On October 16, 2024, Cornell University banned four students from campus for three years for their participation in a protest that led to the shutdown of a career fair hosted by the university in September 2024.
The career fair took place on September 18 in Cornell’s Statler Hotel. During the fair, a group of pro-Palestinian demonstrators entered the hotel to protest the presence of weapons manufacturers. According to the university, the protesters knowingly violated university policy and forced their way past campus police in order to enter the hotel. Videos from the event show a group of people pushing past police, banging pots and pans and playing musical instruments. The disruption resulted in the career fair’s shutdown.
On October 10, Cornell administrators announced that they had identified 19 students who had participated in the disruption. In addition, between October 9 and 10, campus police arrested three of those students, charging them with “unlawful assembly” and “obstructing governmental administration.” One of the cases was later temporarily dismissed based on insufficient evidence to identify him.
On October 16, Cornell declared four of the students persona non grata (all of whom were also arrested), banning them from entering campus for three years. Over a dozen students were also given non-academic suspensions, which ban them from university buildings other than classes, dining halls, libraries, or the health center and prohibits them from engaging in extracurricular and non-academic activities on campus. The students were not told which sections of the university’s Code of Conduct that they violated. They were told that they would be withdrawn from classes in three weeks, but could choose to appeal the decision.
The bans reportedly took advantage of a 2021 revision to Cornell’s student code, which enables a single administrator in the Office of Student Conduct and Community Standards to quickly impose an indefinite temporary suspension if they are deemed a threat to campus prior to the formal hearing and review process typically required. A student can remain temporarily suspended, even while the hearing and review process takes place.
Scholars at Risk is concerned about the suspension of students for their exercise of their freedom of assembly, apparently without following proper due process. University authorities have an obligation to refrain from retaliatory actions intended to punish, restrict, or chill the exercise of the right to free expression and association and should employ transparent, fair processes when engaging in disciplinary actions. Such actions undermine academic freedom, institutional autonomy, and democratic society generally.
Sources:
https://cornellsun.com/2024/10/17/this-doesnt-stop-with-taal-university-bans-four-pro-palestinian-activists-from-campus-for-three-years/
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/quick-takes/2024/10/18/group-says-four-cornell-students-banned-campus-three-years
https://www.thenation.com/article/society/cornell-university-gaza-dissent/
https://ithacavoice.org/2024/10/cornell-imposes-three-year-campus-ban-on-four-students-involved-in-sept-protest/
https://statements.cornell.edu/2024/20241010-career-fair-disruption-update.cfm