Abstract: This resolution calls on Cornell University to reform its Student Code of Conduct and Procedures to ensure due process, fairness, and content-neutral enforcement of disciplinary actions. It responds to numerous cases in 2024–2025 in which students, primarily engaged in nonviolent protest activity, were subjected to temporary suspensions prior to hearings or findings of fact. Such suspensions have resulted in loss of enrollment, funding, healthcare, housing, and visa status, violating principles of due process and free expression.
Sponsored by: Irene Gatimi, Claire King, Alessandra Coogan, Michelle Heeney
Reviewed by: Executive Committee, 17/11/2025
Whereas, the Student Code of Conduct Procedures (SCCP) in Chapter VIII Title A states that a “temporary suspension may be imposed only when available less restrictive measures are reasonably deemed insufficient to protect the Complainant or the University community,” and further allows such action only when “immediate action is necessary to protect the Complainant or the University community” and “the underlying allegation of prohibited conduct has not yet been adjudicated on the merits;”
Whereas, a temporary suspension can immediately trigger de-enrollment, severe restrictions on their ability to access campus facilities or attend religious services, loss of campus employment or graduate student stipends or assistantships, access to vital healthcare resources, and in some cases loss of F-1 visa status and exposure to deportation, all before any investigation has taken place or any evidence has been presented;
Whereas, suspended students in 2024-2025 were compelled to wait months for a hearing while enduring the hardships and educational disruption;
Whereas, justice delayed is justice denied;
Whereas, the initiation and pace of investigations are not standardized across cases (see SCCP, Chapter XVIIII), leaving students vulnerable to losing progress toward their degree and/or putting their security in the United States at risk, all at the discretion and timeliness of the administrators overseeing their case;
Whereas, the Office of Student Conduct and Community Standards (OSCCS) and the Cornell administration temporarily suspended more than 30 Cornell students in 2024 and 2025 for protest activity, the overwhelming majority of whom had engaged in nonviolent conduct or speech;
Whereas, the Cornell administration imposed these temporary suspensions before providing a hearing or finding of fact on their alleged conduct;
Whereas, Graduate and Professional Assembly (GPSA) AY2024-2025 Resolution 5 recommended halting of disciplinary measures against Graduate Student Worker Sriram Parasurama until due disciplinary procedures were complete;
Whereas, in some cases, the delay in justice caused students to lose their funding to continue with their degree, as was seen with Graduate Student Worker Sriram Parasurama;
Whereas, the Cornell Committee on Expressive Activity (CCEA), in its December 2024 report, expressed “dismay…that the normal disciplinary process often takes four to six months or longer to complete” during which time students subject to “interim suspension” are barred from campus before a full investigation and finding of fact;
Whereas, the CCEA expressed “concerns about temporary suspensions being used punitively” based on “disturbing accounts of severe temporary suspensions being issued to students for non-violent conduct, without adequate due process;”
Whereas, the CCEA further warned that “the purposes of temporary suspension can become blurred between two rationales: (1) non-punitive protection of other community members from imminent harms or avoidance of substantial property damage, and (2) coercive discipline used to deter, retaliate, or compel immediate compliance with Cornell policies;”
Whereas, the CCEA concluded that “the OSCCS has imposed temporary suspensions, suspended those suspensions when the students involved have promised to comply with Cornell rules, and then re-imposed suspensions based on alleged violations,” such that these cases can “appear to involve an unhealthy plea-bargaining dynamic, in which excessively harsh threats of punishment are used to compel “voluntary” agreement with inappropriate restrictions and waivers of future due process protections (such as short-circuiting the full deliberative disciplinary process);”
Whereas, multiple students were temporarily suspended for entire semesters for conduct that hearing panels ultimately found did not violate the Code (see Report of Calder Lewis, Appendix I);
Whereas, GPSA AY24-25 Resolution 11 formally recognized that language from Student Code of Conduct proceedings has been used by federal authorities to target graduate student workers at Cornell University;
