Columbia University, Cornell University, and University of Pennsylvania are among seven schools being investigated for alleged incidents of anti-Semitic and anti-Muslim harassment, the Education Department announced on Thursday.
Other schools facing the probe are Lafayette College, Wellesley College, The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, and a public school district in Kansas, the Maize Unified School District.
The investigation <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/11/16/politics/department-of-education-antisemitism-islamophobia-investigations?cid=ios_app" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reportedly</a> involves five allegations of anti-Semitic harassment and two complaints of anti-Muslim harassment. The Education Department did not disclose which schools are facing which allegations.
However, the University of Pennsylvania and Wellesley were accused of anti-Semitism in federal complaints filed last week by a Jewish legal advocacy group.
The group cited an email from Wellesley dorm advisors that allegedly stated that “there should be no space, no consideration, and no support for Zionism” at Wellesley.
Wellesley reportedly <a href="https://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/penn-lafayette-other-colleges-under-investigation-for-alleged-antisemitism-and-islamophobia/3698937/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">confirmed</a> that the Education Department&#8217;s investigation is in response to the complaint from the advocacy group. The school also <a href="https://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/penn-lafayette-other-colleges-under-investigation-for-alleged-antisemitism-and-islamophobia/3698937/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> in a statement that Wellesley “responded quickly and decisively” to the dorm email incident.
The Jewish advocacy group also claimed University of Pennsylvania professors have made anti-Semitic comments in the classroom and on social media and that the university has not done enough to support Jewish students while pro-Palestinian rallies are held on campus.
Also this month, the University of Pennsylvania <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/11/06/business/upenn-fbi-antisemitic-threats/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">alerted</a> the FBI to a series of threatening anti-Semitic emails sent to university staff.
University of Pennsylvania President Liz Magill <a href="https://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/penn-lafayette-other-colleges-under-investigation-for-alleged-antisemitism-and-islamophobia/3698937/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> the school &#8220;has made clear antisemitism is vile and pernicious and has no place at Penn,&#8221; adding that the university will &#8220;continue to vigilantly combat antisemitism and all forms of hate.&#8221;
Earlier this month, a Cornell University student was <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/11/01/us/cornell-university-antisemitic-threat-suspect-wednesday/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">arrested</a> and federally charged for allegedly posting threats to kill Cornell’s Jewish students. Cornell canceled all classes on November 3 amid “extraordinary stress” over the situation.
The schools being scrutinized by the probe risk losing federal funding if they do not comply with recommendations the Department of Education gives them at the end of the investigations.
“Hate has no place in our schools, period. When students are targeted because they are — or are perceived to be — Jewish, Muslim, Arab, Sikh or any other ethnicity or shared ancestry, schools must act to ensure safe and inclusive educational environments where everyone is free to learn,” Education Secretary Miguel Cardona <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/11/16/politics/department-of-education-antisemitism-islamophobia-investigations?cid=ios_app" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> in a statement on Thursday.
The investigations come in the wake of October 7, when Palestinian terror group Hamas launched deadly terrorist attacks on Israel that killed more than 1,400 people, including women and children. Israel has responded with airstrikes and a ground offensive.
Since Hamas&#8217; attack, college campuses have been rocked by pro-Palestinian protests and allegations of anti-Semitic incidents on campus.
At New York University (NYU) this week, a group of Jewish students <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/jewish-students-sue-nyu-alleging-egregious-anti-semitism-on-campus" target="_blank" rel="noopener">filed</a> a lawsuit against the school alleging the school has allowed a climate of anti-Semitism to fester on campus, leaving Jewish students feeling “under siege.” Before that, a law firm <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/11/us/nyu-law-harvard-hamas-israel.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">rescinded</a> its job offer to an NYU law student who made what the firms said were “inflammatory comments” about Hamas’ attack.
At Harvard University, the student Palestine Solidarity Committee and 30 other student groups signed a statement that said Israel’s “apartheid regime is the only one to blame” for Hamas’ attacks. At least 10 CEOs and other executives <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/major-ceos-back-call-not-to-hire-pro-hamas-harvard-students" target="_blank" rel="noopener">backed</a> a call last month not to hire the students who signed onto that letter.
Earlier this month, the Department of Education also <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/federal-anti-semitism-probe-launched-into-oberlin-college-over-professor-of-peace-who-called-for-israels-elimination" target="_blank" rel="noopener">launched</a> a federal anti-Semitism probe into Oberlin College over a professor of peace studies who called for the elimination of Israel.

Pro-Palestinian Rally Held On Columbia University Campus

Three Ivy League Colleges Among Seven Schools Facing Education Department Probe Over Anti-Semitism, Anti-Muslim Allegations

