Cornell president claims 'harassment and intimidation' after parking lot clash

Cornell University's president claimed he was the victim of "harassment and intimidation" following a parking lot confrontation with a group of people who said he tried to back his car into them.

The incident unfolded on Thursday, April 30, after Cornell President Michael Kotlikoff introduced an Israel-Palestinian debate series that was hosted by the Cornell Political Union and co-sponsored by the Cornell Progressives, Cornellians for Israel, and Students for Justice in Palestine.

Kotlikoff said the behavior he experienced while allegedly being followed to his car in an on-campus lot by six or seven people, some of them students, "is harassment and intimidation, with the direct motive of silencing speech."

"It has no place in an academic community, no place in a democracy, and can have no place at Cornell," Kolikoff said in his statement released to the Ithaca, New York, university's community on Friday.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/cornell-university-president-accused-backing-222234092.html