Our Core Value as a Community of Belonging

Sept. 15, 2022

Dear Ithaca campus community,

As we start another academic year, I want to remind everyone that Cornell has a set of core values that were created after extensive discussions with people from all parts of our community and that are rooted in our long history. You can find them here. Among those core values is our commitment to being a community of belonging: “We strive to be a welcoming, caring, and equitable community where students, faculty, and staff with different backgrounds, abilities, and experiences can learn, innovate, and work in an environment of respect.”

Over the past couple of months, there have been a small handful of incidents on our campus that are completely at odds with this core value: specifically, incidents that have involved racial targeting and that have involved antisemitism. We have been and will continue to actively investigate these actions, but as yet we do not know who is responsible nor whether they were committed by members of the Cornell community. Regardless, they are wrong and they are detestable.

As always, we encourage anyone who witnesses such events to notify the Cornell Police. And if you are impacted by such events, please file a bias report and avail yourself of one of the support resources listed below.

As I have said before, and will repeat as often as necessary: Cornell denounces in the strongest possible terms all forms of hatred and bigotry.

We cannot allow acts of hatred, and the attention they bring, to keep us from striving to be a community of belonging. Unfortunately, as is the case throughout our society, there remains work to be done on our campus to achieve that aspiration. Each of us must be a part of that work. So, as I have in the past, I ask you to join me in renouncing hateful words and hateful actions, in supporting those who are impacted by those words and actions, and in endeavoring always to treat one another with respect.

Sincerely,

Martha E. Pollack
President