American Universities

College

Columbia University

Cornell University

Department of Education

Education

Hamas

Israel

Palestinians

American universities have become factories that produce “ignorant activists” instead of educated citizens after decades of radical leftists getting into faculty positions on campuses across the country, Michael Knowles said at Cornell University Monday night. 
Knowles spoke to a crowd of college students at the New York college hosted by the Young America’s Foundation as a group of around 60 Cornell students <a href="https://cornellsun.com/2023/11/06/students-gather-against-conservative-speaker-event-proceeds-uninterrupted/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">gathered</a> outside Knowles’ speech to hold a “Vigil for Trans Lives” in protest. The Daily Wire host began his speech, titled “You, Me, and World War 3,” focusing on the radical leftism that has sprouted at major universities across the U.S.
“[T]he change of the American university — not just Cornell, not just the Ivy League, virtually all of them — from institutions of higher learning for producing educated citizens into radical indoctrination factories for producing ignorant activists, the new perspective is no coincidence: the radicals won the campus fights of the 1960s, and they now run those universities as ‘tenured radicals,’ to borrow a phrase from Roger Kimball.” 
The leftist takeover of the universities that started in the 1960s is evident even in how college faculty members describe themselves today, according to Knowles.
“Today, according to surveys, some 24% of college professors in the social sciences call themselves ‘radical.’ 21% call themselves ‘activists.’ 18% call themselves as ‘Marxist.’ The ratio of liberal to conservative professors, according to another survey, is 8:1 in poli-sci. It’s 17:1 in history departments; it’s 44:1 in sociology, 48:1 in English, and it’s 108:0 in race and gender studies.” 
Knowles then gave examples of radical leftists who had made it into the halls of prestigious universities after putting their radicalism on full display. 
“As my friend Chris Rufo pointed out in his excellent new book ‘America’s Cultural Revolution,’ the most prominent leaders of the radical student movement of the 1960s — I’m thinking of Bill Ayers, the leader of the Weather Underground … Angela Davis, a communist terrorist who plotted an attack, a kidnapping that led to the death of four people, including a judge — those people and many others ended up with cushy university sinecures.” 
“Meanwhile the radicalism spreads,” Knowles continued. “Yet again, on Cornell’s campus which just last week saw the arrest of a student who was threatening to kill all the Jews.”
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Late last month, federal authorities <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/cornell-student-faces-5-years-in-prison-after-allegedly-making-online-threats-to-jewish-students-on-campus">arrested</a> a Cornell University student on Tuesday after he allegedly called for the deaths of Jewish people and threatened to carry out a mass shooting of the 104 West building, which is a Cornell University dining hall that caters predominantly to Kosher diets, located next to the Cornell Jewish Center.
Knowles said the latest outburst of anti-Semitic threats seen at Cornell isn’t an isolated event as the leftist takeover of universities has led to more threats being made against those on the Right. 
“Conservatives, Christians, pro-lifers, white people, even just mild critics of transgender ideology all regularly receive threats, including death threats, from political radicals,” Knowles said. “And the threats they face are not merely from fringe cranks.” 
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Michael Knowles

‘Radical Indoctrination Factories For Producing Ignorant Activists’: Michael Knowles Talks Leftist Takeover Of Elite Universities At Cornell

Anti-Semitism

Leftism

<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/cornell-university" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Cornell University</a> officials canceled the school&#8217;s regular class schedule on Friday after federal authorities charged an engineering student for allegedly promoting the murder of Jewish students at the upstate New York Ivy League campus last week.
A spokesperson from the university told The Daily Wire that students, faculty, and staff would instead observe a &#8220;community day.&#8221;
&#8220;No classes will be held, and faculty and staff will be excused from work, except for employees who provide essential services,&#8221; the spokesperson said in an email. &#8220;We hope that everyone will use this restorative time to take care of yourselves and reflect on how we can nurture the kind of caring, mutually supportive community that we all value.&#8221;
Jewish students on the university&#8217;s campus in Ithaca, New York, were put on high alert on Sunday night after at least six screenshots allegedly taken from the Greek Rank website displayed online threats from anonymous users who said &#8220;&#8216;israel&#8217; deserved 10/7&#8221; and &#8220;eliminate jewish living from cornell campus&#8221; to another user who claimed they would &#8220;shoot up 104 west.&#8221;
Within 48 hours, a Joint Terrorism Task Force <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/cornell-student-faces-5-years-in-prison-after-allegedly-making-online-threats-to-jewish-students-on-campus" target="_blank" rel="noopener">identified</a> Patrick Dai, a junior student enrolled in the prestigious Cornell School of Engineering, as the suspect.
Dai, 21, originally from Pittsford, New York, was arrested on a federal criminal complaint on Tuesday, charging him with posting threats to kill or injure another using interstate communications, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney&#8217;s Office in the Northern District of New York.
The complaint against Dai alleges he posted threatening messages to the Cornell section of an online discussion site, which included calling for the deaths of Jewish people and carrying out a mass shooting of the 104 West building, which is a Cornell University dining hall that caters predominantly to Kosher diets, located next to the Cornell Jewish Center.
&#8220;In another post, Dai allegedly threatened to &#8216;stab&#8217; and &#8216;slit the throat&#8217; of any Jewish males he sees on campus, to rape and throw off a cliff any Jewish females, and to behead any Jewish babies,&#8221; authorities said in a news release. &#8220;In that same post, Dai threatened to &#8216;bring an assault rifle to campus and shoot all you pig jews.'&#8221;
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Dai faces a maximum term of five years in prison, a $250,000 fine, and a term of supervised release of up to three years if convicted.
NBC News <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/cornell-university-cancels-classes-student-patrick-dai-was-accused-thr-rcna123306" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a> that Dai did not enter a plea on Wednesday when he appeared in federal court. Authorities assigned him a federal public defender and scheduled a preliminary hearing for November 15.
Cornell University President Martha E. Pollack denounced the &#8220;vile antisemitic posts&#8221; against the university&#8217;s Jewish community in a <a href="https://statements.cornell.edu/2023/20231101-standing-against-hate.cfm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">statement</a> on Wednesday.
&#8220;The past two and a half days have been difficult ones for our university,&#8221; Pollack wrote. &#8220;In addition to the vile antisemitic posts that threatened our Jewish community on Sunday, today we had a concerning crime alert. Even though it was unsubstantiated, it adds to the stress we are all feeling. Cornell Police continue to have an increased presence on campus, and especially in high-priority areas.&#8221;
Threats against Jewish communities in the U.S. continue to rise after the Israel-Hamas war entered its fourth week over the weekend, which has sparked a wave of anti-Semitism from supporters of Hamas.
Preliminary data reported by the Anti-Defamation League last Tuesday showed incidents of anti-Semitic harassment, vandalism, and assault increased by nearly 400% since Hamas terrorists killed more than 1,400 people on October 7.

