INDEPENDENT SINCE 1880
The Corne¬ Daily Sun Vol. 142, No. 13
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2025 n ITHACA, NEW YORK
News
Sports
Campus criticism
Bulldogs beaten
Students expressed disappointment with the University’s response to campus deaths during the fall semester. | Page 4
16 Pages – Free
No. 20 Cornell Men’s Hockey defeated Yale in a 5-2 win during its Saturday game. | Page 16
Bala Reveals What Cheyfitz Told Israeli Student
The provost claimed that there has been ‘false and misleading information’ relating to the case By MATTHEW CHEN Sun Staff Writer
Nov. 17 — During an Oct. 22 Faculty Senate meeting, Provost Kavita Bala addressed what she deemed as “misleading information” surrounding the case that found Eric Cheyfitz, a retired professor in literatures in English, in violation of anti-discrimination law. “The University normally does not share confidential personnel matters in public,” Bala said. “However, the exception in this case has been made because of the amount of false and misleading information that’s out there that’s created understandable concern and confusion.” Cheyfitz underwent a discrimination investigation after he allegedly asked an Israeli graduate student in his class to drop his spring course on Gaza, AIIS 3500: Gaza, Indigeneity, Resistance. Cheyfitz previously told The Sun that the Israeli graduate student’s behavior in class was “disruptive.” According to Bala, the retired professor was set to appear before a faculty review panel on Nov. 3, but accepted a deal to retire before the review, subsequently ending the investigation proceedings. A Faculty Senate committee, which has jurisdiction under University Policy 6.4, Prohibited Bias, Discrimination, Harassment, and Sexual and Related Misconduct, had ruled in favor of Cheytfitz. However, in light of Cheyfitz’s retirement, the University deferred to
the Cornell Office of Civil Rights’ initial finding of discrimination as the ultimate case outcome. Why Cheyfitz Asked the Student to Leave Bala noted that in courses on controversial subjects, different opinions will arise, but discomfort with viewpoints cannot be the basis for excluding a student from a course. “After [the] third class, the faculty member talked to the student and explicitly told the student that he was not welcome in the class because ‘he was an Israeli citizen supporting an Israeli stance in Gaza,’” Bala said. “Those are the faculty member’s words.” When The Sun previously asked why Cheyfitz told the graduate student, Oren Renard, to leave the classroom, the professor largely pointed to Renard’s contributions during class discussions, claiming that Renard was either “simply making contradictory comments” or “not participating in the discussion.” Cheyfitz added that he was “upsetting [other] students and appeared to be not
doing the readings.” However, Bala said that in a conversation after class between Cheyfitz and Renard, Cheyfitz told his student that if there was a course that aligned with his views, then he should take it, but Renard did not “have any place” in Cheyfitz’s course on Gaza. According to Bala, Cheyfitz said to Renard “‘If people want to take a course with your point of view, God bless them, and if there’s a course out there for them, they should take that course.’” According to Bala, when Renard tried to explain that his viewpoint was “mischaracterized,” Cheyfitz cut him off. When asked if Cheyfitz asked him to leave his class because he was an Israeli student or if h e w a s ever cut off during h i s conversation w i t h Cheyfitz, KARLIE MCGANN / SUN PHOTOGRAPHY EDITOR Renard
did not respond to a request for comment. Based on this information, Bala said Cheyfitz was charged with discrimination based on nationality and unprofessional conduct based on bias against a student’s presumed view. “This is not a case of academic freedom,” Bala said. “This is a case of discrimination based on national origin.” Cheyfitz’s lawyer, Luna Droubi, denied Bala’s statements in an email to The Sun. She refuted that Cheyfitz told Renard to leave his class because Renard was an Israeli student, pointing to the Faculty Senate Committee on Academic Freedom and Professional Status of the Faculty’s determination on the case. The Faculty Senate Committee on Academic Freedom and Professional Status of the Faculty unanimously found that Cheyfitz had not violated University policy. The ruling determined that Cheyfitz’s comments relating to national origin did not provide sufficient evidence to show that Cheyfitz had asked Renard to drop the course because of his national origin. Contrary to Bala’s statement, Droubi alleged that Cheyfitz never cut Renard off during their conversation. She wrote instead that Renard “began but did not complete his statements,” and Cheyfitz’s pauses before speaking after Renard were not included in the transcript of the conversation. See CHEYFITZ page 4
University Moves to Sell $1 Federal Settlement Prompts Billion in Taxable Bonds Reflection, Debate at Cornell By ARYAN BATADA Sun Contributor
Nov. 17 — Cornell is moving to sell roughly $1 billion in taxable bonds, according to a filing on the municipal market’s disclosure system reported by Bloomberg on Nov. 4. A bond sale allows Cornell to borrow money from investors. The University will then pay the investors interest over time until the bond matures, at which point the $1 billion must be repaid in full. Cornell is effectively borrowing about $1 billion, providing the University with a significant pool of funding to use in the near term. According to reporting from Bloomberg, Cornell has authorized up to $1.7 billion of new debt as universities face continued funding pressures from the federal government. This is in addition to the $3.2 billion in debt and liabilities the University had outstanding
as of June 30. On Nov. 7, Cornell reached a settlement with the Trump administration to reinstate approximately $250 million in paused federal research funding. Amidst the funding freeze, which had been active since last Spring, the University announced that it faced profound financial challenges in a June 18 statement. Despite the reinstated funding, President Michael Kotlikoff said at a virtual town hall on Nov. 7 that the University remained financially insecure. To continue reading this article, please visit www.cornellsun.com. Aryan Batada can be reached at aib49@cornell.edu.
KARLIE MCGANN / SUN PHOTOGRAPHY EDITOR
By BENJAMIN LEYNSE Sun News Editor
Nov. 15 — When Prof. Gregory Falco, mechanical and aerospace engineering, received a stop-work order last Spring, the word he used to describe the experience was “jarring.” Eight months later, Cornell struck a $60 million deal with the Trump administration to reinstate frozen federal funding — yet Falco’s response was not hopeful. “It honestly didn’t mean anything,” Falco said in explaining his reaction to the settlement deal. On Nov. 7, Cornell reached a settlement with the U.S. government to restore all previously paused federal funding. In exchange, the University agreed to pay a $30 million fine to the federal government and invest another $30 million into agriculture research. The settlement also negotiated the closure of several civil rights investigations into the University. During the months-long pause of approximately $250 million worth of federal funding, the impacts were felt throughout the Cornell community. Since April, over 120 stop work orders — directions from a contracting officer to a contractor to stop all or parts of their research — have halted projects across all
of Cornell’s campuses. These directives have also contributed to the financial insecurity of Cornell, as announced in several University statements made this summer. In the wake of the settlement, The Sun spoke to students, faculty and alumni to share their perspectives on the deal and reflect on the impact of the lost funding. Researchers’ Responses For Falco, in the months after his project on the cybersecurity of the semiconductor industry was paused, he says he had to navigate the issue of insufficient funding to pay his lab’s graduate students. Supported in part by a $3 million grant from the Department of Defense, Falco says he was also left wondering what the value of his research was. “My research — it’s about years of relationships and trust building,” Falco said. “If, you know, money is turned on one day and turned off the next day … this is a signal that our work is not valuable in the way that we thought it was” To continue reading this article, please visit www.cornellsun.com.
Benjamin Leynse can be reached at bleynse@ cornellsun.com.