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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