The president of Cornell University has offered his full and unwavering support for the school official who advised a journalist posing as a Moroccan student all about how to launch a campus club with the express intent of supporting ISIS.
The administrator, assistant dean Joseph Scaffido, provided counsel on how to fund a pro-Islamist militant club so it can send “care packages” to ISIS and Hamas — both terrorist organizations, according to the State Department.
Scaffido also explained how the club can bring an ISIS “freedom fighter to come and do like a training camp” for students on campus.
“It’s just like bringing in a coach, to do a training, a sports trainer or something,” the Cornell dean said on hidden video on March 16 by investigative filmmaker James O’Keefe’s Project Veritas. (VIDEO: Ivy League Dean Welcomes ISIS Club To Campus)
On Wednesday, Cornell University sent The Daily Caller a statement by David J. Skorton, the president at the Ivy League school.
“As the president of Cornell University, I want to be clear that the notion that Cornell would allow ISIS training sessions on our campus is ludicrous and absolutely offensive,” Skorton emphatically declared.
He then described Project Veritas as a “dishonest” and “deceitful” journalism organization, claiming that O’Keefe’s group edited Scaffido’s words in an unethical way.
“Project Veritas, the organization behind this shoddy piece of ‘journalism’ has been repeatedly vilified for dishonest, deceitful activity,” Skorton admonished. “It is shameful that any individual would pose as a student facing racial discrimination at another university, ask leading questions on hidden camera about Cornell’s tolerance for differing viewpoints and backgrounds, and then conveniently splice together the resulting footage to smear our assistant dean and our University.”
Skorton said he spoke with Scaffido, the dean, and is “convinced that he was not aware of what he was being asked.”
“Let me be clear,” Skorton lectured, “Cornell has an unwavering commitment to the free and responsible exchange of ideas. However, we remain vigilant in maintaining an appropriate balance of freedom of expression within accepted boundaries. Of course, incitement to violence is not protected and would never be tolerated on our campus.”
Skorton, a “seasoned administrator, board-certified cardiologist, biomedical researcher, musician, and advocate for the arts and humanities,” was also president at Cornell in 2013 when an unnamed former Cornell employee gave a notably anti-gay sermon accompanying a Muslim Friday prayer on campus. “Homosexuals are freaks and queers who want a pink earth,” the man preached. The ex-employee also condemned Muslim women who remove their head scarf after praying. (RELATED: Ivy League Muslim Prayer Service Filled With Homophobic Invective)
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