INDEPENDENT SINCE 1880
The Corne¬ Daily Sun Vol. 141, No. 27
16 Pages – Free
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 23, 2025 n ITHACA, NEW YORK
News
Science
Funding Freeze
Growing Greener
President Michael Kotlikoff said that Cornell has not gotten an officialnotification of the funding cuts at a Thursday Student Assembly meeting. | Page 4
Paul Sellew ’80 created an organization to sustainably grow lettuce with hydroponic agriculture. | Page 8
Kotlikoff Responds to Kehlani Criticism: ‘It’s Too Late to Secure Another Performer’
By ANJELINA GONZALEZ Sun Senior Writer
April 18 — After the April 10 announcement that Kehlani was selected to headline Slope Day, President Michael Kotlikoff responded to mounting concerns at the Thursday Student Assembly meeting by stating, “It’s too late to secure another performer.” The soulful R&B singer is set to perform on Slope Day, the annual campus-sponsored concert on Libe Slope after the last day of classes. In the week following the announcement, dissatisfaction has surfaced as students and parents have learned of the artists’ active political, specifically pro-Palestine, presence on social media. Kolitkoff shared steps the administration had already taken to limit the artists’ political impact on campus, including a clause in her contract. “We also altered that contract to make it clear that if there are any political events at the performance, there is full forfeit of the whole compensation,” Kotlikoff said. “We assured ourselves to the extent [possible] that this will be a successful event … without politics.” Kehlani’s “Next 2 U” music video, released in June 2024, opens with a message that flashes “Long
Live the Intifada.” The word “intifada” literally discontent with other music industry members not translates to “to shake off” in Arabic. The word speaking up on behalf of Palestine. In a Tiny Desk Concert performance in July intifada is often associated with two Palestinian 2024, Kehlani took a moment to share uprisings. her support for Palestine again. The First Intifada took place in the late 1980s “I want to take a second to and consisted mostly of nonviolent protests such as say free Palestine, free Congo, free boycotts and demonstrations. However, this period Sudan, free Yemen, free Hawai‘i,” was also marked by less frequent armed attacks by Kehlani said. “Beyond an end to Palestinians. Israel’s military response led to steep the ceasefire, we need an end to the fatalities. occupation.” This led to the Second Intifada, which The artist’s statements took place in the early 2000s. This uprisabout the conflict ing was incredibly deadly and is rememhave been met with bered for the slew of suicide bombings backlash from some by Palestinians against Israeli civilians, Cornell parents in the including in buses and in restaurants. Cornell University 4,300 died as a result of this uprising. Parents Group on The music video features a Palestinian Facebook. One user flag in the background for the second wrote, “Given the half, and the background dancers wear threatened loss of $1 bilkeffiyahs and wave Palestinian flags. The video, which has over 2.4 million lion for anti-[Semitism], who views on YouTube, came just weeks at Cornell thought it would be after the singer posted strong political a good idea to hire Kehlani for views against Israel on X. Slope Day?” “It’s f*ck Israel, it’s f*ck Zionism, The New York Times broke and it’s also f*ck a lot of y’all too,” the news of Cornell facing $1 the singer said in a video expressing billion in federal COURTESY OF WIKIMEDIA COMMONS
funding cuts on April 8. At the Thursday Student Assembly meeting, Kotlikoff said that the University still has “not gotten formal notification” of — and by extension, the reason for — the funding freeze. Kotlikoff stated that the University was unaware of Kehlani’s political views when beginning negotiations for her to perform in October, but now it is “too late.” “We found out about the social media of this performer roughly three weeks ago,” Kotlikoff said. “It’s too late to secure another performer that will be acceptable or appropriate for Slope Day.” Kehlani’s performance follows a year of campus tensions surrounding the conflict in the Middle East and administrative crackdown on expressive activity. Within the last month, 17 protestors were arrested or detained for protesting during a panel titled “Pathways to Peace,” featuring four speakers on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Five of 13 detained protestors declined their conditional case dismissals in Ithaca City Court on April 10. To continue reading this article, please visit www. cornellsun.com. Anjelina Gonzalez can be reached at agonzalez@cowrnellsun.com.
