President Martha Pollack announced that she would retire on June 30, which left many Cornellians surprised by her decision. Michael Kotlikoff was named as Interim President for the following two academic years, to be followed by a national search. Kotlikoff, in turn, named John Siliciano ’75, Professor of Law as interim Provost, with Dean Kavita Bala serving as the next Provost starting January 1, 2025 for a five year term.
To add to the changes in Day Hall, a key player in Day Hall’s management of student conduct and protests, VP for Student and Campus Life Ryan Lombardi is taking a sabbatical during the 2025 Spring Term. Instead of appointing one person to fill his role, Lombardi has asked that his duties be shared between Dean of Students Marla Love and Jenny Loeffelman Assistant Vice President for Student and Campus Life.
VP for University Relations Joel Malina announced that he was leaving on Jan. 5. Katheryn Boor ‘80 announced that she will step down as Dean of the Graduate School and Vice Provost on June 30, 2025.
Pollack received quite a sendoff and many expressions of appreciation at the Joint Trustee – University Council Weekend in October. Pollack’s detractors were primarily far left students and faculty as well as the Cornell Daily Sun.
Regulation of On-Campus Protests
Until August 2021, Cornell had Rules for the Maintenance of Public Order which addressed the time, place and manner restrictions on protests or other expressive activities. Although these were well accepted by both the campus and the Board of Trustees, President Pollack recommended that the Board repeal them and replace them with a student-only conduct code which did not address limitations on protests. Seeing this important gap, over winter break, Day Hall drafted an Interim Expressive Activity Policy without consulting the University Assembly (UA), the shared governance group with jurisdiction over campus codes conduct. The rules were announced in January 2024 to resolutions of condemnation.
On March 11, 2024, Pollack announced changes to the policy. Finally, Kotlikoff announced a tiered approach toward issuing suspensions of students and others pending a full hearing for disruptive protests.
In late spring, Pollack appointed the Cornell Committee on Expressive Activity chaired by Colleen L. Barry, dean of the Cornell Jeb E. Brooks School of Public Policy. The Committee rewrote the policy and called for a new standing Cornell committee on the subject. However, instead of conceding that the policy should be adopted by an elected shared governance body such as the UA or the Faculty Senate, their recommendations will be enacted by a Day Hall policy-making committee.
The original plan was to release the new draft at the end of September with the Committee meeting with the shared governance groups during October. Seeing a harsh reception, the release of the report was delayed to the end of November with cynics noting that students and faculty are too busy with final exams and grading papers as the semester draws to a close.
The Committee held a well-attended open forum on December 3 with written comments accepted through December 9. The Committee issued a revised report on December 19.
Problematic Protests
The Coalition for Mutual Liberation, following a nation-wide playbook, staged an encampment protest on the Arts Quad in front of Sibley Hall, which ended after six students were suspended. The encampment lasted from April 25 to May 13. The protest sought divestment from weapon manufacturers, an end to Israeli troops in Gaza and reparations for lands taken from Native Americans. Cornell uniquely tied its pro-Palestine protests to indigenous land claims.
In April the Student Assembly conducted a non-binding undergraduate referendum on an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and divestment from weapon manufacturers, which passed with a 2 to 1 majority. Protests following that focused upon Day Hall’s disregard of the referendum’s outcome.
CML Encampment
Dall Hall and the Trustees ignored the protesters’ demands. CML then escalated, including a disruption of President Pollack’s last State of the University address at the June 2024 reunion, along with vandalizing the front of Day Hall. The CML then disrupted an ILR Career Fair in the Statler Ballroom where a number of employers were interviewing, including Boeing and L3Harris. Cornell took disciplinary action against all the protesters they could identify.
The CML also demonstrated outside the October Trustee – Cornell Council meetings and even at Willard Straight Hall on the last day of classes. All of these events – which violate the policy – were designed to test the system as well as to force Cornell to address the CML demands. Ultimately, CML did not move Day Hall from its positions.
Campus Speakers
The year saw a number of controversial speakers come to Cornell without disruption. The Cornell Republicans sponsored Ben Shapiro, who held a very lively question and answer session. The MLK Commemoration Committee brought Kimberlé Creshaw ‘81 to Sage Chapel in a format that did not allow for questions from the audience. The entire lineup of that program were black women with neither men nor other groups being represented.
