I recently spoke on Rage and the Republic at Cornell University and posted about the beauty of the school with the return of flowers and birds in the Spring. What I fortunately missed was the seasonal return of harassing protesters. That experience was reserved this week for Cornell President Michael Kotlikoff, who is now embroiled in controversy over a parking-lot confrontation.

Kotlikoff was followed to his car on April 30 after Kotlikoff introduced an Israel-Palestine debate hosted by the Cornell Political Union and co-sponsored by Cornellians for Israel, Cornell Progressives and Students for Justice in Palestine. A small number of protesters, however, were unhappy with the civil dialogue over Israeli-Palestinian conflicts.

According to Kotlikoff, the President was “accosted by a group of several individuals,” including non-students who were known to Cornell for past conduct involving “ongoing verbal and online abuse” of administrators and staff. He alleged that two of the individuals had previously been banned from campus following a “disruptive protest.”

As Kotlikoff walked to his car, he answered some of the protesters’ questions, then asked them to stop filming and leave him alone. When they reached his car, they then surrounded the vehicle to keep him from leaving. He backed up slowly, with students intentionally standing in the car’s path.

Kotlikoff stated, “I waited until I saw space behind the car and then, using my car’s rear pedestrian alert and automatic braking system, was able to slowly maneuver my car from the parking space and exit the parking lot.”

The students, however, remained standing in his path. One person can be heard yelling, “He just ran over my f—— foot!” There is no report of an actual injury.

Students for a Democratic Cornell (SDC) posted a video showing an individual being nudged by the vehicle while standing behind it.

The coverage has been sensation and arguably misleading with such headlines of “Cornell President Runs Into Protesters With Car” (Inside Higher Education) and “Kotlikoff Drives Into Student and Recent Grad Following ‘Harassment” (Cornell Daily Sun).

The student newspaper wrote an editorial titled “President Kotlikoff, It’s Time To Hit the Brakes,” that seemed almost delusional for those of us who watched the video. The student editors objected that:

“This incident is emblematic of a deeper problem at Cornell: an administration that protects itself, not its students. An administration that has consistently moved to protect itself before it moves to understand, or even to check on, the students in its care.”

The newspaper objected to how Kotlikoff “used his power as president of the University to set a narrative on his terms.” Yet, if Kotlikoff had not responded, there would have been complaints that he was bunkered and unresponsive. He did not “set a narrative,” but rather shared his view of what occurred in the incident. He was, after all, one of the key figures involved.

I am surprised that the President did not have a campus police escort, who could have handled this confrontation. This situation could have easily and dangerously escalated for the President, given the rising violence on our campuses. Just this week, a Jewish student was reportedly injured by an alleged chemical agent at a pro-Israel event at George Washington University.

The Cornell protesters were clearly harassing Kotlikoff and eventually trapped him in the parking lot. He was trying to avoid any injury by backing out slowly. I do not fault Kotlikoff, who wanted to extricate himself from an angry group of radicals. Being trapped and surrounded at night is a frightening prospect for anyone.

The incident shows how a relatively small number of students can undermine the culture of dialogue and civility on our campuses. This was an important effort to allow people to engage in a reasoned discussion of these issues rather than screaming at each other across protest lines. However, for some, the screaming and conflict are precisely what they want to achieve.

This is not the exercise of free speech, but disorderly and unlawful conduct. You are not allowed to trap people in their vehicles or prevent their movement on campus. The college should seek a restraining order to prevent the non-students from returning to campus and should take disciplinary measures against any students who sought to trap the President in his car.

Despite the suggestions online, I do not see the basis for a charge against Kotlikoff in this video. The video shows the driver trying to slowly leave the parking lot as the protesters put themselves into his path. His alternative was to remain trapped and surrounded by this group of radical protesters.

Given the relatively small number of individuals, Kotlikoff clearly believed that he could move back without contact with the students. There are six visible protesters as Kotlikoff puts his car into reverse. One remains on the sidewalk and four are clearly visible on the right side of the car as Kotlikoff moved back to the left. Only one student can be seen near the back of the vehicle. He was moving back with the car and before coming into contact with the vehicle, was moving at less than five miles an hour.

If the crowd were larger, I do not believe it would have been reasonable to attempt to back out of the parking lot. In such a case, it would have been advisable to call the campus police to seek assistance. In this incident, it was only one student standing behind the car and that student was obviously fully aware that the vehicle was slowing moving backward.

For these students, the greatest lesson may be the meaning of consequences from their own choices. You cannot throw yourself around moving vehicles and then claim to be a victim as a result.

Jonathan Turley is a law professor and the best-selling author of “Rage and the Republic: The Unfinished Story of the American Revolution.”