Cornell University police on Tuesday had to forcibly remove a professor after she repeatedly disrupted Ann Coulter’s guest talk at the Ivy League institution, video and pictures obtained by The College Fix show.
Monica Cornejo, an assistant professor of interpersonal communication, is told to get up and leave the venue by two police officers in a video taken by Russ Nelson, a New York resident who attended the talk, which was open to the public.
The 36-second video Nelson posted on X shows one of the officers put his hands on her arms and tell Cornejo she is under arrest for “disorderly conduct,” to which she repeatedly responds “don’t touch me — do not touch me,” and tells them “I am a faculty member.”
It’s unclear if she was actually cited once she left the room.
WATCH: Police forcibly remove an outraged 'undocumented' Cornell professor who repeatedly disrupted Ann Coulter's talk titled 'Immigration: The Conspiracy to End America'
'She kept objecting quite loudly, gave Ann the finger repeatedly …' @CollegeFix pic.twitter.com/xbjshmQM1m
— The College Fix (@CollegeFix) April 17, 2024
Cornejo — “one of the first undocumented tenure-track faculty members at Cornell,” according to the Daily Sun — was apparently outraged at Coulter and her talk, titled “Immigration: The Conspiracy To End America.”
“She was yelling counterpoints to Ann, and was the only disruption,” Nelson told The Fix in a text message Tuesday. “She kept objecting quite loudly, gave Ann the finger repeatedly, and after about the sixth outburst the cops came and took her away.”
“…She had accused everyone in the room of being a racist because we support Ann Coulter. Seems like a stretch to me.”
According to Cornejo’s faculty bio, she earned her doctorate at UC Santa Barbara in 2022.
Her bio states her research focus is on “teaching students about different ways in which interpersonal communication can reduce or create disparities and inequities in the United States … as well as the strategies members of minoritized communities … utilize to challenge the disparities and inequities that position minoritized group members in a second-class position.”
As Coulter gave her speech Tuesday, she was flanked by two personal security team members.
The last time Coulter spoke at Cornell in November 2022 she was shouted down by rowdy student audience members.
As The College Fix previously reported, “her talk was supposed to go on for an hour, but constant, hostile heckling from protesting students disrupted it with aggressive comments, music, and loud noises. A frustrated Coulter ended the speech after about 20 minutes of protests inside the venue.”
The university was widely panned for the incident, one of many that prompted alumni and other observers to accuse Cornell of not doing enough to protect free speech.
In a March 13 statement published as a letter to the editor in the Daily Sun, Cornell Provost Michael Kotlikoff explained why Coulter was re-invited: “Having been deeply troubled by an invited speaker at Cornell (any speaker) being shouted down and unable to present their views, I agreed that there could be few more powerful demonstrations of Cornell’s commitment to free expression than to have Ms. Coulter return to campus and present her views.”
Professor Cornejo and Cornell’s media relations department could not be immediately reached for comment late Tuesday regarding the incident.
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IMAGES/VIDEO: Courtesy of Russ Nelson
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