Three climate activists were banned from Cornell University after taking part in a graduation-day demonstration. Activists say similar protests have occurred in the past without disciplinary action.
The move comes after an academic year that saw multiple activists, both students and people not directly affiliated with Cornell, banned from campus for pro-Palestinian demonstrations, and an intensifying federal focus on university protests.
On graduation day, protesters from the climate justice group Cornell on Fire blindfolded a statue of Cornell co-founder A.D White and hung a sign around the statue’s neck reading “Stop Fossil Fuel Complicity.”
It is a continuation of the group's call for Cornell to take more action on climate change. The group wants the university to declare a climate emergency and disassociate from fossil fuel money in donations, research and retirement funds.
Activist and former Cornell professor bethany ojalehto mays said the group’s planned protest was almost identical to one staged in December. However, she said it became clear that the university’s response was different this time.
“We quickly realized that Cornell police were responding to protests in a way that they had never done,” ojalehto mays said.
Campus police delivered “persona non grata” declarations to her and two other protesters on the spot and threatened them with arrest. That means ojalehto mays is banned from any Cornell property for three years. She was cited for trespassing and not having a permit for postering. The notice police gave her says she will be arrested if she does not comply with the ban.
She said she was surprised by the response because the December protest had occurred without incident and fell within her understanding of the bounds of Cornell’s Expressive Activity policy.
The policy was adopted in its final form in March, but an interim version was introduced at the start of 2024 amid a growing number of protests about the war in Gaza.
It limits things like megaphone usage, where protests can occur and where posters can be placed. The policy says it applies to “expressive activities conducted by current members of the Cornell community (students, faculty, and staff) and by sponsored university guests that use university resources. Alumni, parents, prospective students, visitors, formally affiliated entities, and other third parties are not current Cornell community members.”
Cornell declined to comment on the incident, or the university’s procedure for banning people from campus.
The expressive activity policy drew criticism from some campus groups, who said it chilled speech.
ojalehto mays said the recent bans mark a change in the risk involved in protesting on Cornell’s campus.
“We can no longer inform protesters that we can be confident that any action is non-arrestable,” ojalehto mays said.
Cornell is one of multiple universities that has seen its federal funding pulled amid the White House's crackdown on campus protests and diversity equity and inclusion programs.
Elan Shapiro is a Cornell alum who was also banned from campus during the action.
He believes Cornell is responding to government pressure to crack down on protesters.
“I right away thought, here it is, Cornell is under pressure to look tough, and they did look tough,” he said.
Other activists from Cornell on Fire holding a banner and passing out flyers were also shut down by police.
Fenya Bartram, a graduating senior, participated in the demonstration with her mother.
“The police officer said that parents were complaining about such actions. He said that the day should only be about the graduates,” Bartram told WSKG in an email. “One of us argued back that our demonstration was about the graduates, as it is the graduates’ future that we were fighting for, and one of us was a graduate.”
Bartram said the officer implied that they would also be banned from Cornell properties. The group then moved the action off campus to avoid disciplinary action.
“I think it is important to note that Cornell on Fire has staged similar actions in the past and not been punished by the police. Thus, this indicates that the University is increasingly cracking down on peaceful protest, something we should all be concerned about,” Bartram wrote.
According to the Cornell Police’s Crime Log, university police responded to a total of two reports of people handing out flyers on graduation day. However, during the second incident, “the individual had left the area in an unknown direction” and did not interact with police.