Cornell University As Ivy League Prices Push $90,000 A Year

Cornell Cancels Classes After Student Arrested Following Anti-Semitic Death Threats

Cornell University Cancels Friday Classes With 'Community Day' After Student Arrest Following Anti-Semitic Threats

U.S.

Federal authorities arrested a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/cornell-university" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Cornell University</a> student on Tuesday after he allegedly threatened extreme violence against the school&#8217;s Jewish community on a website unaffiliated with the upstate New York Ivy League campus last weekend.
Patrick Dai, 21, a junior student at the university originally from Pittsford, New York, was arrested on a federal criminal complaint charging him with posting threats to kill or injure another using interstate communications, according to a <a href="https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndny/pr/cornell-student-arrested-making-online-threats-jewish-students-campus" target="_blank" rel="noopener">news release</a> from the U.S. Attorney&#8217;s Office in the Northern District of New York.
The complaint against Dai alleges he posted threatening messages to the Cornell section of an online discussion site, which included calling for the deaths of Jewish people and carrying out a mass shooting of the 104 West building, which is a Cornell University dining hall that caters predominantly to Kosher diets, located next to the Cornell Jewish Center.
&#8220;In another post, Dai allegedly threatened to &#8216;stab&#8217; and &#8216;slit the throat&#8217; of any Jewish males he sees on campus, to rape and throw off a cliff any Jewish females, and to behead any Jewish babies,&#8221; authorities said in a news release. &#8220;In that same post, Dai threatened to &#8216;bring an assault rifle to campus and shoot all you pig jews.'&#8221;
Dai faces a maximum term of five years in prison, a $250,000 fine, and a term of supervised release of up to three years if convicted.
Jewish students on the university&#8217;s campus in Ithaca, New York, were put on high alert on Sunday night after at least six screenshots allegedly taken from the Greek Rank website displayed online threats from anonymous users who said &#8220;&#8216;israel&#8217; deserved 10/7&#8221; and &#8220;eliminate jewish living from cornell campus&#8221; to another user who claimed they would &#8220;shoot up 104 west.&#8221;
Cornell University officials <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/cornell-university-says-suspect-who-allegedly-made-anti-semitic-threats-online-against-jewish-students-in-police-custody" target="_blank" rel="noopener">confirmed</a> earlier on Tuesday that authorities identified and placed a suspect in custody who allegedly made the threats.
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Joel M. Malina, vice president for university relations at Cornell University, told The Daily Wire in an emailed statement that the Ivy League campus remains &#8220;shocked&#8221; and &#8220;condemn[s] these horrific, antisemitic threats and believe they should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.&#8221;
&#8220;We know that our campus community will continue to support one another in the days ahead,&#8221; Malina said. &#8220;Cornell Police will maintain its heightened security presence on campus as the university continues to focus on supporting the needs of our students, faculty and staff.&#8221;
Threats against Jewish communities in the U.S. continue to rise after the Israel-Hamas war entered its fourth week over the weekend, which has sparked a wave of anti-Semitism from supporters of Hamas.
Preliminary data reported by the Anti-Defamation League last Tuesday showed incidents of anti-Semitic harassment, vandalism, and assault increased by nearly 400% since Hamas terrorists killed more than 1,400 people on October 7.
FBI Director Christopher Wray said in testimony during a Senate hearing Tuesday that the Jewish community has been &#8220;targeted by terrorists really across the spectrum,&#8221; including &#8220;homegrown violent extremists&#8221; and &#8220;foreign terrorist organizations.&#8221; The anti-Semitic threats are reaching &#8220;historic levels&#8221; inside the U.S., he said.
Federal authorities became aware of the incident at Cornell University after school officials notified the FBI of a potential hate crime.
&#8220;We take all threats seriously and are working closely with Cornell and our law enforcement partners at every level to determine the credibility, share information, and take appropriate investigative action,&#8221; a spokesperson from the FBI told The Daily Wire in a statement. &#8220;We encourage members of the public to immediately report anything they consider suspicious to law enforcement. Nothing is more important than the safety of our communities and we will not tolerate violence motivated by hate and extremism.&#8221;

Cornell Student Faces 5 Years In Prison After Allegedly Making Online Threats To Jewish Students On Campus

