INDEPENDENT SINCE 1880
The Corne¬ Daily Sun Vol. 141, No. 3
12 Pages — Free
TUESDAY, MARCH 12, 2024 n ITHACA, NEW YORK
News
Arts
Ceasefire Conversations
Fashion Forward
Sports
Sophie Gross '27 gives a candid review of CFC's fashion show.
The Ithaca Common Council votes 10-1 in favor of a ceasefire resolution
Weather Smith Sacked
Dayna Smith dismissed as head coach of women's basketball after 21-year tenure.
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Coulter Invited Back to Campus Faust F. Rossi, Cornellians previously heckled controversial conservative Ann Coulter ’84 off stage Influential Law Professor, Dies
NICOLE BENGIVENO / THE NEW YORK TIMES
Coulter commotion | Cornell has reportedly invited Coulter back, prompting various campus group reactions. By DINA SHLUFMAN Sun News Editor
Ann Coulter ’84, a controversial conservative media personality, has reportedly been invited back to speak on campus by the University more than a year after protestors taunted her off stage. Multiple on-campus groups are considering whether to help host the potential event. Nadine Strossen, a free speech advocate who formerly served as the president of the American Civil Liberties Union, told The Sun that a formal invitation has been extended to Coulter on behalf of the Cornell administration. “She has accepted [the invitation] in principle. … She has turned it over to her speaker’s bureau to negotiate important details,” Strossen said. “I know she wants to come.” The decision to bring Coulter back began to materialize after Strossen discussed the idea with Provost Michael Kotlikoff in January at the Board of Trustees meeting in New York. In the meeting, Kotlikoff responded immediately by
saying, “‘Oh, that’s a great idea,’” according to Strossen. Kotlifkoff did not respond to a request for comment. These developments come during Cornell’s free expression theme year. In an April 2023 press release announcing the theme, President Martha Pollack wrote that “learning from difference, learning to engage with difference and learning to communicate across difference are key parts of the Cornell education.” On Nov. 10, 2022, Coulter was heckled off the stage at an event organized as a joint effort by The Leadership Institute, a conservative nonprofit, and the Network of Enlightened Women, a campus group for right-wing women, with help from members of Cornell Republicans. Students in attendance chanted, “Your words are violence!” and “We don’t want your ideas here! Leave! Leave!” At least eight people were removed from the venue for disrupting Coulter’s speech, with police and security ushering out students yelling phrases such as “Go back to the circus, Ann” and “no KKK, no fascist USA.” Coulter was never able to complete her speech, leaving her scheduled hour-long event just 20 minutes in. The 2022 Coulter event was supported by the Cornell administration, who refused to cancel the event and aided security efforts. Coulter, who helped found The Cornell Review, a conservative news source, in her time at Cornell, has a long history of making bigoted remarks against minority groups including South Asians, Jews, Muslims and immigrants. Prof. Randy Wayne, plant science, a leader in the Cornell Heterodox Academy — an organization that aims to increase the diversity of thought in academia — said his organization is considering co-hosting this event but a decision has not yet been made. To continue reading this story, please visit www.cornellsun. com.
Dina Shlufman can be reached at dshlufman@cornellsun.com.
University Reduces Interim Expression Activity By MATTHEW KIVIAT Sun News Editor
After receiving extensive criticism from faculty and students, the University lessened the Interim Expressive Activity Policy restrictions, according to an email sent to the Cornell community on Monday by President Martha Pollack and Provost Michael Kotlikoff. Reductions to regulations impact event registration, the use of open flames and postering. The University also pledged to determine the final policy through a consultative process with faculty, students and staff. February and March are considered a period of public comment before the policies are formally taken to the Executive Policy Review Group which can approve the final expressive activity policy, according to Prof. Eve De Rosa, psychology, in a faculty forum on
Feb. 28. The original interim policy, which was issued on Jan. 24, restricted student protest on campus through limitations on expressive activities including guidelines on the use of amplified sound and the number of people at outdoor demonstrations. The University first referred students for disciplinary action under the interim policy at the Coalition for Mutual Liberation “Walk Out To a Die In” divestment protest held on Feb. 8. There have been two instances since where the University referred student protestors for disciplinary action, both of which impacted pro-Palestine protestors. The Monday statement clarified that the use of the word “expected” for registering events was replaced with stating that the University “strongly encourages prior registration of protest activities, [but]
registration is not required,” conceding that the prior wording was “vague.” “By choosing to register [events], organizers enable the University to better support protest activity, address health and safety concerns and reduce the potential for unintended conflict with other scheduled activities,” the statement reads. The updated policy opened opportunities for open flames at events, allowing for candles under six inches so as not “to prevent candlelight vigils.” The previous policy stipulated that “candles, lamps and other open flame sources'' were not permitted but could be included on a “case-by-case basis after review by health and safety personnel.” To continue reading this story, please visit www.cornellsun.com. Matthew Kiviat can be reached at mkiviat@cornellsun.com.
By MATTHEW KIVIAT Sun News Editor
Faust F. Rossi J.D. ’60, Samuel S. Leibowitz Professor of Trial Techniques, Emeritus, died on Wednesday, March 6 at the age of 91. Rossi was a long-time member of the Cornell Law community and an influential member of the legal world as a scholar in evidence and trial advocacy. With a nearly 50-year tenure, Rossi is estimated to have taught more students in the Law School than any other professor. Rossi previously achieved the prestigious Roscoe Pound Jacobson Award for Excellence in Teaching Trial Advocacy. Throughout his career, Rossi wrote Evidence for the Trial Lawyer and co-authored the Handbook of New York Evidence, a comprehensive guide to rules and principles of evidence within New York courts. After graduating from Law School in 1960, Rossi’s legal career began in the United States Department of Justice Honors program — one of the nation’s top federal attorney recruitment programs — where he worked as a trial attorney and later became a litigation partner at a law firm in Rochester. Rossi joined the Law School faculty in 1966 where he dedicated his career until he retired from the University in 2013. Among Rossi’s most-revered classes were civil procedure, evidence and trial advocacy. Rossi was also a visiting professor at Central European University in Budapest and a faculty member at Cornell’s summer institute in Paris. During Rossi’s retirement celebration in 2013, Prof. Stewart J. Schwab, law, who was the dean of the Law School from 2004 to 2014, emphasized Rossi’s distinguished career educating and inspiring law students. “For 47 years, Cornell Law School has had one of the great treats of teachers in Faust F. Rossi,” Schwab said. “[Rossi] has helped train literally thousands of Cornell Law students and many other lawyers across the country.” To continue reading this story, please visit www.cornellsun.com. Matthew Kiviat can be reached at mkiviat@cornellsun. com.
OFFICE OF VISUAL SERVICES (UREL) / COURTESY OF CORNELL UNIVERSITY
Loyal lawyer | Prof. Emeritus Faust Rossi J.D. '60, law, taught a record number of law students.