INDEPENDENT SINCE 1880
The Corne¬ Daily Sun Vol. 142, No. 6
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 16, 2025 n ITHACA, NEW YORK
News
Arts
Kotlikoff and Bala
Stefani Spins
The Sun sat down with the University President and provost to discuss federal funding, student detentions and AI. | Page 4
16 Pages – Free
In Sydney Levinton’s weekly Test Spins column, she reviews a throw back. | Page 14
University Mourns Death of Prof. Cheyfitz Retires Amid First-Year During Fall Break Discrimination Investigation By ZEINAB FARAJ Sun Features Editor
Oct. 14 — Thaddeus Lucentini ’29 died on Monday while home for Fall Break, according to a Tuesday morning email from Dean of Students Marla Love and Peter Loewen, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. The University did not state how the student died in the announcement. Lucentini was from Shelburne Falls, Massachusetts and graduated from St. Paul’s School in June. He was planning to study history and was a member of the Army Reserve Officers’ Training Corps. Lucentini competed in alpine skiing, cross country and rowing for his high school, according to the email. He is survived by his parents. “Our thoughts are with Thad’s loved ones, and we extend our deepest sympathies to his family, friends,
instructors, and classmates,” Loewen and Love wrote in the email. The loss comes amid three other deaths impacting the College of Arts and Sciences, including Joselyn Guadalupe Garcia ’29, Senior Department Manager for the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology Michael Lenetsky and Prof. Debra Castillo, comparative literature. “The College of Arts & Sciences has experienced the loss of four community members this semester,” Loewen and Love wrote in the email. “The passing of classmates and colleagues can affect each of us differently. We encourage you to care for one another and seek support when you need it. Losing a friend, classmate, or colleague is difficult.” The University plans to hold a support meeting for the Cornell community at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 14, in 413 Willard Straight Hall, or the Art
Gallery Room. An arts and sciences community meeting will also be held at 5 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 15 in G64 Kaufman Auditorium, Goldwin Smith Hall. Individuals can have a diverse range of feelings, needs and reactions when facing loss. This information about Grief and Loss may be helpful to you or a friend. The Ithaca-based crisisline can be reached at 607-272-1616, and the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline is available throughout the U.S. Additional support resources are listed at mentalhealth.cornell.edu. Students in need of professional support can email Student Support and Advocacy Services at studentsupport@ cornell.edu or call Counseling and Psychological Services at 607-255-5155. Employees can call the Faculty and Staff Assistance Program at 607255-2673. Zeinab Faraj can be reached at zfaraj@cornellsun.
From Previous Israeli Student
By BENJAMIN LEYNSE Sun News Editor
Oct. 12 — Prof. Eric Cheyfitz, literatures in English, faced a two-semester suspension without pay after an investigation found he violated federal anti-discrimination law when he allegedly asked an Israeli graduate student, whom Cheyfitz claims was “disruptive,” to leave his course on Gaza. Now, Cheyfitz is set to retire after he and his lawyer negotiated a deal to avoid further deliberation by a University panel and ultimately the president, a Cornell spokesperson told The Sun. Cheyfitz’s undergraduate spring course AIIS 3500: Gaza, Indigeneity, Resistance, previously drew criticism from President Michael Kotlikoff for what he saw as a biased view of the ongoing Israel-Palestine conflict. It was during that course, taught last spring, when Israeli graduate student Oren Renard filed a discrimination complaint with Cornell’s Office of Civil Rights. Since then, various University bodies have issued conflicting decisions. The COCR’s initial conclusion of bias was overturned by a ruling by a Faculty Senate Committee, Cheyfitz said. Despite the committee’s ruling, Provost Kavita Bala moved to reopen the case and place it before a new hearing panel and ultimately President Michael Kotlikoff. This
was met with backlash from Cheyfitz and the American Association of University Professors over concerns of double jeopardy — the legal principle that prevents being prosecuted twice for the same offense. Now, the investigation and hearing process launched by the provost has ended with Cheyfitz’s retirement, according to a University spokesperson. “Professor Cheyfitz has chosen to retire and leave university employment, thus ending Cornell’s disciplinary process,” the statement reads. Though no further disciplinary process action will be taken, the spokesperson explained that the COCR’s initial “finding of discrimination,” which held that Cheyfitz “violated Cornell policy and federal law,” would remain in place. However, for Cheyfitz’s lawyer, Luna Droubi, the University’s statement is a “false account of what transpired,” because it fails to acknowledge the findings of the six-person Faculty Senate Committee on Academic Freedom and Professional Status of the Faculty. Droubi claimed that per University Policy 6.4, while the ruling from the Faculty Senate committee should have been binding, Bala chose to reopen the case. See CHEYFITZ page 5
Multicultural Groups, Protesters Pack Student Assembly
Students celebrate as Code of Conduct resolution passes and multicultural club funding recs. rejected By ISABELLA HANSON and DOROTHY FRANCE-MILLER Sun News Editor and Sun Managing Editor
Oct. 13 — In a room packed to full capacity, the Student Assembly voted to pass Resolution 10: Addressing the Administration’s Undemocratic Review of the Student Code of Conduct and Affirming Cornell’s System of Shared Governance in a 21-1-2 vote. The Assembly also rejected their finance committee’s recommendations to reduce funding for ALANA Intercultural Board, Cornell’s Multicultural Greek & Fraternal Council and the International Student Association. Now, the finance committee will go back to the drawing board to reevaluate the organizations’ funding allotments and create new recommendations. The vote followed a three-hour-long meeting filled with attendees’ stomps, claps, jeers and cheers that began with a visit from President Michael Kotlikoff and Vice President for Student and Campus Life Ryan Lombardi. An Instagram announcement to “Pack the Vote for ALANA” by Black Students United, La Asociación Latina, South Asian Council, Native American and Indigenous Students at Cornell and ALANA garnered a crowd for the meeting. ALANA is a supplementary funding board
that sponsors 138 other organizations and has funded over 117 events over the past two semesters. Approximately 130 students filled all seats and packed against the wall with over two dozen more waiting outside and peering through the windows. When Kotlikoff and Lombardi walked into the room, the crowd erupted into a flurry of motion and noise as attendees picked up and turned their chairs to face away from where the administrators sat. Attendees standing along the walls also turned their backs on administrators. Many attendees held signs facing Lombardi and Kotlikoff in support of Resolution 10, ALANA, free speech, Palestine and more. Kotlikoff and Lombardi’s discussion with Assembly members consisted of conversations surrounding updates on federal funding, Student Code of Conduct revision questions and more. During a Q&A with members of the Assembly, Industrial and Labor Relations Representative Max Ehrlich ’26 asked about Prof. Eric Cheyfitz, literatures in English, and the due process behind the professor’s investigation — before ripping a printed copy of University Policy 6.4, the procedure for resolution of reports against employees in front of the administrators.
“Under the section for appeals to the committee on academic freedom and professional status, it says, quote, ‘The dean or equivalent unit head must accept the committee’s findings with fact and conclusions,’” Ehrlich said. “However, your University administration has overturned the committee’s findings in clear violation of your own rules of due process.”
Ehrlich then held up the policy and said, “So I guess I can just — ” and ripped the paper packet down the middle. To continue reading, please visit www.cornellsun.com Isabella Hanson and Dorothy France-Miller can be reached at ihanson@cornellsun.com and dfrancemiller@cornellsun.com
BENJAMIN LEYNSE / SUN NEWS EDITOR
Disinterested students | Attendees turned away from President Kotlikoff as he presented to the Student Assembly on Thursday.