The president of Cornell University allegedly ran over the foot of one student and injured another during a heated parking lot clash after an Israel-Palestine debate.
Surveillance video from last Thursday showed a group of students surrounding Michael Kotlikoff’s black Cadillac as they tried to stop him from leaving.
Kotlikoff then reversed his SUV out of the space before coming to a sudden stop, video released by the university shows.
He then continued with his maneuver, all while students still surrounded his vehicle.
A woman was seen standing in front of the Ivy League university president’s vehicle before moving out of shot as he drove toward her.
Another student filming Kotlikoff made a nuisance of himself by standing in front of the vehicle as he tried to drive away from the Ithaca, New York, campus.
Kotlikoff, who has been president of Cornell since March 2025, has been accused of injuring two students, the group Students for a Democratic Cornell wrote on Instagram.
“When we tried to discuss campus speech policies, he hit us with his car,” the group alleged.
“Kotlikoff’s violent response to student inquiry is just another example of his administration’s repressive crackdown on student speech.”
Video obtained by Cornellians Only showed one student being hit by Kotlikoff’s car as he was reversing.
“Oh! He just ran over my f–king foot! Oh my God!” Students for a Democratic Cornell member Aiden Vallecillo yelped.
On Friday, Kotlikoff said he was “accosted by a group of several individuals” as he tried to leave the event which was hosted by the Cornell Political Union and co-sponsored by Cornell Progressives, Cornellians for Israel, and Students for Justice in Palestine.
“These individuals are known to Cornell for their past conduct, including a long history of ongoing verbal and online abuse toward numerous members of Cornell’s administration and staff, as well as disruptive protest resulting, in the case of two individuals, in bans from campus,” he said.
“These individuals followed me from the event space and across campus, while loudly shouting questions and recording on their phones.
“After answering a few questions, I let them know that I was not planning to engage further, and asked them to stop recording.
“Their response to this was, ‘No, we are not going to stop.’ They continued to follow me to my car and then surrounded the car, banging on the windows, blocking the car, and shouting.
“I waited until I saw space behind the car and then, using my car’s rear pedestrian alert and automatic braking system, was able to slowly maneuver my car from the parking space and exit the parking lot.”
He went on to say, “The behavior I experienced last night is not protest. It is harassment and intimidation, with the direct motive of silencing speech. It has no place in an academic community, no place in a democracy, and can have no place at Cornell.”
Hudson Athas, who is also a member of Students for a Democratic Cornell, disputed Kotlikoff’s claims.
“We weren’t all shouting at him — it was mostly one person who was talking with him and just trying to have a conversation,” Athas told the Cornell Sun.
Last April, the Trump administration suspended more than $1 billion in funding for Cornell University while the government investigated alleged civil rights violations.
The federal government warned university bosses it could bring law enforcement actions if a review determined it had failed to stop antisemitism.
The Trump administration has cracked down on pro-Palestinian campus protests, labeling the demonstrators antisemitic.
In November, Cornell struck an agreement with the government that would restore hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funding.
The institution agreed to pay more than $30 million to the government, and invest an additional $30 million into its agriculture and farming efficiency programs, for which it’s known.
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