Playing the Race Card

Last summer the Black Students United (BSU) withdrew from the broad pro-Palestinian group Coalition for Mutual Liberation (CML). On Sept 18, the CML led a disruption of the ILR Career Fair in the Statler Ballroom, and Momodou Taal, a graduate student in Africana Studies, was clearly seen leading the disruptors and in fact entered the Statler.

Taal was suspended the same day, and as other protesters have been identified, they have been subject to disciplinary action as well. Reportedly, Taal fears that his F-1 visa will be revoked and he will be deported because of his suspended status.

The pro-Palestine movement wanted to try new tactics this fall. CML decided to shift from divestment from companies doing business with Israel to attacking efforts by those companies to recruit on campus. Of course, blocking or disrupting those recruiters infringes on the rights of students to make their own decisions about prospective employers. Hence the Administration drew a firm line on disruption of recruiting, using long-standing provisions in what is now the Student Code.

However, because Taal happened to be black, the movement shifted toward making race the central issue in a dispute that was previously centered on the fate of Palestinians as well as on the scope of permissible protests. Since it was issued in January, the CML, BSU and other protesters have fought the Interim Expressive Activity Policy that reinstates time, place and manner limits on what would otherwise be protected speech.

There are many examples of inflammatory language invoking race as the reason that Taal was suspended. It just isn’t true.

First, unlike Cornell’s crisis in 1969, there are many more black administrators, particularly at the highest levels of Cornell. Avery August is the Deputy Provost, Donica Varner is the General Counsel, Christine D. Lovely is the Vice President of Human Resources, Marla Love is the Dean of Students, and Lyden Archer is the Dean of the Engineering College.  It is inconceivable that Cornell would launch a racially-motivated attack on one graduate student without at least one of these African-Americans speaking out. The more credible explanation is that offered by Cornell – Taal repeatedly crossed the line and is being held accountable for his role in the early termination of the ILR Job Fair. Cornell is also processing other rulebreakers from the Job Fair, regardless of race.

Instead of discussing the merits of their concerns in a civil and reasoned way, the CML and the Black Students United have resorted to fear-mongering and appealing to emotions. The BSU demanded a meeting on Sept 30 with President Kotlikoff and Vice President Lombardi. At the meeting, the BSU threatened that if Taal were not reinstated, the BSU would declare that Cornell was not a safe campus for black students. The BSU announced that “This situation will create a hostile environment for black students campus wide.” Most of the campus can see through this tactic. The only people facing hostility are those trying to attack on-campus recruiters.

In an Oct. 2 letter to the Sun, BSU officers wrote, “we, as organizations representing Black students, want to reiterate that Black students do not feel safe at Cornell.” (bold in original)

At a meeting between President Kotlikoff and Vice President for University Relations Joel Malina with Hillel parents on Monday, Sept 30, Cornell’s commitment to free speech was challenged. When hypothetically asked if a faculty member or a student group invited a Ku Klux Klan member to campus, would Cornell allow such a speaker, they answered yes – accurately reflecting the policy that faculty or student groups are free to invite whomever they want. Those invitations do not mean that Cornell would endorse those views.  A good example of this was Prof. Russell Rickford inviting to campus Jalil Muntaqim, a member of the Black Panther Party who was convicted of murdering several police officers. Although Cornell is a neutral forum for all, the CML summarizes this as “the Vice President for University Relations is welcoming the KKK on campus.”

Perhaps the worst of these posts is pictured above. The CML draws a comparison to “a cross was burned on the lawn of Wari, a co-op for black women.”  However, it has been firmly established and admitted to by members of the BSU’s predecessor organization, the Afro-American Society, that the Wari cross burning was a hoax. Black students burned the cross to inflame wider protests.

RELATED: Black History Month: Truth and Reconciliation

No matter how many times the BSU claims that Taal is being mistreated because of his race rather than his breaking the rules, the majority of the campus will not believe that claim. If anything, the BSU is losing its credibility over this issue – seeking to justify attacking Boeing and L3Harris recruiters who were prepared to interview any interested Cornell student, including black students, seeking employment in HR roles.

Boeing’s Track Record

In terms of the BSU’s traditional concerns of encouraging recruitment by equal opportunity employers, Boeing’s latest Global Equity, Diversity & Inclusion Report shows that Boeing employs many blacks at all levels. Here are Boeing’s minority hiring levels:

Boeing is rated 12th in the Top 50 Companies for Diversity and 26th of 28 Top Companies for Black Executives. Yet, BSU wants to defend the people who organized a disruption of a job fair where Boeing was recruiting Cornell students, including minority students. If black and minority students want to work for Boeing, the CML, the BSU or Momodou Taal have no right to prevent them.

UPDATE:

On October 8, 2024 Malina issued the following clarification:

“My comments, in response to a question from a participant in the meeting about the KKK, were made in the context of my being challenged on why Cornell is allowing some hurtful speech to take place and to illustrate Cornell’s deep commitment to free expression. In retrospect, it was a terrible analogy that was posed, and a false equivalency, and I should have said as much in response. To be clear, the KKK is abhorrent by any standard, and Cornell University would never invite a representative of the KKK to campus. Any speaker invited by a faculty member or student organization is reviewed by the University Events Team and is only allowed to come to campus if the safety of all in our community can be assured.”