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Cornell University

Office of the Dean of Faculty

Connecting & Empowering Faculty

Resolution 212: Create an Ad Hoc Committee to Review Cornell Policy 6.4, Faculty Handbook Section 6.6, and the Duties of the Cornell Office of Civil Rights Faculty Co-Investigator

Passed: March 23 2026

Vote results: Yes 89; No 7; Abstain 10

Voting comments

Resolution 212: Create an Ad Hoc Committee to Review Cornell Policy 6.4, Faculty Handbook Section 6.6, and the Duties of the Cornell Office of Civil Rights Faculty Co-Investigator

 Comments:

This proposal emerges directly from some extremely slow judicial procedures that stretched to such a degree as to concern even faculty within the university who have generally been highly supportive of the university administration.

This feels redundant with what is already happening, but also feels like movement in the right direction to deal with serious concerns among Faculty and others on campus.

I support this resolution although I believe the central administration will not accept any recommendations from the Faculty Senate.

Good idea, with support all around.

We support these resolutions. However, we must abstain from the vote, because we have no confidence in the bad-faith discussion and actions that resulted in their amendment. We disagree strongly with the libelous and slanderous remarks about the exclusionary nature of Cornell University and the American Association of University Professors (AAUP). We are concerned about how these totally baseless and unfounded allegations mobilized the rhetoric of exclusion in our current political climate, to spread fear, hatred, and misinformation throughout our university community and beyond. We hope that Cornell and the AAUP will continue working together in the future most urgently, to repair and/or recover the reputational damages caused by these false and malicious remarks, and to reassert our core values of academic freedom and shared governance.

 

President’s response

Dear Faculty Senators,

 

I have received Resolution 212: Create an Ad Hoc Committee to Review Cornell Policy 6.4, Faculty Handbook Section 6.6, and the Duties of the Cornell Office of Civil Rights Faculty Co-Investigator (passed March 23, 2026).

 

In recognition of the importance of clarity and consistency in the application of Cornell policies, and consistent with Resolution 212, I am charging the Provost to designate and constitute an Ad Hoc Committee to investigate the key issues outlined in the Resolution, as follows:

 

The Provost shall appoint the committee, including appropriate representation from the Cornell Office of Civil Rights (COCR), the Faculty Senate, the faculty, and other relevant units,  and will outline the Committee’s charge, scope, and timeline, consistent with the Faculty Senate’s resolution. I anticipate that the Committee will consult with additional relevant university offices and/or stakeholders.

 

Consistent with the resolution, the Committee will be asked to produce a Policy Report that, at a minimum:

  • reviews and evaluates points of similarity and difference in the procedures utilized by COCR and the Committee on Academic Freedom and Professional Status of the Faculty (AFPSF);
  • reviews, evaluates, and recommends revisions to Cornell University Policy 6.4 procedures, and the Faculty Handbook and related procedures (to include Faculty Handbook Section 6.6 and those procedures utilized by AFPSF), to resolve any inconsistencies in the procedures and practices used by COCR, AFPSF, and university administration in reaching decisions involving faculty conduct; and
  • includes references to applicable legal standards.

 

The Provost shall determine appropriate reporting mechanisms and next steps upon receipt of the Committee’s Policy Report, including consultation with the Faculty Senate and other relevant governance bodies as warranted.

 

I thank the Faculty Senate for its careful attention to these complex and consequential issues and for its continued commitment to shared governance and the academic mission of the University.

