Last month, Cornell celebrated a successful bid for a NYC-based tech campus. The win is a big boost for Cornell’s standing and opportunities for undergraduates. Since the announcement, though, I’ve been waiting for thing to “get political.” Frankly, I’m surprised it took so long….
As part of their successful bid, Cornell will be collaborating with Technion, the oldest and most prestigious technical university in Israel. Now, the Cornell chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine is on their case:
“More than any other university in Israel, the Technion, which is involved in the research and development of military and arms technology, is directly implicated in war crimes. Its joint programs with the Israeli military and its cooperative research programs with two of Israel’s major weapons corporations, Elbit and Rafael, renders Technion a full participant in the actions carried out by the Israeli military. Those actions include targeting civilians, as in the 2006 invasion of Lebanon and the 2008-2009 Cast Lead operation against Gaza, and physically contributing to Israel’s discriminatory practices in the West Bank with the construction of the separation wall that cuts sharply into the occupied West Bank and disrupts the lives of Palestinians in countless ways. The Cornell administration cannot plead ignorance of these facts. We refuse to collaborate with this.”
As the Cornell Review reports, this is bound to be a touchy issue in the coming months.
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