CoF Post 3/24: Institutional Voice, meet Activist Voice
Closing the climate accountability gap
MOVEMENT NEWS BRIEF
MARCH 2025 - ACTIVISTS TAKE OVER CORNELL’S CLIMATE MESSAGING - CORNELL LAUNCHES TASK FORCE TO INVESTIGATE WHO HAS “INSTITUTIONAL VOICE” - NATURE CLIMATE CHANGE IDENTIFIES CLIMATE ACCOUNTABILITY GAP - ACTIVISTS TELL TRUSTEES: “OUR CORNELL!”
On March 7, activists appointed themselves representatives from the (fictitious) Office of Climate Science and Activism and launched a much-needed climate action campaign at Cornell - highlighting everything Cornell has NOT done. Four days later, the University announced a (real) Task Force on Institutional Voice to determine “when, how, and by whom institutional statements should be issued at various levels of the university.” One day later, a Nature Climate Change study hit headlines showing that corporations have missed or abandoned climate targets with no consequences, citing lack of stakeholder accountability. On March 21, intersectional activists stepped up as institutional accountability partners by telling the Board of Trustees:“Whose Cornell? Our Cornell!”
BLOW BY BLOW
March 7 — On a business-as-usual-scientists-are-under-attack-while-global-warming-accelerates Friday morning, a message from the Office of Climate Science and Activism hit a few thousand Cornell inboxes.
Suspiciously similar to a real email sent the week prior by then-Interim President Kotlikoff, the new Office declared a climate emergency and launched an ambitious policy agenda to undo the University’s greenwashing and take adequate climate action.
It seemed too good to be true, and too honest. It was both! As they say: “Sometimes the best way of getting at the truth is through fiction.”
As the day unfolded, thousands of people watched the proclamation video explaining why the fictitious Office was necessary: “The sobering truth is that Cornell has not done nearly enough to confront the climate emergency. Until now.”
With the help of bemused collaborators, posters went up all over campus announcing that Cornell had declared a climate emergency and spelling out, with heart-warming specificity, exactly what the University would do better. Policy initiatives described 30 steps needed to correct course, such as: “We will take rapid, comprehensive steps to implement Student Assembly Resolution 20 to improve Cornell’s Climate Action Plan.”
There was productive confusion! Some people were thrilled. What a relief! Cornell is honestly reporting their emissions reduction gap and taking bold steps for adequate climate action. Others were skeptical. Is this a FOX-News affiliated scam? They scanned the QR code and quickly discovered…
This was a prank. The whole enchanting affair – Office, proclamation, policies, and all – was a hoax by Cornell on Fire in collaboration with Scientist Rebellion Turtle Island, Fossil Free Cornell, TIAA-Divest! and Peaceful Planet, designed to expose Cornell’s PR-driven (mis)treatment of climate action. Our byline? “Because Cornell’s climate action belongs to all of us.”
March 11 — Four days later, another email hit thousands of Cornell inboxes. This time, it was from real Cornell officials and announced a new task force on “Institutional Voice.” The Task Force will determine “how and when Cornell should speak institutionally on matters of politics, ideology, current affairs, and world events,” hashing out “when, how, and by whom institutional statements should be issued at various levels of the university.”
Coincidence? Who knows?
What we do know is that activists are ready to step in and fill the gaps “at various levels” when University leadership fails to deliver on their climate justice responsibilities.
March 12 — The next day, a Nature Climate Change study hit headlines with the finding that “companies missed or abandoned 2020 climate targets with no consequences.” The accountability gap is linked to the fact that “companies faced no significant market penalties or stakeholder consequences” for failing to meet their climate goals.
Cornell has struggled for 17 years to take adequate action on their climate pledges. Like other corporations, Cornell has quietly stopped reporting on their progress towards “carbon neutrality.” Instead of regular, quantified reports as promised, Cornell’s main GHG inventory presents partial numbers while failing to report that even those favorable numbers lag behind their projected goals.
Like other corporations, Cornell’s treatment of fiscal versus climate responsibility is sadly divergent. Our spoof email proclamation on March 7 was titled, “Sustaining our University for the long term.” By contrast, Kotlikoff’s real email was titled, “Sustaining our budget for the long term.” It outlined grim measures to commit “to a sustainable budget today.” The Cornell community has never received an email from the University President outlining credible measures to commit to a sustainable carbon budget.
