Administration Responds to Shooting

By CARLIN REYEN and MARISA CEFOLA Sun Staff Writers

On Monday night, a mass shooting occurred at Michigan State University, where a gunman killed three students and injured five others at Michigan State University. This comes less than two years after a shooting at Michigan’s Oxford High School.

According to the New York Times, the gunman first opened fire in Berkey Hall around 8:30 p.m., killing two people immediately. Soon after, a third person was shot in the Michigan State student union. Both buildings were unlocked and open to the public.

Dave Honan, associate vice president for public safety and Anthony Bellamy, chief of Cornell Police sent a joint email to members of the Ithaca and AgriTech campus communities midday Tuesday.

In the message, Honan and Bellamy informed students that CornellALERTs will be sent to students’ mobile phone numbers and email addresses in case of any health and safety threats to the campus community, including active weapon and explosive device threats and extreme weather incidents.

The email also notes that Cornell’s Facebook and Twitter pages will be home to real-time updates in the case of “any evolving situation.”

Honan and Bellamy urged students to review the Run-Hide-Fight procedure in the case of an active shooter and to become familiar with exits in both residential and academic buildings.

“Do not allow unauthorized people into secure facilities. Anyone who is meant to be in your space will have a key, card access or an individual signing them in,” the statement read, urging students to report any suspicious activity to the Cornell Public Safety Communications Center phone line.

Bensel said that arguments in favor of Cornell’s neutrality on foreign nation policies are flawed, as Cornell has already stood against the actions of countries like Russia. On March 2, 2022, President Martha Pollack announced Russia’s deplorable invasion of Ukraine.

“The resolution does remind us that academic freedom and freedom of speech are fundamental values.”

Prof. Richard Bensel M.A. ’76 Ph.D. ’78

“If you take a stance on one country that does deplorable things and you’re silent on another country that does deplorable things, you create an imbalance in which the silence looks like the consent or legitimation of the second country’s policies,” Bensel said.

Bensel also emphasized that the proposed resolution would not remove Cornell programs in the addressed foreign nations.

“[This resolution does not impinge on] individual faculty in conducting research, or teaching in an authoritarian nation,” Bensel said. “[However,] the resolution does remind us that academic freedom and freedom of speech are fundamental values wherever Cornell creates or maintains an academic program.”