The Cornell Review cosponsored Robert Platt ‘73 to discuss the state of free speech at Cornell.
Then-Provost Michael Kotlikoff brought Ann Coulter ‘84, the co-founder of the Cornell Review, to discuss immigration on April 16, 2024. The question period for that speech was disrupted by Prof. Monica Cornejo of the CALS Communication Department. Cornejo is the only tenure-track DACA faculty member in the nation, and charges were filed against her for disrupting the lecture.
Nadine Strossen, Michael Kotlikoff and undergraduates Talia Dror ’24,Trustee J.P. Swenson ’25,Rodge Reschini ’24 and Patrick Kuehl ’24
The Spring semester marked the final semester of the Freedom of Expression Theme Year that included a talk by Nadine Strossen, former longtime ACLU President. Strossen also addressed the Trustees at their January 2024 meeting in New York City.
Anti-Semitism
Although the Oct 7, 2023 raid on Israel kicked off the manifest anti-semitism expressed by pro-Palestinian protester, the trend intensified in 2024.
On June 13, 2024, Talia Dror ‘24 testified before the House Ways and Means Committee on “The Crisis on Campus: Antisemitism, Radical Faculty, and the Failure of University Leadership.” Dror said, “The [Day Hall] message was very clear: rules are meaningless, and lawlessness is rewarded when it promotes an anti-American agenda.”
Prof. Russell Rickford, whose controversial remarks in October 2023 caused him to take a leave of absence for the Spring 2024 semester, returned to Cornell for the Fall 2024 semester. He made controversial remarks at a number of rallies and protests.
Meanwhile, Prof. Eric Cheyfitz, who is Jewish, got approval for a Spring 2025 class on “Gaza, Indigeneity, Resistance” which draws parallels between Israel’s treatment of Palestinians with the U.S. ‘s treatment of Indigenous Americans. His course proposal drew criticism from Adjunct Prof. of Law, Menachem Z. Rosensaft. Rosensaft sent a private letter of protest to Kotlikoff who responded privately, noting the anti-semitism but defending Cheyfitz’s rights to academic freedom. The private communications leaked to the press, resulting in the local American Association of University Professors chapter issued a lengthy statement that said Kotlikoff’s comments were an “egregious threat to bedrock principles of academic freedom.”
A nation-wide Harvard Harris Poll conducted after the November election asked voters to name their top issue, and 6% said Hamas-Israeli Conflict and 2% said Anti-semitism.
Labor Relations
Unions had a local impact. In August 2024 as first year students arrived on campus, the United Auto Workers (UAW), who represents 1,200 dining, grounds, janitorial, and animal care workers, went on strike. The UAW picketed at various locations around campus. After two weeks the UAW reached a settlement of their strike against Cornell University.
Although not affecting Cornell, the employees at the Lansing, NY Borg Warner plant also went out on a strike in September that was quickly settled.
Throughout all of 2024, Cornell has been negotiating a collective bargaining agreement with the Cornell Graduate Students United (CGSU) union. Negotiations are very slow and have not yet reached a discussion of economic issues. However, Momoduo Taal was an initial member of the CGSU negotiating team. Taal was later suspended in the spring for his role in leading the encampment and then in the fall for his role in the disruption of the ILR Career Fair. Ultimately, Taal was banned from campus but allowed to complete his Ph.D. dissertation without setting foot on campus. In response, Cornell and the CGSU negotiated a side agreement allowing for the negotiation of conduct related matters.
Finally, the Ithaca Teachers Association (ITA), a union that represents teachers in the Ithaca City Public Schools, had negotiated a contract that called for substantial annual pay increases. At the time, most observers noted that the contract would result in either very high property tax rate increases or staff reductions. In August 2023, President Pollack and the school system agreed to increase Cornell’s voluntary payment in lieu of taxes from $500,000 per year to $650,000 per year through 2031. Even with the extra funds from Cornell, the tax rate increase was so high that Ithaca voters rejected the proposed 2024-25 school budget in May 2024. In June, the voters approved a reduced budget with staffing cuts. As 2025-26 budget talks began, the ITA started public protests demanding that Cornell “owes” Ithaca $10 million per year in school payments. So far, Cornell has resisted these demands.
