Office of the Assemblies

Dear Varun,

Thank you for transmitting SA Resolution #37, “Denouncing White Supremacist Paraphernalia at County Fairs.” I appreciate the work of the SA to help make New York a more inclusive state, and I agree that symbols of racial animus engender a hostile climate.  I abhor the decisions by New York county and state fair vendors to sell Confederate flags and other racist items, as well as the decisions by patrons to purchase them.

Consistent with that, and relevant to your request that I take a public stand against selling racist paraphernalia, I wrote a letter to Commissioner Ball last summer expressing my revulsion at the trade in symbols of white supremacy. That letter has been posted on the Cornell Cooperative Extension website and sent to each county extension office. Additionally, in January I contributed an op-ed piece in the Cornell Daily Sun as part of our recognition of the birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., in which I explicitly call out the sale of Confederate flags at fairs and other venues.  

I have explained to representatives of Fair for All that Cornell University neither sponsors nor provides funding for county fairs. While Cornell provides general oversight of the state’s county extension offices, each extension office is operated as a subordinate government agency in its respective county, independent of Cornell; and as government agencies, they are subject to constitutional First Amendment responsibilities, which are inconsistent with prohibiting symbols such as the Confederate flag.

While Cornell is not in a position to undertake anti-racism education efforts across New York State, our campus community has done much to embrace and embody diversity and inclusion, and in this manner, Cornell can lead by example against racism.  

Again, thank you for sharing the resolution, and I appreciate the Student Assembly’s commitment to work against racism.

Sincerely,

Martha Pollack

Martha E. Pollack

President, Cornell University

300 Day Hall

Ithaca, NY 14853

(607) 255-5201

www.cornell.edu