Free Expression Unwelcome Here!
June 2025 Cornell on Fire Post and Newsletter
Dear Cornell on Fire,
At the time of writing, thousands of national guard troops and marines remain in LA after the Trumpian regime in Washington deployed them to suppress peaceful protests against ICE raids. This peacetime deployment of federal military forces on US territory is widely viewed as unprecedented, marking a new level of effort to shut down dissent. To be someone or say something that inconveniences the regime means to be at risk of violent repression by federal agents abusing their power. If you are alarmed by the rapid narrowing of space for freedom of expression, the scale of the nationwide ‘No Kings’ protests on June 14 suggests you are not alone. Democratic principles (such as they were) are now being trashed wholesale at breakneck speed.
In this time, we would hope to see influential educational institutions like Cornell stand up for public freedoms. If only this were so. On graduation day, Cornell sent a clear message by halting and punishing peaceful protest that was legitimate according to their own newly-minted Expressive Activity Policy. The Cornell administration appears to have dropped any pretense of tolerating all public criticism from members of its community. Instead, like the federal government, it enforces undisclosed limits on who may speak, about what, and when, at its convenience. Furthermore, President Kotlikoff’s efforts to distinguish Cornell from the ‘woke’ university make clear these limits will shamelessly toe the line with the Trumpian agenda of the day. Is Cornell openly joining the highway to authoritarianism rather than resisting? It sure looks like it.
On graduation day, Cornell police declared three members of Cornell on Fire persona non grata (PNG), banning them from Cornell properties for three years. The alleged crime was the attempted blindfolding of a statue accompanied by signs attached with string. Later that morning, police ordered a second group of Cornell on Fire members holding a banner and distributing cards to leave campus.
It may come as no surprise that we have not kept quiet about this egregiously disproportionate response to low-key protest actions, the likes of which we had held previously without incident. Our requests to repeal the PNG orders have been met with a power-preserving response from Cornell Police: they backpedaled the PNG order by reducing the time and space prohibitions to a ban from the Arts Quad for one year. But, at all times when on Cornell property, the individuals affected must carry the PNG amendment letter on their persons, “to avoid confusion.” This apparent modification is as unacceptable to us as the original order because we have done nothing to justify any PNG restrictions.
In the meantime, the community response has been hearteningly supportive. Our Instagram account received over 24,000 views in a month, our action video reached over 4,500 views and our photo carousel had over 16,500 views. We are grateful for numerous solidarity statements from activism groups across the movement, as well as supportive comments from the campus and community. Stephen S., a well-known political commentator, wrote to us “I applaud you for your graduation address, for continuing to take principled action, for taking risks in the face of institutional misconduct.”
The press is joining us in calling out Cornell’s institutional misconduct. Forbes Magazine just published a thought-provoking article by Cornell on Fire Faculty Fellow Marianne Krasny inspired by our action. The incident was covered by outlets including the Cornell Daily Sun, the Ithaca Journal, the Ithaca Times, and WSKG. Movement newsletters broadcast their condemnation of Cornell’s actions, including Bryan Alexander and TIAA-Divest! who featured our story in their newsletter. (Want to receive their excellent newsletter? Subscribe here!)
Now is a good time for a reminder of the stakes that keep growing while those in power spend their energy suppressing dissent under the usual fascist pretense of a “national emergency”caused by an invasion of aliens. Meanwhile, the real emergency, that of our collapsing climate and ecological systems, grows unchecked. A new report by Accuweather projects unprecedented heat with deadly impacts in the next 5 years alone. And that’s just the next five years – the end of the critical window scientists calculated we have to prevent the irreversible crossing of global tipping points. Should the Cornell administration decide to heed the science and prioritize systemic changes needed to mitigate the collapse of our life support systems, the cost to our community would be negligible compared to the risks of continuing down the current catastrophic path.
As the administration grapples with financial crisis and a hostile federal environment for research institutions, a June 18 announcement by President Kotlikoff and others informed Cornellians that significant, permanent changes are being made to the university’s operations. What if, rather than excuse itself from climate mitigation due to the weight of other concerns, university leadership used this moment of change to lock in a pathway to reduced carbon emissions? What if, rather than stamping out dissent, Cornell introduced participatory decision-making processes for its stakeholders – students, faculty, staff, alumni, community members – to equitably inform operational changes in challenging times?
Those of us who can no longer tolerate Cornell’s complicity in mass suffering will keep speaking out. Join us at one of the opportunities listed below. And it is clear that if the administration exploits the opportunity of a repressive political climate to shut us down, this will only amplify our message.
In collective perseverance,
Cornell on Fire
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Join us in speaking out:
Join us for an art-ivism social gathering from 2-5pm on Saturday, July 26, in West Danby. Get to know the people behind Cornell on Fire and consider contributing your skills to creative protest materials! Write to connect@cornellonfire.org for details.
We will resume our weekly Zoom meetings in August. Newcomers are always welcome! Stay tuned for meeting details in our August email post.
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This post was emailed to our movement members on June 27, 2025. View the corresponding Instagram post here.
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Plurivocality: CoF Posts are written by a revolving team of writers. Our movement is diverse, so are our thoughts, and so will be our posts. If you receive a CoF Post that you think is wrong headed, can we still walk together? (We, like you, sometimes write things we later laugh at!)
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