Faculty Senate – October 14, 2026
AGENDA
October 14, 2026 — 3:30-5:00PM
Physical location: Schwartz Auditorium, Rockefeller Hall
Contact your unit’s Faculty Senator for the zoom link.
The October 14 and October 28 Faculty Senate discussions of the proposed no-confidence resolution will be open to members of the Cornell community. This is a critically important debate for our campus, and the University Faculty Committee wants members to be able to follow the Senate’s deliberations.
A Cornell ID will be required for admission; advance registration is not required. Only Senators and faculty will be permitted to ask questions or address the Senate. Photography and audio or video recording by attendees are prohibited. Electronic voting on the resolution will follow the October 28 discussion.
Because a Cornell ID will be required for entry into Schwartz auditorium, Senators are encouraged to arrive early. The meeting will start promptly at 3:30 pm.
3:30-3:32 p.m.
Call to order – Sam Nelson, Senate Speaker
Gayogo̱hó꞉nǫʼ Land Acknowledgement
Approval of Minutes: September 9, 2026
3:32-3:34 p.m.
Expressive Activity statement – Chris B. Schaffer, Dean of Faculty
3:35-4:00 p.m.
President Michael Kotlikoff and Provost Kavita Bala remarks
Senate Q&A
4:00-4:15 p.m.
This agenda item was postponed to a future Faculty Senate meeting – Faculty role in implementing the Sexual Assault Task Force recommendations – Rachel Dunifon, Rebecca Q. and James C. Morgan Dean Cornell Human Ecology; Chair, Sexual Assault Task Force
Senate Q&A
4:15-4:30 p.m.
This agenda item was postponed to a future Faculty Senate meeting – Ways faculty can support students – Laura Weiss, Director of Sexual Harassment & Assault—Response & Education (SHARE) office
Senate Q&A
4:30 p.m.
Proposed resolution – Cornell Faculty Vote of No Confidence – Paul Ortiz, Senator and Professor of Labor History, ILR
Senate Debate
During the debate of this resolution, we will alternate between speakers in support, opposed, or raising neutral issues about the resolution. We will also alternate between folks attending the meeting in person and folks on Zoom. Senators will be prioritized, with an opportunity for other faculty to address the Senate if debate time remains and no remaining Senators wish to speak. All speakers will be limited to two minutes.
Adjournment – Sam Nelson, Senate Speaker
Audio [starts at 9:30]
2 thoughts on "Faculty Senate – October 14, 2026"
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Numerous senators have raised the objection that a “no confidence” vote is premature until investigations by Laetitia James and Sally Yates have run their course. I agree that it is too early to make a finding of wrongdoing, but that is not the purpose of this resolution. It instead expresses our lack of confidence in the way the administration has acted so far, including by not taking any steps to address the sexual assault crisis (i.e., banning fraternity parties) until national press coverage, significant on-campus demonstrations by students, staff, and faculty, and a petition by more than 70,000 alumni made it necessary to save face. The administration did not even bother to follow up on the fate of Jane Doe, who withdrew from Cornell after repeatedly encountering her rapists on campus, nor did it report this horrific gang rape to the trustees. Blue-ribbon presidential committees are not going to address this crisis, anymore than the president’s cherry-picked committee to revise the Student Code of Conduct–a committee packed with administrators serving under the president–is going to address the abuses of student disciplinary procedures this body condemned last November with an overwhelming vote and that was also passed by every other assembly. We have seen again and again that the administration makes a mockery of our “shared governance” model and is beholden only to the trustees. Our students are counting on us to do the right thing, and this resolution is a step in the right direction. Tracy McNulty, Senator, Department of Romance Studies
As we read many of these anonymous comments in opposition, we should keep in mind that more than 130 faculty have publicly endorsed the resolution of no confidence.
As to the reasons for opposition, they are difficult to square with the fact that the central administration simply ignores resolutions that it does not like. We are hoping that this is a resolution that they cannot ignore and that it will, for that reason, finally open up a substantive dialogue of change between the central administration and the Cornell community. Signed: Richard Bensel, Faculty Senator, Department of Government.