Update: The Cornell Review is now in possession of 15 of these flyers (see end of article for pictures). Members of the Review found all fifteen in Olin Library scattered throughout several floors. Friday, Sep. 19, 12:21 am.
In several locations across campus, students have reported finding anonymously distributed and written flyers personally attacking a conservative columnist for Cornell’s student newspaper, the Cornell Daily Sun.
The flyers describe the conservative student writers as a “Racist Rape Apologist” and include his name and picture.
The student in the flyers, Julius Kairey, is a senior who writes a bi-weekly column called “Always Right,” and is the Sun’s only vocal conservative on staff. Kairey is unaffiliated with The Cornell Review.
The picture above was taken from a screenshot of the public Facebook group “Overheard at Cornell,” which normally features humorous quotes or conversations allegedly heard on campus. The student who uploaded the picture did so at about midday Thursday and told The Cornell Review that he saw about seven of the posters scattered on a sidewalk in Cornell’s North Campus, where all freshman housing is located.
The student also said he picked up and threw away all the copies he could find. By the time a Review member and the student checked the trash can, the original trash bag had already been dumped out.
Currently the Review cannot ascertain who is responsible for the distribution of these flyers and does not have possession of any physical copies.
Later in the day, the Review became privy to the existence of more flyers located throughout Olin Library in Cornell’s Central Campus. In total, fifteen were collected.
The flyers’ description is most likely a reference to common criticism of Kairey’s recent articles, notably “The Truth About ‘Rape Culture’,” “Islamophobia and Racism,” and most recently “Should California Redefine Campus Sexual Assault?”
Kairey’s articles are often met with calls for his censorship via removal from the Sun’s staff. After he published his article on Islamophobia, the calls were so strident and widespread the Review submitted a Letter to the Editor to the Sun asking critics to respect free speech and open debate.
The Cornell Review is currently in contact with several of Cornell’s administrative offices gathering information about the university’s response to this act and whether it qualifies as libel and/or personal harassment. Kairey reported to the Review that he prefers not comment on the situation right now.
If anyone has more information about who was behind the distribution of these flyers, please reach out to The Cornell Review at cornellreview@cornell.edu. If you wish to remain anonymous, the Review will respect your anonymity.
Julius, strike hard and often, before you accumulate baggage.
good to know neofascists are alive and well at Cornell.
“the calls were so stringent and widespread ” – I think the word you were looking for was “strident”
William, thank you for catching that.
The Leftist takeover of our Universities has been an unmitigated disaster. The comments at the bottom of the Cornell Review are evidence of this. Most of the commentators don’t have two brain cells to rub together. I truly fear for the future of this country knowing that people think this way. It seems to be a mix of self-hatred and Stockholm Syndrome.
Don’t rely on the Keystone Campus Police. When they’re not sleeping or having sexy time with their girlfriends in the parking garage they’re sleeping at the NYSEG distribution node on Maple ave, and their record at getting anything done in the court system in Ithaca is poor at best. Kathy Zoner is one of the worst of them. Involve either the Ithaca police or the State Troopers if you want anything resembling honest police work.
As for Skorton and his lackeys….They’re gone later next year when he wanders off to the Smithsonian. A number of the VPs are currently R.I.C. and will do what it takes to preserve their golden parachute when the new regime takes over. It’s laudable you’re talking to the Cornell administration, but they will first and foremost protect themselves first at your expense. Do not leave outside law enforcement out of the picture.
When you are over the target, you get flak.
I’m not sure I get the outrage here. If you are in favor of free speech, why isn’t the flyer free speech too? It’s cowardly to distribute the flyer without taking responsibility for it, but it’s not something that should be prohibited. I’m particularly surprised that you want the University to look into this. Even the Federalist Papers were written under a pseudonym.
David, I am all for free speech. I support the right of any person to make these flyers. I am not calling for prohibition. The purpose of this article is to expose what happened, not to explicitly call for a university investigation. My contacting university officials is for fact-gathering purposes.
Your comparison to the Federalist Papers does not make sense. The Federalist Papers were a set of opinions and arguments for the adoption of the Constitution, whereas these flyers are 1) without pseudonym and 2) smear Mr. Kairey personally. They are not articulating a reasonable argument about Mr. Kairey’s writing, they are personally attacking him.
A man can be judged by the enemies he makes. If you don’t make demagogic underhanded dirt-bag enemies you aren’t fighting the good fight. That’s what we tell the students at the Stanford Review: you WANT to be taking fire, and so long as you think straight and tell the truth you will always win with the only people who matter: other people who think straight and tell the truth.
Especially go after the professors! The left wing students are just idiots. It is the professors who are truly vile, the eco-liars, the anti-Semites, the anti-feminine lesbian “feminists” who run the women’s studies departments. Nice to see that Julius is doing his job, and that he as a “medal” to prove it. Wear it with pride young sir.
I’ve read the articles written by this student journalist. He raises some good points, even if you disagree with him. If Cornell students are so terrified of his arguments as to personally attack him with flyers, then we are graduating a nation of cowards.