Crime

Jewish

Cornell University confirmed on Tuesday that authorities identified and placed a suspect in custody for allegedly threatening <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/violent-threats-against-cornell-jewish-students-kosher-dining-hall-launch-campus-investigation" target="_blank" rel="noopener">extreme violence against Jewish students</a> on a website unaffiliated with the upstate New York Ivy League school last weekend.
&#8220;We can confirm that a subject has been identified as a suspect in the antisemitic threats made against our Jewish students on Sunday and is currently in custody,&#8221; Joel M. Malina, vice president for university relations, told The Daily Wire in an emailed statement. &#8220;We thank the FBI and other law enforcement agencies for their coordination. We will update the public as we have further details to release.&#8221;
Jewish students on the university&#8217;s campus in Ithaca, New York, were put on high alert on Sunday night after at least six screenshots allegedly taken from the Greek Rank website displayed online threats from anonymous users who said &#8220;&#8216;israel&#8217; deserved 10/7&#8221; and &#8220;eliminate jewish living from cornell campus&#8221; to another user who claimed they would &#8220;shoot up 104 west.&#8221;
Cornell Hillel, a chapter of the self-described largest Jewish campus organization in the world, warned on social media for students and staff to avoid the 104 West building, which is home to the university&#8217;s Kosher Dining Hall and nearby the Center for Jewish Living, following the online threats.
&#8220;The Cornell University administration has been made aware of this concerning language, and the Cornell Police Department is monitoring the situation and is on site at 104West to provide additional security as a precaution,&#8221; officials for the group wrote in a statement.
According to the organization&#8217;s website, approximately 3,000 undergraduate and 500 graduate Jewish students attend Cornell, comprising 22% of the student body.
New York Governor Kathy Hochul said Tuesday that state police had questioned &#8220;a person of interest&#8221; as part of the investigation.
&#8220;When I met with Cornell students yesterday, I promised them New York State would do everything possible to find the perpetrator who threatened a mass shooting and antisemitic violence on campus,&#8221; Hochul said in a <a href="https://www.governor.ny.gov/news/statement-governor-kathy-hochul-12" target="_blank" rel="noopener">news release</a>.
Hochul added, &#8220;Public safety is my top priority and I&#8217;m committed to combatting hate and bias wherever it rears its ugly head.&#8221;
Threats against Jewish communities in the U.S. continue to rise after the Israel-Hamas war entered its fourth week over the weekend, which has sparked a wave of anti-Semitism from supporters of Hamas.
Preliminary data <a href="https://www.adl.org/resources/press-release/adl-records-dramatic-increase-us-antisemitic-incidents-following-oct-7" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a> by the Anti-Defamation League last Tuesday showed incidents of anti-Semitic harassment, vandalism, and assault increased by nearly 400% since Hamas terrorists killed more than 1,400 people on October 7.
FBI Director Christopher Wray said in testimony during a Senate hearing Tuesday that the Jewish community has been &#8220;targeted by terrorists really across the spectrum,&#8221; including &#8220;homegrown violent extremists&#8221; and &#8220;foreign terrorist organizations.&#8221; The anti-Semitic threats are reaching &#8220;historic levels&#8221; inside the U.S., he said.
Federal authorities became aware of the incident at Cornell University after school officials notified the FBI of a potential hate crime.
&#8220;We take all threats seriously and are working closely with Cornell and our law enforcement partners at every level to determine the credibility, share information, and take appropriate investigative action,&#8221; a spokesperson from the FBI told The Daily Wire in a statement. &#8220;We encourage members of the public to immediately report anything they consider suspicious to law enforcement. Nothing is more important than the safety of our communities and we will not tolerate violence motivated by hate and extremism.&#8221;

Burning candle and flag of Israel on black table. Holocaust memory day

Cornell University Says Suspect Who Allegedly Made Anti-Semitic Threats Online Against Jewish Students In Police Custody

Kathy Hochul

New York

Jewish students at upstate New York&#8217;s Cornell University were reportedly “scared to leave their rooms” on Sunday night after a series of messages threatening extreme violence against them appeared on a website unaffiliated with the Ivy League campus.
At least six screenshots allegedly taken from the Greek Rank website displayed online threats from anonymous users who said “‘israel’ deserved 10/7” and “eliminate jewish living from cornell campus” to another user who claimed they would “shoot up 104 west.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
There’s more. <a href="https://t.co/NgdZX3OOXO">https://t.co/NgdZX3OOXO</a> <a href="https://t.co/AMqWvrlu87">pic.twitter.com/AMqWvrlu87</a>
&mdash; Isaac de Castro (@isaacdecastrog) <a href="https://twitter.com/isaacdecastrog/status/1718756162600923294?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 29, 2023</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Cornell Hillel, a chapter of the self-described largest Jewish campus organization in the world, warned on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/CornellHillel/posts/pfbid02sh57ZDi5frBHsiQEToa5fpihC5zu7YJhozXJcfcRgeahwYGZ3LwTKTvmeEHCqNCXl" target="_blank" rel="noopener">social media</a> for students and staff to avoid the 104 West building, which is home to the university’s Kosher Dining Hall and nearby the Center for Jewish Living, following the online threats.
“The Cornell University administration has been made aware of this concerning language, and the Cornell Police Department is monitoring the situation and is on site at 104West to provide additional security as a precaution,” officials for the group wrote in a statement.
According to the organization&#8217;s <a href="https://www.hillel.org/college/cornell-university/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">website</a>, approximately 3,000 undergraduate and 500 graduate Jewish students attend Cornell, comprising 22% of the student body.
Cornell President Martha E. Pollack issued a <a href="https://statements.cornell.edu/2023/20231029-antisemitic-threats.cfm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">statement</a> on Sunday following the online threats, calling the posts “horrendous, antisemitic messages threatening violence” toward the university’s Jewish community and the Kosher Dining Hall.
“Threats of violence are absolutely intolerable, and we will work to ensure that the person or people who posted them are punished to the full extent of the law,” Pollack wrote in part. “Our immediate focus is on keeping the community safe; we will continue to prioritize that.”
Pollack emphasized campus police were on the scene investigating and said authorities notified the FBI of a potential hate crime.
“We will not tolerate antisemitism at Cornell,” Pollack added. “During my time as president, I have repeatedly denounced bigotry and hatred, both on and off our campus. The virulence and destructiveness of antisemitism is real and deeply impacting our Jewish students, faculty and staff, as well as the entire Cornell community. This incident highlights the need to combat the forces that are dividing us and driving us toward hate. This cannot be what defines us at Cornell.&#8221;
A spokesperson from the FBI told The Daily Wire in a statement that the agency is aware of the threats made to Cornell University’s Jewish community.
&#8220;We take all threats seriously and are working closely with Cornell and our law enforcement partners at every level to determine the credibility, share information, and take appropriate investigative action,&#8221; the FBI said. &#8220;We encourage members of the public to immediately report anything they consider suspicious to law enforcement. Nothing is more important than the safety of our communities and we will not tolerate violence motivated by hate and extremism.&#8221;
It is unknown the source or severity of the extreme threats or who posted the messages online.
Still, the threat against Jewish communities on U.S. soil continues to rise after the Israel-Hamas war entered its fourth week over the weekend, which has sparked a wave of antisemitism from supporters of Hamas.
Last week, anti-Israel graffiti appeared on the Cornell University campus on the same day one of the Ivy League professors suddenly took <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/ivy-league-prof-takes-abrupt-sabbatical-after-cheerleading-exhilarating-hamas-attacks" target="_blank" rel="noopener">leave of absence</a> from his position after cheerleading the brutal assault on Israel by Hamas terrorists on October 7, referring to the terror group’s actions as “exhilarating.”
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Amid increasing Jew-hatred and several pro-Hamas rallies on campus, including one at which a professor called Hamas&#39;s massacre &quot;exhilarating,&quot; students at <a href="https://twitter.com/Cornell?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Cornell</a> were greeted by this egregious, hateful display this morning. What is Cornell doing to protect its Jewish students? <a href="https://t.co/lDvSA6fKA3">pic.twitter.com/lDvSA6fKA3</a>
&mdash; Israel War Room (@IsraelWarRoom) <a href="https://twitter.com/IsraelWarRoom/status/1717223394586845314?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 25, 2023</a></blockquote>
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One week after the terror attacks — during which over 1,300 Israeli men, women, and children were murdered, many of them civilians — Professor Russell Rickford, an associate history professor at the prestigious upstate New York institution, appeared at a pro-Palestinian protest and spoke about his reaction.
Rickford later apologized for the “horrible choice of words,” calling the language “reprehensible.”
Virginia Kruta contributed to this report.

