Cornell University president's retirement prompts speculation after tumultuous year: 'This is related'
Ithaca, New York-based Cornell University’s president, Martha E. Pollack, announced on Thursday that she will retire on June 30, as the campus grapples with anti-Israel protests, much like schools across the nation.
Cornell University Board of Trustees Kraig H. Kayser said in a prepared statement that Provost Michael I. Kotlikoff will step in as interim president starting on July 1, at which time Pollack will be given the title of president emerita by the Cornell Board of Trustees. She will serve in the role for two years, as a search committee looks for the 15th president within six to nine months of the end of Kotlikoff’s term.
"Serving as the president of Cornell has been an amazing privilege; there are few roles that afford so much opportunity to make a positive difference in the world," Pollack wrote in a statement announcing her departure. "After seven fruitful and gratifying years as Cornell’s president — capping a career in research and academia spanning five decades — I’m ready for a new chapter in my life. I greatly appreciate the continued support of our Board of Trustees and the many faculty, students, staff and alumni who have shared words of encouragement through my time as president, especially over the past academic year."
Pollack is credited with helping to create the Cornell Jeb E. Brooks School of Public Policy, expanding the accessibility and affordability of a Cornell education, and launching the school’s first-ever theme year celebrating free and open expression and inquiry, among other things.
She also led the university through a global pandemic and the terrorist attack in Israel and subsequent war in Gaza, which sent shockwaves across the nation and in higher education.
Cornell Law School professor William A. Jacobson, who is also president of the Legal Insurrection Foundation and founder of EqualProtect.org, told Fox News Digital that people typically retire because they are aging out of their role or coming toward the end of their term. He also said when someone retires, you typically expect more than two months’ notice, though he was not privy of knowing whether she submitted her resignation to the Board of Trustees much earlier.
Jacobson added that he's also not privy to Pollack's interactions with the trustees, though what he could say was she has been under "tremendous" pressure over the rising antisemitism on campus.
"My personal belief is that this is related to what has happened since October 7th, which is that the university has come under severe criticism for how it handled antisemitism on campus," Jacobson said, explaining the school has been the subject of a congressional inquiry and negative publicity over incidents on campus.
In one incident, Cornell student Patrick Dai threatened to shoot Jewish students on campus and slit their throats. The threats were made in a Cornell University discussion forum, according to the Justice Department. Dai has pleaded guilty to making the threats.
In another incident, a Cornell University professor apologized for saying he was "exhilarated" and "energized" by the October 7 terror attacks in Israel, in which Hamas murdered more than 1,200 people, including over 30 Americans.
Cornell University professor Russell Rickford later issued an apology.
"I apologize for the horrible choice of words that I used in a portion of a speech that was intended to stress grassroots African American, Jewish, and Palestinian traditions of resistance to oppression," Rickford said in a letter published in the Cornell Daily Sun.
He added that the language he used was "reprehensible," and did not reflect his values, while also denouncing "racism, antisemitism, Islamophobia, militarism, fundamentalism and all systems that dehumanize, divide and oppress people."
These were just two examples of anti-Israel sentiment that Pollack failed to adequately address, Jacobson said.
"There have been very aggressive protests on campus that she has tried to get a handle on without success, such as anti-Israel students in groups marching through academic buildings with bullhorns, chanting anti-Israel slogans and genocidal slogans against Jews. There is an encampment now that has persisted long beyond what has persisted on other campuses. So, this is a president, who by all appearances, is a nice person, but who is not equipped to address the aggressive campus events that took place, really starting on Oct. 7," Jacobson continued.
Along with antisemitism across campus, Pollack’s aggressive DEI initiatives have come under question, which resulted in one of the school’s major donors calling for her resignation.
In an open letter to Kayser and the Board of Trustees in January, Cornell emeritus trustee and presidential counselor Jon A. Lindseth urged the university to abandon its "misguided commitment" to DEI, claiming its embrace of such initiatives has yielded "disgrace" rather than "excellence."
"I am proud to count myself one of several generations of Lindseths who are Cornell alumni and invested donors, but I am alarmed by the diminished quality of education offered lately by my alma mater because of its disastrous involvement with DEI policies that have infiltrated every part of the university," he wrote.
"I have spent years hearing the stories of Cornell and its leadership, participating as a student, and sponsoring and funding some of the University’s exemplary past work, including the Library (which I continue to fund). I can no longer make general contributions until the university reformulates its approach to education by replacing DEI groupthink with the original noble intent of Cornell," he added.
Jacobson has been critical of Cornell's DEI program for a number of years.
In October 2023, he called on the school’s board of trustees to act after a series of antisemitic and anti-Israel incidents left Jewish students feeling uncomfortable and unsafe on campus.
At the time, he called on the trustees to pause new DEI initiatives, adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance working definition of antisemitism and form a special independent commission to investigate antisemitism on campus, which he argued was among the effects of the school's DEI programs.
Jacobson said Thursday he never heard back from the trustees on his request.
Fox News Digital also reached out to the trustees for comment on the requests, as well as Pollack’s retirement, but was deferred to the university's publicly released statements.
Jacobson said he is calling for the trustees to do away with DEI programming and refocus the activities of the professional staff of the university away from group identity and toward the dignity of every individual without regard to race or other identities.
In a statement to the Cornell University community announcing her retirement, Pollack said she began deliberating about leaving last fall and made the decision over the December break. But each of the three times she was ready to act on her decision, she said she needed to pause because of the events occurring on her campus and other campuses across the U.S.
"There is so much more to Cornell than the current turmoil taking place at universities across the country right now, and I hope we do not lose sight of that," Pollack said. "Local and world events have caused enormous pain for students of many backgrounds, including our Jewish and Israeli students, as well as our Arab, Palestinian, and Muslim students. We have been vigilant in working to ensure the safety and well-being of all members of our community from all backgrounds, work I’ve been dedicated to long before the events of the past year."
She offered one piece of advice to the Cornell community going forward.
"We must develop more capacity to seek out different perspectives and be willing to listen to those with whom we differ, doing so with intellectual curiosity and an open mind; at the same time, we must always consider the impact of what we say to one another; and we must thoughtfully engage in debate," Pollack said. "Yes, there are instances in which a position is so hateful that it does not deserve a response, but there are many more occasions where views we are predisposed to dislike deserve consideration, principled argument, and, if needed, refutation. A willingness to communicate across differences is the only way forward for higher education, and indeed for our democracy."
The school, she added, has risen to challenges over the past 159 years, and will continue to do so, while also thriving.
Pollack did not respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
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But when it came to why she was leaving, Pollack said she was ready for a new chapter.
"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 said. "After seven fruitful and gratifying years as Cornell’s president — and after a career in research and academia spanning five decades — I’m ready for a new chapter in my life."
Fox News Digital’s Nikolas Lanum and Brian Flood contributed to this report.