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‘I Am Not Antisemitic’: Kehlani Speaks Out After University Rescinds Invitation to Headline Slope Day
Cornell revoked Kehlani’s invitation to headline Slope Day over what President Michael Kotlikoff labeled “antisemitic, anti-Israel sentiments.” A few days after the April 23 announcement, the R&B singer rebuked Kotlikoff’s classification. “I am not antisemitic, nor anti-Jew,” Kehlani said in a video posted to her Instagram on Saturday. “I am anti-genocide. I am anti the actions of the Israeli government, I am anti the extermination of an entire people, I am anti the bombing of innocent children, men, women — that’s what I’m anti.” This is not the first time she has faced criticism for her beliefs. “This keeps coming up as a means to silence me, as a means…
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No.1 Men’s Lacrosse Beats Dartmouth on Senior Day, Kirst Sets NCAA Record
Men’s lacrosse entered its clash against Dartmouth with a lot on the line. Cornell needed to defend its senior day ceremony, protect its No.1 rank in the media polls and launch senior attackman CJ Kirst into the record books as the player with the highest career goals in NCAA history. In the end, Cornell (12-1, 6-0 Ivy) defended its home field from the Big Green (8-5, 2-4 Ivy) and won 10-8. On the first possession of the game, Kirst cut in front of the goal and got the ball from fellow senior and long-time attack partner Michael Long. Kirst shot and scored his 225th career goal, leaving him as the…
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LETTER TO THE EDITOR | Cornell Chose Comfort Over Courage on Slope Day
Back in 2016, as vice president of the Cornell Republicans, I sat across a long table from university police, mapping security and exit routes so former Senator Rick Santorum could take questions in Statler Auditorium. Plenty of students viscerally opposed him; many demanded we cancel the event outright. We insisted that he speak, believing then, as I do now, that exposure to challenging viewpoints is essential to education. The show went on. Cornell has now made a different choice in scratching Kehlani from the Slope Day lineup. The administration chose perceived comfort over the principle of free expression. Yes, a celebratory concert is different from a political Q&A, but the…
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PREVIEW: Last Game of the Regular Season Brings Dartmouth to Schoellkopf for No.1 Men’s Lacrosse Senior Day
Riding the high of a definitive victory against No. 12 Harvard, men’s lacrosse comes home for its final match of the regular season. It won’t be an easy one – Dartmouth boasts one of the nation’s best goalkeepers and is coming off a 13-9 win against Brown. The team will celebrate 16 seniors, including attackmen CJ Kirst and Michael Long, as well as midfielders Hugh Kelleher, Andrew Dalton, and Ryan Sheehan, all of whom earned 10 or more points so far this season. Kirst alone has tallied 59 goals, accounting for over a fourth of the team’s total output. On the defensive end, senior goalkeeper Wyatt Knust has made a…
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How the Money Moves: Funding a New Headliner Two Weeks Before Slope Day
After President Michael Kotlikoff rescinded Kehlani’s invitation as Slope Day headliner two weeks before the concert, the administration is now seeking to find and fund a new headliner, according to the email announcement. Kotlikoff’s announcement to remove the slope day headliner follows student and parent dissatisfaction regarding Kehlani’s anti-Israel rhetoric on social media. In a meeting with concerned students on Tuesday about Slope Day before the announcement, Kotlikoff was asked about whether or not the University would consider changing headlining artists. To this, he noted the “practical issue” with selecting another artist — the lack of time until Slope Day, which is set to take place on May 7. “We…
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Cornellians for Israel Petitions Against Slope Day Headliner Kehlani
Cornellians for Israel launched a petition against the selection of Kehlani as this year’s Slope Day headliner, stating that the use of “her platform to publicly call for the ‘intifada’ and to ‘dismantle Israel’” makes Jewish students feel unsafe. The petition, which has reached over 5,200 signatures in four days, calls on the University to create “an alternative experience.” Kehlani was announced as the Slope Day headliner on April 10 and since then has faced backlash. Addressing the Student Assembly on Thursday, President Michael Kotlikoff criticized Kehlani’s Slope Day headline but said that it was “too late to secure another performer.” The petition expressed Jewish students’ anger and safety concerns…
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‘A Good End to a Good Day’: Ignite Holds Inter-fellowship Easter Worship Event
More than 600 students across various Christian organizations and local churches gathered on Sunday at 7 p.m. in Statler Auditorium for an evening of Easter worship, part of the semesterly inter-fellowship worship, Ignite. Ignite holds an event designed to bring together Christians every semester. This semester’s worship event included an evening of live music, prayer and personal testimonies to celebrate Easter. Nicole Chen ’27, president of Ignite, led the event. Chen is affiliated with the campus ministry Cru, where she leads a community group and a smaller discipleship group. Chen discussed how she approached planning the event, emphasizing the importance of including various perspectives. “Just inviting people into the planning…
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‘Together for Tomorrow’: Earth Day Festival Returns to Ithaca
The rain did not stop Ithaca community members from exploring Ithaca’s second annual Earth Day Festival, held Saturday afternoon on the Ithaca Commons. Hosted by Cornell Cooperative Extension alongside the City of Ithaca, this year’s festival centered around the theme “Together for Tomorrow” — promoting actionable climate change solutions, showcasing local businesses taking steps to reduce carbon emissions and hosting entertaining programming for families — including performances, facepaint and other activities for kids. Over 25 organizations were present at the event, ranging from Tompkins County government advisory boards, transit groups and local food vendors. Many Cornell students tabled at the event — including Nicole Collins ’25, an intern for Sustainable…
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Messages of Unity, Resistance Bring Together Community at National Day of Action Protest
Over 500 people gathered in Dewitt Park downtown Saturday for a protest against the Trump administration. The event was part of a National Day of Action organized across the country by the grassroots 50501 movement, and sought to draw support from a broad array of causes. It featured speeches from professors and political figures to a crowd assembled in the park, many of whom held signs criticizing Elon Musk or expressing solidarity with federal workers. A poster for the Ithaca event advertised support for “social security, medicare and medicaid, Ukraine, Palestine, immigration rights, LGBTQ rights, voting rights, and everything this administration is destroying.” The rally included speeches by its organizer,…
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Kotlikoff Rebuts Kehlani’s Slope Day Headline: ‘It’s Too Late To Secure Another Performer’
After the April 10 announcement that Kehlani was selected to headline Slope Day, President Michael Kotlikoff responded to mounting concerns at the Thursday Student Assembly meeting by stating, “It’s too late to secure another performer.” The soulful R&B singer is set to perform on Slope Day, the annual campus-sponsored concert on Libe Slope after the last day of classes. In the week following the announcement, dissatisfaction has surfaced as students and parents have learned of the artists’ active political, specifically pro-Palestine, presence on social media. Kolitkoff shared steps the administration had already taken to limit the artists’ political impact on campus, including a clause in her contract. “We also altered…