Cornell University has suspended an international graduate student for participating in a pro-Palestinian protest that shut down a career fair. For Momodou Taal, a British PhD student, the suspension means the termination of his visa, which would force him to leave the country.
The suspension comes after a demonstration led by the Cornell Coalition of Mutual Liberation disrupted a career fair on campus last week that featured weapons manufacturers Boeing and L3Harris. University officials have said protesters from the student group shoved police, and could be subject to criminal charges.
This is the second time Taal has been temporarily suspended by the university for protesting. Earlier this year, Taal was one of six students temporarily suspended for participating in an encampment on campus.
There is targeted campaign of intimidation and harassment against me from Cornell’s administration and police. I have been suspended again. I had no chance to dispute the charges, nor see the evidence or appeal. They informed me that I am effectively being deported by the weekend
— Momodou ✊🏿 (@MomodouTaal) September 23, 2024
So far, Taal is the only participant known to be facing suspension out of the around 100 demonstrators at the career fair. Taal, who is Black and a Muslim, said that is because of bias at the university.
“The question is, why are they always targeting me? Given the university's hostile environment towards Black and Muslim students, it is unsurprising,” he said.
Taal believes Cornell is picking apart protester behavior instead of addressing the university’s response to the war in Gaza.
“They're framing it as if it is some unruly kids who have decided to cause mischief or disruption of university activity, when really this is in conjunction with what's happening in Palestine,” he said.
Taal said if nothing changes he will have to leave the country within the week.
Cornell Graduate Students United, the union that represents Taal as an employee, has demanded that the university meet them to bargain on the effects of his suspension.
In a statement, union representatives said a refusal to comply with their demands would be a violation of a recent agreement with the university that allows the union to “bargain over the effects of discipline of graduate workers on their working conditions.”
“This suspension is the latest example of Cornell University breaking published protocols and ignoring the MOA [memorandum of agreement],” said Marguerite Pacheco, a graduate worker in biomedical engineering and member of the union bargaining committee. “The draconian disregard of rules to punish Momodou is blatant racism, Islamophobia, and xenophobic discrimination wholesale which this union will never accept.”
In a joint statement Monday, Cornell interim President Michael Kotlikoff and interim provost John Siliciano said demonstrators engaged in “intentionally menacing behavior” at last week’s protest and pushed police officers.
They said “protesters who engaged in criminal activity will be referred to the Tompkins County District Attorney.”
Taal said he gave a speech before protesters entered the hotel, but did not push police officers or lead chants inside the building and that he left the career fair before it closed down.
In a statement to WSKG, Justin Harrison, senior policy counsel at the New York Civil Liberties Union said universities have a history of nurturing political activism.
Harrison said universities “can impose discipline,” but should not rush to criminal charges or changes to immigration status, calling it an “outsized response that can have life-altering consequences.”
“We hope the university will handle this matter in a way that teaches, not punishes,” Harrison concluded.
Cornell’s vice president for university relations, Joel Malina, said the university is “required by federal regulation to terminate the F-1 status for any student who is not permitted to be enrolled due to a disciplinary action."
