Videos are available online. At least at the time of the President’s decision to drive, it’s clear that he was mischaracterizing/lying about the students’ actions. They were blocking his vehicle, but I have yet to see pounding, shouting, etc., and he’s clearly reversing more quickly than necessary into a the body of a student that should have been clearly visible.
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Agree! Students have protested since forever now, don’t tell me Cornell doesn’t have protocols around this for administrators.
Can’t imagine Frank Hot Truck Rhodes backing into students!
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There were about 5 protesters. If you were imagining a car surrounded by a sea of kids (which is what I was thinking), that wasn’t the case. No one was touching his car. They were loosely standing behind it.
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Watching that video, he 100% should be fired. You don’t get to run people over because they are standing behind your car. There is no imminent danger here.
Kids were mildly obnoxious at worst. These are college students/young alums, he works with adolescents and passionate young adults. he can sit in his car for 10 minutes, call campus police, or heck 911, they did not look violent in the least from that video (and presumably the campus police would have released video showing them to be if they were).
Yikes. I get he is sick and tired of them but that is NOT ok behavior on his part.
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What I imagined reading the President’s message:
The actual video footage:
Hopefully it won’t take too long for the committee to make a decision on next steps.
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There were more than 5 and the whole interaction was minutes long. They aggressively followed him to his car while shouting questions. And they weren’t loosely standing behind it. They were purposely blocking his exit and refused to move when he initially slowly backed up. That is a crime. Both sides were in the wrong and both sides need to face consequences.
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oh no! I guess I get to do them bodily harm!?
ABSOLUTELY NOT
If someone blocks my driveway, I do not get to run them over. I call the police.
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Again, I never said he should have hit them with his car. Of course he shouldn’t have! But the students also should not have been behind the car.
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right, call the cops. You sound like you are defending his absolutely indefensible actions.
As someone with a 27, who has cornell as a possible on my kids list, I am watching closely honestly
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Where am I defending him? Every post I have made has said the same thing: both parties were in the wrong.
You’re putting words in my mouth.
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It’s like any of these instances - we don’t know what was in his head - is all I’m saying.
Listen, if it’s like you all are saying, then he likely won’t survive this and perhaps will be charged.
But how do you run over someone’s foot - unless they are in your path?
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Did anyone say they weren’t in his path? I don’t think that is in question. Video makes that obvious.
You don’t have an absolute right of way to drive where you want, though. Sometimes one has to wait. I have a crosswalk near my house for an elementary school I have to wait a long time at school time.
I guess there could be some bizarre reason he felt actually in fear for his life, I don’t see how that is possibly possible.
There are videos all over social media of the students walking with him to his car and no one was shouting at him. They were asking tough questions but no one was doing anything that I would consider threatening.
I also saw the entire video of him bumping the student with his car. I would not characterize that as a “hit and run” like some outlets are reporting. The students he bumped and ran over the foot of both looked totally fine and no one was on the ground or looked injured. I think it is reasonable to think that he saw no injuries and it was fine to drive away. And he drove away very slowly.
What bugs me about the whole thing is that he is the university PRESIDENT. He should be well versed in handling these types of interactions. If he felt threatened, call campus security or 911. We live in the world of cell phones. He knew he was being recorded before he even got to the parking lot. To then release the statement he did to try to get ahead of the situation shows such incredibly poor judgement on his part.
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That’s my only point but again, I haven’t watched it - but when I first read the story, he being the President of Cornell, admittedly, I gave him instant credibility whereas perhaps that isn’t deserved.
Then why are you commenting?
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As I noted, I read the article - I didn’t know there was video - and the article made it appear that the President was surrounded, harassed, had no way out, and safely moved away.
And I noted, given his stature, I assumed his description of the events, from which the article was written, was accurate.
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I think this is what he was counting on when he released his statement. And, IMO, a huge part of the problem. That statement was an abuse of his position.
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This is the bone I am picking.
Video on the University’s website
“ Harassment and intimidation incident at Day Hall
May 1, 2026
Dear Cornell Community,
Yesterday evening, I introduced an Israel-Palestine debate series event in Goldwin Smith Hall, hosted by the Cornell Political Union and co-sponsored by, among others, Cornell Progressives, Cornellians for Israel, and Students for Justice in Palestine. The debate was vigorous and civil, and an example of the kind of open discourse that we prize in our academic community.
As I left the event room, I was accosted by a group of several individuals in the hall, among them students and non-students. These individuals are known to Cornell for their past conduct, including a long history of ongoing verbal and online abuse toward numerous members of Cornell’s administration and staff, as well as disruptive protest resulting, in the case of two individuals, in bans from campus.
These individuals followed me from the event space and across campus, while loudly shouting questions and recording on their phones. After answering a few questions, I let them know that I was not planning to engage further, and asked them to stop recording.
Their response to this was, “No, we are not going to stop.” They continued to follow me to my car and then surrounded the car, banging on the windows, blocking the car, and shouting. 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.
As I said in my remarks yesterday, if democracy has a single, foundational skill, it is successful disagreement. A primary goal of a Cornell education is preparing our students to participate productively in civil society; to do this, they must be able to hear different voices, assimilate different perspectives, and build evidence-based understanding.
The behavior I experienced last night is not protest. It is harassment and intimidation, with the direct motive of silencing speech. It has no place in an academic community, no place in a democracy, and can have no place at Cornell.
Sincerely,
Michael I. Kotlikoff
President
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His statement was clearly intended to be pre-emptive, and in it - similar to the tactics of Kristi Noem et al - he attempts to pre-judge the actions of the protesters in order to color public perception. I can’t imagine that Cornell’s legal counsel was pleased that it went out and I wonder if he went rogue in sending it.
Setting aside his piss-poor instincts (hello? Just call campus police you nincompoop!), the release of the email is what should get him fired. He disparages the students and misrepresents the event, which CC video clearly now demonstrates.
No apology. No self-reflection. No admission of poor decision-making. The email is a self-important tantrum. Participating productively in society means not running over people who may be blocking your car.
Truly unbecoming behavior. I hope he is gone before the class of 26 graduation ceremony.
ETA: I think the “banging on the windows” part will be important. He claims that they were banging on his windows, video shows that they were not touching his car at all, even after he started reversing into them.
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Regardless of what else happened, and I have yet to see a continuous video, so maybe someone shouted or pounded on the car, but regardless, the following is a lie: “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”
He didn’t back up slowly, and the kid he backed into would have been clearly visible to anyone with a rearview mirror or back-up camera.
I’m sure the kids were obnoxious. I probably agree with much of their politics, and I find their tactics off-putting, performative and counter-productive. But they don’t deserve to be backed into.
The kid whose foot was run over I feel less sympathy for. Don’t stick your foot behind a tire. Driver can’t see it there.
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