WASHINGTON, D.C. – Cornell University was in the spotlight last year after a student threatened to kill Jewish students. After the new semester started in August, New York Congresswoman Claudia Tenney (R- NY) is concerned about acts of vandalism on campus, how the University is supporting Jewish students and questioning why Cornell reinstated a professor after he made antisemitic comments.
“I heard a lot of students feel unsafe and they don’t feel protected particularly Jewish students,” said Rep. Tenney.
Rep. Tenney recently sent a letter to Cornell University’s interim President on a slew of issues that have been brought up since the new semester started in August. On the first day of school, The Cornell Daily Sun reported activists spray painted “Israel bombs, Cornell pays” and “Blood is on your hands” along the front of Day Hall on campus.
“What we’re concerned about is: what is Cornell doing to protect Jewish students,” said Rep. Tenney. “What are they doing to protect against antisemitism and targeting of certain students on campus where students should be safe in a learning environment. We just havent heard that yet.”
In the letter she sent, the Congresswoman is also concerned about the University’s decision to reinstate Professor Russell Rickford, an associate professor of history. Other outlets report Rickford called the Hamas terrorist attacks in Israel as “exhilarating”. Professor Rickford went on voluntary leave of absence last academic year and later wrote in The Cornell Daily Sun an apology for “the horrible choice of words that I used in a portion of a speech that was intended to stress grassroots African American, Jewish and Palestinian traditions of resistance to oppression.”
Cornell declined an interview but sent us a statement:
“Last October, Professor Russel Rickford made a horrific comment at an off-campus rally in downtown Ithaca. As then-President Pollack and Board Chair Kayser noted at the time, his comment was reprehensible and demonstrated a complete disregard for humanity. Professor Rickford apologized for his comments and took a voluntary leave of absence for the remainder of the academic year.
Consistent with well-established principles of academic freedom, Cornell has a process for considering whether public statements such as those expressed off campus by Professor Rickford at a political rally fall under the category of protected speech, or rather demonstrate prohibited bias, discrimination, or harassment. Given that Professor Rickford’s comments were made as a private citizen in his free time, the university’s academic leadership has concluded that Professor Rickford’s conduct in relation to this incident did not meet that high bar.”
Joel M. Malina, Vice President for University Relations
“Certainly as American citizens we have the right to free speech but free speech that involves violent conduct, inciting violent conduct, and continuing to see aggression targeting towards individual groups is not necessarily protected speech,” said Rep. Tenney. “So that’s where I’m looking to Cornell to keep the students safe, let everyone regardless of where they come from, regardless of what they believe in, come to Cornell and be in a safe nondiscriminatory environment.”
Here are the questions the Congresswoman wants Cornell to respond to:
- What additional resources or guidance is your administration providing to Jewish Cornell students to prevent a repeat of last year? Why should Jewish students have faith in Cornell’s efforts to keep them safe this semester?
- What additional measures is your administration taking to crackdown on hate speech and anti-Semitism? Please share any details regarding your administration’s efforts to investigate and identify students responsible for these actions.
- What is the status of the investigation into the vandalism from the first day of classes?
- Why does Cornell University choose to continue employing Mr. Rickford? If Mr. Rickford made a similar comment under your administration, would that be grounds for termination?
