The Cornell AAUP Chapter has been closely following the reporting that Cornell University President Michael Kotlikoff hit students with his car following an interaction with them. We have viewed the videos of the incident released by Students for a Democratic Cornell and by Cornell University. We are deeply concerned by the seeming discrepancy between the president's email statement and the video evidence. We are also troubled at the possibility that the president used a campus-wide email to get ahead of a potentially damaging story, characterizing the students’ behavior in quite damning language while excusing his own.
Given the seriousness of the situation, we call for an independent fact-finding investigation. As part of that investigation, we believe President Kotlikoff should respond to the following questions regarding his interactions with the students and whether his choices then and after model the sort of conduct that we expect from University leaders.
- In reflecting on these events, are there alternative actions you could have taken that would have de-escalated the situation, avoided harm to students and moved in a more constructive direction?
- Did you ask students to move before backing out so that you could make sure to avoid hitting them?
- What was the process of deciding that the University should send a campus-wide email in a matter involving an injured student and potential investigations of the conduct of students and of the president? Who was consulted in this process?
- Your email claims that students banged on your car before you backed out. Can you reconcile this statement with the video evidence?
- When did you become aware that your vehicle had hit one or more students? Were you aware when you sent your email on May 1?
- In your email you insisted that the students and alumni involved had disciplinary records, including “bans from campus” for past protest. The students and alumni insist this is not true. Disciplinary records ought to be private under all but the most exceptional circumstances (and are typically covered by FERPA). What was the process by which you decided to make this allegation public?
Answering these questions about this specific incident should be the beginning rather than the end of a larger conversation. This incident occurred in the context of years of tensions between community members and administrators over the role of protests here at Cornell. Notably, the substance of the students’ questions to President Kotlikoff focused on precisely these issues. We support the Students for a Democratic Cornell in their call for more democratic governance on campus, including restoring an independent judicial system, ending suspensions of nonviolent protesters, commissioning an independent investigation of the incident and holding a public meeting between administrators and students addressing these demands.
We should seize this moment to create more opportunities for constructive engagement — including free and open debate and discussions, and meaningful participation by campus governance bodies in University policy-making.
Let’s start now! On May 8, at 3p.m., the Cornell AAUP Chapter is hosting a Zoom town hall/open forum to discuss the incident and broader questions of democracy on campus. The Zoom town hall (link here) is open to all community members.
The Cornell Chapter of the American Association of University Professors is an inclusive and broad based association of teachers and researchers at Cornell, committed to academic freedom, shared governance and education for all. Their president can be contacted at dab465@cornell.edu.
