We write with outrage over the recent temporary suspension of graduate worker Momodou Taal, on the grounds of his alleged participation in a recent Pro-Palestine and anti-genocide campus protest. This is the first time a Cornell graduate worker is facing immediate deportation without administrative due process or the ability to review evidence of their alleged misconduct. Unless we stand up to the university, it is entirely plausible that at any moment, Momodou will have less than a 48 hours notice to book a flight, pack up all of his belongings, and get out of the country.

Temporary suspension is among the most severe penalties a university can administer. For any student, it is a serious rupture in their ability to study and learn (and for graduate and some undergraduate students, suspensions deprive them of the ability to teach and earn an income). For an international student whose right to remain in the country is affected by their enrollment status, the consequences are even more extreme.  For Momodou, a deportation means a loss of income and housing, and an obstacle to finishing his PhD degree. We are alarmed that temporary suspensions, the Student Code of Conduct, and the Interim Expressive Activity Policy are being weaponized against the most vulnerable student activists and leaders, in a cruel attempt to silence student protest.

The administration is setting a dangerous pattern of using deportation and “temporary suspension” alongside threats of escalating action as a means of avoiding due process. Imposing severe punishments before an investigation has even taken place, let alone a hearing, is a breach of Cornell’s own administrative procedures.  

Cornell University’s president and Cornell administration are not following their own procedures. Since Cornell began imposing temporary suspensions on students last semester, its actions have been marred by serious procedural problems. The Student Code of Conduct Procedures allows for temporary suspensions – summarily imposed without any due process – as a way to address dangerous conditions that require immediate action. The Procedures list factors that clearly contemplate the use of temporary suspensions to protect against violence or threats of violence, or harm to health or safety. Additionally, the Procedures specifically require that temporary suspension be used only in cases where “immediate action is necessary to protect the Complainant or the University community” and “only when available less restrictive measures” will not achieve such protection. Given these requirements, the temporary suspension of Momodou is a wildly disproportionate response to any alleged violation of the Student Code. The threat of immediate deportation is completely incompatible with notions of proportionality and constraint, as well as Cornell’s own policies. 

Cornell is manipulating their procedures and language to erroneously portray Momodou as dangerous. In light of the university’s glaringly obvious effort to depict handheld megaphones as a tool of violence, it is clear that this is yet another way to suppress protest. 

Furthermore, Cornell is disregarding the Memorandum of Agreement that they signed with Cornell Graduate Students United-UE (CGSU-UE). This past July, Cornell agreed to bargain with the Union over the effects of any discipline to a member of the bargaining unit. Cornell has already inflicted multiple major changes on Momodou-- in addition to effectively threatening to have him deported. The Memorandum of Agreement with CGSU-UE is a signed, binding agreement that the Cornell administration is ignoring in order to punish and silence Momodou for exercising his academic freedom in support of Palestine. 

Not only that, but this is the second time in just the last six months that Momodou has been threatened with deportation for an alleged violation of the Student Code of Conduct. The original charges were never proven, and the case is still pending because the university’s administration is, once again, refusing to follow due process and their own administrative guidelines, which would require a formal complaint and investigation in a timely manner as outlined in the Student Code of Conduct Procedures. 

In May 2024, over 15 units and 350 faculty from across the Humanities, Social Sciences, and STEM signed a statement protesting the suspensions of six student organizers involved with the Gaza Solidarity Encampment. We understood then as we understand now that the Cornell administration is unfairly targeting perceived student protest leaders and singling them out in order to make an example of them. The excessive punitive measures represent an escalating repression of academic freedom and freedom of expression. Once again, we call for an end to administrative overreach and institutional repression and retaliation. 

This is not a community we want to be learning, working, or teaching in.  

We are calling for Momodou Taal's temporary suspension to be overturned and for due process to be followed.

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