Cornell bans wild game butchering after bear carved in dorm

According to reporting by New York Post, the Ivy League institution confirmed to student media that the updated policy was a direct response to the January 2025 incident that sparked widespread social media controversy.

The new campus rule explicitly states that processing wild or game animals in community kitchens is now strictly prohibited — a prohibition that did not exist when Aaron Chin and a fellow Cornell student dragged a black bear carcass into the university’s Ganędagǫ Hall dormitory kitchen for butchering.

Chin, who publicly identified himself as one of the hunters involved during a subsequent podcast appearance, defended the decision by noting that he and his partner had originally intended to process the animal at a friend’s residence roughly two hours from campus. Those plans fell through due to an emergency, leaving the pair to seek an alternative location.

In an interview with the MeatEater podcast last September, Chin insisted the duo had thoroughly vetted campus regulations beforehand to ensure compliance. We made sure we did everything by the book because we knew we were going to be under scrutiny, he explained.

Despite significant backlash from fellow students and online commentators, an investigation by the New York Department of Environmental Conservation found no code violations after an inspector examined the kitchen site. The agency’s findings, reported by NBC, cleared the students of any legal wrongdoing under state law.

Cornell has not issued further comment beyond confirming the policy change. The new rule now formalizes what many campus critics argued should have been common sense, while supporters of the students have questioned whether the university is capitulating to urban sensibilities disconnected from rural hunting culture.

With information from New York Post