Cornell cancels classes over ‘extraordinary stress’ from antisemitic threats

Cornell University announced Thursday it was canceling Friday classes in the wake of the “extraordinary stress” caused by a series of antisemitic threats posted to an online discussion board earlier this week.

In an email to community members at Cornell’s Ithaca and Geneva campuses, Michael Kotlikoff, the vice president for student and campus life, and Christine Lovely, vice president and chief human resources officer, announced no classes will be held on Friday and that faculty and staff — with the exemption of those who provide essential services — will be excused from work, the university’s student newspaper The Cornell Daily Sun reported.

“We hope that everyone will use this restorative time to take care of yourselves and reflect on how we can nurture the kind of caring, mutually supportive community that we all value,” the email stated, per The Cornell Daily Sun.

The cancellation comes after antisemitic threats were posted to an online discussion board Sunday. Those posts included the Cornell University Jewish center address, threats of violence against the center and specific threats against the kosher dining hall on campus, which was later shut down as result.

Citing numerous emails, the Sun reported some professors already offered Zoom class options and messages of support to students earlier this week.

Police were dispatched to Cornell’s Center for Jewish Living earlier this week following the threats, and a person of interest was later arrested, according to New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D).

The university said Tuesday the suspect is a Cornell student who is facing criminal charges. Hochul said the person was being held by the New York State Police for questioning.

In a message to students Wednesday, Cornell President Martha Pollack noted that while the threats were “unsubstantiated,” “it adds to the stress” in the campus community. Pollack said Cornell Police will continue to have an increased presence.

The FBI was also involved with an investigation into the threats as a potential hate crime, Pollack confirmed.

The threats come amid a massive uptick in antisemitic incidents since the Oct. 7 incursion into Israel launched by Hamas, a militant group recognized as a terrorist organization by the U.S. and several other countries. Hamas’s attacks against Israel have killed more than 1,400 people in Israel, most of them civilians.

The Anti-Defamation League last week said it tracked 312 antisemitic incidents in the more than two weeks since the war between Hamas and Israel began, marking a 388 percent spike over the same period last year.

Israel launched a massive bombardment of Gaza following Hamas’s attacks, and more than 8,500 Palestinians in the territory have died in the violence so far, according to the Hamas-ruled Gaza Health Ministry.

Tensions over the ongoing violence have reared their head at several college campuses across the U.S., with some students and student groups calling for a cease-fire in order to assist Palestinian civilians under siege.

On the other side of the conflict, students have accused their school leaders of not condemning the Hamas attacks strongly enough.

The Hill reached out to Cornell University for further comment.