Cornell University

Historic Lawsuit Filed Challenging Trump’s Attack On Free Speech

March 16, 2025 Amandla Thomas-Johnson, Popular Resistance. Resist! Campus Movement, Cornell University, Deportation, Free Speech, Legal System, Palestine, Repression, Trump Administration

A Cornell professor and two graduate students are suing the Trump administration for violating the First Amendment as it seeks to deport international students protesting Israel’s war on Gaza under the guise of protecting national security. Trump’s salvo of executive orders targeting what amounts to student thought crimes means the Cornell scholars “now fear government retaliation for engaging in constitutionally protected expression critical of U.S. foreign policy and supportive of Palestinian human rights,” according to the lawsuit, filed Saturday in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District.

Cornell Black Students Denounce University President’s ‘White Supremacist’ Language

October 5, 2024 Amandla Thomas-Johnson, Popular Resistance. Resist! Campus Movement, Cornell University, Deportation, Free Speech, Momodou Taal, Repression, Student Activism

Black students at Cornell have denounced the University's Interim President Michael Kotlikoff for deploying “white supremacist caricatures” as he pursues a war of words against Momodou Taal, a graduate student facing deportation for taking part in pro-Palestinian protests. Following a meeting with Kotlikoff earlier in the week, Black student groups on Wednesday said they “no longer felt safe on campus” and urged the university to “create an open forum to repair the administration’s relationship with Black students.” It comes as a petition supporting Taal surpassed 10,000 signatures.

Student Faces Deportation After Suspension for Pro-Palestine Protest

September 24, 2024 Matt Dougherty, Ithaca Times. Educate! Campus Movement, Cornell University, Deportation, Immigration, Israel, Palestine, Palestine Solidarity, Student Activism

Cornell University has become the first university to suspend a student for pro-Palestinian organizing this semester. The suspension came in response to a student-led protest organized by the Coalition for Mutual Liberation (CML), which shut down a career fair at the Statler Hotel attended by defense contractors Boeing and L3 Harris last week. The protest, according to the CML, was part of a broader effort to oppose Cornell’s complicity in military and defense industries that profit from violence, specifically in the occupied Palestinian territories. The suspended student is PhD candidate Momodou Taal, who has been a prominent advocate for Palestinian liberation during his time at Cornell.

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