It was unnerving seeing a crowd of Cornell students, some of whom I have sat next to in class, call for the destruction of the only Jewish country in the world. Yet, as the local Hillel students said, the rhetoric was “shocking, but unsurprising.”
Lederman believes Ithaca has incredible potential; however, he believes the local government must be aggressive in pursuing new solutions to the problems faced by the local community, eschewing the ‘go slow’ attitude of other politicians.
The President answered questions about the Coulter disruptors, free expression, a graduate student workers union, and Research Training and Extension Faculty.
Pollack began the announcement by reaffirming Cornell’s commitment to the “twin freedoms” of academic freedom and freedom of expression. Both, Pollack said, are foundational to Cornell’s identity and values.
“Cornell is not alone in terms of having had an incident where a speaker was shouted down,” McGuire remarked.
Unfortunately, Cornell has instead enacted a complicated and much-misunderstood enforcement mechanism under Title IX and Cornell Policy 6.4 that regulates all communications between students — online, face-to-face, in classrooms, in the dorms, outside, and even off-campus.
President Pollack addressed the assembly for the first time following the high-profile rejection of Resolution 31, which would have mandated trigger warnings in classrooms.
The University Assembly considered a resolution to safeguard against opioid overdoses, examined the rights to speech and protest, and discussed structural changes to the governing body.
This organization is a registered student organization of Cornell University