I don’t think this is going to be the end of this matter.
If school were still in session there would be protests happening.
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I honestly wonder where law enforcement was in the aftermath.
I think the kids are guilty of harassment at a minimum.
Most of you think the Chancellor is guilty of assault at some level.
I wonder where law enforcement was and is on all of this ?
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Law enforcement was quoted saying there was no criminal wrong doing on anyone’s part, students or the president. And the Ithaca police said it wasn’t their jurisdiction so they left it to campus police, which the students say can’t be unbiased, and around and around it goes.
I still don’t get how you don’t know a person is behind your vehicle with modern tech. Our car would have been beeping up a storm if we tried to back into someone.
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Perhaps laws should be put on the books - and there likely is in some states - that blocking a car in for no reason is not legal.
At the same time, some have “stand your ground” laws - which in theory could be in play here if you felt threatened.
I personally don’t like those types of laws - but those states that put them in (not to get political) put them in for a reason.
I wonder if something like either of those - blocking or stand your ground (non gun) would be appropriate here.
I’m surprised the students weren’t charged. I’m glad Cornell, at least, called them out. That’s what the video showed (to me).
Thanks for adding the police info.
Law enforcement probably wants to stay far away from it, because nothing good will come out of it for them if they do anything – they will be blamed for being biased no matter what they do, given that this incident is politicized based on Israeli / Palestinian politics (i.e. facts are unlikely to matter, compared to political alignment or affinity, in people’s opinions on the matter).
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I think @momofboiler1 is right - this isn’t the end of it.
The Trustees will be seen as having management’s back, if you will. And maybe people will continue to protest the President. He’ll certainly lose the respect of many in the campus community, already has.
So perhaps he’ll eventually make a decision to leave (with a nice buyout I’m sure).
It will depend on if people move on or continue to keep this an issue in town or on campus, etc.
Timing is on the President’s side since classes are over for the semester but we’ll see what happens in August when classes resume.
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I think the protests would be minor. Most Cornell students seem to have moved on. And most of the chatter on Cornell parent groups is in support of the president. And he’s still scheduled to speak at graduation next weekend.
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What is curious to me, is , the students who were questioning President Kotlikoff, were asking him about the Punishment of students during the Willard Straight Hall sit-ins, regarding civil rights of black students on campus.
An alum is the only one punished so far:
“ Milton Taam ’73 received a persona non grata from the Cornell University Police Department on May 4, banning him from campus for three years. Taam received the persona non grata on the basis of trespassing after being present for the April 30 incident where President Michael Kotlikoff was questioned on free expression and drove into a student on campus.
The persona non grata was issued to Taam on the basis of trespassing on Cornell property, specifically in the Day Hall Parking Lot, according to the persona non grata obtained by The Sun. Taam is prohibited from entering any grounds owned by Cornell for three years unless approved by the chief of CUPD.
In an interview with The Sun, Taam said the trespassing charge “makes no sense.” Taam also said that the officers who delivered the persona non grata “didn’t at all” explain the charge to him.
CUPD did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
“The persona non grata order is basically a formalized notice that Cornell gives to individuals saying, ‘you do not have our permission to be here, and therefore entering onto Cornell property in the future will be treated as a trespass,’” said Prof. James Grimmelmann, Tessler family professor of digital and information law, to The Sun.
The persona non grata was issued in response to the incidenton April 30 in which a group of students and alumni followed Kotlikoff from a Cornell Political Union debate centered around the Israel-Palestine conflict and surrounded his car to ask questions about free expression on campus. Video footage obtained by The Sun shows that Kotlikoff backed into a student and ran over the foot of a recent alumnus after the group blocked his car.
Taam attended the CPU debate with his wife, Barbara Taam ’74. After finding out that Kotlikoff attended the event, the two handed him their book, Palestine — People, Land, and Solidarity — With Our Own Eyes.
After the CPU event, Barbara went to give a copy of their book to the featured speaker, Norman Finkelstein, while Milton went to Kotlikoff to “give him a face to associate with the book,” he said.
Milton then noticed a group of students asking him questions about free expression on campus and decided to act as a “citizen photojournalist” and record their interactions, he said.
