On December 1, a group calling itself “The Cornell Coalition for Mutual Liberation” (CML) held a demonstration in front of Day Hall and later “occupied” Willard Straight Hall and Klarman Hall.
CML’s demands include selling any stock that Cornell may own in three companies, ending Cornell’s role in the joint Technion-Cornell Jacobs Institute on Roosevelt Island, adopting a new “anti-doxing policy,” and redefining “anti-semitism.”
Who is the Coalition for Mutual Liberation?
According to pro-Israel critics, the CML’s leadership seems to be almost identical to the Students for Justice in Palestine’s (SJP) leadership. The CML spokesperson claims that “Some people in SJP are in CML. Right now, SJP’s role is kind of just promoting the events. I think the behind-the-scenes and the back-end organization was done by CML.”
Unlike SJP, CML is not a registered student organization, so officer and membership information is not publicly accessible.
The national SJP organization has been accused of allegedly supporting Hamas. This, together with violating rules on other campuses, has led to a number of universities banning their local SJP chapters. Cornell demonstration leaders have not adequately explained the shift from SJP to CML.
What is the Urgency?
SJP has been pushing the Boycott, Sanctions and Divest (BDS) movement for more than a decade. The BDS movement dates back to 2005, and the Cornell community has repeatedly rejected their demands.
In response to the October 7 Hamas attack, pro-Israel advocates have been putting emphasis on the safe return of the hostages (including Americans) taken by Hamas. In response, the BDS movement restarted their campaign to oppose the use of military force as leverage for the return of the hostages. This includes demonstrations, as well as tearing down hostage and other pro-Israel posters.
Selling the Stocks
The protestors demand that Cornell sell whatever shares it owns in three companies: Raytheon, Tata Motors, and Hewlett Packard. It is not clear whether Cornell owns any shares in these companies. However, since Cornell invests in index funds based on the S&P 500, and Raytheon and Hewlett Packard are included in that index, Cornell has some equity in the companies. The SJP and CML feel that this is morally wrong, although S&P 500 index funds are held by millions of investors.
Tata Motors is not a part of the S&P 500, but it is India’s largest automobile manufacturer. Additionally, its commitment to corporate social responsibility is documented in an annual ESG Report.
The Trustee Investment Committee makes the decision to buy or sell Cornell’s investments, and they announced that they would consider recommendations from the Cornell president. If the president refuses to endorse a divestment proposal, the Investment Committee will consider a proposal if it is endorsed by all five shared-governance bodies. That happened with the proposal to divest from fossil fuels companies.
However, for the past decade, SJP has tried to get Cornell to adopt the BDS program, which the community and its five shared-governance bodies have repeatedly rejected. In a recent Sun interview, Ryan Lombardi clarified that, when he agreed to set up a meeting between the protesters and Cornell’s Chief Financial Officer, it was only to explain the policy to them and not to bypass the policy.
Cornell Tech on Roosevelt Island
The SJP and CML are demanding that Cornell end its relationship with the Jacobs Institute and the Roosevelt Island campus. At the beginning of the last decade, the City of New York held a competition to build a technology hub, and Cornell decided to partner with an Israeli university, Technion, in making a bid.
That bid won, and Cornell gained $100 million of incentives from New York City. The joint venture also received a $133 million donation from Joan and Irwin Jacobs to start the institute. Most of the Master’s degree students on the Roosevelt Island campus are taught by the Institute rather than Cornell.
Although a few Cornellians objected to the joint venture when it was proposed, the community accepted the idea and ignored BDS concerns. Now, years later, after successful fundraising and developing an excellent reputation, SJP and CML do not offer any reasoned explanation for breaking up the joint venture.
There are only three logical ways for the joint venture to end: Cornell could sell its half to Technion, buyout Technion, or walk away. SJP and CML do not explain what they want or how Cornell would be better off from making this decision. Certainly, the students and faculty of the Jacobs Institute would be harmed.
Anti-Doxxing Policy
Opponents of BDS at a number of universities have tried to hold students and organizational leaders accountable for what they view as advocating anti-semitism. The SJP and CML want Cornell to adopt a policy that would protect their privacy while very publicly protesting and making demands of Cornell.
This is unlike the historic definition of civil disobedience which involves paying the price for violating laws in defiance of injustice. Martin Luther King and Mahatma Gandhi both went to jail to show how deeply they felt about their cause. In contrast, current BDS advocates want a teflon policy that allows them to be disruptive and harass without any consequences or accountability.
The recent “Dear Colleague Letter” from the Department of Education may preclude this approach. Cornell is currently being investigated by the Department of Education for alleged anti-semitism and/or Islamophobia. However, President Pollack announced at the last University Assembly meeting that Cornell is developing an anti-doxxing policy. This would target doxxing actions by members of the Cornell community, without addressing outsiders.
It is not clear why the SJP and CML are demanding that they be included in the policy development process outside the long-standing shared-governance bodies such as the UA Campus Codes Committee.
Definition of “anti-semitism”
In order to avoid the social pressure that falls upon people labeled as “antisemitic,” the protestors are demanding that Cornell redefine that term so as to exclude their protests and advocacy. The theory is that if Day Hall announces that SJP and CML are not anti-semetic, everyone will have to agree.
A 2019 Executive Order signed by President Trump adopted the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition. That definition includes,“claiming that the existence of the state of Israel is a ‘racist endeavor’, and ‘applying double standard [to Israel] by requiring of it a behavior not expected or demanded of any other democratic nation.’”
The U.S. House of Representatives just passed an amendment to an appropriation bill banning the use of federal funds that “authorizes, facilitates, provides funding for, or otherwise supports any event promoting antisemitism”, and the amendment references the IHRA definition. Twenty-nine countries have adopted the IHRA definition.
Instead the SJP and CML want Cornell to adopt the Jerusalem Declaration on Antisemitism which excludes opposition to Israel as a Jewish state from anti-semitism. Since the United States has adopted the IHRA definition, this debate seems pointless.
In conclusion, if the SJP, or its more recent reincarnation the CML, wants to waste its time protesting instead of writing papers or taking finals, the First Amendment will protect their actions. However, they are taking an illogical approach toward justifying their demands that will not gain many allies to their cause.
