The president of Cornell University claimed Monday that he was victim of "harassment and intimidation" following a confrontation with protesters in which he appeared to back his car into one of the demonstrators.
President Michael Kotlikoff said he had just left Goldwin Smith Hall on the school's Ithaca, New York, campus, where several groups — including Cornell Progressives, Cornellians for Israel and Students for Justice in Palestine — had gathered for a debate Thursday night about the ongoing crisis in the Middle East.
As he left the event, Kotlikoff said, demonstrators followed him all the way to his car.
"After answering a few questions, I let them know that I was not planning to engage further, and asked them to stop recording," he said in a statement Friday.
"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."
Video appeared to show Kotlikoff backing out and making contact with one of the protesters.
"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," Kotlikoff said.
However, Students for a Democratic Cornell insisted that Kotlikoff "was dismissive" of student "attempts at dialogue before the collision occurred."
The student activist group posted a video that it claimed showed Kotlikoff backed "his car into a student" and ran "over the foot of another."
"The student whose foot was run over received on-site medical attention from Cornell EMS and express fear regarding potential retaliation for pressing charges against the University leadership," the group said.
A spokesperson for Cornell said the university was investigating the incident, saying not everyone involved is a current student.
"The University will take action, as appropriate, based on the results of the investigation and in line with its policies, which are designed to uphold a safe environment for the Cornell community," the spokesperson said in a statement Monday.
