CFSA: Response to AFPI Discrimination Complaint

Dear Fellow Alumni,

A recent federal civil rights complaint filed by the America First Policy Institute has brought to light deeply concerning allegations against Cornell University, covered extensively by Christopher Rufo at the Manhattan Institute. While our organization did not file this complaint, the detailed claims it outlines demand our attention as alumni committed to integrity, fairness, and open inquiry at our alma mater.

The complaint alleges that Cornell has implemented and maintained hiring and scholarship practices that prioritize race, sex, and ethnicity over merit and equal opportunity. It outlines a pattern of identity-based discrimination in faculty recruitment, student awards, and institutional programs—potentially in violation of Titles VI, VII, and IX of federal civil rights laws.

Among the most troubling findings:

• Internal communications indicating that some faculty positions were quietly reserved for candidates with preferred identity characteristics, excluding the vast majority of qualified applicants.

• Diversity incentive programs at Weill Cornell Medical School that reportedly offered financial bonuses based on the race of new hires.

• Scholarships and fellowships explicitly limited by race, ethnicity, or sex.

• A campus culture where objections to these practices, even when voiced in good faith, were met with retaliation or silence.

  
  

If true, these practices represent not only a betrayal of the principle of equal treatment under the law, but a profound threat to the spirit of academic excellence and free inquiry that once defined Cornell. Discrimination is wrong—full stop. It is wrong when it excludes marginalized groups, and it is equally wrong when it is used to advance them at the expense of others based on immutable characteristics.

As alumni, we are not calling for the abandonment of efforts to create a diverse and vibrant intellectual community. But diversity cannot come at the cost of fairness, merit, or viewpoint freedom. True inclusion does not demand conformity; it welcomes challenge, dissent, and debate.

We urge Cornell’s leadership to respond transparently to these serious claims and to recommit publicly and meaningfully to nondiscrimination, academic merit, and the free exchange of ideas. Our university must once again become a place where all individuals—regardless of background—are judged by the content of their work, not the categories they check.

Onward,

CFSA