Cornell Is Investigating Confrontation Between President and Students

Cornell University’s trustees announced on Thursday that they would investigate an April 30 incident in which the president, Michael Kotlikoff, bumped into students with his car after a debate over the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians.

A small group of students confronted Dr. Kotlikoff after he had spoken at the university event about free speech and the Middle East conflict. They posed questions about the suspension of pro-Palestinian student demonstrators in previous years, walking with him to his vehicle, a black Cadillac SUV.

After the students surrounded his vehicle, Dr. Kotlikoff got in, reversed and bumped one student. Another student said that his foot was run over. Emergency medical technicians arrived and checked the foot of that student, who was not seriously injured.

In an email to the campus on Thursday, the university said that an “ad hoc special committee” had been established to oversee the investigation of the events of that night. It said that Dr. Kotlikoff had recused himself from the investigation and “any related university decisions connected to the matter.”

The statement said that the trustees are “committed to ensuring a fair and thorough review guided by adherence to university policies and the best interests of the Cornell community.”

The event highlighted the lingering tensions on college campuses over the Israel-Hamas war, even as the large-scale protests from the spring of 2024 have dissipated.

Some student groups at Cornell have said that the university had unfairly disciplined pro-Palestinian students involved in the demonstrations.

One of the disciplined students was Momodou Taal, a Ph.D. student in Africana studies and a leader of the movement to establish protest encampments on the Ithaca, N.Y., campus. The Trump administration had sought to deport him and students at other universities whom it accused of spreading antisemitism.

Last week’s event, billed as a debate between supporters of the Palestinian cause and Israel, also featured Norman Finkelstein, a political scientist and author who spoke about Israel’s response to the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led attacks on Israel.

The day after last week’s incident, Dr. Kotlikoff framed himself as the victim, asserting that students had harassed him and banged on his car. The students denied doing that, and video of the incident that the students supplied did not show them hitting the vehicle.