Community Slope Day
"I still got paid." So... what money is going to pay another performer?
Maybe Kotlikoff wants to show off the Cornell Glee Club? Maybe he's always wanted to step up to the stage and sing ABBA songs? Or maybe he's willing to crush students' hard-earned fun just because wealthy donors and right-wing administrations tell him to. "It's too late to secure another performer." Slope Day's gonna be lame as hell thanks to Kotlikoff’s hypocrisy and that fucking sucks.
Slope Day is a time-honored tradition to relieve stress, dance, and create foundational memories with friends. But this year, it’s being upended. Kehlani was wrongfully removed as the headliner, in the name of "campus unity", without the input of the student body at-large. We deserve to celebrate in a space that represents the student body paying for Slope Day every year. Because the Cornell Administration has decided to take control of our Slope Day, we need a Community Slope Day.
Other speakers who have been platformed on campus – including Ann Coulter, Ben Shapiro, and Michael Knowles – have openly espoused racist, homophobic, transphobic, and xenophobic talking points and faced no consequences for their hateful views. Is canceling Kehlani really about her “divisive” politics, then? Or is it about censorship, control, and trying to make donors happy?
Because here’s the thing: Kehlani’s opposition to the genocide in Palestine isn’t hateful. Opposing the relentless occupation and bombardment of hospitals, schools, neighborhoods, and homes just isn’t hateful. Opposing the Israeli state, which has orchestrated this genocide, isn’t hateful either, nor is it antisemitic. Still, Kotlikoff has decreed that anyone with a sane response to the ongoing tragedy in Gaza is not welcome on campus.
But rather than ignoring or denying the Palestinian cause in the name of Kotlikoff’s fake “unity”, we can build our own, real community, resilience, and joy. We can do something for ourselves to celebrate the end of the year, something that doesn’t repress Palestinian solidarity on campus.
Meanwhile, let us not forget bombs are still falling on Gaza. With bombs and bloodshed as a backdrop, Cornell rescinded Kehlani's invitation under the guise of combating antisemitism, when really the administration disagrees with her politics. This only serves to scapegoat the Jewish community. At the same time, Cornell has ignored students' pleas to protect some of our most threatened - those at risk of deportation by ICE. Even in the midst of devastation, we find a place for joy - but not by ignoring or denying the devastation. We seek joy in solidarity, in the striving for a better world.
