Jewish students in NYC area urged not to apply to Cornell University after antisemitic incidents: ‘Not a safe place’

A group combating antisemitism has mailed a brochure to all high schools in the New York City metropolitan region urging them to discourage Jewish students from applying to Cornell University because of perceived Jew hatred on campus. 

“Considering Cornell? Cornell is not a safe place for Jewish students,” the group Alums for Campus Fairness claims in the brochure.

Cornell, the leafy Ivy League university in upstate Ithaca, is among the New York colleges being investigated by the US Department of Education over complaints of antisemitism and Islamophobia on campus.

A 21-year-old Cornell student was arrested last October for allegedly making violent threats against his Jewish peers in a series of online messages. The threats came just days after graffiti was scrawled on campus sidewalks, including “F—k Israel” and “Zionism = Racism.”

Meanwhile, Cornell University history professor Russel Rickford was caught on camera at a rally telling students that Hamas’ Oct. 7 terror attack on Israel was “exhilarating” and “energizing.”

Jewish students blasted his remarks as an antisemitic incitement of violence.

The brochure also noted that some Cornell student groups also defended Hamas’ terrorism.

“Cornell refuses to enforce the student code of conduct, fostering a hostile climate that endangers Jewish students,” the group’s brochure said.

Avi Gordon, executive director of Alums for Campus Fairness said of the brochure, “As a national network of alumni dedicated to countering antisemitism on campus, we felt an obligation to warn prospective Jewish students and their families about Cornell’s failure to protect our community.”

The group demanded that Cornell define and denounce antisemitism or adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s statement on antisemitism, which says, “Antisemitism is a certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews. Rhetorical and physical manifestations of antisemitism are directed toward Jewish or non-Jewish individuals and/or their property, toward Jewish community institutions and religious facilities.”

It also recommended that Cornell fire Professor Rickford and enforce its Student Code of Conduct.

The US Education Department has opened investigations into more than a dozen other colleges and universities amid complaints of antisemitism — including  Columbia University, Harvard, the University of Pennsylvania and Stanford.

Meanwhile Jewish students at the University of California, Berkeley last month were forced to evacuate an auditorium as anti-Israel protesters banged on and eventually broke through the glass doors of a campus theater, where an Israeli Defense Forces soldier was scheduled to speak.

The Post has reached out to Cornell for comment.