Cornell University President Martha Pollack announced on Thursday that she would be ending her seven-year tenure as of June 30 following months of turmoil including demonstrations and threats to Jewish students, The New York Post reported.
Pollack insisted in a statement that her departure is unrelated to the anti-Israel protests and displays of antisemitism on campus, stating that she considered announcing her retirement in the fall and winter.
“I had to pause because of events on our and/or on other campuses,” Pollack said in her resignation statement.
“I understand that there will be lots of speculation about my decision, so let me be as clear as I can: This decision is mine and mine alone,” she stated.
Cornell provost Michael Kotlikoff will serve as interim president beginning July 1.
Cornell University has not been immune from anti-Israel demonstrations which have been on the rise in campuses across the US since Hamas’ attack on Israel on October 7 and the war in Gaza which followed.
In the most egregious incident, a Cornell University student was arrested after threatening to kill Jews on campus.
The menacing messages, posted in October on a forum about fraternities and sororities, alarmed students at the school in upstate New York and led to students being advised to stay away from the school’s kosher dining hall.
The student, Patrick Dai, pleaded guilty last month to posting the threatening messages.
In another incident, a controversial Cornell University history professor, Russell Rickford, described Hamas’ October 7 terrorist attack on Israel as “exhilarating” and “energizing.”
Pollack said in her statement that Cornell over the past few years had to confront the COVID-19 pandemic, George Floyd protests and a “terrorist attack and subsequent war that has reverberated across our country and especially across higher education.”
“The latter has raised a number of critical issues that we are all grappling with, from antisemitism, Islamophobia, and other forms of bigotry, to free expression, academic freedom, and how to foster a diverse, equitable, and inclusive community,” she said, according to The New York Post, adding, “I suspect many of these issues are going to be with us for years to come.”
She defended her handling of the divisive protests and threats and said Cornell has a “solid foundation” to improve upon.
Police in recent weeks have several times cleared pro-Palestinian Arab encampments on US campuses.
Last Thursday, LAPD and California Highway Patrol cleared an anti-Israel protest encampment on the UCLA campus, arresting 132 people.
On Saturday, a group of pro-Palestinian Arab protesters at the University of Michigan briefly interrupted the spring commencement ceremony.
A day later, the Los Angeles Police Department removed a pro-Palestinian Arab encampment at the University of Southern California, pushing several dozen people out of the campus gates.
Earlier this week, police in riot gear cleared an anti-Israel encampment at the University of Chicago.