On Thursday, Cornell University President Martha E. Pollack announced that after having just celebrated her seventh anniversary at the university last month, she will retire on June 30. While she's only been in the role a short time, this looks to have been a long time coming since last fall. This, of course, was when Hamas carried out its October 7 terrorist attack on Israel.
Pollack's statement reads:
... It is only after extensive reflection that I have determined that this is the right decision. Indeed, I began deliberating about this last fall, and made the decision over the December break; but three times, as I was ready to act on it, I had to pause because of events on our and/or on other campuses. But continued delay is not in the university’s best interests, both because of the need to have sufficient time for a smooth transition before the start of the coming academic year, and because I do not want my announcement to interfere with the celebration of our newest graduates at Commencement in just a few weeks.
There are more references to the October 7 attack and the rampant antisemitism on college campuses caused by pro-Hamas agitators and their encampments:
There is so much more to Cornell than the current turmoil taking place at universities across the country right now, and I hope we do not lose sight of that...
... My time as president has also been one of enormous, unexpected challenges for both our country and our community, as we’ve had to navigate a global pandemic, a national racial reckoning, and a terrorist attack and subsequent war that has reverberated across our country and especially across higher education. The latter has raised a number of critical issues that we are all grappling with, from antisemitism, Islamophobia, and other forms of bigotry, to free expression, academic freedom, and how to foster a diverse, equitable, and inclusive community.
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Naturally, the statement equated antisemitism and Islamophobia, as we're so often used to hearing from President Joe Biden and the White House.
The statement gets worse from there, especially when it comes to equivocating:
I suspect many of these issues are going to be with us for years to come. As the next Cornell administration finds new and creative ways to confront them, it will be building from a solid foundation. We have worked hard to uphold our commitment both to free expression and to being a community of belonging, where everyone is welcome and safe. Local and world events have caused enormous pain for students of many backgrounds, including our Jewish and Israeli students, as well as our Arab, Palestinian, and Muslim students. We have been vigilant in working to ensure the safety and well-being of all members of our community from all backgrounds, work I’ve been dedicated to long before the events of the past year.
There will be plenty more to do over the coming months and years. Higher education has come under attack from many quarters, and our core values have faced enormous pressure. And yet, my faith in the positive role that universities like Cornell play in our society is stronger than ever. We change the lives of our students. We change the lives of the communities our graduates go into. We change the lives of the people who are affected by the research we do, the discoveries we make, and the art we create. We are not just educating students for their careers. We are educating them to be able to thrive in their lives and in our democracy.
She seems to even applaud how the university has handled the protests, which begs the question as to why Pollack is even resigning. Toward the end, she does claim, "I understand that there will be lots of speculation about my decision, so let me be as clear as I can: This decision is mine and mine alone. After seven fruitful and gratifying years as Cornell’s president — and after a career in research and academia spanning five decades — I’m ready for a new chapter in my life."
There also looks to be more of a concern for a "commitment for free expression" further in:
As we prepare students for today’s increasingly polarized climate, our commitment to free expression, including the expression of ideas we may consider offensive, remains paramount. Indeed, if I have one piece of advice for the Cornell community going forward, it is this: We must develop more capacity to seek out different perspectives and be willing to listen to those with whom we differ, doing so with intellectual curiosity and an open mind; at the same time, we must always consider the impact of what we say to one another; and we must thoughtfully engage in debate. Yes, there are instances in which a position is so hateful that it does not deserve a response, but there are many more occasions where views we are predisposed to dislike deserve consideration, principled argument, and, if needed, refutation. A willingness to communicate across differences is the only way forward for higher education, and indeed for our democracy.
Pollack at least mentions that "there are instances in which a position is so hateful that it does not deserve a response," which is fitting for the instances of antisemitism we've seen at Cornell and other college campuses across the country. With these protests getting out of control, it's clear these people aren't looking for a conversation.
Cornell President Martha Pollack has been slow to condemn the rampant anti-Semitism on Cornell's campus and has failed to protect Jewish students from vile terrorist sympathizers.
— Rep. Claudia Tenney (@RepTenney) May 9, 2024
Her resignation is no surprise as she lacks the courage to lead during these difficult times. https://t.co/SrZ9TvbXbO
What Pollack's statement left out is how just weeks after the October 7 attack, a student was arrested for making violent threats toward Jewish students. Cornell was one of the universities that saw terrorist sympathizers setting up encampments, with the university having to suspend students. At one of the protests was Professor Russel Rickford, despite how he went on leave after saying he felt Hamas' attack on Israel was "exhilarating."
Although Pollack did not find herself testifying before the House Committee on Education and Labor in December, as now former Harvard President Claudine Gay and now former University of Pennsylvania President Liz Magill did, there were still calls for Pollack to go.
As the Jewish Telegraphic Agency reported:
Pollack has not testified before Congress since the outbreak of the war on Oct. 7. But weeks after it began, she had to address a high-profile instance of campus antisemitism and has since faced pressure from a former trustee to resign.
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In January, former Cornell trustee Jon Lindseth called on Pollack to resign due to her failure to adequately address antisemitism — something he blamed on her embrace of policies for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, or DEI.
In his letter to the school’s trustees, Lindseth condemned what he called Pollack’s “shameful recent response to clear acts of terrorism and antisemitism compared with her swift and strong response to the George Floyd tragedy” in 2020, which sparked a national reckoning over racism and policing.
“President Pollack’s failure to act with conviction and moral clarity was a watershed moment as I watched the harmful effects of DEI programming play out on a whole generation of Cornellians,” he added.
At the time, the trustees stood by Pollack. But she wrote in her letter that for months she has been weighing the decision to step down after seven years in the job.
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Provost Michael I. Kotlikoff will serve a two-year term as interim president beginning on July 1.
Gay and Magill, along with MIT President Sally Kornbluth, testified before that committee last December, during which an exchange between House Republican Conference Chairwoman Elise Stefanik (R-NY) and the university presidents went viral as they refused to say a call for genocide of Jews violated school rules.
Magill resigned not long after, while Gay stubbornly held on for almost another month.
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