Cops remove anti-Israel students sprawled out on Cornell library floor as others try to study
On Feb. 8, student activists at Cornell University in upstate New York held a 'die-in' protest in opposition to university investments connected to Israel.
Protesters also reportedly chanted the anti-Semitic phrase, 'From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free' during the demonstration.
On Feb. 8, student activists at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York held a “die-in” protest in opposition to university investments connected to Israel.
As in other die-in protests, the students laid down, pretending to be dead. Chants of “Cornell is complicit in genocide!” were reportedly heard during the demonstration in the Mann Library.
Protesters also reportedly chanted the anti-Semitic phrase, “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” during the occasion.
The protest was organized and led by the Cornell Coalition for Mutual Liberation. The purpose of the protest was to demand that Cornell divest from defense contractors that have ties to Israel.
On Feb. 1, the Cornell Student Assembly rejected a resolution that demanded that the school divest from companies that “through their ‘action or inaction,’ engage in ‘morally reprehensible activities’” in Gaza.
According to a Cornell Coalition for Mutual Liberation Instagram post, one student speaker just prior to the die-in said, “White supremacy is the student assembly distancing themselves from our complicity in this genocide, arguing that a professor’s right to do research on weapons is more important than the lives of black and brown civilians.”
Malek Abuhashim, president of Students for Justice in Palestine, told WSKG, “We have the ability to break this war machine at the legs, essentially, and stop this funding and support for this.”
According to The Cornell Sun, around 100 students walked out of their classes around noon, met on the university quad, and then went to the library to participate in the protest. The names of Palestinians who have been killed during the Israel-Hamas war were also allegedly announced during the event.
The student newspaper also writes that police officers were quickly called to the library and the students left the premises about 10 minutes after they appeared. However, the protest itself continued in other university buildings.
In an official statement later that day, Vice President for University Relations Joel Malina said that the group of protesters “disrupted university business by holding a demonstration inside library and academic spaces.”
[RELATED: UPenn faculty block building during ‘die-in’ to honor ‘Gazans murdered by Israel’]
“Cornell University Police were called to the site and worked to quickly remove the students and to gather identification from students to refer for disciplinary action,” he continued. Malina also noted that while Cornell values free expression, protesters must nonetheless comply with “time, place, and manner guidelines to ensure the ability of our faculty and students to teach and learn without disruption.”
He concluded the statement by stating that the Office of Student Conduct and Community has been tasked with disciplining identified students for violating campus policies.
“Disruptions of this type are not permissible,” Malina concluded. “The university must and will continue to take action when activity is in violation of our policies.”
Campus Reform has contacted Cornell University, the Cornell Coalition for Mutual Liberation, and Cornell’s chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine for comment. This article will be updated accordingly.