Cornellians for Israel Faculty, Students Gather on Ho Plaza for Petition Against Kehlani Nationwide Academic Freedom Protest By SOPHIA KOMAN Sun Contributor
April 22 — Cornellians for Israel launched a petition against the selection of Kehlani as this year’s Slope Day headliner, stating that the use of “her platform to publicly call for the ‘intifada’ and to ‘dismantle Israel’” makes Jewish students feel unsafe. The petition, which has reached over 5,200 signatures in four days, calls on the University to create “an alternative experience.” Kehlani was announced as the Slope Day headliner on April 10 and since then has faced backlash. Addressing the Student Assembly on Thursday, President Michael Kotlikoff criticized Kehlani’s Slope Day headline but said that it was “too late to secure another performer.” The petition expressed Jewish students’ anger and safety concerns about attending Slope Day with Kehlani because of her views that “actively call for violence.” It called on the University administration to select a different artist to perform at Slope Day. The petition is open until Wednesday at 11:59 p.m. “By giving a platform to a performer who has actively utilized her following to spread hateful messaging, you have turned this year’s Slope Day into a place that no longer supports ‘any person,’” the petition states.
Kehlani is outspoken about her pro-Palestinian beliefs online. Her music video “Next 2 U,” released in June 2024, features dancers in keffiyehs waving Palestinian flags. In a separate video expressing her discontent with other music industry members for not speaking out in favor of Palestine she said, “It’s f*ck Israel, it’s f*ck Zionism, and it’s also f*ck a lot of y’all too.” A joint Instagram post with CFI, Alums for Campus Fairness, StandWithUs Campus and Stand With Us also cited screenshots of Kehlani’s Instagram which she referred to Zionists as the “scum of the earth” and said they should “go to hell.” The post called Kehlani “antisemitic” and pointed to her “history of promoting anti-Israel rhetoric and disinformation.” “We’re calling on the university to refund our student activities fee or choose a different performer,” the Instagram post states. Yael Schranz ’26, treasurer for CFI and executive board member, expressed her frustration with Kehlani being selected as the headliner.
By BENJAMIN LEYNSE and JEREMIAH JUNG Sun News Editor and Assistant News Editor
April 20 — Nearly 250 faculty and students gathered on Ho Plaza to protest escalating federal attacks against higher education institutions on Thursday, joining over 75 universities across the country for the National Day of Action for Higher Ed — a coordinated protest which, according to its website, aims “to renew [the] vision of higher education as an autonomous public good.” Cornell’s rally, titled “Hands
Off Higher Ed,” was organized by Cornell’s chapter of the American Association of University Professors and CU Out Loud — a new group aiming to build coalitions of support across the University in response to the Trump administration. Thursday’s event featured speeches from seven faculty members throughout the University each criticizing federal cuts to Cornell’s research funding and the threat to the integrity of academic institutions. The demonstration comes on the heels of $1 billion in federal contracts being frozen at
Cornell. According to President Michael Kotlikoff at a Thursday Student Assembly meeting, the University has still “not gotten formal notification” about the funding freeze. However, Cornell has still received at least 75 stopwork orders halting research projects across the University. Prof. Alyssa Apsel, electrical and computer engineering, told the crowd at Thursday’s rally that the department of electrical and computer engineering received several stop-work orders even though there were “no politics infused in any” of the targeted projects. Apsel described how these temporary orders will have serious long term effects. “Our graduate programs, particularly in math and science and engineering … will not exist without federal research dollars,” Apsel said. “What this administration is doing is not just eliminating today’s research, it’s eliminating tomorrow’s.” To continue reading this article, please visit www.cornellsun.com.
To continue reading this article, please visit www.cornellsun.com. Sophia Koman can be reached at sck227@cornell.edu.
MING DEMERS / SUN SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHER
Plaza protest | Students and faculty rally on Ho Plaza for academic freedom.
Benjamin Leynse and Jeremiah Jung can be reached at bleynse@ cornellsun.com and jwjung@cornellswun.com.