By the time Stand Up For Science Day rolled around on March 7th, 2025, activists knew it was time to help close the gap on Cornell’s climate accountability.
TIME TO HELP
Cornell’s leaders are busy people. They carry the weight of the Big Red world on their shoulders. They work hard to keep Cornell’s operations going 24/7 at a pace that emits more carbon than many small countries. They need to keep the freezers frozen, the digital devices powered, the library open 24 hours a day, and the fracked-gas inferno behind it all burning at a furious pace. They cannot risk even a moment’s loss of reliability in the name of preventing catastrophic outcomes for future generations.
That’s not all. They need to keep taxpayer subsidies for Cornell-related private jet traffic flowing while ensuring their wealthy campus community has the easiest, most convenient airline access to conferences or Spring Break destinations. Imagine even a single instant of disruption to these aviation luxuries in the name of a habitable planet.
Cornell leadership has to maintain the pretense of climate leadership while enthroning fossil fuel interests on their Board of Trustees. They have to preserve fossil fuel investments in their endowment, retirement funds, and research, while ironically claiming that “the way we declare a climate emergency is through our work.”
It’s not an enviable task. Cornell’s leaders are charged with reconciling Cornell’s profitability and prestige today with the catastrophic social costs of carbon they’re offloading onto tomorrow. Somehow, the administration needs to keep everything going just the way it has always gone, while also making it look like Cornell is bravely addressing the climate crisis. Imagine the PR feats required! They even have to find a plausible method to circulate Big Oil’s disinformation by painting their fracked-gas fired inferno as “LEED-certified,” replicating Big Oil’s faulty argument to exempt themselves from Ithaca’s climate-forward energy code, claiming that methane gas is a “lower-carbon” energy source, and excluding upstream methane emissions so they can claim Cornell has reduced emissions by half. Fact check: If Cornell were to report their upstream methane emissions according to New York State Law and their own 2016 recommendations, we would find that Cornell has accomplished nothing by way of their emissions reduction pledges.
A PLEA FOR HELP
Last August, we asked then-Interim President Kotlikoff why Cornell won’t declare a climate emergency. He implied that it might interfere with “institutional neutrality.” Before that, he also confessed that he didn’t know what it would even mean to declare a climate emergency.
Reading between the lines, we took this as a plea for help.
It was a heavy lift, but someone had to do it. That’s why Cornell on Fire stepped in with our partners - on a volunteer basis - to show Kotlikoff and his fellow leaders what it would look like for Cornell to declare a climate emergency.
YOU CAN HELP
Cornell’s leadership are people too, and they have a sense of humor. That’s why we paired our action with a letter campaign: over 900 letters have been delivered to Cornell senior leadership congratulating them on the University's March 7 climate action. It may have been the work of activists, but surely we can trust the Cornell administration to take advantage of our work and carry the momentum forward?
March 21 — Activists are doing our part to carry the momentum forward. Outside the Board of Trustees meeting last Friday, 90+ protesters gathered to demand that the Trustees invest in us. We raised our voices in affirmation: “Whose Cornell? Our Cornell!”
Institutional voice, meet activist voice: your most valued accountability partners.
We thank everyone who helped us help Cornell stand up for climate science this month. If you haven’t yet sent your letter to Cornell senior leadership, it’s not too late. Help us reach 1000 letters delivered!
As events on campus take an even more oppressive turn, we resolve to keep up all our fights with a sense of humor.
Next up: we look forward to engaging, invited or not, with the contested Task Force on Institutional Voice.
Conspire with us this Wednesday (and every Wednesday) at 12pm in our permanent Zoom room.
With shared voice,
Cornell on Fire
P.S. Wondering what else we’ve been up to this month? A lot! Fighting Cornell’s artificial turf fields, calling on Cornell to participate in Ithaca’s fossil-fuel phaseout, commenting on the energy transition, calling out Kotlikoff’s anticipatory obedience to the MAGA regime, and more. Check out our latest press coverage and join our upcoming actions!
