Cornell University President David Skorton evidently found himself in a predicament after the dean of his Ivy League school in Ithaca, New York, was caught on film openly welcoming the idea of having Islamic State (ISIS) and Hamas terrorist training camps on campus.
The statements by Cornell’s assistant dean for students Joseph Scaffido were recorded by an undercover activist posing as a Moroccan student for Project Veritas on March 16, and released on Tuesday.
In a statement released Wednesday, Skorton tried to play down the incident, saying, “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.”
In an attempt to discredit those behind the video, he continued “Project Veritas, the organization behind this shoddy piece of ‘journalism’ has been repeatedly vilified for dishonest, deceitful activity.”
“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.
The president asserted “after speaking with Assistant Dean Scaffido, I am convinced that he was not aware of what he was being asked.”
The video can be seen here:
In the video, after being asked “is it OK to bring a humanitarian pro-Islamic State Iraq and Syria group on campus?,” Scaffido is seen replying “sure.”
At being asked if he could bring “a freedom fighter to come and do like a training camp for students,” the dean makes a surprising comparison by responding “you would be allowed to do something like that. It’s just like bringing in a coach, to do a training, a sports trainer or something.”
He also said showing support for the terrorist organization Hamas is fine, remarking “the university is not going to look at different groups and say, ‘you’re not allowed to support that group because we don’t believe them’ or something like that. I think it’s just the opposite. I think the university wants the entire community to understand what’s going on in all parts of the world.”
The conservative Project Veritas has previously released undercover expose video clips about voter fraud, the corrupt ACORN organization and how it advised criminals on how to get governmental aid, as well as problems in the Obamacare navigator program and a plethora of other topics.