ITHACA, N.Y. — Two dozen protestors were arrested Thursday afternoon during a sit-in demonstration protesting Cornell University’s affiliation with Israeli organizations and companies amid the ongoing war in Gaza.
The demonstration took place in and around Day Hall, Cornell’s main administrative building, and coincided with the first of a two-day meeting of the university’s Board of Trustees. Organizers with the Cornell Coalition for Mutual Liberation, the student group behind the demonstrations, said they planned on protesting Friday’s meetings as well.
The arrests come as federal lawmakers have renewed pressure on Cornell to crack down on campus protests alleged to be antisemitic. As students occupied the building, Cornell University President Martha Pollack received a letter from U.S. Rep. Jason Smith (R-M.O.) alleging previous protests organized by the Cornell Coalition for Mutual Liberation had promoted antisemitism on campus.
A statement from Cornell Vice President for University Relations Joel Malina said protestors remained peaceful throughout the hours-long demonstration, but were arrested by campus police as a “last resort” when they would not leave the building after it closed at 6 p.m.
“Twenty-two students were referred to [the Office of Student Conduct and Community Standards] for violating the Student Code of Conduct and two employees were referred to Human Resources for violating university policy. All 24 were charged with trespassing and referred to the Ithaca City Court,” the statement reads.
It is not clear whether the university’s new interim policy governing protests will apply. The policy, which has faced staunch pushback in recent weeks, places restrictions on where, how and when demonstrations can occur. As of Friday morning, students involved in the sit-in said they had not yet received any specific details about internal university sanctions.
Undergraduate student Sara Almosawi was among the 24 people arrested. She said she and other protestors were taken to the basement of Day Hall for booking, but were released shortly thereafter.
“We went in with the goal of a non-violent demonstration,” Almosawi said. “We were prepared to stay there until Martha [Pollack] called for a vote for the Board of Trustees, even if that meant getting arrested and being unlawfully in the building. We are a non-violent group, and we always will be. And so we did not resist arrest. We anticipated it.”
Almosawi said that police patted down and handcuffed some, but not all protestors. By about 8:30 p.m., the last protestor was released. All protestors are due in Ithaca City Court on April 3.
In social media posts by Cornell Coalition for Mutual Liberation, some sit-in participants held up their arrest paperwork as they exited the building to cheering.
Photos and videos posted by the Cornell Coalition for Mutual Liberation show supporters gathered outside the building throughout the afternoon and evening, with the crowd at some points numbering in the dozens.
Sit-in participants wore red T-shirts printed with the words “Trustees Divest.”
Activists allege Cornell is violating a 2016 policy that governs when the university ought to divest from a company or organization. The policy states divestment “should be considered only when a company’s actions or inactions are ‘morally reprehensible,’” for instance, “apartheid, genocide, human trafficking, slavery, and systemic cruelty to children.”
The Cornell Coalition for Mutual Liberation’s chief demands included a vote by trustees for Cornell to divest from and break any partnerships with companies that manufacture weapons, namely, BAE Systems, Boeing, Elbit Systems, General Dynamics, L3Harris Technologies, Leonardo, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon, and ThyssenKrupp.
In the past, the group has also criticized Cornell’s ongoing academic and research partnership with the Israel Institute of Technology (Technion). Most recently, the group has called on Cornell to implement a “comprehensive ban on the research and development of any technologies used by the Israeli [military]” that come from work done at the universities’ shared campus in New York City.
Prior to the arrests, Cornell trustees Stephen Robinson and Martin Scheinman spoke with the protestors for roughly 25 minutes, according to organizers and university officials.
“[Robinson and Scheinman] explained that while the demands would not be met, they were willing to share the demonstrators’ concerns with their fellow board members,” the university’s statement reads.
Undergraduate student and demonstrator Nick Wilson said the two trustees seemed willing to talk about divestment generally, but would not take an explicit stance on calling a vote.
“I think Cornell’s reaction to this string of events definitely reflects how they feel about the core demand of divestment — that it’s something that’s imposing to them or possibly scary,” Wilson said. “But I mean, in the opinions of students, including those involved, and also the community at large, it’s a moral necessity to divest from the ongoing genocide in Gaza.”
Almosawi said university officials may have their hands tied, citing a letter from the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Ways and Means to Cornell leadership sent the day of the arrests. The letter alleges that protestors critical of Israel’s actions in Gaza had engaged in antisemitic behavior.
The letter requests detailed reports on Cornell’s enforcement of its disciplinary policy surrounding protests over the war in Gaza and suggests that Cornell’s tax-exempt status is at stake if the university does not comply.