EDITORS' CORNER
OPINION: The answer is nothing. Student activists surrounded his car shouting questions, he slowly backed up and slowly drove away. Now the radicals are whining like babies.
Late last month following a debate about Israel and the Palestinians, the president of Cornell University was followed by several members of Students for a Democratic Cornell who allegedly “questioned him about free speech on campus.”
President Michael Kotlikoff wasn’t interested in engaging the activists at the time; he got into his car and began — slowly — backing up out of his parking space, maneuvered into a drive position, and then (again, slowly) drove away.
Videos show a student being bumped by Kotlikoff’s car as he backed up, while (allegedly) another student’s foot was run over.
Kotlikoff had referred to the incident as one of “intimidation and harassment”; he claimed the activists were “surround[ing] the car, banging on the windows, blocking the car, and shouting.”
Video confirms all but the “banging” part, although one surveillance camera angle shows two students (including the one who was bumped) moving to the car’s driver’s side which is out of view.
As you’d expect, the members of the SDC present at the incident are now ranting and raving, and are backed up by the Cornell chapter of the American Association of University Professors and Student Assembly.
In a video posted to Instagram, Aiden Vallecillo (pictured), the student whose foot allegedly was run over, and others claim they confronted Kotlikoff because “students have no free speech” at Cornell.
Groups such as the Cornell Graduate Students Union, Anthropology Graduate Student Association, Medieval Studies Student Colloquium Executive Board, and Comparative Literature Graduate Students, and Africana Graduate Student Association are now calling on Kotlikoff to resign.
But outside academic circles it seems the majority support President Kotlikoff in the matter. Comments across media and social media wanted discipline for the student activists, accused the students of embellishing Kotlikoff’s actions, and said the president acted appropriately.
MORE: Cornell pro-Palestinian activists hold kangaroo court ‘trial’ of school president
Sick and tired of these people. They deliberately lie and play victim.
— jerald (@jerald) May 7, 2026
As they harass people and think they are the good guys. Fuck these brainwashed kids.
They need to get their act together or get kicked out of the university and expelled as a message to all other students.
These are typical left wing assholes. Very typical. They swarm a car and try to prevent the car from escaping their mob. When the driver being mobbed tries to escape they block the path creating a very dangerous situation. They make contact with the car but claim they were ‘hit’.…
— WhatHappened.com (@JohnBla27209136) May 8, 2026
Kotlikoff was in no way obligated to grant the activists an audience in this particular situation. And what does New York State law say about what Kotlikoff did?
Article 35 of the state Penal Code notes a person can use physical force if he/she “reasonably believes” there’s an imminent danger.
Was Kotlikoff in imminent danger? It may not seem like it based on the videos, but we don’t know all that was said leading up to the incident. And given Cornell activists‘ (and professors‘) actions over the last few years, I’m willing to give him the benefit of the doubt, especially since he’s been at the university since 2000 (2015 as an administrator).
It’s plain to me that Kotlikoff did not intend any harm to the students considering how slow his vehicle was moving. And once it started moving, it was incumbent upon the students (who are all legal adults, by the way) to get the hell out of the way.
And lo and behold: Yesterday, the Chair and Vice Chair of the Cornell Board of Trustees put out a statement saying Kotlikoff did nothing wrong. In fact, none of the activists present, including Vallecillo and the one bumped by the car, “refused to provide sworn statements as to their account of the incident” to the Cornell police (emphasis added).
They said this is because they have “no faith” in campus cops as they’ve “actively engaged in the repression of student protest.” Naturally.
What’s more, despite no criminal charges nor a formal complaint by Kotlikoff being filed, the board determined the actions of Vallecillo and company were “inconsistent with university policies governing expressive activity and our standards for respectful conduct, safety, and the prohibition of intimidation.”
MORE: ‘F*** you, Zionist scums,’ pro-Israel students at Cornell told
