Paul Sawyer is a Professor Emeritus in the College of Arts and Sciences and a Stephen H. Weiss Presidential Fellow.
President Michael Kotlikoff’s extraordinary outburst on April 30 casts a harsh light on what the past two years in office have done to Cornell — and what we may have to look forward to. This context is crucial. The president’s behavior casts a harsh light on what the past two years in office have done to Cornell — and what we may have to look forward to.
A brief summary of Kotlikoff’s treatment of dissent can begin with the last time Cornell was subjected to ridicule and criticism by the national media. In Fall 2024, the administration put an international graduate student at risk of deportation by suspending him from campus for taking part in a nonviolent political action. At the same time, the Cornell University Police Department suspended 30 other students for temporarily disrupting a career fair in Statler Hall. As has often been pointed out, the Student Code of Conduct defines the temporary suspension as an extreme measure, designed solely to protect members of the campus community from an imminent threat of danger (say, a stalker or serial rapist), which can last only until a hearing can be arranged (say, within several days). As if to anticipate Kotlikoff’s own false statements on April 30, the police complaints in 2024 converted a nonviolent disruption into a violent action (one claim was hearing loss on the part of CUPD members). The University’s internal judicial system then delayed many hearings indefinitely, forcing most students to plea bargain — euphemistically called an “alternate resolution” — without the right of a hearing where the University would have to prove a violation of the Student Code of Conduct.
The point to grasp is that no article in the code authorizes this type of punishment: The indefinite suspensions were essentially a new disciplinary measure applied under an old name. Although the administration insisted its punishments were unrelated to politics, a PowerPoint presented to the Faculty Senate showed that the penalty was only imposed on students protesting the war in Gaza — that is, on the members of a peace movement. In short, since his first months as president, Kotlikoff has been punishing dissent under a state of virtual martial law. The intent to restrict freedom of speech was so obvious that the Faculty Senate voted last fall to revise Kotlikoff’s (already revised) Expressive Activity Policy.
When the administration came back with its own version of the Student Code of Conduct for a comment period, the revised definition of temporary suspensions expanded the administration’s power to impose “emergency suspensions” and failed to name a time limit for a hearing. The proposed revisions give the administration even more power to impose temporary suspensions — a fact that may have given Kotlikoff the boldness to make his fiery statement on May 1.
For the immediate future, the main concern is for students — but what affects some affects all. Those who either feel loyal to Israel or feel they are not affected by the fates of chanting, protesting students or do not teach controversial courses, may feel they have nothing at stake in last week’s events. But Kotlikoff has just shown that his willingness to punish members of the community need not have anything to do with Israel or Palestine, or with anything other than his own explosive temper and extraordinary sense of entitlement. The Cornellian given persona non grata on May 4 is a distinguished alumnus, barred from stepping foot on the campus he spent years at because he tried to speak to the president in his Cadillac SUV.
Even keeping in mind the difficulty of governing a university in the President Trump years, this University administration is the most repressive and reckless I have witnessed in my 50 years as a Cornellian. Kotlikoff has shown himself ethically and temperamentally unqualified to be president. As long as he remains in office, we can expect the campus to be heavy with tension, fear and division. What stands between us and a grim future is a community to speak and take action — this summer, this fall and beyond — in defense of a freer, happier, more democratic Cornell.
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