The Cornell professor who called the Hamas terror attack on Israel “exhilarating” and “energizing” is now on a leave of absence until at least the end of the semester.
Russell Rickford, an associate professor of history, went viral for the incendiary remarks to students during a pro-Palestinian protest soon after the surprise attack on Israel killed 1,400 people, mostly civilians.
After initially standing by his statements, the embattled professor later apologized “for the horrible choice of words,” admitting they were ‘reprehensible” — before his students were told he would no longer teach this semester.
“Professor Russell Rickford has requested and received approval to take a leave of absence from the university,” the Ivy League school confirmed.
His students first became aware Friday in an email from Professor Tamika Nunley saying she would be taking over his course on post-Civil War African-American history.
“Professor Rickford will be taking leave of absence and I will assume teaching responsibilities for this course for the remainder of the semester,” she wrote the students in an email obtained by the Review.
A petition demanding Rickford’s termination has gained 11,000 signatures on change.org, the outlet reporting, noting that among those who called for his resignation are Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) and Rep. Claudia Tenney (R-NY).
Rickford made pro-Hamas statements at a protest held off-campus from the prestigious Ivy League school.
In October 17 statement signed by President Martha Pollack and Board of Trustees Chairman Kraig Kayser, Cornell condemned Rickford’s remarks.
“We learned yesterday of comments that Professor Russell Rickford made over the weekend at an off-campus rally where he described the Hamas terrorist attacks as ‘exhilarating,’” Pollack Kayser wrote.
In his recent apology, Rickford said in a statement: “I apologize for the horrible choice of words that I used in a portion of a speech that was intended to stress grassroots African American, Jewish and Palestinian traditions of resistance to oppression.
Rickford apologized to students for his “reckless remarks” and said he “unequivocally opposes and denounces racism, anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, militarism, fundamentalism, and all systems that dehumanize, divide, and oppress people.”
But he had initially refused to walk back his statement in an earlier statement of defiance.
“What I was referring to is in those first few hours, when they broke through the apartheid wall, that it seemed to be a symbol of resistance, and indeed a new phase of resistance in the Palestinian struggle,” Rickford said before the apology.
