A new undercover video titled the “New O’Keefe Video” , shot in the office of Cornell University assistant dean, Joseph Scaffido, at first may seem to many like a satirical piece from The Onion . In the video, the Cornell University representative could be seen merrily chatting away about all the things a potential pro-ISIS student group would be welcome to do at Cornell University.
The video, posted to YouTube March 24th by Project Veritas , features a Project Veritas investigative journalist posing as a prospective Cornell University student from Morroco, interviewing Scaffido with hypothetical questions of what a pro-ISIS group could do if formed on the Cornell University campus.
Some of the topics and general answers between the undercover Veritas reporter and Scaffido include, could a Cornell pro-ISIS student group send ISIS militants “care packages” and supplies? Sure! Would it be okay for the Cornell pro-ISIS club to go ahead and also openly support Hamas? Of course! How about if the club invited an ISIS militant to Cornell to run a training camp for Cornell students, teaching them some of the tricks of the terrorist trade? Certainly! Why not?
Many eyebrows are being raised by Cornell’s assistant dean asserting that bringing an ISIS militant to Cornell University from Syria or Iraq to run a terrorist training camp for students on the Cornell campus would be just like providing a coach for one of Cornell’s sports teams, and that the pro-ISIS club sending “care packages” to terrorists would be fine too.
By suggesting that Cornell wouldn’t disallow the hypothetical pro-ISIS campus club from supporting Hamas, but rather “just the opposite,” is Scaffido also saying that Cornell would actually encourage support of Hamas?
The New York Post reports that the United States’ State Department has both ISIS and Hamas prominently listed among its inventory of world terrorist groups and organizations, and sent an inquiry to Cornell leaders regarding the New O’Keefe video and their assistant dean Scaffido’s answers to a potential pro-ISIS campus group.
In response to the New York Post inquiry, Cornell University’s vice president for university relations, Joel Malina, said that while Cornell University doesn’t “control the political ideology of (their) students”, any training given at Cornell by ISIS “freedom fighters” wouldn’t “reflect university policy.”
“Cornell fully supports the free exchange of ideas and does not review or control the political ideology of our students. We do not, of course, tolerate unlawful advocacy of violence, and the comment about training by ISIS freedom fighters does not reflect university policy.”
What do you think about having pro-ISIS groups at Cornell University, or any other American campus?
[Images via YouTube]
