Cornell University students are accusing its President, Michael Kotlikoff, of deliberately backing his car into two students following a tense exchange on April 30 in the aftermath of a debate about the Israel-Palestine conflict. Video shows the moments leading up to the incident and Kotlikoff's car reversing into a student who was standing behind the vehicle. Kotlikoff said a group of students and non-students “known to Cornell” approached him after the debate and followed him to his car while recording him and asking questions. He denies intentionally hitting the protesters, saying he waited until he saw space before slowly backing out. "The behavior I experienced last night is not protest," Kotlikoff said in a statement. "It is harassment and intimidation, with the direct motive of silencing speech." A student-run organization "Students for a Democratic Cornell" said that Kotlikoff "deliberately drove into two students trying to engage him in conversation about the repression of free speech on our campus." “There was no attempt to intimidate Kotlikoff, physically or verbally, and students consistently remained a safe distance away from him,” the group said