Cornell president rejects students’ anti-Israel resolutions

Michael Kotlikoff says motions targeting Technion and Tzipi Livni undermine academic freedom and reflect political bias at Cornell University

Cornell University’s president, Michael Kotlikoff, “fully and forcefully” rejected a student resolution calling to cut ties with Israel’s Technion University. Cornell and the Technion run a joint technology-focused campus on Roosevelt Island.

Kotlikoff said in a letter last week that the resolution “fundamentally conflicts with Cornell’s principles of academic collaboration and our core commitment to academic freedom.” He added that the Technion was unduly singled out, since Cornell partners with other institutions in countries whose governments have been accused of human rights violations, “as our own has been.”

Kotlikoff also rejected another student resolution condemning the university for hosting Israeli politician Tzipi Livni, saying it “unacceptably seeks to curtail freedom of speech on Cornell’s campus.” He accused the students of “political bias” in both resolutions.

Student groups at a wide range of universities have advanced resolutions that call for cutting ties with Israeli institutions or companies, but in almost all cases, the schools have declined to act on the students’ requests.