Cornell University’s president forcefully rejected two anti-Israel resolutions from the student government, one of the latest developments on the US campus battlefields.

Last week, Cornell’s Student Assembly voted to cut ties with Israel’s Technion University and condemned the university for hosting the center-left Israeli politician Tzipi Livni.

The Student Assembly represents Cornell’s undergraduate student body to the university administration and is meant to improve student life on campus through issues like transportation. Resolutions approved by the assembly are brought to the university president, who can accept or reject the measures.

Cornell president Michael Kotlikoff wrote Wednesday to the head of the student assembly that the resolution to cut off the Technion “fundamentally conflicts with Cornell’s principles of academic collaboration and our core commitment to academic freedom.”

The resolution had called on Cornell to “terminate its institutional partnership” with the Israeli university, one of Israel’s leading institutions of higher education.

The measure cited “serious ethical concerns” and “complicity in genocide,” alleging that Technion’s involvement with the Israeli military violated international law. Israel has not been convicted of genocide in international legal courts.

Cornell operates a campus in New York City in partnership with the Technion and the city, called Cornell Tech.

Kotlikoff said that ending the Cornell-Technion collaboration for political purposes “would not only hinder our research, teaching and public engagement; it would imperil our academic principles,” such as academic freedom, institutional excellence and a commitment to public trust.

He added that the resolution falsely stated that Cornell could operate the New York City campus without the Technion. Cornell Tech is a three-way partnership between the two universities and New York City, and none can claim full........

© The Times of Israel