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Cornell president faces questions after incident involving students and his car

Cornell president faces questions after incident involving students and his car

Still from video released by Cornell showing alleged confrontation between protestors and Cornell President Michael Kotlikoff (provided) Photo: Saga Communications


ITHACA, NY (607NewsNow) — Cornell’s president says he was harassed. 

In a statement, Michael Kotlikoff says protestors followed him after an event Thursday and loudly asked him questions while recording on their phones.

“As I left the event room, I was accosted by a group of several individuals in the hall, among them students and non-students. These individuals are known to Cornell for their past conduct, including a long history of ongoing verbal and online abuse toward numerous members of Cornell’s administration and staff, as well as disruptive protest resulting, in the case of two individuals, in bans from campus,” Kotlikoff said.

“These individuals followed me from the event space and across campus, while loudly shouting questions and recording on their phones. After answering a few questions, I let them know that I was not planning to engage further, and asked them to stop recording.

Their response to this was, “No, we are not going to stop.” They continued to follow me to my car and then surrounded the car, banging on the windows, blocking the car, and shouting. I waited until I saw space behind the car and then, using my car’s rear pedestrian alert and automatic braking system, was able to slowly maneuver my car from the parking space and exit the parking lot.”

Cornell student Aiden Vallecillo tells WSYR-TV Kotlikoff ran over his foot and backed into another student.

Cornell has released video of the incident but has not released any further statement. 

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