US: Thousands sign petition demanding Cornell University reinstate pro-Palestinian PhD student
More than 10,000 people have signed a petition demanding the reinstatement of a Cornell University graduate student who was suspended for participating in a pro-Palestinian action at the university’s career fair in Ithaca, New York.
The petition for the reinstatement of PhD student Momodou Taal was released by the Cornell Collective for Justice in Palestine (CCJP), a coalition that includes faculty, staff and graduate workers at the university.
“We demand an immediate end to his suspension, the lack of due process, and the disproportionate persecution of campus activists,” the CCJP said in a statement given to Middle East Eye on Wednesday.
“It has been over a week. We demand that Momodou Taal's temporary suspension be overturned and that due process be followed."
The CCJP accused the university of "manipulating their procedures and language" to portray Taal as dangerous.
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Taal is a Cornell African studies PhD student from the UK and a graduate leader of the Coalition for Mutual Liberation (CML) on campus.
The 30-year-old, who is British Gambian, was temporarily suspended for his involvement in pro-Palestinian organising and the university’s Gaza solidarity encampment during the spring semester.
Then on 18 September, the CML organised a walk-out of over 100 pro-Palestine protestors who then marched into the career fair for the School of Industrial and Labor Relations’ Human Capital and Human Relations.
The direct action targeted a number of companies which are listed in the student assembly referendum as supporting "the ongoing war in Gaza”, such as Boeing and L3Harris.
The university released a statement claiming that Cornell police officers were “pushed and shoved” and that guests of the career fair at the hotel “felt threatened”.
Taal received an email informing him of his second suspension for not complying with orders at the protest.
Taal has denied the allegations, saying he "gave a speech outside Day Hall before participating in the career fair disruption, but said he had only attended the protest for five minutes before promptly leaving".
Cornell told the press that the university technically does not have the power to deport Taal, but can bar him from campus and make his status as a student inactive.
But removing Taal as a student would end his F-1 visa status, making him ineligible to remain in the US. Taal is currently awaiting the decision of a final appeal that was submitted to the university's interim provost.
It is not clear which country he may get deported to.
In addition to the petition, several Black student groups on campus, including Black Students United, have come out in support of Taal and are calling for him to be reinstated by the university.
Several Black student groups at Cornell said they held a meeting with interim president Michael Kotlikoff and have accused him of using “racialised rhetoric” in publicly speaking of Taal.
“His statements justifying Taal’s unfair and punitive treatment are infused with language that reflects the painful legacies of enslavement, Jim Crow, and modern-day policing that continue to infect every inch of American society today,” the groups said in a statement shared with MEE.
MEE reached out to Cornell University's office of media relations for comment, but did not receive a response by the time of publication.
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