ITHACA, N.Y. — The national media spotlight is once more focused on the Cornell University professor and activist who made controversial remarks about Hamas’ attacks against Israel last October.
History and Africana Studies professor Russell Rickford returned to teaching last month after spending the majority of last academic year on a voluntary leave of absence. His return was the topic of recent national media attention, spurring renewed ire from those who condemned his comments at the time.
Rickford’s absence originated from his remarks at a downtown rally shortly after Hamas’ attack on Israel last October. At the rally, Rickford described the attacks as “exhilarating” and an “act of resistance” against Israel, which he described as an “apartheid regime.” He later issued an apology and announced a voluntary leave of absence.
Cornell leadership also condemned Rickford’s comments at the time, though a rally was held among students and community members to show support for Rickford in the weeks afterwards.
Malina’s full statement can be found at the bottom of this story.
Rickford is listed as teaching three classes in the Fall 2024 semester. He did not respond to an emailed request for comment.
University leadership, local elected officials and media outlets — including The Ithaca Voice — were the targets of what is apparently an ongoing email writing campaign.
As of Wednesday afternoon, The Ithaca Voice has received at least 370 emails addressed to Cornell leadership expressing outrage at Rickford’s reinstatement. The vast majority of the emails contained an identical message. Analysis of a random selection of 30 emails shows just three of the 30 senders have an apparent connection to the university or Ithaca.
Some senders added their own touches to the copied and pasted message. One man prefaced the message with a call to the Ku Klux Klan to hang Rickford, who is Black.
Student groups that have been involved in events held in response to the Gaza war, like Cornell Hillel and the Coalition for Mutual Liberation, did not respond to requests for comment.
The university’s full statement appears below:
“Last October, Professor Russel [sic] Rickford made a horrific comment at an off-campus rally in downtown Ithaca. As then-President Pollack and Board Chair Kayser noted at the time, his comment was reprehensible and demonstrated a complete disregard for humanity. Professor Rickford apologized for his comments and took a voluntary leave of absence for the remainder of the academic year.
“Consistent with well-established principles of academic freedom, Cornell has a process for considering whether public statements such as those expressed off campus by Professor Rickford at a political rally fall under the category of protected speech, or rather demonstrate prohibited bias, discrimination, or harassment. Given that Professor Rickford’s comments were made as a private citizen in his free time, the university’s academic leadership has concluded that Professor Rickford’s conduct in relation to this incident did not meet that high bar.”