A group of 24 individuals at Cornell University began an indefinite sit-in at Day Hall, the university's primary administrative building, on March 21. The sit-in was organized by the Coalition for Mutual Liberation (CML) and demanded that Cornell University call for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza and divest from weapons manufacturers complicit in what the International Court of Justice (ICJ) has deemed a “plausible” genocide.
The CML represents hundreds of students and consists of more than 40 organizations within Cornell University's Ithaca Campus and the surrounding community.
The sit-in protest comes amidst a broader context of repression and censorship on campus, as highlighted by recent incidents of discrimination that saw a man spit on a female Muslim student in Collegetown on March 18 and the university's crackdown on peaceful demonstrations. The protesters reference the university's "Interim Expressive Activity Policy," which they say is an attempt to suppress dissent and restrict freedom of expression.
As a result of the policy, several students who have taken part in CML protests have been subject to disciplinary action. The Cornell University Dispatch reported that several students engaging in the sit-in after the building was closed at 5pm were arrested by Cornell Police. According to the Dispatch, “Cornell Police entered the building at 6pm and immediately charged all the protesters present with trespassing. Occupants were then released with arraignment papers one-by-one, with the last student allowed to leave at 8:30 pm.”
At 1:45pm on March 22 the CML released a statement saying that 24 Conrell students were arrested by Cornell University Police for participating in the sit-in. According to the statement, “This represents the first time Cornell has arrested students for protesting since 2005, and the first time since 1985 that the University has arrested more than ten protesters.”
The policy has been the subject of intense criticism among Cornell faculty and students who say it has created a “chilling effect” on free speech on campus. The Cornell Daily Sun has reported that “Faculty and students have widely condemned the interim policy due to concerns about the policy’s free expression consequences.” Additionally, the Sun reports that the CML “will continue to violate the controversial Interim Expressive Activity Policy unless the Board of Trustees agrees to consider voting on divestment from arms manufacturers providing Israel’s military with weaponry.”
The core reason for the coalition's divestment demands stem from Cornell’s financial ties to companies that are involved in the production of weapons used by the Israeli military in their war on Gaza and, more broadly, their ongoing occupation of Palestinian land. The protesters assert that Cornell's investments indirectly support Israel's actions, which they have called “morally reprehensible.” Among the demands put forth by the sit-in participants is a call for President Martha E. Pollack to initiate a vote within the Board of Trustees to divest from these companies.
The sit-in comes as the Cornell University Board of Trustees is holding their regular spring semester meetings in Ithaca from March 21-22. On March 22, the Board of Trustees meeting will include an open session at 11:30 a.m. in B09 Sage Hall. The open session will consist of reports from the Student Assembly, Graduate and Professional Student Assembly, and the University Assembly.
In a message from CML organizer Sara Almosawi, who is also the Co-Chair of Cornell Young Democratic Socialists of America, on the morning of March 21, Almosawi said that the coalition would be presenting their petition calling for a student referendum for Cornell to divest from weapons manufacturers complicit in the ongoing genocide in Gaza to the Student Assembly at 4:45 pm in the Memorial Room in Willard Straight Hall.
Almosawi said the petition had “surpassed the minimum threshold of 483 signatures (3% of the undergraduate student body) for the Student Assembly to consider our referendum.” She continued, saying, “Currently, the petition stands at over 900 signatures, with over 800 being undergraduate students.”
According to Almosawi, despite receiving support from hundreds of students, their demands have received “pushback” from the Student Assembly — which voted 14-4 against supporting a similar resolution proposed by the CML during a meeting on February 1. However, this time around, the Assembly voted 15-10 to pass a referendum on divestment that will be commented and voted on by the undergraduate student body.
Following the passage of the referendum CML released a statement saying, “This is the first referendum to be approved by the Student Assembly in over ten years, and was called after over 1100 students signed an associated petition in under 48 hours.”
In response to the increased organizing efforts on campus, Almosawi said, “This campus has not seen such political momentum in decades. Those in power have and will always use bureaucracy to cage mass movements - today is no different. I look forward to standing in solidarity with you all today and in the future.”
