Cornell University President Hunter Rawlings today (Nov. 19, 1998) issued the following statement to the campus community:

"Over the last four weeks, there have been at least six incidents in which members of the university community have been the subject of harassment because of their race, ethnicity or sexual orientation. The harassment has taken different forms. In one series of incidents, telephone calls were placed to phones in Ujamaa in which the anonymous caller stated that 'niggers should get off campus' or 'niggers with scholarships should get off campus.' A black male resident adviser in Jameson Hall received a series of threatening messages on his answering machine, including a reference to the Ku Klux Klan. And several black women students have been taunted on campus and in our surrounding neighborhoods. Two weeks ago a small fire of unknown origin was discovered outside Akwe:kon. The fire was extinguished by students, but it damaged the outside of the building.

"These incidents and others like them are totally intolerable. Any member of the university community found guilty of threatening action or harassing behavior will be subject to expeditious and serious discipline under the Campus Code of Conduct. Those from off campus will be referred to the local legal authorities. Over the last several weeks, the Cornell Police have already increased their patrols across and around the campus, with a particular focus on Ujamaa, Akwe:kon and the Latino Living Center. In addition to motorized patrols, building walk-throughs are being conducted frequently throughout the day. All resident advisers and residence hall directors have been instructed to report immediately any and all incidents of harassment that come to their attention to the Cornell Police and to Assistant Vice President LeNorman Strong. Anyone experiencing threatening calls, e-mails or behaviors is asked to report them immediately to the Cornell Police.

"To make matters worse, a student publication, The Cornell Review, has continued its recent history of offending minority groups, this time by printing a cartoon depicting Akwe:kon as a gambling casino. The authors of this publication say it is all done in the spirit of harmless parody; to those who have been the subject of discrimination, it reflects the group stereotyping that all of us deplore.

"This is not the first time we have experienced such incidents on this campus, and I am sorry to say that I do not think it will be the last. But we will speak out in the face of those who would seek to divide this community rather than bring it together. All of us suffer when one member of the community is harassed in this manner, and we must all respond.

"Over the last few days I have heard it said that minority members of our community have good reason to believe that the university itself is somehow involved in a determined effort to make them feel unwanted and unwelcome. They see a link between the debate within the Arts and

Sciences College over the contents of the Humanities Council report and the continuing lack of permanent leadership for the Latino-American Studies Program. They see a link between the verbal taunts of whites, whether they be Cornell students or not, against blacks, Hispanics and Native Americans on our campus and the sophomoric cartoons of The Cornell Review. They see a link between incidents on campus and the announcement that some group of "white power" advocates has allegedly selected our own community of Ithaca as the site for a rally this weekend.

"And they ask for the university's response.

"I want them to know that they are not alone. I want them to know that I personally deplore the harassment to which they have been subjected. And I want them to know that their concerns are being heard.

"Let me assure everyone in this community, and everyone beyond these walls who will hear my words, that this university's leadership affirms the principles of educational opportunity for all, and we are determined to see that the best possible education is available for everyone here at Cornell, without regard to race, religion, ethnicity, national origin or sexual orientation. This university was founded on the commitment that "any person" would find the opportunity for instruction. The achievement of that objective has not always come easily; it has not been achieved without a struggle; and it will continue to require struggle in the days and months and years ahead. But I have no doubt that this effort will continue to be successful.

"Winning that victory will not be easy, particularly in a university community where we treasure the free and respectful exchange of ideas. It is tempting to want to censor publications whose content we find offensive, but that would be wrong. Censorship runs directly counter to the need to protect freedom of expression in a university community. Moreover, such censorship would only provide the authors of this offensive material with a cause celebre that increases the public attention they so ardently crave. We must show them that we are smarter than that. Such taunts are best met by informed and patient discourse.

"Universities are inherently uncomfortable institutions. Our decision-making processes are often slow and contentious. We protect freedom of expression for even the most repugnant views of the fringe in order to preserve that same freedom for the center. But the toleration of ideas does not mean that all ideas are equally valid. It does mean that all of us have an obligation to examine those ideas carefully and to respond as appropriate, not with bitter invective and sloganeering but with 'careful listening, patient research and honest attempts to persuade by rational argument.' Those were the words I used in February 1996, in my statement on civil discourse. They are as pertinent today as they were then.

"This university community of almost 30,000 students, faculty and staff is itself the size of a small city. It is a community in which we will do everything we reasonably can to protect our members from harm. But it is also an open community, one in which foolish and hurtful things can be said and written, to say nothing about the actual infliction of harm. It is a community where we can support each other in common witness. It is a community dedicated to the proposition that men and women of good faith can make this a better world when we stand together in support of our ideals, when we don't let race hatred break us up, and when we don't let fear and anger deflect us from our academic and ethical goals."