On Wednesday, April 12, President Martha Pollack met with the Faculty Senate in a hybrid live and Zoom meeting. Her once-a-semester visit preceded consideration of an agenda item dealing with the rights of non-tenure track faculty. An audio recording has been posted.
Disruptors of the Ann Coulter Talk
Ann Coulter’s talk on November 9, was disrupted by what appeared to be a planned series of people shouting. As one disruptor was removed, another would start. A pre-submitted question to President Pollack asked about what actions Cornell took against the disruptors. According to President Pollack, a total of eight people were removed and identified. Seven of the eight were students. The President replied that the seven students were handled by the student conduct system in the normal manner that emphasizes educational and reflective activities as its primary consequences.
“I can tell you that in these sorts of circumstances, the response typically includes a combination of some sort of a sanction or warning or probation, some sort of reflective activity that the students that are involved in and some sort of an education, something specifically tailored to help the students learn from their behavior choice. And in the case of the Ann Coulter disruptors, the outcomes were consistent with this approach.”
The eighth person who was removed as a disruptor was not a student, and President Pollack would not comment on what happened to that person. By way of background, guests on campus are subject to Cornell’s Rules for the Maintenance of Public Order on the same basis as students, faculty and staff. A violation of the rules could result in a “persona non grata” letter banning the person from campus, a referral to the Ithaca criminal justice system or a civil court action seeking to enjoin future similar activity. President Pollack did not disclose whether the eighth person was faculty, staff or a guest, nor what actions were taken.
President Pollack’s response to the faculty is the first time since November that Cornell has made any public statement about punishing the disruptors. The answer did not address the student organizations that the media has publicly identified as inciting their members in emails to “disrupt” the Coulter talk.
A follow-up question praised President Pollack’s remarks about the importance of academic freedom, but asked why she did not issue a stronger statement right after the Coulter event. She replied that she had sent an apology to Ms. Coulter and University Relations VP Joel Malina issued a statement on behalf of Cornell.
As a follow-up question, the faculty member asked about the frequent protests by Palestinians against Israeli speakers. President Pollack responded that one of the reasons that the theme for 2023-24 is free expression is to educate about such situations.
Graduate Student Union
At the March trustee meeting, graduate students advocating for a graduate student union picketed outside the Vet School, where the trustees were meeting. Some graduate students have tried for decades to form a union that would get recognition from the National Labor Relations Board. In general, labor laws carefully regulate what a company management can say to workers about joining a union.
Someone submitted a question to President Pollack in advance of the meeting asking her to comment on a labor union for graduate students.
“To that end, we have a number of ways for them to communicate their concerns to us through the [Graduate and Professional Students Assembly], through the student advocacy group, through the Graduate School via Dean Boor, the graduate student Associate Deans, through the Graduate and Professional Student Diversity and Inclusion Council and of course, through their own directors of graduate study. It is my hope that we can be a place that students thrive without feeling the need for third party representation. But ultimately, that’s up to them to decide, and we will stand by their decision.”
Free Expression on Campus
President Pollack discussed the campus climate for free expression generally and told the faculty about making it the theme for the 2023-24 academic year. After articulating why free expression is important, she noted, “History has shown us that the harms that are caused by regulating speech end up hurting most the very people that the regulation was intended to protect.”
Faculty Senator Risa Lieberwitz asked President Pollack about what further steps Cornell could take to fight the recent state legislation attacking academic freedom in other states. Pollack’s response was that the community should work together to address this challenge.
Academic Freedom within Cornell’s China Programs
The Faculty Senate had passed Resolution 184 expressing concerns with mainland China infringing upon the academic freedom of Cornell’s programs that are based in that country.
“As I said to this group and other groups before, international partnerships are just absolutely essential to our excellence and to our ability to train the next generation of leaders, and issues of academic freedom are critically important. We take the oversight of academic freedom and all of our relationships very seriously. So I appreciate the Senate discussing these issues. And I agree with much of the sentiment that’s in the resolution.”
However, President Pollack explained that the number of joint programs in China has dropped down to just 15 projects.
Research Teaching and Extension (RTE) Faculty Equality
RTE faculty are valuable full time employees of Cornell that have been treated as second-class employees. In 2021, RTE faculty received voting rights at faculty meetings, but so far, they do not have the job security of tenure, no matter how long they work at Cornell. As a result, they lack the academic freedom accorded to tenure-track faculty. The proposed resolution sets the goal that “RTE faculty have comparable structural equity and inclusion to the tenure-track and tenured faculty, except for those rights and responsibilities specific to tenure-track faculty arising from the hiring of tenure-track faculty and service on tenure and promotion committees for tenure-track faculty.”
