10,000 sign petition calling for Cornell to reinstate student suspended after anti-Israel protest
A petition with over 10,000 signatures is demanding the reinstatement of Cornell graduate student Momodou Taal, who was suspended for participating in an anti-Israel protest and defying police orders.
Cornell officials claim Taal exhibited escalating disruptive behavior, while student activists criticize the university's actions as unjust persecution of campus activism.
Thousands of individuals have signed a petition demanding that the controversial anti-Israel protester Momodou Taal be reinstated at Cornell University after disrupting an event at the college and failing to comply with police instructions.
Taal, a graduate student at Cornell, was suspended by the university and had his visa revoked after engaging in a recent anti-Israel protest at the school. The petition demanding his reinstatement, which was created by the Cornell Collective for Justice in Palestine (CCJP), has received more than 10,000 signatures according to Middle East Eye.
CCJP includes members from the Cornell community, including students and faculty.
“We demand an immediate end to his suspension, the lack of due process, and the disproportionate persecution of campus activists,” CCJP said in a statement about Taal. “It has been over a week. We demand that Momodou Taal’s temporary suspension be overturned and that due process be followed.”
Taal is from the United Kingdom and has been suspended twice by Cornell this year for disruptive behavior. A Cornell official stated that Taal exhibited “escalating, egregious behavior and a disregard for the University policies” during a recent protest.
Taal criticized the university’s decision to revoke his student visa after the protest, saying the administration made the decision to “shift the focus away from their complicity in genocide.”
Anti-Israel student activists at the school also protested at a career fair at Cornell University, during which more than 100 activists protested the presence of Boeing at the event due to its connections with Israel.
The student demonstrators chanted “We will work, we will fight. No more jobs in genocide” and “F*** you Boeing.”
“Yesterday, the Coalition for Mutual Liberation successfully shut down a Boeing and L3Harris recruitment event,” stated Cornell’s anti-Israel student group, Coalition for Mutual Liberation (CML), on Sept. 19. “Neither one of these genocidal companies should be recruiting on Cornell’s campus in the first place,” the group concluded.
In the wake of the protest, Cornell University released a statement that called the protest “unacceptable, a violation of university policy, and illegal.” The university administration additionally stated that those students who violated university policy would receive “immediate action” from the school and could additionally “be subject to potential criminal charges.”
Campus Reform has contacted Cornell University for comment. This article will be updated accordingly.