Sincerely,

Michael Kotlikoff

Michael Kotlikoff, V.M.D., Ph.D., Sc.D. (h.c.)
President and Professor of Molecular Physiology
Cornell University

 

Posted: February 10, 2026; revised March 13, 2026

Sponsors: Listed below

Whereas: faculty, students, and staff of Cornell University are entitled to due process, according to Cornell policies, with clear and fair procedures to draw conclusions and inform decisions at times when allegations of misconduct, harassment, and/or discrimination places them in potential violation of Cornell policies;

Whereas: a functioning university depends on the transparency, trust, clarity, consistency, and cooperation that derives from shared governance, where faculty have access to information, involvement in matters of concern to them, the authority to examine these issues and make recommendations, and to question all sanctions (dismissals, warnings, reprimands, course cancellations, etc.);*

Be it therefore resolved that the Faculty Senate create an Ad Hoc Committee (henceforth “the Committee”) composed of members of the Faculty Senate, faculty, the Cornell Office of Civil Rights (COCR), and the Office of General Counsel (OGC);

Be it further resolved that the Committee to produce a Policy Report that reviews and evaluates points of similarity and difference in how COCR and the Committee on Academic Freedom and Professional Status of the Faculty (AFPSF) investigate complaints, define and interpret statutory language, evaluate evidence, and issue decisions (henceforth “COCR & AFPSF procedures”). This committee will consult with other parts of the university who hold relevant information, including COCR, AFPSF, and the Office of General Counsel;

Be it further resolved that the Committee’s policy report reviews, evaluates, and recommends revisions to Cornell’s multiple Policy 6.4 documents (henceforth, CUP 6.4), with the goal of reducing future differences in outcomes of the COCR, AFPSF, and decisions by the University Administration;

Be it further resolved that the Committee’s policy report, at a minimum, examines and recommends possible revisions to CUP 6.4 for ambiguous language; points of administrative discretion; excess confidentiality that impairs or limits Faculty Senate deliberation on matters or resolutions that involve decisions within the jurisdiction of COCR & AFPSF; different evidentiary and evaluation standards between decision-making bodies (COCR, AFPSF, etc.); the temporal ordering and review times of processes related to complaint investigations, resolutions, appeals, and imposed sanctions under CUP 6.4 and Faculty Handbook Section 6.6; and the role and duties of the faculty co-investigator in COCR;

Be it further resolved that the Committee’s policy report identify, classify, and explain any additional Cornell policies, procedures, and handbooks that may be in contradiction of shared

governance principles, contain ambiguous language about processes or procedures, and/or reserve administrative discretion in adjudicative processes (initial complaint decisions, appeals procedures and determinations, etc.);

Be it further resolved that the Committee’s policy report include a summary of the standards of evidence used by other universities in New York State for civil rights and academic freedom cases, and a mixture of the two, as well as the results of an independent legal analysis on the question of which standards of evidence to use in such cases, including citations to case law;

Draft resolution proposed by:

Bryan L. Sykes, Senator, Brooks School of Public Policy
J. Nathan Matias, Senator, Department of Communication

Faculty Senators Supporting this Resolution (in alphabetical order)

Ken Birman, Computer Science
Michelle Crow, Arts and Sciences College RTE
Michael Mazourek, SIPS-Plant Breeding
Chris B. Schaffer, Biomedical Engineering

Faculty Supporting this Resolution

David Bateman, Government and Public Policy
Shannon Gleeson, Global Labor & Work
Dan Hirschman, Sociology Drew Margolin, Communication

* Removed “, as “guardian[s] of academic values against unjustified assaults from its own members,” per the the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) recommendations” after Faculty Senate meeting motion/vote on March 11, 2026

One thought on "Resolution 212: Create an Ad Hoc Committee to Review Cornell Policy 6.4, Faculty Handbook Section 6.6, and the Duties of the Cornell Office of Civil Rights Faculty Co-Investigator"

  1. Please, please get rid of the AAUP statement. It is directly exclusionary – by including it, it tells faculty who are NOT members that they are NOT part of the core values of Cornell University. This seems to defeat a major motivation behind these resolutions. There must be some way to state the core values of Cornell University, and faculty engagement, that does not effectively ‘other’ a significant portion of the faculty at Cornell.

    We also now know that a committee is already being assembled to take action on these issues. I would suggest significantly modifying this resolution to indicate that, and rather than calling for creation of a new committee, to focus exclusively upon the report the faculty senate is requesting be produced.

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