Cornell University: Student Punished for Posting “Zionists must die” on Social Media

On January 11, 2024, Cornell University announced that a student Maria Lima Valdez “will be held fully accountable and appropriately sanctioned” for her “heinous” and “hateful” social media post saying “Zionists must die.” Cornell suspended Valdez and banned her from campus on January 16, pending its disciplinary investigation. However, Cornell’s free speech policies explicitly protect offensive or hateful speech, and the university did not show how the post falls into any category of unprotected speech. 

FIRE wrote Cornell January 17 calling on the university to refrain from punishing students for passionate and protected political rhetoric on public issues. Cornell failed to respond. On February 17, FIRE again urged Cornell to lift Valdez’s suspension because her speech did not pose an immediate danger to campus. Cornell eventually found Valdez not responsible for all disciplinary charges on May 23.