ITHACA, NEW YORK — Cornell University’s “Big Red” campus turned a shade of socialist red Sunday as Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez addressed a packed Democratic campaign event.
The Democratic Socialist congresswoman received a raucous welcome from Cornell’s left-wing student activists, who led anti-Israel chants during a town hall intended to build support for Democrats ahead of the midterm elections.
Before Ocasio-Cortez took the stage, Cornell Young Democratic Socialists of America co-chairs Mina Petrova and Zoe Reisman led approximately 2,000 attendees in chants of “from the river to the sea” and “long live the student intifada.” The standing-room-only “Students vs. Billionaires” town hall was held at the Ithaca Downtown Conference Center.
“Cornell is fundamentally a capitalist institution that prioritizes billionaires and profit over students and community and is controlled by CEO trustees that are profiting off of genocide and war,” Petrova told the crowd, drawing applause.
The event was organized with More Perfect University, a student activist group. Ocasio-Cortez’s campaign described the gathering as part of an effort to increase Democratic turnout in strongholds before the November election.
Ocasio-Cortez, who has been traveling through upstate New York to raise her profile ahead of a possible campaign for president or the US Senate, also criticized Cornell over what she characterized as efforts to restrict student protesters’ free speech.
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“Whether it’s the issue about Palestine or many others. Whether it’s about people trying to fire those who are forming a union in their workplace, whether it’s people trying to speak up about a number of different issues, we have to respond to that first crackdown,” she said.
“When we come out in numbers, they cannot take us all,” she added.
The slogan “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” has been condemned as antisemitic by an overwhelming majority of the US House of Representatives. Critics argue that the phrase’s reference to the area between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea represents a call to eliminate Israel and its people.
Ocasio-Cortez voted against a 2024 House resolution declaring the slogan hateful.
The Bronx-Queens congresswoman rose to national prominence in 2018 after she stunned the political establishment by defeating Queens Democratic leader Joe Crowley during the party’s last midterm surge. Earlier Sunday, she had been scheduled to appear with New York Gov. Kathy Hochul.
A spokesperson for Hochul said the governor canceled the planned appearance with Ocasio-Cortez in Ithaca earlier that day.
Hochul’s office attributed the cancellation to the nor’easter affecting New York City, although the governor had no other public events listed for Sunday.
