President Pollack Addresses Student Assembly Regarding Rejected Content Warnings, Takes Strong Stance Supporting Freedom of Speech

Background

President Pollack and VP of Student and Campus Life Lombardi addressed the Student Assembly on Thursday, April 13th.  Pollack discussed a number of resolutions that the SA has recently proposed, including the controversial Resolution 31 regarding content warnings, which has received national attention. 

Previously, during the Student Assembly’s March 23 meeting, Resolution 31: “Mandating Content Warnings for Traumatic Content in the Classroom” passed unanimously. The resolution called for requiring instructors to preface “graphic traumatic content” with warnings for students beforehand such as on the syllabus. The resolution also would have required professors to “refrain from penalizing students who opt out of exposure to such content”.

The bill was based on the idea that students with PTSD can be triggered by “a range of topics, including but not limited to: sexual assault, domestic violence, self-harm, suicide, child abuse, racial violence transphobic violance, homophobic harassment, etc..” In order to prevent students from experiencing “anxiety, fear, irritability, flashbacks, and panic attacks,” professors would be required to notify students before covering disturbing content. 

The resolution quickly gained national attention, and was featured in several major news outlets, including the New York Times and Wall Street Journal.

President Pollack and Provost Kotlikoff quickly rejected the resolution, and explained in an email to the President of the Student Assembly that the resolution would “infringe on our core commitment to academic freedom and freedom of inquiry, and are at odds with the goals of a Cornell education.”

The Meeting

President Pollack began her address by talking about the struggle between two fundamental values the university holds: freedom of speech and maintaining a welcoming and opening campus to all. Pollack then laid down her point clearly; while being welcoming and tolerable is a core value, at Cornell, “[we] firmly believe that free expression is fundamental to democracy,” and absolutely fundamental to a university education. 

President Pollack proceeded to lay out her case for the essentiality of freedom of expression on campus . One reason  is that conflict strengthens students. Disagreements create active listening skills and sharpen our ability to reason, counter, negotiate, and eventually, come up with a compromise. 

“Democracy does not work without compromise,” Pollack firmly stated to the SA. She continued that, because free speech is a fundamental part of democracy, even impinging on it a little can have negative consequences. 

President Pollack then expanded on the reasons why we as a University should not limit free expression, as well as the negative consequences that come with those limitations. One reason pointed out was that, “the harms caused by regulating speech almost inevitably hurt those they intend to protect”. She pointed out several historical examples, including Eugene Debs and his eventual arrest under the Sedition Act of 1918. She further stated that, “True commitment to free expression is the only way to ensure that every voice is heard.” 

Finally, the President addressed the ways to counteract the more negative effects of free speech, such as harmful or hate speech. The President mentioned several ways to counteract these negative components on campus, including countering with better and more effective free speech, providing support for students who take offense, and employing bias response teams. 

Pollack also made overtures about the importance of free speech in our country due to the rise in speech restrictions on both sides of the political aisle, mentioning book banning and restrictions to what can and cannot be taught in the classroom as examples. Overall, Pollack argued that, while there are some harmful effects of free speech that can and should be mitigated, freedom of expression is too essential to both our democracy and a college education to restrict even slightly, as in the form of the current resolution. 

After hearing Pollack’s comments regarding Resolution 31, Claire Ting, who was the primary sponsor of Resolution 31, explained the event which caused her to draft the resolution. In a Korean American literature class, a professor assigned literature which included a vivid description of a rape during the 1937 Japanese conquest of China. One of the students in the class had been a victim of sexual assault, and the reading caused them to experience distressand other highly negative emotions. 

Rep. Ting felt that students in situations such as these should be given an advanced warning in order to prevent harm such as this. President Pollack responded by saying that first, this is a complicated issue with no easy answer. She additionally stated that if students find the material PTSD inducing, they should take it upon themselves to exit the classroom, or stop reading in this case and explain the situation to the professor, who should be understanding of their issue. 

Other Student Assembly members asked for clarification on how the resolution was restricting free speech, where President Pollack reiterated several points from her speech, including how even slight restrictions to free expression have large repercussions. 

In addition to addressing Resolution 31, President Pollack and VP Lombardi also spoke on a few other issues and resolutions from the Student Assembly. First, the President informed the Student Assembly of the tragic passing of first year student Matthew Friedman, with the cause of his death being unclear at this time. The Student Assembly later approved a measure to delay Student Assembly elections by a week in response to Mr. Friedman’s death. 

After this, President Pollack addressed the upcoming changes to the admissions process with the creation of an admissions task force which will be overseeing university-wide policies. She also congratulated the Cornell men’s wrestling team and the women’s squash team for their recent athletic accomplishments. 

Pollack also had some remarks regarding Resolution 20, which requested the installation of on-campus vending machines to distribute pharmaceuticals. She spoke of the progress and legal logistics of acquiring new vending machines or using old ones for new pharmaceutical contraceptives that should be ready by the fall. 

Finally, Pollack expanded on the administration’s reasons for rejecting Resolution 15, which requested that Cornell Health hire a Gynecologist. While the administration “heard the concern of the students” it is not realistic gynecologists on campus, as Cornell does not have a surgery center on campus, said Pollack. The President further stated that most of the needs the students addressed could be covered under the primary care physicians the school currently has. 

Currently, there are talks in the Student Assembly to amend and re-attempt Resolution 31. However, it is unclear if a new resolution will be passed or if it will be approved by President Pollack, especially after her forceful rejection and the national media response.