Cornell leadership has taken a clear and strong stand against antisemitism

• Cornell’s leadership has unequivocally condemned antisemitism and consistently reinforced the university’s commitment to protecting Jewish students.
• Cornell responded quickly and effectively to the October 2023 online threats against the campus Jewish community, condemning the threats as “absolutely intolerable.” Cornell worked closely with federal and state law enforcement agencies to arrest the perpetrator, who was sentenced to federal prison.
• In November 2023, Cornell’s president convened an external advisory group to provide an independent assessment of the university’s response to current challenges. The external advisory group issued a May 2024 letter with recommendations (PDF) accepted by university leadership. In the 2024-25 academic year, the university required new student orientation programming that also included discussion of antisemitism and communicating across difference in views, life experiences, and values.
• Cornell Police’s Deputy Chief participated in the largest-ever global law enforcement delegation to the International March of the Living in April 2025 to mark the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz.
• Cornell administration consulted with Jewish students and canceled the performance at the all-campus “Slope Day” of a singer who had expressed antisemitic views on social media.
• Cornell staff have participated in ADL trainings and Cornell faculty attended the June 2025 Brandeis University Summer Institute on Antisemitism in Higher Education.

Cornell leadership has taken clear and immediate action to enforce university policies

• The university commissioned a campus safety assessment from a global advisory firm in November 2023. The report included recommendations to further enhance campus safety, which the university implemented. These enhancements included expanding threat assessment capacities; creating antisemitism resources and an anti-doxxing policy; adding security at sensitive locations and events; and increasing staffing and university-wide awareness of the Community Response Team, which responded to campus expressive activity.
• Since October 2023, Cornell has issued 81 disciplinary actions, including a dismissal and suspensions, against students who chose to violate university policies by infringing the rights of others.
• A Spring 2024 encampment on Cornell’s Ithaca campus involved a small fraction (less than 0.05%) of the 26,000-student body. Individuals associated with initiating and continuing the encampment were suspended. No violence or harassment was associated with the encampment, which was disbanded without violent incident or negotiated concessions.
• President Michael I. Kotlikoff started the 2024-25 academic year with a strong statement on freedom and responsibility, establishing clear and unwavering expectations for the community including “ensuring that speech or actions by some members of our community does not violate the rights of others.” The statement also announced the adoption by the president and provost of a policy of institutional neutrality. In cases where university or local community members violated university policies and the rights of others, Cornell took immediate action including issuing citations and suspensions and barring individuals from campus.
• Protesters who pushed police and shut down a Fall 2024 student career fair were suspended and criminally charged.
• Cornell Police quickly identified a student subject in the January 2025 vandalism on the A.D. White statue on the Arts Quad. That student faces conduct sanctions.
• Cornell Police swiftly removed protesters attempting to disrupt the March 2025 Pathways to Peace event and shout down the panel, imposing conduct sanctions and making criminal referrals while ensuring the event continued successfully.

Cornell has strengthened university policies

• Cornell revised its Expressive Activity Policy to clearly outline time, place, and manner limits to campus protests, bar unauthorized encampments, and explain the administration’s ability to take emergency actions to protect the community, up to and including expulsion.
• The university reorganized and expanded Title VI enforcement on campus by creating the Cornell Office of Civil Rights (COCR). The COCR launched in June 2025 with new staff hired to investigate alleged bias incidents, including antisemitism.
• A Task Force on Institutional Voice was charged by Provost Kavita Bala to provide a formal policy recommendation to Cornell leadership by the fall of 2025.

Cornell has a thriving and well-supported Jewish community

• In semi-annual student surveys, Jewish students report the highest level of belonging of any racial, ethnic, or religious group on campus.
• According to surveys and self-reporting, Jewish students comprise approximately 20 percent of Cornell’s student population.
• More than 30 Jewish student organizations represent the rich breadth of the Jewish experience, including Cornellians for Israel and Jewish fraternities, sororities, a cappella groups, professional associations, and service groups.
• Cornell institutionally supports Jewish students through the Center for Jewish Living, the Roitman Chabad Center, Grinspoon Hillel (a new building in progress in 2025), and a full-service kosher dining hall.
• Cornell leadership regularly attends events with the Jewish community, including the opening Hillel Shabbat dinner, lighting of Hanukkah candles, and a Passover “Super Seder.”

Cornell has added academic courses, new faculty, programs, and events

• Cornell offers and has added academic courses addressing modern history of the Middle East and antisemitism. These courses are taught in a manner that respects the viewpoints of all students and fosters constructive, civil discourse. Courses include Dialogue Across Political Differences, Dialogue Across Differences for Public Policy, Antisemitism, Islamophobia, Racism, and History of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict.
• New postdoctoral fellows have been hired to teach courses in modern Israel studies and Holocaust studies.
• Between 2023 and 2025, the university created educational programming, including a speaker series, to address the Israel-Hamas war, antisemitism, and Islamophobia. Programs include a 12-event “Invitation To” series for students spanning Jewish, Protestant, Catholic, Muslim, LDS, Buddhist, and Hindu practices.
• Programs held in the 2024-25 academic year aimed to counter bigotry and bring students together across difference, including the Center on Global Democracy symposium, a daylong event focused on fundamental freedoms and the dangers of insecurity — among the many ways Cornell is preparing students to participate in democracy, particularly in times of deep political conflict.
• Continuing with the implementation of advisory group recommendations, the university held a March 2025 “Pathways to Peace” symposium, which engaged students, faculty, and community members in constructive dialogue and training about the paths and obstacles to peace.
• The university established websites that provide resources to address antisemitism and resources for conversations on antisemitism.