Violent Threats Against Cornell Jewish Students, Kosher Dining Hall Launch Campus Investigation

Antisemtic Threats Against Cornell Jewish Students Launch Campus Investigation

An Ivy League professor has taken a sudden leave of absence from his position after cheerleading the brutal assault on Israel by Hamas terrorists on October 7, referring to the terror group&#8217;s actions as &#8220;exhilarating.&#8221;
&#8220;Professor Russell Rickford has requested and received approval to take a leave of absence from the university,&#8221; a <a href="https://www.thecornellreview.org/rickford-called-hamas-attacks-exhilarating-takes-leave/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">statement</a> from Cornell University&#8217;s media relations department read.
An email sent by another professor to students enrolled in his class read, &#8220;Professor Rickford will be taking a leave of absence and I will assume teaching responsibilities for this course for the remainder of the semester.&#8221;
One week after the terror attacks — during which over 1,300 Israeli men, women, and children were murdered, many of them civilians — Rickford, an associate history professor at the prestigious upstate New York institution, appeared at a pro-Palestinian protest and spoke about his reaction.
&#8220;It was exhilarating. It was exhilarating, it was energizing,&#8221; Rickford said of the attacks, telling onlookers that &#8220;you would not be human&#8221; if you did not share that sentiment. &#8220;I was exhilarated!&#8221;
Rickford <a href="https://cornellsun.com/2023/10/18/rickford-a-statement-regarding-my-actions-from-oct-15/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">later apologized</a> for the &#8220;horrible choice of words&#8221;: &#8220;I recognize that some of the language I used was reprehensible and did not reflect my values. As I said in the speech, I abhor violence and the violent targeting of civilians. I am sorry for the pain that my reckless remarks have caused my family, my students, my colleagues and many others in this time of suffering.&#8221;
Following his remarks at the rally, however, a <a href="https://www.change.org/p/demand-cornell-university-to-terminate-associate-professor-russell-for-hate-speech" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Change.org petition</a> calling for Rickford&#8217;s resignation gathered more than 11,000 signatures. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) and Rep. Claudia Tenney (R-NY) also called for the embattled professor to resign or be fired.
&#8220;As a person of authority at an educational institution, to celebrate murder, rape and abducting children and slaughtering children, I think he should be fired,&#8221; <a href="https://cnycentral.com/news/local/new-york-senator-calls-for-firing-of-cornell-university-professor" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Gillibrand said.</a> &#8220;There’s certainly no space for pro-Hamas protestors. That is someone who is supporting death, destruction, rape, murder, and slaughtering of innocent children, and families and seniors and holding hostages, so that cannot be supported.&#8221;
&#8220;By perpetuating these abhorrent views, Professor Rickford has not only violated his ethical responsibility as an educator but has also jeopardized the safety of the Jewish community and tarnished Cornell University&#8217;s reputation,&#8221; Tenney said in a letter to Cornell University&#8217;s president.

Ivy League Prof Takes Abrupt Sabbatical After Cheerleading ‘Exhilarating’ Hamas Attacks

Ivy League Prof Takes Abrupt Sabbatical After Cheerleading 'Exhilarating' Hamas Attacks

