Cornell University President Martha Pollack has announced her resignation after seven years following months of anti-Semitic demonstrations on campus.
She said her decision to leave had nothing to do with the polarizing political climate on campus or claims that she had inadequately handled anti-Semitic demonstrations on campus.
“I understand that there will be a lot of speculation about my decision, so let me be as clear as possible: this decision is mine and mine alone,” she wrote in a university-wide email.
“After seven fruitful and fulfilling years as president of Cornell – and after a career in research and academia spanning five decades – I am ready for a new chapter in my life.”
Pollack, whose last day in office will be June 30, is now the fourth Ivy League president to step down in six months, joining former Harvard President Claudine Gay and former UPenn President Liz Magill — both of whom were ousted in part because of their inadequate responses to anti-Semitism on campus after October 7.
Cornell University President Martha Pollack has announced her resignation after seven years following months of anti-Semitic demonstrations on campus
Pollack said her decision to leave had nothing to do with the polarizing political climate or claims that she had inadequately handled anti-Semitic demonstrations on campus.
Major donor Jon Lindseth asked the university to reevaluate its ‘misguided commitment’ to DEI, arguing it has led to the Ivy League institution’s ‘disgrace’
In a separate announcement, it was revealed that the board had asked the university’s provost, Michael I. Kotlikoff, to serve on an interim basis for the next two years.
This comes after one of Cornell University’s top donors threatened in January to withdraw its funding unless Pollack resigns and the institution turns its back on diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.
In an open letter to the Board of Trustees, Jon Lindseth asked the university to reevaluate its “misguided commitment” to DEI, arguing that it has led to the Ivy League institution’s “disgrace” in recent years.
Lindseth and his family have long been prominent donors to the upstate New York school, but the graduate of the class of 1956 now says he is “alarmed by the diminished quality of education recently provided by my alma mater offered because of the disastrous commitment to DEI policy. who have infiltrated every part of the university.”
Despite the criticism of his DEI comments, Lindseth insists he does is in favor of ‘the blacks’ at Cornell.
He called her response to multiple acts of overt anti-Semitism on campus in the aftermath of Oct. 7 “shameful.”
The disgraced president has been under public fire since astonishing acts of anti-Semitism took place on her campus in the wake of Hamas’ barbaric attack on Israel.
Lindseth said he believed the horrific displays of anti-Semitism, including violent threats against the school’s Jewish students and kosher dining hall, in addition to an associate professor publicly expressing joyful support for the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks, are a manifestation of the progressive ideology that the school has adopted.
Russell Rickford, associate professor of history, took a leave of absence from Cornell after calling Hamas’ attack on Israel ‘exciting’
Pollack told the Cornell community that she had informed the FBI of the threats.
“We take all threats seriously and are working closely with Cornell and our law enforcement partners at every level to establish credibility, share information and take appropriate investigative action,” the agency wrote in a statement.
“Nothing is more important than the safety of our communities and we will not tolerate violence motivated by hatred and extremism.”