of trust,” Chaudhuri said. “I think it was very much so trying to paint a narrative one way, which shouldn’t be the case, and the administration should be more accountable when it comes to its communication to the student body about incidents.”
In its call for resignation, CGSU-UE framed the car incident as part of a larger pattern of “erratic behavior” displayed by Kotlikoff.
Kotlikoff is “disregarding student and worker well-being,” CGSU-UE President Ewa Niżałowska, a fifth year Ph.D. student, told The Sun. “We've seen this very clearly with the way that the expressive activity policy has been rolled out, with the ways that students have been unfairly and unilaterally disciplined for protesting against the genocide in Palestine.”
A Sun investigation found that one protester at a “Pathways to Peace” panel on the Israel-Palestine conflict in March 2025, second-year graduate student Dina Ginzburg, waited 11 months before she was found "not responsible” for Code of Conduct violations.
When asked if CGSU-UE thinks Kotlikoff will adhere to its call for resignation, Niżałowska said CGSU-UE hopes Kotlikoff will “hear the growing chorus of outrage on this campus.”
“Our position is very firm that someone who is unable to model calm and peaceful leadership in this moment should not be at the head of an Ivy League institution,” Niżałowska said.
Everett Chambala is a member of the Class of 2027 in the School of Industrial and Labor Relations. He is a staff writer for the News department and can be reached at echambala@cornellsun.com.
Atticus Johnson is a member of the Class of 2028 in the College of Arts and Sciences. He is the off-campus news editor for the 144th board.
