Cornell Faculty Vote on Leadership

Twenty female science and engineering faculty members at Cornell University sent a letter to the university's trustees on Tuesday asking President Michael Kotlikoff to resign. The letter followed a heated debate among faculty members on Wednesday regarding the administration's handling of a sexual assault report filed in 2024.

The professors stated that the community faced a leadership vacuum rather than clear direction. This correspondence was obtained by The Associated Press and released one day after a closed Faculty Senate meeting where members argued over the institution's response to the allegations.

During the Wednesday session, faculty members debated whether they possessed sufficient information to judge the leadership. Some urged patience, while others argued that years of institutional failures demanded immediate action. The discussion included personal accounts of fear regarding retaliation and shared experiences of harassment.

After at least an hour of debate, the Senate voted down a proposal to delay the vote on a no-confidence resolution. The delay would have waited until an independent investigation into the university's handling of the case was completed. Faculty members are now moving forward with an electronic vote that concludes on Nov. 6.

Anne Marie Brady, a Faculty Senate member who co-sponsored the resolution, said she left the meeting encouraged by the number of faculty who spoke. Brady, who is not on the tenure track, noted that contingent faculty members risk professional consequences by speaking publicly. She said, “The more people who speak out, the more we protect each other.”

Economics professor Seth Sanders argued for postponing the vote. He stated that about 80 percent of faculty in his department opposed the resolution for now, preferring to await the independent investigation. Sanders said, “I don’t think setting it up as having confidence in the administration or supporting the administration is right. I think it’s legitimate to think that you don’t know whether to have confidence because you don’t know what happened or why in the Jane Doe case.”

Associate professor of mathematics Inna Zakharevich also supported the delay. She argued that a declaration of no confidence needs to be an airtight indictment with clear points about administrative errors. She said, “But we don’t have that information right now.” Conversely, Faculty Senator Jennifer Colt argued that postponing the vote asked the Senate to become bystanders. She said, “It asks us to stand by and do nothing.”

The no-confidence resolution was introduced at an Oct. 14 meeting when faculty confronted Kotlikoff. The resolution expresses a lack of confidence in the administration's response to sexual assault but does not explicitly call for the president's resignation. Noah Tamarkin, an anthropology professor and co-sponsor, said the goal is to pressure leaders to change how sexual assault is addressed and to give faculty and students a greater role in decision-making.

Lara Estroff, a materials science and engineering professor and signatory of the resignation letter, criticized the resolution's wording as too vague. She said she would not vote for it as currently worded and preferred the explicit call for Kotlikoff to resign found in her group's letter.

Kotlikoff defended his leadership at the Oct. 14 meeting, acknowledging some missteps but asking for more time to reform student social life. The case originated when a woman identified as Jane Doe filed a lawsuit last month. She alleged that seven Chi Phi fraternity members sexually assaulted or exploited her in October 2024 and that Cornell mishandled her complaints. All seven men have denied the allegations. The criminal investigation by Cornell police stalled after the district attorney declined to pursue charges. In a New York Times interview, Kotlikoff said he never followed up to learn what happened to the woman or the investigation.