Aiden Vallecillo ’26, whose foot was run over by President Michael Kotlikoff during an April 30 incident with a group of students and alumni, was issued a persona non grata notice and one-year campus ban on May 28, according to the notice obtained by The Sun.
Video footage obtained by The Sun shows Cornell University Police Department officer William Carpenter, who served the notice, entering Vallecillo’s off-campus apartment, which Vallecillo told The Sun occurred without his consent.
In the video, Vallecillo and his roommate deny Carpenter permission to enter the apartment and ask if he has a warrant — to which he shakes his head. During the interaction, the officer tells Vallecillo to “just cooperate” and that “it’s not a big deal.”
Vallecillo was banned for “restricting a motor vehicle’s ability to maneuver while it was in motion,” according to the persona non grata notice. He was cited for his "intentional act” that “created a hazardous condition.”
His ban follows another persona non grata and a three-year ban issued on May 4 to Milton Taam ’73, who was present during the April 30 incident, on the basis of trespassing.
In the incident, Kotlikoff reversed his car into one student and ran over Vallecillo’s foot after they surrounded and blocked Kotlikoff’s car, according to video footage. The confrontation occurred after the group followed and questioned Kotlikoff about free expression on campus following a Cornell Political Union debate on the Israel-Palestine conflict.
The Board of Trustees’ Ad Hoc Special Committee, established to investigate the incident, cleared Kotlikoff of wrongdoing and found the actions taken by the students to be “inconsistent with University policy” in a May 15 statement.
Kotlikoff sent the University community a statement explaining that he did not initially believe he hit anyone with his car and that he decided “not to pursue a campus code complaint against the enrolled Cornell students involved in this incident.”
“This decision is not a reflection of the seriousness of their behavior, but a consideration of the realities of our code processes: the public hearings required by the code would grant these students even more of the attention they have been seeking,” Kotlikoff wrote.
Vallecillo told The Sun that CUPD officer William Carpenter entered Vallecillo’s off-campus residence without his consent to serve the persona non grata notice.
“I was most shocked in the moment about the fact that CUPD had violated my Fourth Amendment rights and entered my private apartment — I live off campus — without a warrant, without any permission,” Vallecillo said.
The Fourth Amendment protects U.S. citizens from unreasonable government searches and seizures of their person, personal residence and effects.
Video footage obtained by The Sun shows Carpenter stepping into Vallecillo’s residence before Vallecillo asks him to leave.
Vallecillo told The Sun that Carpenter “let himself in” to the apartment and that his roommate had heard a loud banging on the door.
In the video footage, Vallecillo and his roommate ask Carpenter if he was granted permission to enter the apartment or if he had a warrant, to which Carpenter did not reply or shook his head.
Vallecillo also said that the declaration was “purposely” given to him when the majority of students were gone following the end of the semester.
“It’s their playbook, it’s what the University does every time there is a bubble of student activism,” Vallecillo said. “They slowly, over the course of weeks or months, draw them into sham investigations where they’re suspended. ... They wait for students to become ignorant and then they jump on that to silence their voices.”
A University spokesperson declined to comment on the situation and did not clarify the reasoning behind the timing of when the persona non grata notice was served to Vallecillo.
Zeinab Faraj is a member of the Class of 2028 in the College of Arts and Sciences and a senior editor on the 144th Editorial Board. She was a features editor and assistant sports editor on the 143rd Editorial Board and can be reached at zfaraj@cornellsun.com.
