President Kotlikoff Drives Into Cornell Student and Recent Grad Following ‘Harassment’

President Michael Kotlikoff drove his car into a Cornell student and ran over the foot of a recent graduate following a Cornell Political Union debate on the Israel-Palestine conflict Thursday evening, according to video footage obtained by The Sun. In a Friday email to the Cornell community, Kotlikoff described being followed to his car after the debate and “accosted” by a group of students and non-students who he wrote were “shouting,” “blocking the car” and “banging on the windows” before he left the parking lot. Kotlikoff described the encounter as a “harassment and intimidation incident” and wrote that he “waited until [he] saw space behind the car.” Kotlikoff did not mention any collision between the vehicle and the individuals. Video footage obtained by The Sun shows Students for a Democratic Cornell members Aiden Vallecillo ’26 and Hudson Athas ’27 being struck by the car. In the video, no person can be seen touching the vehicle before it drove into Vallecillo and Athas. Click the link in our bio to continue reading. Article by Varsha Bhargava and Mary Caitlin Cronin Footage obtained by the Sun from Students for a Democratic Cornell Edited by Benjamin Leynse Sophia Dasser, Shubha Gautam and Atticus Johnson contributed reporting