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The Corne¬ Daily Sun Vol. 141
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Kotlikoff Named the University’s 15th President By CEREESE QUSBA Sun News Editor
This story was originally published on March 21.
NATHAN ELLISON / SUN STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Slope Day scandal | This year’s Slope Day headliner was replaced days before the performance.
Kotlikoff Rescinds Kehlani Invite By DOROTHY FRANCE-MILLER Sun Managing Editor
This story was originally published on April 23. After revealing to a group of about 70 concerned students at a town-hall style meeting on Tuesday afternoon that a decision regarding Slope Day would be made “within 24 hours,” President Michael Kotlikoff announced that Kehlani’s invitation to perform at the annual performance was rescinded in an email to the student body on Wednesday morning. In the email, Kotlikoff wrote that it was not the intention for Kehlani’s
slope day performance to have “injected division and discord into Slope Day.” “For that reason, I am rescinding Kehlani’s invitation and expect a new lineup for a great 2025 Slope Day to be announced shortly,” Kotlikoff wrote. This decision comes amid a funding freeze of over $1 billion in federal contracts and over 90 stop-work orders sent to the University. A Trump administration official confirmed that the funding freeze was in connection with ongoing Title VI investigations. Cornell, along with 59 other universities, was warned on March 10 by the U.S. Department of Education to
address antisemitism on their campuses. The ED statement specified that the letters were addressed to educational institutions with ongoing investigations for Title VI violations related to antisemitic harassment and discrimination. Kehlani was announced on April 10 as the headliner for Slope Day, the annual campus-sponsored concert on Libe Slope following the last day of classes. Following the announcement, dissatisfaction surfaced as students and parents learned of the artist’s anti-Israel rhetoric and social media presence. See KEHLANI page 6
‘A Monumental Blunder’: Multi-Million Dollar Donor Baffled as Namesake Destroyed By ZEINAB FARAJ Sun Assistant Sports Editor
This story was originally published on February 26. “Well, I’ll be a lot more cautious about my donations,” Marsha Dodson ’75 told The Sun. When she discovered that the University razed the field hockey turf named after her in November 2024, Dodson was both baffled and furious. For one, she only learned that her namesake field had been destroyed after an alumnus — not the University — broke the news to her, she said. But the real sticking point for Dodson — a former Cornell student-athlete who said that she has donated more than $1 million to Cornell Athletics — was that Marsha Dodson Field was destroyed with no regulation turf for the women’s team to use for the 2025-2026 athletic season, except one more than 50 miles away in Syracuse. “I was incredibly angry and disap-
pointed when I found out,” Dodson said, describing the ordeal as “a monumental blunder” on Cornell Athletics’ part. “They took the field up before they had a new place for the team to play, so I was really, really angry, and I went on a warpath. It was just plain dumb.” Cornell had planned to relocate the field hockey team to a new location at Game Farm Road. However, the move has been set back. The delay in construction follows a series of complaints about environmental concerns from Ithaca residents over the proposed field’s use of synthetic turf. What irked Dodson especially was the lack of communication from Cornell Athletics, she said, blaming Director of Athletics Nicki Moore for the mishap. “If the previous athletic director, Andy Noel, was still there, I would have gotten a call, and I would have been included [in conversations about the move],” Dodson said. See DONOR page 4
After serving eight months as interim president, Michael Kotlikoff has been named Cornell’s 15th president in a vote by the Cornell Board of Trustees on Friday. This appointment is effective immediately, according to an email sent out to the Cornell community from Board of Trustees chair Kraig H. Kayser MBA ’84 and incoming chair Anne Meinig Smalling ’87. Kotlikoff was named interim president on May 9, 2024, following former president Martha Pollack’s announcement of retirement. He was slated to serve two years as interim president, with a search committee intended to select the next president six to nine months prior to the end of Kotlikoff’s term. In June 2024, Kotlikoff announced a search committee for the selection of his replacement as provost that included “a very broad swath of folks to participate, from across colleges, constituencies and academic disciplines, as well as undergraduate and graduate student representation.” The committee invited the Cornell community to provide their input on the selection through an online survey as well as a confidential mailbox. However, there was no public announcement of the selection process for president — which took place significantly earlier than scheduled — nor was an official committee or community input system named. See KOTLIKOFF page 5
ZEINAB FARAJ / SUN ASSISTANT SPORTS EDITOR
Rocky situation | Cornell tore down its field hockey turf in November 2024 without an immediate replacement, meaning field hockey players may need to commute to a turf in Syracuse next season.