During my studies at Cornell University (1958-1962), a zoology professor insisted I take the final exam on a Saturday, refusing to accept the usual arrangement, where sabbath-observant students would stay with the Hillel Rabbi Morris Goldfarb during Shabbat, and take the exam under his supervision on Saturday evening. An appointment was arranged for me to speak with Cornell’s president.
Gathering courage and with support from fellow students, I entered the president’s office and explained why my religious beliefs prevented me from writing on the Jewish Sabbath. He listened attentively and expressed his gratitude. With support from Jewish professors and Rabbi Goldfarb, the university president ensured that the zoology professor reluctantly relented.
Subsequently, I learned that the zoology professor, along with others in that department, held antisemitic views and was required to leave the university after that term. The lesson from this incident is that positive action against antisemitism ensures an environment of tolerance and human dignity.
Cornell was renowned as a university where anyone could receive instruction in any discipline. Notably, it was the first Ivy League school to admit women undergraduates in 1870 and today it has a large minority student population. Among Cornell’s 15,000 undergraduates are 2,500 Jewish students.
However, Cornell has undergone changes. Antisemitism, often disguised as anti-Israel sentiment, intolerance, and restrictions on free speech, has surfaced. Jewish and Muslim students no longer feel comfortable on campus due to the presence of radical Islamic students promoting violence. A few days ago, daily Jewish prayers on campus were canceled due to concerns about possible anti-Jewish violence.
Shockingly, threatening posts advocating violence against Jews, including slitting their throats, assaulting Jewish women, and destroying the Jewish Living House and dining hall, appeared on a review site for fraternities and sororities. The authors of these posts identified themselves as “Hamas,” “Hamas soldier,” and “kill the Jews.” Additionally, antisemitic graffiti emerged on the main campus. The Hillel Rabbi advised students to avoid Jewish sites on campus, and a student was quoted in the Cornell student newspaper saying “It’s terrifying to be Jewish on our campus... .”
In response, New York Governor Kathy Hochul visited Cornell on October 30 and vowed to find and prosecute whoever posted graphic threats against Jewish students. The FBI and New York State counterterrorism units were called in and located the Cornell student responsible for these threats. A police presence was visible outside Jewish sites on campus.
Universities are known for nurturing the future leaders of society, and Ivy League institutions like Cornell should produce the best among these leaders. When a university upholds freedom of expression and equality, it cultivates leaders for a democratic society. However, when terror, violence, racism, and antisemitism dominate a campus, the university loses its educational purpose.
The recent antisemitic events at Cornell University troubled me and raised the question: How did intellectually exciting American universities, where freedom of speech and the exchange of ideas were the norm, deteriorate into campuses of fear, intolerance, and hatred? Evaluating this decline of democratic ideals at American educational institutions is a complex task, but we can identify a few causes: The faculty; the university administration; and the increase of anti-Israel incitement and antisemitism in America.
The faculty is the most significant factor in university education. In the tolerant environment at Cornell in the 1960s, professors like Milton Konvitz taught a renowned class on American Ideals, playing a pivotal role in shaping the lives of thousands of students. At that time, we delved into his books on equality, civil rights, fundamental freedoms, and the evils of discrimination. I received my first degree from Cornell, taught there for eight years, and, like many others, my life was significantly influenced by the faculty.
The faculty today is different. Russell J. Rickford is an associate professor in Cornell’s history department. His research focuses on Afro-American society and he wrote books about Malcolm X’s wife and “Black English.” He is also a pro-Palestinian activist.
At an October 15 pro-Palestinian rally, he expressed being “exhilarated” by the October 7 Hamas attack, which he defined as a legitimate attack on Israel. Support for the Hamas massacre in which 1,400 Israeli residents were brutally murdered, tortured, raped, and kidnapped is understood as a call for violence against Israelis and Jews. When this call for violence comes from a professor it has a heightened influence on students.
Subsequently, student posts threatening Jewish students, anti-Israel graffiti, and demonstrations advocating Israel’s elimination followed Rickford’s enthusiastic talk. Freedom of speech and academic freedom do not include incitement to violence. Words can kill and incite others to violence.
Faculty members openly express anti-Israel opinions and participate in rallies advocating Israel’s elimination, as the Hamas massacre intended to do in Southern Israel. On the other hand, very few, if any, Cornell faculty will openly support Israel, and I am aware of only one pro-Israel activist at Cornell.
Cornell faculty, like those in many American universities, has failed to provide a balanced analysis of the Israel-Palestinian conflict, and often portrays Israel as an apartheid and undemocratic country. A one-sided presentation is not educational but rather an unfair form of indoctrination.
Currently, American universities offer few courses that present the positive aspects of Israeli society (my Cornell course did so until 2015). Israeli diplomats are rarely invited to speak on college campuses, while anti-Israel dictators such as Mahmud Ahmadinejad spoke at Columbia University on September 24, 2007.
The one-sided negative presentation of Israel reflects a broader educational failure. Cornell students learn that issues can be analyzed by relating to one side of any subject, issue, or dispute. Cornell faculty has failed in one of its important tasks, which is to teach students to think critically, ask questions, and evaluate problems. They have also not instilled in their students the basics of human dignity and liberty, which include respecting others’ opinions.
University administration policy is another factor contributing to the absence of a protected learning environment at Cornell. They prefer not to act decisively against violations of Jewish students’ freedom of speech. Freedom of speech means protecting everyone’s right to speak. Pro-Palestinians can picket Jewish and Israeli events, but violently disturbing or preventing them cannot be tolerated by a university administration that respects freedom of speech. University police should be directed to prioritize the protection of free speech over reluctance to confront violent demonstrators.
Slow to condemn Hamas
The initial reaction of Cornell’s President to the October 7 massacre, which omitted a strong condemnation of Hamas, was indicative of traditional university policy. Alumni dismay and protests over her initial statement resulted in another statement, that condemned the Hamas atrocities on October 7.
Subsequently, there were instances such as Rickford’s pro-Hamas speech, anti-Zionist graffiti, and anti-Israel rallies. Cornell’s president, having realized that students might interpret them as consistent with university policy, issued a strong and clear statement, stating, “We will not tolerate antisemitism at Cornell... All of our community deserves to feel safe at Cornell... we will work to reinforce a culture of trust, respect, and safety at Cornell.”
This is a welcome policy change, but cannot be achieved solely by having a police car outside the Jewish Living House. Educational action is necessary to create a tolerant environment.
If non-democratic and terror ideas are not eliminated in Western society, including universities, they can overpower the silent majority of responsible citizens. The way Cornell’s administration and faculty deal with terror and antisemitism is indicative of how Western countries will handle anti-democratic forces within.
The university should be open for the exchange of views about the Israel-Palestinian dispute. However, professors and students who advocate the elimination of Israel and terrorize Jewish students have no place at Cornell.
The writer is former president of National Labor Court, and a 1962 graduate of Cornell University.