Jewish students at Cornell University are up in arms over an upcoming spring concert—funded through hundreds of thousands of dollars in mand
by Jessica Schwalb
Pro-Israel students at Cornell University are up in arms over an upcoming spring concert funded by hundreds of thousands of dollars in mandatory student fees featuring the singer Kehlani, who has endorsed "intifada" and said bluntly, "It's f— Israel, it's f— Zionism."
Kehlani is slated to headline Cornell's Slope Day, scheduled for May 7, an annual concert that marks the end of the school year. The university announced the event in a statement touting the "multi-Grammy Award-nominated R&B artist." It did not initially acknowledge the controversy her appearance has kicked up, though university president Michael Kotlikoff said last week that the artist will not make political statements and will forfeit her fee if she does so.
Kehlani, whose anti-Israel activism has garnered national headlines, posted a series of Instagram videos last May in which she said she had lost "any ounce of f—ing respect" for musical artists who did not publicly condemn Israel and its war on Hamas.
The selection of Kehlani as the concert's headliner has prompted pushback from Cornell's pro-Israel community. The singer's statements "go far beyond political critique" and target the "vast majority of Jews" at Cornell that consider themselves Zionists, Cornellians for Israel wrote in a petition calling for the university to choose a new headliner.
"The fact that the university would allow for students to bring in a performer with views that actively call for violence to an event where she is supposed to represent all students makes me feel like I am not a respected member of this community," the petition reads.
The controversy comes as Cornell grapples with a $1 billion federal funding freeze over its response to campus anti-Semitism. The university faced criticism, for example, when it suspended an international graduate student who led illegal campus protests and lauded the "armed resistance in Palestine" but allowed the student, Momodu Taal to continue his studies online, a move that prevented the automatic revocation of his student visa. The Trump administration revoked Taal's visa months later and he self-deported in late March.