Milton said that he noticed a difference in the way that Kotlikoff and former Cornell President James Perkins — who was president when Milton was a student — responded to student protestors. Perkins was president during the Willard Straight Takeover in 1969, in which Black students occupied Willard Straight Hall for 36 hours demanding racial justice and an improved judicial system on campus.
“I remember … Perkins spent the whole night in Barton Hall talking with students,” Milton said. “Kotlikoff couldn’t spend two minutes.”
Milton walked with the students as they followed Kotlikoff to his car and filmed that exchange as well.
“I heard that one of the students [was] bumped or run over … so I knocked on Kotlikoff’s window,” Milton said, in order to tell Kotlikoff that “‘some students have been hit … but then [Kotlikoff] didn’t seem to respond at all.”
Four days later, Milton received the persona non grata for trespassing that night.”…
That his style (Kotlikoff is different) doesn’t make him wrong. But it stinks to be a loyal alum, to the point, you come to campus for the event and they ban you.
If he has kids, he might decide to love their university instead.
That’s kind of weak. Free speech - if he wasn’t impeding. And if true, he was just warning him to stop before he hurt another.
Odd - I thought the police weren’t there - so not sure I understand the order of events.
Well, I guess 27 won’t be making it a priority to visit Cornell or consider it as one of their reaches…. (has enough anyway…) Kid saw video and was like “WTH? Why doesn’t he call the campus police? He must have their direct line… is he in that much of a hurry? Is he senile and confused by all the beeping in his car and (maybe?) autobraking? he probably doesn’t know what it is”.
Regardless, I am increasingly wanting to make a “law” that anyone over about 72 (which includes him) should not be president/CEO or leading anything at this point IMO… I personally have seen a real decline in almost all family members outwardly at about 73-74, which I think means that inwardly probably starts at 72. I realize this is arbitrary and impossible to enforce. lol.
At least the President admitted he should have stayed in his car and “locked his doors” which almost certainly were locked anyway; he had a newer car is my recollection and most IME lock automatically nowadays. Also, if one takes driver’s ed (which he is too old to have done, probably) they always teach you to lock them first. It is a safety thing (not for people breaking in but is safety in an accident I believe)
His statement vs. the video is problematic, and the investigation seemed to be all about the students, w/o interviewing the students so we will still don’t really know what they were saying, or not….
”In a statement, the students involved in the incident criticized the investigation as biased and called for a “public meeting” with Dr. Kotlikoff to discuss free speech issues at Cornell. They accused Dr. Kotlikoff of trying to “disparage” them, and said they had not been contacted by the trustees “or any independent investigator.” The trustees said that none of the students provided “sworn statements” to Cornell campus police about the incident.”
I also hadn’t realized until I googled that the President himself is Jewish, which adds a layer to this I hadn’t gotten. I can see why the committee was extra freaked out.
Anyway, Cornell must be happy kids are gone for summer..
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There were also prior instances where Kotlikoff made decisions which involved Israeli / Palestinian politics, which probably primed some students’ views on him with respect to Israeli / Palestinian politics before this most recent incident.
Well, if nothing else, we can file this incident under the ever-growing category of: “Things we see with our own eyes that we are supposed to disbelieve or disregard because someone in a position of authority tells us to.”
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“Vallecillo complained that his freedom of speech was being denied because Kotlikoff didn’t answer his questions about campus speech policies.
However, the university accused the group of harassing and intimidating Kotlikoff after the campus debate series hosted by the Cornell Political Union and co-sponsored by Cornell Progressives, Cornellians for Israel and Students for Justice in Palestine.
“The Committee has found that the actions taken by these individuals on April 30th, which included following President Kotlikoff from an evening event into a parking lot and impeding his ability to leave, are inconsistent with university policies governing expressive activity and our standards for respectful conduct, safety, and the prohibition of intimidation,” Cornell’s Board of Trustees ruled after an investigation.
The small squad of rabble-rousers had become notorious around the school community, spewing abuse at Cornell staffers both online and in person, leading to the parking lot disturbance.“
This conduct does deserve punishment, imo.
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That part I knew.
and they did get punished right? they are banned from campus?
Yes.