Cornell instructor cancels class in recognition of the ‘Global Strike for Palestine’
Alyiah Gonzales reportedly emailed students, 'I mourn the fact that all universities in Gaza have been destroyed or demolished by Israeli military forces and operations.'
Gonzales' research interests include ‘literature written by and for Black womxn and the queer, coalitional, and transformative possibilities located therein.’
A Cornell University instructor whose interests include literature focusing on “nonheteronormative relationships and queer belonging among Black womxn,” recently canceled a class in support of a “Global Strike for Palestine.”
Earlier this month, Alyiah Gonzales, a student and instructor at the Ithaca, New York school, canceled the first session for a class titled: “ENGL 1160: FWS Intersections: Race, Writing, and Power,” according to Jewish Insider.
In an email acquired by The Washington Free Beacon in which she explained her actions, Gonzales wrote: “Today, I am canceling class in solidarity with collective calls for a Global Strike for Palestine. As I write to you, a short drive away from the university we all attend and that I have the privilege of teaching you in, I mourn the fact that all universities in Gaza have been destroyed or demolished by Israeli military forces and operations.”
In lieu of attending the class, Gonzales asked students to write a “2-3 page letter/essay” on why they chose her course, instructing them to “[p]lease reflect on your intentions coming into the course, what knowledge you hope to deepen and share with myself and your peers, and how you presently understand the relationship between writing, power, and systems of oppression (including, but not limited to, race, gender, class, dis/ability, etc).”
Following the class cancellation, Michael Kotlikoff, Cornell’s provost, released a statement that said: “Many of us have deep personal connections and strong feelings regarding events occurring in the Middle East. It is incumbent on all of us, however, to ensure that we focus on our core missions of teaching and research, and that instructors avoid creating conditions that disenfranchise or intimidate those who do not share their views.”
“Faculty and instructors should conduct their classes and schedule them in a way that is academically appropriate. Canceling classes as a political call to action, or using one’s role in instruction to promote a personal or political belief, diminishes our role as educators,” he added.
Gonzales’ decision also comes amid several ongoing controversies at Cornell.
Campus Reform reported earlier this month that the U.S. House Ways and Means Committee Chair Jason Smith warned the university and other elite schools that failure to address anti-Semitic tensions on their campuses could lead to their tax-exempt status, as well as other benefits, being revoked.
Cornell also finds itself among a group of schools facing a U.S. Department of Education investigation for accusations of anti-Semitism or Islamophobia, as recently noted by Campus Reform.
In December, Campus Reform also reported that Cornell graduate students voted to unionize through a national union that supports the Boycott, Divest, and Sanctions (BDS) campaign against Israel, which is considered deeply anti-Semitic by the Anti-Defamation League and other Jewish groups.
Gonzales’ LinkedIn profile states her research interests as “literature written by and for Black womxn and the queer, coalitional, and transformative possibilities located therein.”
She adds: “I am particularly drawn to literary fiction that depicts enduring and resilient relationships between Black womxn characters, with particular emphasis on texts and authors that reimagine the constructions and possibilities of community in their representation of nonheteronormative relationships and queer belonging among Black womxn.”
Campus Reform reached out to Cornell’s English Department for comment. The article will be updated accordingly.
