Since the Gaza Crisis exploded on October 7, Cornell has been struggling on how to allow free expression and policy debates while addressing antisemitism and/or Islamophobia on campus. The topic was discussed at the January Trustee meeting. In a May 31 statement, President Pollack revealed that she had appointed an expert panel to follow up with recommendations. The panel’s May 2 report was kept private until after President Pollack announced her retirement and the students left campus. According to her statement, “Provost Kotlikoff and I have already begun discussing how to socialize the [panel’s] recommendations with our campus community after my retirement and the start of his interim presidency on July 1.”
Panel Members
Pollack described the members as “a committee of expert external advisors who were asked to provide an independent assessment of our approach to this critical work, as well as to offer ideas and recommendations to further it.” The members, who include alumni, bring impressive resumes to their work:
Elizabeth Holtzman served in Congress from 1973 to 1981, where she was instrumental in establishing a “Nazi-Hunting Squad” within the Department of Justice that deported Nazis who had immigrated to the US under false pretenses. Holzman was elected to the Harvard Board of Overseers in 1976, She is Jewish and her district included the Orthodox Jewish neighborhoods of Brooklyn.
Steve Israel served in Congress from 2001 to 2017 and has since served as the inaugural director of the Institute of Politics and Global Affairs at Cornell. Israel is Jewish, and he represented the north shore of Long Island in Congress.
Emad Khalil ‘87 is a partner in the New York City law office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, specializing in cross-border transactions and Islamic financing. He was born in Cairo, Egypt.
David N. Saperstein ‘69 served as United States Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom. He is a rabbi and was chief legal counsel for the Union for Reform Judaism‘s Religious Action Center for more than 40 years.
Robert Satloff is a Middle East scholar and long time Executive Director of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.
Michael Ullmann ‘80 was long-time Executive VP and General Counsel of Johnson & Johnson.
In terms of generational perspective, the panel members lived through the 1967 Six Day War and the 1973 Arab Oil Embargo.
Pollack and the Trustees sought outside advice on the question rather than relying upon the existing shared governance bodies, who many view as having a left-leaning bias. However, the panel members reported that they ”met with a diverse cross-section of Cornell students –including those active in elected campus leadership for undergraduate and graduate students, those prominent in major social and cultural organizations and those who serve in leadership roles of Cornell’s Jewish and Israel-related groups and its Arab and Muslim-related groups.”
Recommendations
The panel issued nine recommendations, which have been approved by outgoing President Pollack as well as incoming Acting President Kotlikoff. It is likely that the Trustee leadership was also consulted between the May 2 report date and its public release following the May Trustee meeting.
The panel reports that both Jewish and Arab students “expressed dismay at what they perceived to be inconsistent application of the rules about protests.”
The panel strongly supported free speech on campus:
“[W]e specifically reject the idea that one needs to compromise in the fight against bias, bigotry, discrimination and hatred in order to safeguard a commitment to free and open expression or vice versa. To the contrary, we believe these ideas are mutually reinforcing.”
The panel reports that President Pollack agrees with this as well.
In addition to praising on-going initiatives, the panel suggested nine additional steps. First, expanding new student orientation to cover antisemitism and anti-Islam bias. The panel recommends publicizing the availability of the bias reporting system. However, most conservatives have criticized Cornell’s anonymous bias reporting system on a number of grounds which were not discussed in the panel’s report.
Second, reviewing the survey system that Cornell uses to measure student satisfaction to include bigotry. Bias or discrimination.
Third, hiring additional faculty and post-doctoral fellows in the areas of antisemitism, anti-Muslim or anti-Arab bias and bigotry.
Fourth, expanding Cornell’s website to include statements that align Cornell with the national strategy to combat antisemitism and to adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) working definition of antisemitism. Of course, the encampment demanded that Cornell do the exact opposite and declare that anti-Zionism is by definition not antisemitic.
Fifth, Cornell’s expertise in negotiation and mediation should be used to promote civil discourse between groups with differing positions on the mideast.
Sixth, “Clarify policies around institutional support for speakers, events and the activities of student groups and determine whether there is a need for additional policies.” In other words, make clear when Cornell itself is endorsing a speaker in contrast with a student group inviting a speaker onto campus.
Seventh, a faculty group should study and revise Cornell’s policy on faculty use of social media..
Eighth, Cornell should engage with parents and alumni on antisemitism and other forms of bias. Communication channels could inform these groups about Cornell’s efforts and progress.
Ninth, organizing a high-level academic forum to advance peace and stability in the Middle East.
The bottom line is that the experts recommend bringing an academic approach to studying the Middle East situation, with scholarly inquiry and debate, rather than trying to resolve the issue through exercise of raw political power and demonstrations seeking to escalate hate on campus. The basic assumptions underlying the panel’s recommendations is that each member of the Cornell community must decide on his or her own rather than be coerced into advocating a particular solution. In that sense, the expert panel rejected the approach and assumptions of the pro-Palestine protesters. The panel opposes Cornell taking any side on the ongoing public policy dispute.
Although the protesters frame the issue in terms of “oppressor – oppressed” and used that common framework to make its first demand to address Native American / Indigenous land claims, the panel avoided that framework. Instead, new student orientation and other anti-bias work will emphasize communications rather than the “oppressor-oppressed” dichotomy. The panel did not adopt the protesters’ philosophy of “mutual liberation,” leaving that to the Cornell staff.
Cornell faculty and student affairs staff have not had an opportunity to react to the panel’s recommendations. The panel’s report may harmonize with Day Hall, but can it play in 626 Thurston Ave.?
