Momodou Taal, a graduate student leader of the Coalition for Mutual Liberation expressed contempt for the Student Assembly on February 2, after spending four months trying to curry favor with that group in an effort to get the SA to support the pro-Palestine position on the Gaza war. Until the SA voted 4-16 to defeat the resolution advanced by the CML, the CML promoted the SA as the spokespeople for the entire Cornell community. Once the SA actually voted on February 1, Taal denounced their views as illegitimate:
“I want to say yesterday was not a defeat. We don’t take our cue from some bullsh*t Student Assembly at Cornell. We take our cue from the armed resistance in Palestine. We are in solidarity with the armed resistance in Palestine from the river to the sea.”
Taal made his remarks through a megaphone at a 3 p.m. rally in front of Day Hall. Under Cornell’s new Interim Expressive Activity Policy, the use of an amplified sound system is limited. A search of CampusGroups does not show any approved events scheduled for February 2 nor that the CML has registered as a student organization. So, Taal was not only showing contempt for the SA but also for the new rules governing protests. Cornell has yet to release a statement on students expressing support for militant groups.