Jacob Berman, a member of Jewish Voice for Peace at Cornell and an affiliate of the Coalition for Mutual Liberation, expressed his sentiments regarding the protest, stating, "I am proud to be one of the Jewish students joining together with such a diverse group of people to show the Board of Trustees that we will not stand by as our university continues to fund a genocide."
Nick Wilson, representing Cornell Young Democratic Socialists of America, another affiliate of the Coalition for Mutual Liberation, highlighted the direct role of Cornell's investments in perpetuating the conflict. Wilson asserted, "Cornell has a direct hand in the development and production of the weapons of war being used to carry out atrocities in Gaza—as students, we demand the Board stop spending our tuition money on genocide."
Almosawi reiterated the protesters' demands, emphasizing the need for Cornell to adhere to its guidelines on divestment. Almosawi stated, "Our demand is simple: the Board of Trustees should follow their own rules—the 2016 Divestment Guidelines. We will not stop protesting until Cornell chooses to value its students over its bottom line."
The statement announcing the sit-in protest explained that Cornell’s Board of Trustees approved a resolution in 2016 that said, “Divestment should be considered when a company's actions or inactions are ‘morally reprehensible,’ including ‘apartheid, genocide ... and systematic cruelty to children.’”
The statement continued saying, “Cornell is complicit in the deaths of more than 30,000 Palestinians through its investments in companies that produce the weaponry for Israel's reprehensible campaign: including Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, General Dynamics, BAE Systems, L3Harris, RTX, Leonardo, Elbit Systems and ThyssenKrupp.”
(8) comments
This is a terribly one-sided article. Israel was attacked by terrorists on October 7, killing 1200 people, kidnapping 240, injuring thousands, and destroying villages and cities. You left that out of your reporting.
Yes, and it is a terrible newspaper as well. Actually it should not be called a newspaper. Rather it should be called an event distorted. As distorting events is its main action. Also this site is a quagmire of invasive ads which places it on a lot of list for dangerous websites. But what to expect from such a rag?
Yes and it is a terrible newspaper that knowingly has invasive ads. This site is a quagmire. Ithaca needs a REAL newspaper.
Would the author of this cartoonishly one sided article comment on $1.5 billion donated to Cornell by Qatar? How about some investigative reporting? Interview 30 randomly chosen Cornell professors regarding their political views. My hypothesis is he will find 10 all out leftists, 10 left of center posing as far left for career reasons, 9 apolitical posing as left, and one conservative deep in the closet.
More than half a century ago, the US Supreme Court banned sit down strikes against employers because strikers occupied private property. Students seem to think it is speech to take over CU buildings but what they are doing is similar. Certainly students and others have constitutional rights to speak which I will defend whether I agree with them or not, though anti-semetism is hate speech in my view, but do not have the right to occupy property and disrupt others. It is about time that CU reestablished some rules that respect free speech but also the rights of others not to be coerced by protesters. On the merits, Hamas started a war with Israel. Israel has the right of self defense. It is easy to start a war but hard to stop it. Can you imagine if after the sneak attack at Pearl Harbor by the Japanese it was considered "genocide" for the US to use all military means to victory in 1945? The launch of the conflict in Gaza was of Hamas' own making. Let Israel finish the job or it will have to fight more wars.
I thank you, Cornell students, for exercising your nonviolent power
in solidarity with our relatives in Palestine
who are being massacred, by our relatives in Israel,
in response to trauma they carry from being attacked by our relatives in Hamas,
and our Nazi ancestors,
with weapons paid for by every US tax payer,
at the direction of brother Biden,
and built with capital provided from the endowment by sister Pollack
and all our cousins on the Cornell board of trustees.
We do have the power to stop this and all future genocide,
and it begins in our heart.
Wow.our pretentiousness is showing huh? Wax poetic and badly much? Imagine yourself the heroic moralist much?
They should have worn armor and used wooden swords to hit the stone walls of the tower with. Quixotic indeed. ‘We demand you listen to us and our impotent and narrow minded understanding. We talk big and carry an invisible stick. We act like we are speaking for everybody regardless. We assume moral authority and our few numbers are meaningless for we are transcendent in power and righteous in cause!” Wow just no understanding of how the world works. Guess that Cornell education ain’t so good after all.
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