Ivy League

Terrorists

<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/cornell-university" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Cornell University</a> selected <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/free-speech" target="_blank" rel="noopener">free expression</a> and <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/colleges" target="_blank" rel="noopener">academic freedom</a> as central themes for the upcoming school year after multiple related controversies at other postsecondary institutions.
Free expression at elite schools has been increasingly threatened in recent years as faculties become increasingly Left-of-center, producing environments in which conservative academics and students report pressure to self-censor or even overt instances of censorship. In the past several weeks, Fifth Circuit Judge Kyle Duncan was verbally <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/stanford-law-sides-with-howling-mob-of-spoiled-brats-in-shameful-treatment-of-federal-judge" target="_blank" rel="noopener">accosted</a> by student protesters and a diversity administrator at Stanford University, while collegiate swimmer Riley Gaines was <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/swim-champ-riley-gaines-attacked-by-radical-trans-mob-forced-to-barricade" target="_blank" rel="noopener">attacked</a> by a mob of San Francisco State University students who opposed her stance on prohibiting men from competing in women’s sports.
Cornell <a href="https://news.cornell.edu/stories/2023/04/2023-24-academic-year-feature-free-expression-theme" target="_blank" rel="noopener">announced</a> in the wake of both incidents that students will be encouraged to engage in “civil discourse” about the importance of free expression through means such as community book readings, lectures and speaker events, and artistic exhibitions through the fall of 2023 and the spring of 2024.
“It is critical to our mission as a university to think deeply about freedom of expression and the challenges that result from assaults on it, which today come from both ends of the political spectrum,” Cornell University President Martha Pollack said in a statement. “Learning from difference, learning to engage with difference and learning to communicate across difference are key parts of a Cornell education. Free expression and academic freedom are the bedrock not just of the university, but of democracy.”
Cornell included “free and open inquiry and expression,” even when some consider certain ideas “wrong or offensive,” in a list of <a href="https://www.cornell.edu/about/values.cfm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">core values</a> released in 2019. The school’s board of trustees approved a similar <a href="https://news.cornell.edu/stories/2023/04/2023-24-academic-year-feature-free-expression-theme" target="_blank" rel="noopener">policy statement</a> on free expression two years later.
Multiple incidents over the past several years, however, appear to have contradicted the school’s professed commitment to free expression. Members of the student government attempted to <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/cornell-student-government-fails-to-disarm-police-so-they-expel-opposition-members-and-vote-again" target="_blank" rel="noopener">pass</a> a resolution three years ago that would disarm the school’s police, then voted to remove members opposed to the resolution and narrowly enacted the policy. Students and alumni likewise organized to depose William Jacobson, a veteran professor at Cornell Law School, after he <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/cornell-mob-comes-for-law-professor-who-criticized-black-lives-matter-movement" target="_blank" rel="noopener">contended</a> that the Black Lives Matter movement was based on a hoax and criticized the organization’s tactics.
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The more recent incidents at Stanford and San Francisco State provoked mixed reactions from administrators at each school. The former institution issued multiple <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/stanford-president-vows-to-protect-free-speech-after-federal-judge-shouted-down-by-leftist-students-and-dei-czar" target="_blank" rel="noopener">apologies</a> and vowed to more carefully protect free expression after Fifth Circuit Judge James Ho and Eleventh Circuit Judge Elizabeth Branch announced that they would no longer hire any clerks who chose to attend Stanford Law School in reaction to the response to Duncan. The latter institution, on the other hand, issued a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/did-this-just-say-peaceful-riley-gaines-unloads-on-san-francisco-states-response-to-assault" target="_blank" rel="noopener">statement</a> claiming that demonstrators “peacefully” expressed their views, even though police were forced to barricade Gaines in a room for several hours as students debated on whether she should be allowed to freely leave campus.
“This incident, and other similar disruptions at schools nationwide, make clear that maintaining strong free expression policies is not enough, independently, to ensure expressive freedoms,” read a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/mob-rule-free-speech-group-blasts-sfsu-after-riley-gaines-faced-physical-harassment-from-left-wing-mob" target="_blank" rel="noopener">letter</a> from the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression to San Francisco State administrators. “Universities must educate their students on their First Amendment rights and those of other students, faculty, and members of the campus community. To protect free speech and ensure their educational communities’ safety, universities must clarify that the use of force or mob rule to silence speech is not an exercise in free speech.”

Cornell University campus

Elite University Promotes Free Speech Following Stanford And SFSU Controversies

Elite University Promotes Free Speech Following Controversies At Other Schools

Academia

Free Speech

Two Ivy League Universities are switching their final exams to a remote format amid concerns over the Omicron variant of COVID-19.
Cornell and Princeton University both announced Tuesday that they would shift to remote finals after both schools experienced a significant increase in reported cases of COVID-19.
In a letter to students Tuesday, Cornell President Martha E. Pollack said that the University was making the move in an abundance of caution:
<blockquote>Since our Saturday message, our surveillance testing has continued to identify the rapid spread of COVID-19 among our student population. While faculty and staff case numbers currently remain low, just last evening our COVID-19 testing lab team identified evidence of the highly contagious Omicron variant in a significant number of Monday’s positive student samples. As a result, and out of an abundance of caution, the university is moving to Alert Level Red and announcing a number of immediate measures &#8230;</blockquote>
Pollack did admit that Omicron causes <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/early-omicron-reports-say-illness-may-be-less-severe">less severe</a> cases of COVID, but stressed that the University was not taking any chances with an outbreak:
<blockquote>While there is still much that is not known about the Omicron variant, it appears to be significantly more transmissible than Delta and other variants. There is some evidence (though far from certain) that it generally causes milder cases, particularly among vaccinated individuals. However, when you have high transmissibility, you’re going to have very high numbers of cases, and so even with lower rates of serious illness, outbreaks must be taken seriously.</blockquote>
The university also canceled a number of social events, including the graduation ceremony for December graduates and other social events and activities for undergraduates, and closed libraries and gyms on campus. It also canceled several sports competitions scheduled for Sunday. Labs and offices remained open, but students &#8220;should not participate in any work-study or lab work,&#8221; the notice said.
Students who had tested negative for COVID were permitted to leave, while remaining students were instructed to restrict non-essential contact. Students who tested positive were encouraged to get another test, and isolate themselves for 10 days. Visitors and guests were also barred from the campus, except families picking up students for semester break.
Princeton Dean Jill Dolan and Vice President W. Rochelle Calhoun expressed concern <a href="https://odoc.princeton.edu/about/spotlights/final-exams-shift-remote-format-and-campus-departures-memo-vice-president-calhoun?utm_campaign=communications&amp;utm_content=1639534231&amp;utm_medium=social&amp;utm_source=twitter">in their letter</a> that COVID self-quarantines would hinder students&#8217; ability to return home for the semester:
<blockquote>The State of New Jersey requires anyone testing positive for COVID to isolate for 10 days, whether or not they’re symptomatic. Given that we’ve seen an uptick in cases among undergraduates during the last 24 hours—including suspected cases of the highly contagious Omicron variant—we hope to avoid letting the final exam schedule interfere with students’ travel home for Winter Break. We certainly don’t want you remaining on campus in required isolation through the holidays.</blockquote>
Dolan and Calhoun encouraged students to leave campus as soon as possible. The University also closed down indoor social events with food, and those where masks could not be worn. Dolan and Calhoun also wrote that Princeton would be instituting a vaccine <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/growing-number-of-colleges-requiring-covid-19-booster-shot-for-spring-semester">booster mandate</a> for students, faculty, and staff.

