Political commentator Jamie Weinstein is an alum of the renowned Ivy League school Cornell University. On X, he is circulating a memo which is warning Jewish students, faculty and staff to avoid the kosher and multicultural dining room on campus, which is located in Ithaca, New York.
The memo reports that University administration has been made aware of “a threatening statement that was directed toward the building” which houses the dining hall — and that the Cornell Police Department is monitoring the situation.
My alma mater @Cornell just posted this advising students to avoid the Kosher dining hall. pic.twitter.com/IVWGdRoYzy
— Jamie Weinstein (@Jamie_Weinstein) October 29, 2023
(Note: Weinstein initially reported that Cornell distributed the warning, however, it is the Jewish student organization Cornell Hillel that wrote and distributed the warning.)
Cornell Hillel is advising that students and staff “avoid the building out of an abundance of caution.”
Weinstein suggested that the President of Cornell, Martha E. Pollack, “should authorize as much security as necessary to protect students there and encourage them to dine there with her for every meal this week.”
According to CNN: There are approximately 3,000 undergraduate and 500 graduate Jewish students at Cornell, comprising 22% of the student body.
The University did issue a statement about the rising tensions and threats to Jewish students, with Pollack saying: “We will not tolerate antisemitism at Cornell. The virulence and destructiveness of antisemitism is real and deeply impacting our Jewish students, faculty and staff, as well as the entire Cornell community. This incident highlights the need to combat the forces that are dividing us and driving us toward hate. This cannot be what defines us at Cornell.”
