ITHACA, N.Y.— Students belonging to a pro-Palestinian coalition at Cornell University occupied two buildings on campus over the course of the weekend, demanding the university divest in companies supportive of Israel’s military, adopt policies against doxxing and revise its definition of antisemitism.
The Coalition for Mutual Liberation (CML), which consists of around 30 students, set out on Friday, Dec. 1 to push the university to divest in companies that supply the Israeli military like Technion (Israel Institute of Technology) and Tata Motors (an automobile production company based in India), which are included in Cornell’s endowment fund according to a statement from CML.
CML claims in the statement that Cornell’s investment in these companies “has alienated Palestinian, Arab and Muslim students as Israel’s siege of Gaza intensifies.”
The Ithaca Voice was unable to immediately verify if the aforementioned companies are included in the university’s endowment. Tax records from 2021-2023 do not specify investments outlined in the endowment, though the school does have clear pre-existing ties with both Tata Motors and Technion.
Demonstrators entered Day Hall, the university’s administrative building, on Friday, Dec. 1 around 1:40 p.m., following a protest organizers modeled after a mock court case.
Roughly 60 people gathered with painted signs in hand that read phrases like “Disarm the Apartheid,” “Free Palestine” and “Divest Now.” They subsequently “charged” the university and its president, Martha Pollack, with war crimes, according to reporting in the Cornell Daily Sun.
Inside the building, demonstrators demanded a meeting with Ryan Lombardi, the Vice President of Student and Campus Life at the university, as chronicled on the Instagram account. Coalition members met with Lombardi around 2:15 p.m. for two hours.
The meeting resulted in two out of three demands being met, the coalition’s socials say, but the subject of divestment in the aforementioned companies wasn’t discussed.
The first demand, to protect academic speech in support of “Palestinian self-determination and criticizing the state of Israel,” as described on the coalition’s Instagram story, was “100% met.” The Cornell Daily Sun reported that following the meeting, a demonstrator announced an anti-doxxing policy would be implemented by spring 2024.
Lombardi “partially” met the coalition’s last demand, according to its social media accounts, which requested the university commit to revisions and alterations to the endowment’s objectives, especially its ESG policies, an acronym used to describe the framework an institution uses to vet investment decisions based on its policies.
Members wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter, that “at least eight” representatives from the group will meet with Cornell Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Christopher Cowen to “discuss pathways to divestment through revisions and alterations to the endowment’s objectives.”
https://twitter.com/cmlcornell/status/1731487646503817305/photo/1
The in-person meeting will take place on Monday, Dec. 11.
The occupation of Day Hall ended at around 8:40 p.m. on Dec. 3 according to the coalition’s posts of X. The cohort moved to Willard Straight Hall Student Union to continue their occupation, where they remained until moving to “Temple of Zeus,” a cafe located in the basement of Goldwin Smith Hall on the university’s campus.
An image of demonstrators was posted on the coalition’s Instagram story, showing around 15 students in sleeping bags on the floor of the cafe at 2:46 a.m.
The group returned to Willard and hosted a previously announced “Leftist Potluck.” They remained in the building until after 2 p.m. on Dec. 3.
A representative from Cornell University’s Office of Media Relations responded to The Ithaca Voice’s request for comment via email, saying the university “has nothing to share at this time.”