University President Defends Himself After Leftist Protesters Say He Drove Into Them: ‘I Was Acosted’

As we’ve all noticed over the past several years, far-left radicals on college campuses will stage a disruptive protest at the drop of a hat.

And at Cornell University, a recent debate on the Israel-Palestine war apparently provided just the right impetus for a confrontation.

According to the Daily Caller, protesters associated with Students for a Democratic Cornell surrounded the institution’s president, Michael Koltikoff, near his car in the parking lot after the debate:

In a second video shared by the same accounts, Kotlikoff says goodbye to the students and enters his vehicle inside a campus parking lot. The same male student wearing the white shirt is still filming Kotlikoff as he begins to back out of the parking lot. The male student and his peers appear to be standing behind Kotlikoff’s car, according to the footage. The students do not move as the vehicle appears to back up, and the same student who had been filming Kotlikoff alleges “He just ran over my f–king foot!,” when he appears to be brushed by the vehicle.

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Video released by Cornell University indicates the incident occurred April 30 in the parking lot at Day Hall. The students appear to surround Kotlikoff’s vehicle and remain in the parking lot after he has left. The post shared by the SDC claims the president struck one student and ran “over the foot of another.” Vallecillo and Athas were both allegedly hit when Kotlikoff backed up his car, according to the Cornell Sun.

Kotlikoff described the alleged events in his May 1 statement. “As I left the event room, I was accosted by a group of several individuals in the hall, among them students and non-students. These individuals are known to Cornell for their past conduct, including a long history of ongoing verbal and online abuse toward numerous members of Cornell’s administration and staff, as well as disruptive protest resulting, in the case of two individuals, in bans from campus.”

“These individuals followed me from the event space and across campus, while loudly shouting questions and recording on their phones. After answering a few questions, I let them know that I was not planning to engage further, and asked them to stop recording,” Kotlikoff said.

The incident sparked significant discussion on social media:

He is the victim. He was being detained by the protesters.

— Dave Smith (@ForTheWinGoLong) May 4, 2026

He spoke with them. When he was done he said goodnight and got in his car. The Red Guard wasn’t satisfied and surrounded his car attempting to block him. They’re little liars.

— Amy 🇺🇸 (@amy_likes_owls) May 5, 2026

When people crowd around your vehicle with the clear intention of not allowing you to leave, that is "harassment and intimidation". Mr. Kotlikoff did nothing wrong.

— LNSparklin (@LNSparklin1) May 4, 2026

TheBlaze provided some additional details:

Surveillance video of the incident was published in the news video report from WSYR-TV.

“The behavior I experienced last night is not protest,” Kotlikoff concluded in his statement. “It is harassment and intimidation, with the direct motive of silencing speech. It has no place in an academic community, no place in a democracy, and can have no place at Cornell.”

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It’s unclear if there’s an investigation under way or if charges will be filed over the incident.

Here’s some additional coverage: