In all fairness, while Cornell is a liberal bastion, and booted FOX because they don’t like FOX, the reporters are also to blame because they were doing ambush-style reporting.
It’s a technique to thrust a microphone in somebody’s face, along with an impatient question, in an effort to make them look bad. If the same question is asked, then they are given a minute to think about it before answering, they sound less foolish.
If you see a reporter doing this, never play along, or you could find yourself in the news looking deficient.
It’s real easy: “No. Comment.”. Then keep on walking.
Protecting students’ privacy is about as big a BS argument as you can make -any student who wants their privacy protected just has to decline to participate. Cornell is admitting that their own student body is either too stupid or too immature to make that decision on their own. They need their University “nanny” to make the decision for them.