GRADUATION 2025
Cornell Punishes Activists for Asking Them Not To Look Away from Students’ Futures on Graduation. The activists’ temporary, non-defacing educational art installation on the AD White statue was an allowable form of expressive activity under Cornell’s policy. Cornell Police claimed that it was a “poster” so needed to follow postering permit rules.
it’s an emergency. Cornell must dissociate from fossil-fuel $$ now.
a coalition campaign by Cornell on Fire, Fossil Free Cornell and TIAA-Divest!
1. Declare a climate emergency
Cornell has not confronted the full scale of the climate crisis and is opting instead for incrementalism, delayism, and inadequate reporting of progress. Our research reveals that this attitude compromises Cornell’s mission across multiple domains, from teaching and research to operations and policy. We demand that Cornell Declare a Climate Emergency to establish the footing needed to take action commensurate with the crisis.
2. Dissociate from fossil fuel money in donations and research
Cornell accepts millions from fossil fuel interests for buildings, gifts, and research, engendering systematic conflicts of interest as covered in The Guardian. We demand that Cornell refuse incoming donations from fossil fuel and climate denial corporations or entities; drastically increase donation/gift transparency; and create a research transparency policy that allows public disclosure of potential conflicts of interests and inter-industry networks.
3. Dissociate from fossil fuel funds in retirement
Cornell's faculty and staff retirement funds are invested in coal, oil, gas, and land-grabbing activities through TIAA and Fidelity. As a retirement fund established for teachers, TIAA is undermining its own mission—and Cornell’s. We demand that Cornell condemn TIAA’s ongoing investments in the deadly forms of energy and agribusiness that are already displacing and killing people in climate disasters and destroying our own and especially our students’ future; offer genuinely fossil-free retirement options for all employees; and replace TIAA with another provider should the company fail to comply with our demands.