Princeton University Orders 100 Students To Self-Isolate After Traveling To China On Coronavirus Fears

Cornell, Princeton Switching To Remote Final Exams Amid Possible Omicron Outbreaks

COVID

Princeton University

Cornell University has responded after a professor at the Ivy League school last week threatened to fail two students he accused of not wearing masks in his classroom, even asking other students to help identify the pair.
Dr. Bruce Monger, a Cornell University professor in the Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, sent an email to students in his &#8220;Introductory Oceanography&#8221; class, asking them to help him identify the two offending fellow students.
&#8220;I wanted to ask you for your help in identifying two ocean students who were photographed with their masks off during the ocean class last Friday,” Monger wrote in the memo that <a href="https://twitter.com/libsoftiktok/status/1455022824620376066">surfaced</a> online and was also provided to The Daily Wire by a Cornell student.
“They were sitting next to each other in the balcony’s front row of seating,” Monger wrote.
The professor then launched into detailed physical descriptions of both students, declaring that one had a &#8220;fairly prominent hooked nose,&#8221; a remark that the Cornell student who spoke to The Daily Wire indicated they found offensive.
“One student is a male with red hair and a fairly prominent hooked nose,” wrote Monger. “His hair was pretty long (just below the bottom of his ears) and is pretty thick and wavy. He was wearing a blue sweatshirt and was eating something at the time,” Monger wrote.
The professor offered a detailed description of the second student&#8217;s appearance as well.
“The other student is a male who was sitting to the left of the red head. He has short brown hair maybe 1 – 1/2 to 2 inches in length and small [sic] a nose. He wore a grey hoodie sweatshirt. He spent the whole lecture with his mask down around his chin,” Monger wrote.
Monger concluded by vowing to fail both students if he discovered their identities.
“If/when I find the identity of these two students, I will be failing them both for the semester as I promised I would in class last Wednesday,” the professor wrote.
Monger is a Senior Lecturer at Cornell.
Cornell addressed the controversy in a statement on Monday, saying the school requires faculty, staff, and students to wear a face mask in indoor settings. The school also <a href="https://covid.cornell.edu/vaccines/vaccination-cornell/">requires</a> all students to be vaccinated. As of Sunday, the on-campus population of Cornell is 97% vaccinated, according to the school.
Monger &#8220;regularly advised his students of the mask requirement, noting potential consequences for failing to comply,” Cornell said in its statement.
&#8220;Last week, Dr. Monger emailed the class seeking assistance identifying two unmasked students who had been photographed by concerned classmates,&#8221; Cornell acknowledged.
The university also responded to criticism of Monger&#8217;s physical descriptions of the students, saying the professor “described the students’ physical characteristics in ways that do not reflect Cornell values.&#8221;
&#8220;Dr. Monger has since acknowledged that his approach to dealing with unmasked students in class was not handled in an appropriate manner,” Cornell said.
In <a href="https://theuniversityfaculty.cornell.edu/f20-guide-for-faculty/when-a-student-is-non-compliant/">guidance</a> on how to address &#8220;noncompliant&#8221; students, the dean&#8217;s office does not list failing a student as one of the allowed consequences for a student refusing to wear a face mask properly. Faculty are instructed to report &#8220;egregious or repetitive non-compliant behavior&#8221; through the school&#8217;s proper channels.

