Tipsheet

Professor Who Praised Hamas Following Oct 7 Attack Resumes Teaching at Cornell

Rebecca Downs
Rebecca Downs  |  September 17, 2024 5:45 PM

A new academic year has just begun, which means more activity from pro-Hamas and anti-Israel agitators on campus as we also approach the anniversary of the October 7 attack against Israel. It's not merely students making headlines in such a way, but professors as well. 

On Sunday, the New York Post reported that Cornell Professor Russell Rickford will be back to teaching at the university. He took a "voluntary leave" last year after he publicly declared on October 15 that the attack Hamas perpetrated against Israel was "energizing" and made him feel "exhilarated."

Such an attack resulted in the murder of 1,200 Israelis. Hamas terrorists also engaged in rape, torture, and kidnapping. 

As the Post noted about Rickford's return to teaching:

Rickford is now teaching at least two courses at Cornell this semester — African Americans Vision of America and Socialism in America — and a seminar.

Cornell confirmed in a statement to The Post on Sunday that the university did not discipline Rickord for his hateful remarks.

It would not say whether Rickford was paid while on leave.

Rickford’s comments were condemned by the administration at the time as “reprehensible” for showing a “complete disregard for humanity” — but they are still protected by his free-speech rights, said Cornell VP of University Relations Joel Malina.

“Given that Professor Rickford’s comments were made as a private citizen in his free time, the university’s academic leadership has concluded that Professor Rickford’s conduct in relation to this incident did not meet that high bar” to warrant otherwise, Malina said in his e-mail.

Outrage was swift.

...

In Cornell’s statement to The Post, the school veep, Malina, noted that Rickford apologized for his comments and took a voluntary leave of absence for the remainder of the academic year.

But the university determined that Rickford’s hateful comments ultimately did not warrant disciplinary action, given, “Consistent with well-established principles of academic freedom, Cornell has a process for considering whether public statements such as those expressed off campus by Professor Rickford at a political rally fall under the category of protected speech, or rather demonstrate prohibited bias, discrimination, or harassment,” Malina wrote.

Rickford didn't merely express such shocking and hateful remarks last October, though. The Post also reported in April how Rickford was still on campus to cheer on the pro-Hamas protests. 

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In May, Cornell University President Martha E. Pollack announced that she was retiring. Not only did Rickford make his pro-Hamas remarks during Pollack's tenure, but Patrick Dai, a student on the campus, was also arrested in late October "on a federal criminal complaint charging him with posting threats to kill or injure another using interstate communications."

The Post also noted how Rep. Claudia Tenney (R-NY) is getting involved to speak out against Rickford:

As for Rickford, upstate Rep. Claudia Tenney said she is sending a letter to Cornell interim President Michael Kotlikoff to protest his return.

“I am deeply disgusted by Cornell’s decision to continue employing Mr. Rickford after his horrific statements that celebrated the murder of innocent people and incited violence,” Tenney said in the letter provided to The Post.

“Regardless of one’s views on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the loss of human life, especially the lives of women, children, and the elderly, including Holocaust survivors, should never be referred to as `energizing’ or `exhilarating,’ ” the pol said.

“Professor Rickford holds a position within the university that allows him to mold and influence young minds. This position demands a higher standard of behavior, one that is free from anti-Semitic rhetoric and vocal support of terrorism. By perpetuating these abhorrent views, Professor Rickford has not only violated his ethical responsibility as an educator, but has also jeopardized the safety of the Jewish community and tarnished Cornell.”

The condemnation for Rickford has been bipartisan, as Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) posted about the trending topic, noting he was not surprised that Rickford "was welcomed back," though he did still have strong words for antisemitism on college campuses overall. 

"This is the personification of elite educational rot and antisemitism at the core of so many anti-Israel campus protests," Fetterman also mentioned.

Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY) has recently urged colleges and university to adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism. 

"Antiisemitism is best understood as an ancient virus that mutates over time. Colleges and universities must be nimble enough to respond to the modern mutation of an ancient virus that for far too long has been a plague on the soul of humanity," Torres explained. "Antisemitism expresses Jew-hatred in more ways than one. Not only targeting Jews as a religion or as a race, but also as a nation. Anti-Zionism and antisemitism are indeed intersectional and cannot be so easily compartmentalized in the real world as they can be in academic papers. The lived experience of many Jewish students tells us that this is so."

"The substitution of the word 'Zionist' for 'Jew' is the modus operandi of the new antisemitism. Colleges and universities must make it clear that the word games will fool no one. Engaging in harassment, intimidation, and discrimination against quote 'Zionists' is antisemitism both in intent and in effect and academia should never hesitate to say so clearly, and punish it swiftly," the congressman also insisted.

"Projecting moral clarity about right and wrong does not weaken the academic enterprise. It strengthens it," Torres stressed, as he then made clear he was "calling upon every college and university to follow NYU's example and modernize their nondiscrimination and non-harassment policies." 

Torres is also a cosponsor of Rep. Mike Lawler's (R-NY) bill, the Antisemitism Awareness Act of 2023, which passed in May.

Meanwhile, that Rickford has been allowed to resume his teaching duties is hardly the only example of anti-Israel sentiment on campuses. At the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, police are investigating what they are referring to as "a bias-motivated assault." 

A 19-year-old male victim had been approached by a group of other males who proceeded to assault him once he confirmed he was Jewish.