In between chants invoking items usually found in the catch-all liberation toolbox, it seems that University President Michael Kotlikoff, from his Herman Miller Eames lounger, somewhere in Day Hall, heard one more loudly than the rest. 

Palestinians, transgender students’ rights, the Gayogo̱hó:nǫˀ  and, of course, ‘Justice for Jane Doe,’ were natural talking points for organizers seeing no opportunity more fitting for breaking out the syllabus to Intersectionality 101. But underlying the dialectics of the Oct. 6 rally was the de facto indictment of Cornell’s archenemy: the fraternities. In a campus-wide email sent out on Tuesday morning, Kotlikoff made the fatal decision of imposing collective punishment unto the common man’s devil. 

Typical of the administration’s retroactive and historically unhelpful statements, the buzzwords delude students aware of its shortcomings and imagine our institution on the frontlines of a manufactured culture war. 

Charging himself with “sustain[ing] real change into the future,” Kotlikoff has, in the order listed, banned all fraternity events held in houses “pursuant to the ‘Student Organization Recognition Policy;’” reinforced the Title IX office with new officers and allowed New York State to proceed with “trauma-informed” investigations; and addressed the “duty of care” owed to survivors through the charmingly named Presidential Task Force on Sexual Assault. 

To the ‘Flyover........

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