Whereas, GPSA Resolution 11 called on Cornell to protect graduate student worker Momodou Taal by formally rescinding university statements currently being used to fund the Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) declarations, underscoring the urgent need for the University to uphold the rights of international students and ensure that institutional information is not used in ways that could discourage lawful protest or expression;
Whereas, the University’s Student Code of Conduct Procedures affirm the institution’s commitment to fairness, respect, and the protection of student rights in the university community; therefore the University must ensure that university-generated statements are not used in ways that undermine these foundational protections;
Whereas, the temporary suspensions were not subject to any form of review or appeal outside of a small set of Cornell administrators, highlighting the need for a broader, multi-member review structure consistent with principles of due process;
Whereas, the SCCP require fair notice, disclosure of charges and evidence, opportunity to respond, and access to review or appeal;
Whereas, the University’s use of interim, non-punitive measures as punitive sanctions imposed without investigation, hearing, or meaningful review, and thereby denying respondents the procedural protections required under its own regulations, violates of both the SCCP and fundamental principles of due process;
Whereas, all students charged under the Student Code of Conduct are entitled to prompt hearings and should not be subjected to punitive treatment before such hearings occur;
Whereas, the GPSA reaffirms Cornell’s Core Values of Free and Open Inquiry, Due Process, and Equity in Disciplinary Proceedings;
Whereas, conditioning the lifting of temporary suspensions on students’ agreement to limit or censor their own expression violates Cornell’s Core Value of Free and Open Inquiry and Expression (see Report of Calder Lewis, Appendix I);
Whereas, these delays have a chilling effect on freedom of expression, discouraging not only suspended students but also others from participating in protests out of fear of being suspended or punished without due process;
Whereas, nearly all temporary suspensions in 2024 and 2025 arose from pro-Palestine expressive activity, raising serious concerns about content-neutrality;
Whereas, Cornell’s Expressive Activity Policy (4.23) mandates that expressive activities be administered “in a content-neutral manner without regard to the message or viewpoint being expressed” and that any restrictions on expression be “applied as narrowly as possible and should be closely tailored to the harms they are designed to prevent;”
Whereas, using temporary suspensions to punish or deter political expression may be a violation of academic freedom and freedom of expression and that expressive activity should be regulated only to protect health, safety, property, or core university operations;
Whereas, the current Student Code instructs the Vice President for Student and Campus Life (VP SCL) or their designee to chair and convene a standing “Code and Procedures Review Committee” that includes representatives from the Student Assembly (SA) and the GPSA), but does not otherwise designate members of the Review Committee;
Whereas, the Code and Procedures Review Committee plays a central role in revising the Student Code and Procedures;
Be it further resolved, the GPSA submits the attached line-by-line recommendations for revisions to the Student Code of Conduct and its Procedures, reflecting the concerns outlined in this resolution, and respectfully urges the Code and Procedures Review Committee to incorporate these changes into their ongoing review;
Be it therefore resolved, that GPSA calls for revisions to the Student Code of Conduct and Procedures to ensure fairness, content-neutral application, and due process in administering the Code, including the restricted application of “temporary suspension” provisions, avoidance of delays, and even-handedness in enforcement measures;
Be it further resolved, that students subject to temporary suspension shall retain access to essential health, housing, immigration, and financial resources pending a final adjudication;
Be it further resolved, that any individuals from the central administration and the OSCCS who are on the Code and Procedures Review Committee should be ex officio non-voting advisory members;
Be it finally resolved, that the GPSA shall transmit this resolution to the President of Cornell University for adoption and urge the Code and Procedures Review Committee to take up these reforms promptly.
Respectfully Submitted,
Irene Gatimi
Student Advocacy Committee Chair
Claire King
Physical Sciences Voting Member
Alessandra Coogan
Master of Industrial and Labor Relations Representative at large Voting Member
Michelle Heeney
Counsel to the Assembly
