\n<\/p>\n
Cornell President Michael Kotlikoff said he was subjected to \u201charassment and intimidation\u201d by anti-Israel student protesters who followed him across the campus and surrounded his vehicle after a debate event.<\/span><\/p>\n The confrontation took place Thursday night following a campus-sponsored \u201cIsrael-Palestine Debate Series.\u201d According to Kotlikoff, a group of students began trailing him as he left the event, shouting questions and recording him on their phones.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThese individuals followed me from the event space and across campus, while loudly shouting questions and recording,\u201d Kotlikoff said in a <\/span>statement<\/span><\/a> released Friday. After briefly engaging, he said he declined to continue and asked them to stop recording.<\/span><\/p>\n Kotlikoff said the situation escalated when the group followed him to his car. \u201cThey continued to follow me to my car and then surrounded the car, banging on the windows, blocking the car, and shouting,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>\n Video<\/span><\/a> released by the university appears to show students crowding around Kotlikoff\u2019s vehicle as he attempts to leave. The school said the footage reflects a coordinated effort to block his exit, describing the incident as one of \u201charassment and intimidation.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Kotlikoff said he waited for an opening before slowly reversing out of the space. \u201cI waited until I saw space behind the car and then \u2026 was able to slowly maneuver my car from the parking space and exit the parking lot,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>\n Student activists, however, are telling a sharply different story.<\/span><\/p>\n Students for a Democratic Cornell, which organized the protest, <\/span>posted a video<\/span><\/a> on social media claiming Kotlikoff struck at least one protester while backing up. In the footage, a student can be heard accusing the university president of running over his foot.<\/span><\/p>\n