Coronavirus – Lecture in presence at Uni Münster

Cornell Responds After Professor Threatened To Fail Maskless Students

Mask Mandate

An astronomy course at prestigious Cornell University, concerned about racism in the universe, not just Planet Earth, asked the deathless question: “Is there a connection between the cosmos and the idea of racial blackness?”
As famed author Heather Mac Donald, who has written numerous books, including “The War on Cops,&#8221; writes in <a href="https://www.city-journal.org/cornell-black-hole-class-racializes-astronomy?wallit_nosession=1">City Journal</a>, the course, titled “Black Holes: Race and the Cosmos,” notes in the catalog description that “conventional wisdom” asserts that the “‘black’ in black holes has nothing to do with race,” but astronomy professor Nicholas Battaglia and comparative literature professor Parisa Vaziri suggest the truth may be otherwise.
The <a href="https://classes.cornell.edu/browse/roster/SP21/class/ASTRO/2034">catalog description</a> reads:
<blockquote>Conventional wisdom would have it that the &#8220;black&#8221; in black holes has nothing to do with race. Surely there can be no connection between the cosmos and the idea of racial blackness. Can there? Contemporary Black Studies theorists, artists, fiction writers implicitly and explicitly posit just such a connection. Theorists use astronomy concepts like &#8220;black holes&#8221; and &#8220;event horizons&#8221; to interpret the history of race in creative ways, while artists and musicians conjure blackness through cosmological themes and images. Co-taught by professors in Comparative Literature and Astronomy, this course will introduce students to the fundamentals of astronomy concepts through readings in Black Studies. Texts may include works by theorists like Michelle Wright and Denise Ferreira da Silva, authors like Octavia Butler and Nalo Hopkinson, music by Sun Ra, Outkast and Janelle Monáe. Astronomy concepts will include the electromagnetic spectrum, stellar evolution, and general relativity.</blockquote>
Mac Donald notes, “Battaglia and Vaziri puncture the ‘conventional wisdom’ by drawing on theorists such as Emory University English professor Michelle Wright. Wright’s book, The Physics of Blackness: Beyond the Middle Passage Epistemology, invokes ‘Newton’s laws of motion and gravity’ and ‘theoretical particle physics’ to ‘subvert racist assumptions about Blackness.’ The Cornell course also studies music by Sun Ra and Outkast to “conjure blackness through cosmological themes.”
She concludes, “Today’s academic charlatanism consists in part in mistaking rhetoric for knowledge and words for things. This sleight of hand is particularly prevalent in matters relating to race. Hunter College professor Philip Ewell argues that the concept of tonal and harmonic hierarchies in music theory is a stand-in for pernicious racial hierarchies. … Seeing specters of racism everywhere, the racial avengers are tearing down every institution associated with Western civilization, simply because of its &#8216;whiteness.&#8217; Science had stood as a guard against such metaphorical, magical thinking. Bit by bit, it is succumbing.”
Meanwhile, another course description at Cornell recently came under fire for ostensibly being racist. The course description of a rock climbing P.E. class “<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20201202163126/https:/scl.cornell.edu/coe/pe-courses/spring-pe-courses/rock-climbing/BIPOC-rock-climbing">initially said</a> that the class was open only to those students identifying as BIPOC, which sparked controversy on Cornell’s campus and beyond. A<a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Cornell/comments/jr9vti/end_racially_segregated_pe_classes_at_cornell/"> thread of posts</a> to the Cornell reddit called for an end to ‘racially segregated P.E. classes at Cornell,’” the <a href="https://cornellsun.com/2021/05/04/students-and-instructors-defend-bipoc-p-e-class-after-online-controversy/">Cornell Sun</a> reported in May. “Some argued that the implementation of BIPOC rock-climbing, by offering the class only to students of particular races, was a hindrance to diversity and inclusion efforts,&#8221; the paper noted. &#8220;Others said that Cornell’s decision was racist and in violation of federal Title VI, which states that no educational program receiving federal financial assistance may exclude participation on the basis of race or national origin.”

Collapsing Star

Black Holes Are Connected To ‘Racial Blackness,’ Cornell U Course Says

Racism

Faculty at Cornell University this week will be voting on six so-called anti-racism proposals, half of which relate to mandated training for students and faculty.
National Review <a href="https://www.nationalreview.com/news/cornell-faculty-set-to-vote-on-anti-racism-training-mandate-for-students-faculty/">reported</a> that the votes “come after university president Martha Pollack tasked the Faculty Senate with developing plans for the creation and implementation of such a requirement in July 2020.”
“Three resolutions focus on anti-racism teachings for students. One is an endorses [sic] a proposal that lays out plans for a for-credit educational requirement as ‘worthy of consideration’ by the administration and says that faculty must be consulted before any decision is made to implement the group’s recommendation,” the outlet continued.
Another of the three proposals directed at students would a faculty endorsement for a requirement that all students “complete at least one for-credit course that addresses race and bias.” The third student-centered proposal would have one or more courses on “racism, colonialism, antiracism, and decolonization” required to be co-taught by faculty members from Africana Studies; American Studies; American Indian and Indigenous Studies; Asian American Studies; Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies; and Latinx Studies, National Review reported.
The three remaining proposals are faculty-centered, with one insisting the recommendations from a faculty working group that proposed new programs for faculty that teaches them about “structural racism, colonialism and injustice” would be “worthy of consideration” by Cornell administrators. Another would encourage the news programs to be developed by departments, not the administration, and the third would endorse faculty members’ voluntary participation in their own “anti-racism and bias” programs.
A week ago, Cornell’s Faculty Senate “voted to approve the creation of an anti-racism center on campus,” National Review reported.
William A. Jacobson, a clinical law professor at Cornell Law School, told the National Review that he does not approve of the proposals currently working their way through the Faculty Senate.
“I am unequivocally against mandates. I do not accept what the university and much of academia, I believe, misleadingly calls anti-racism,” Jacobson said.
Jacobson noted to the outlet that “anti-racism,” as is being taught to students and faculty from books like Ibram X. Kendi’s “How to be an Anti-Racist,” actually calls for new discrimination to remedy past discrimination. Jacobson told National Review that being an anti-racist insists that people who “have the traditional American civil rights notion that we treat people based upon the content of their character, not the color of their skin” are actually racist.
Further, Jacobson said, Cornell shouldn’t adopt an “offshoot of critical race theory” as an official policy.
“If you read these proposals, it says that this is what it is on campus, that this is what students and faculty must accept and learn about and I think that’s anti-educational,” he told the outlet. “That’s an ideological mandate that a lot of people disagree with. It’s not in the tradition of the American civil rights movement and they are adopting it as a semi-official or official University ideology.”
“There is so much critical race theory and anti-racism, activism, programs, administrative personnel. The campus is awash in this stuff. If students want to go and participate in that voluntarily, fine. But I don’t think that should be forced on people. I think when you are forcing it on people, you’re now engaging in coercion, not education,” he added.
As The Daily Wire has previously reported, “anti-racism” training often includes disparaging America as <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/disney-training-documents-insist-america-founded-on-systemic-racism-tell-employees-to-reject-equality">irredeemably racist</a>, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/affinity-groups-the-lefts-new-term-for-segregation">segregating people</a> based on the color of their skin, and telling white people <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/report-seattle-tells-teachers-bankrupt-your-white-privilege-schools-commit-spirit-murder-of-black-children-every-day">they are the cause of society’s ills</a>.

Cornell Faculty To Vote On Mandated ‘Anti-Racism’ Training For Students, Staff That Teaches ‘Structural Racism,’ ‘Colonialism’

Anti-Racism

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