Cornell University's Faculty Senate voted 75-50 on Friday to declare no confidence in the university's central administration over its handling of sexual assault on campus, a symbolic rebuke that the Board of Trustees answered within hours by reaffirming its support for President Michael Kotlikoff.
The resolution states that the Senate "has no confidence in the ability of the central administration to effectively address the ongoing crisis of sexual assault at Cornell University." Five senators abstained and five did not vote, according to results obtained by NBC News. The measure carries no power to remove anyone: only the Board of Trustees can dismiss the president.
The vote followed months of campus anger over the university's response to a lawsuit filed in September by a former student, identified as Jane Doe, who alleged that seven students raped her at the Chi Phi fraternity house on the night of October 19-20, 2024. President Kotlikoff waited more than two weeks to publicly address the case, according to The New York Times, and the university's response continued to draw scrutiny as the lawsuit moved forward.
The resolution was introduced in October by Paul Ortiz, a professor of labor history in Cornell's School of Industrial and Labor Relations, and debated by the Senate on October 14 and October 28 before Friday's vote. It does not call for Kotlikoff to resign or recommend any removals.
Board chair Anne Meinig Smalling said the vote "reflects the deep anger across our campus and sends a clear signal that what happened to Jane Doe is unacceptable," adding that "there is no place for sexual violence on the Cornell campus." She said the board "fully supports President Kotlikoff and his administration" and remains confident they are the right leaders to address the problem.
New York Attorney General Letitia James is overseeing a separate investigation into the university's handling of sexual assault, and an independent review led by former U.S. Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates is under way. The Faculty Senate is the university's main legislative advisory body, and its vote — while nonbinding — marks one of the sharpest public breaks between a faculty body and an Ivy League administration in recent years.
