The Ithaca Common Council approved a moratorium to stop issuing permits for certain Cornell University and student events by a vote of 9-1 at their Wednesday meeting.
The action was proposed by Mayor Robert Cantelmo, following revelations about the university's handling of a former student's allegation of gang rape by fraternity members in 2024.
The moratorium applies to “Cornell University, residential and nonresidential sorority and fraternity student organizations affiliated with Cornell University, general student organizations affiliated with Cornell University, and university student organizations affiliated with Cornell University...”
The resolution states that the ban does not apply to “constitutionally protected” First Amendment rights like “peaceable assembly” or the “exercise of free speech”.
That did not reassure Cecily Cox, one of the people who spoke during the Common Council’s public comment period. Cox is part of the leadership of Cornell’s Graduate and Professional Student Assembly. She considered the language of the moratorium too broad.
“We also encourage the city to consider a more targeted approach to addressing sexual assault rather than relying on a policy that could broadly affect the student body. The vast majority of Cornell students are not in Greek life,” she told the council.
But not everyone who spoke before the vote opposed the measure.
“The sacrifice of some of the convenience, some of the fun is more than justified by protecting people from some of these heinous crimes until the university gets off its rear end, steps up and takes responsibility for the safety and well-being of its students,” said John King, an Ithaca resident.
The moratorium will expire on Nov. 5, but the council can decide to extend it or enact other restrictions.
Cantelmo also said that “conversations are ongoing” with Cornell over three requests from the city.
They are that the Ivy League university turn over all sex crime and other violent crime investigations to the Ithaca Police Department, “strengthen their measures for punishing, transparently reporting, and preventing sexual violence on campus”, and support changes to the New York State law closing what some lawmakers call the “intoxication loophole”.
On Sept. 28, the Ithaca Police Department issued a statement saying the incident was not reported to them in 2024, and that they learned about it after the lawsuit was filed last month.
