Chung-chieh Shan 單中杰 (@ccshan.woof.group.ap.brid.gy)

Credit: Tompkins County **Stay informed with The Ithaca Voice!** Get our top stories delivered right to your inbox at 5 a.m. weekdays. Sign up The Ithaca Voice will never – ever – sell your personal information. ITHACA, N.Y. — A recently graduated Cornell senior was banned from campus for one year about a month after he accused the university’s president of running over his foot. **Stay informed with The Ithaca Voice!** Get our top stories delivered right to your inbox at 5 a.m. weekdays. Sign up We will never share your information with anyone. On April 30, a video captured Cornell President Michael Kotlikoff backing his car into a student, and he was accused of running over Aiden Vallecillo’s foot. Now Vallecillo has been notified that he is “persona non grata” on Cornell property and will have to wait a year before he can return to his alma mater. Vallecillo was part of a group of students that surrounded Kotlikoff’s vehicle to question him on campus speech policies. Videos circulated online of Kotlikoff backing his car up. Soon after, a national media firestorm focused on Cornell’s campus. Kotlikoff and students issued competing and conflicting narratives about what happened. The incident prompted a slew of controversy, as well as a weeklong investigation. Ultimately, an ad hoc committee of the university’s Board of Trustees decided the blame rested on the students’ shoulders for actions “inconsistent with university policies.” Cornell officials said they had decided not to pursue disciplinary action against the students. Following that decision, Vallecillo said he had assumed that the ordeal was over. Vallecillo shared the notice he received on Thursday with _The Ithaca Voice_. It stated that he was banned from campus after an April 30 incident in which he “restricted a motor vehicle’s ability to maneuver while it was in motion as the reverse lights of the vehicle were illuminated. “Your intentional act created a hazardous condition,” the notice stated. Videos taken by students surrounding Kotlikoff’s car on April 30 and parking lot security footage show the university president slowly backing his car up despite the group standing around him. Kotlikoff issued a statement in which he said he had not believed he had backed his car into anyone. He said in retrospect that he should have stayed in his car and called the police. The timing of the ban is not coincidental to Vallecillo. He just received his diploma at Cornell’s commencement ceremony on May 23. He said he thought the university waited for “the limelight to subside” before taking action against him, calling it part of a pattern of how the university has responded to student protest and speech it deems inappropriate. Vallecillo said he and his roommate were surprised when a university police officer appeared at the bottom of the stairs inside their off-campus apartment Thursday afternoon to deliver the notice. Vallecillo provided footage of the exchange, which showed a CUPD officer poking his head through the entrance of the apartment. The officer stepped away from the door after Vallecillo asked him to go into the hallway. Vallecillo said he did not hear a knock at the door. A Cornell spokesperson and the Cornell University Police Department did not respond to a request for comment. * * * ## **Support Independent Journalism** **Independent local journalism is one of the few public goods that belongs to all of us, but it only survives when the community that relies on it steps up to sustain it. Your support ensures our reporters can keep asking hard questions and covering the stories that inform and inspire by providing trustworthy information free to everyone who wants it. If you believe our community deserves strong, independent reporting, now is the moment to invest in it.** _A one-time gift gives our reporters the immediate resources they need to cover breaking news, watchdog investigations, and the stories that shape daily life in Tompkins County. A monthly donation goes even further by providing steady, reliable support that strengthens our newsroom’s ability to plan ahead, retain talent, and stay fiercely independent all year long._ One-time Monthly Annually One-time $5 $15 $25 Other Donation amount $ Monthly $5 $15 $25 Other Donation amount per month $ Annually $55 $125 $200 Other Donation amount per year $ Thanks for your contribution! Yes, I want to support local journalism ### _More stories like this_ https://ithacavoice.org/2026/05/cornell-issues-one-year-ban-to-former-student-who-said-university-president-ran-over-his-foot/