UPDATE: 'Black Radical' prof who called Hamas killings 'exhilarating' now on leave from Cornell
'I think he should be fired,' stated Democratic Senator Kirsten Gillibrand.
'I was exhilarated,' Rickford said of the attacks.
A professor who referred to the attacks on Israel by Hamas as “exhilarating” has taken a semester leave of absence after immense criticism.
On Saturday, the Cornell Review announced that professor Russell Rickford “has taken a leave of absence” from his position at Cornell University. The media relations department for the school told the Cornell Review that Rickford had been the one to request the leave and receive approval from the university.
Rickford, an associate professor of history at the university, “specializes in African-American political culture after World War II, the Black Radical Tradition, and transnational social movements.” Before taking his leave of absence, he taught a course titled “African American History From 1865.”
“Professor Rickford will be taking a leave of absence and I will assume teaching responsibilities for this course for the remainder of the semester,” said fellow professor Tamika Nunley, who stepped up to teach the remainder of Rickford’s course. Nunley’s research focuses include “the history of slavery, African American women’s and gender history, the early Republic, and the American Civil War.”
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On Oct. 17, Campus Reform covered a video of Rickford describing Hamas’ attack on Israel “exhilarating” and “energizing.”
“It was energizing. And if it weren’t exhilarating by this challenge to the monopoly of violence - by this shifting of the balance of power - then they would not be human. I was exhilarated,” Rickford had said in the video.
Rickford’s statement soon drew criticism from the Cornell community and the public. “This is a reprehensible comment that demonstrates no regard whatsoever for humanity,” University President Martha E. Pollack said in an Oct. 17 statement. “[A]ny members of our community who have made such statements do not speak for Cornell; in fact, they speak in direct opposition to all we stand for at Cornell.”
In addition to Pollack, multiple others, including New York Democratic Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, condemned Rickford’s statement.
“As a person of authority at an educational institution, to celebrate murder, rape and abducting children and slaughtering children, I think he should be fired,” Gillibrand stated. “There’s certainly no space for pro-Hamas protestors.”
“That is someone who is supporting death, destruction, rape, murder, and slaughtering of innocent children, and families and seniors and holding hostages, so that cannot be supported,” she continued.
Campus Reform has reached out to Cornell University, Nunley, Rickford, and Gillibrand for comment and will update accordingly.
