Michael Kotlikoff was tapped as Cornell University president on March 21 at a fraught moment for elite universities, as some have come under scrutiny from the Trump administration for what officials have alleged is a failure to address rising incidents of antisemitism on campus. The Ithaca, N.Y., Ivy League campus received warning this month from the Department of Education that it is under investigation for allowing antisemitic discrimination and risks losing funding cuts. 

Kotlikoff has served as the university’s interim president for the past eight months since the previous president, Martha Pollack, stepped down amid what she described as “enormous, unexpected challenges” on campus in the wake of the Oct. 7 Hamas terror attacks and ensuing war in the Israel. Kotlikoff, who like Pollack is Jewish, is confident that Cornell won’t follow in the footsteps of Columbia University, which recently lost $400 million in federal funding due to campus antisemitism. 

In the immediate aftermath of the Oct. 7 attacks, Cornell made headlines for several high-profile incidents — most notably a student’s online threats to shoot Jewish students at the kosher dining hall. Last year, the university received a near-failing “D” in the Anti-Defamation League’s Campus Antisemitism Report Card.

But Kotlikoff, who ​​was provost of Cornell from 2015 to 2024 — having first come to the university in 2000 to build a new department in biomedical sciences — insists that the campus climate has seen a shift over the past two semesters.

One week into his new role, Kotlikoff sat down with JI to share his plans — and what he believes sets Cornell apart at a time of intense inspection among Ivy Leagues. 

Jewish Insider: How is the Trump administration’s pressure to crack down on antisemitism affecting Cornell? Your university was one of about 60 that was put on notice from the Department of Education earlier this month that it risks losing federal funding if it does not deal with campus antisemitism. How, if at all, have you changed how you approach antisemitism? 

Michael Kotlikoff: Over the past year we have gone through a process where at the beginning of the semester, shortly after I was appointed at that time as interim president, I sent out a message to the campus community about how we would go forward in this time of passion and disagreement amongst our students. I don’t think that’s changed very much. The fact that we’re on the list of 60 relates to the fact that we have an open [Office for Civil Rights] complaint. That was a complaint that was around faculty members’ statements right after Oct. 7. But that was from an external person, not a student, alum or staff. We’ve responded to that but we haven’t gotten anything back from the government that has allowed us to close the case. 

So we think we have a very strong environment for Jews on campus. We’ve had two very strong semesters. I’ve talked to a lot of Jewish student leaders on campus and I think everybody appreciates the fact that, with the exception of a couple of incidents that have occurred on campus and we’ve dealt with, people have seen a pretty normal semester. 

JI: Cornell’s Weill Medical College receives significant funding from Qatar. How does the university decide its appropriate to take funds from a country that supports terrorist organizations like Hamas? 

Kotlikoff: Virtually almost all of the money that the Qatar Foundation has listed as going to Cornell is spent in Doha on education in the medical school that Cornell helps Qataris manage. I’ve met twice with the U.S. ambassador to Qatar. I’ve also met with some individuals in the administration who are extremely supportive of the role that Qatar has played in supporting the U.S. effort to support Israel in the war in Gaza. By virtue of maintaining the base there and allowing the U.S. government to play a support role there and their role in negotiating things like the hostage exchange, what we’re told is Qatar is, in that regard, playing a positive role. 

The most important thing is this narrative that somehow Qatari funding coming to the university affects the university’s decisions or faculty courses could not be further from the truth. 

JI: Do organizations like Student for Justice in Palestine — which Cornell suspended earlier this month for disrupting the “Pathways to Peace” event where former Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, former U.S. Ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro and former Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad spoke — also receive funding from overseas groups with ties to terror organizations? Does Cornell police the funding of organizations that are active on its campus?      

Kotlikoff: No. SJP or Jewish Voice for Peace gets funding from student activities. I have asked the FBI if they have any evidence of foreign funding coming to Cornell or any of these organizations and the answer is no as far as we are aware. 

JI: Professor Russell Rickford, who last year called the Oct. 7 terrorist attacks “exhilarating” and “energizing,” has returned to Cornell as an associate professor of history following a leave of absence. Are you concerned about faculty holding radical views? What is your red line? 

Kotlikoff: I consider a red line for faculty views advocating politics outside of the course material within the classroom. That is not something that Professor Rickford did. In a political speech, off campus, he made statements that are offensive and for which he has apologized. But they were First Amendment, protected statements. More importantly, they were not in [the] classroom and we have no evidence of Professor Rickford doing anything in the classroom. 

JI: How does your approach differ from former President Martha Pollack, who resigned in July? How do you approach enforcing Cornell rules of conduct? How do you balance the need to be outspoken and deal with hate with also dealing with radical student groups? 

Kotlikoff: Post-Oct. 7 I learned much more about things like the Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. One of the things I have tried to do is be very clear upfront — something that we didn’t really have the opportunity to do prior to Oct. 7 — how we were going to meet protests. 

I said at the beginning of the year that we were going to fully support free expression and students’ First Amendment rights. That is critical for a university campus. However, when those expressive activities or expressions of speech begin to infringe on the rights of others by preventing others from hearing a speaker or from closing down a career fair, there will be consequences. That is not expressing your own First Amendment rights, it’s infringing on others’ rights. We were very clear about that and have followed through. 

JI: The Cornell Tech initiative started back in 2017 with the Technion Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa. What is the status of that?  

Kotlikoff: It’s a fantastic partnership — we have one of the most vigorous academic partnerships in the country of all U.S. research universities. We have faculty coming over, graduate students, postdocs. I was the chair of the board of the Jacobs Institute, which is the partnership with Technion, for many years. 

JI: Have you visited Israel? Do you consider yourself pro-Israel? 

Kotlikoff: I grew up as a Reform Jew outside of Philadelphia. I’ve visited Israel and have many colleagues there. I very much prize our relationships with our Israeli colleagues.