Will CUNY Ever Do Anything to Address its Antisemitism Problem?

Despite public hearings, public protests, repeated efforts to lobby the university, and many resignations, CUNY has still ignored requests to address its anti-semitism problem. What gives?

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

CUNY is the most anti-semitic university in America. As former CUNY professor Jeffrey Lax writes, “The ‘cleansing’ of Jewish students and lecturers from German universities from 1933 to 1935 was one of the Nazis’ first goals met. Ninety years later, in the metropolis with the world’s largest Jewish population, the City University of New York (CUNY) has successfully completed a yearslong initiative to expunge all Jews from its senior leadership.” Continues Lax, “It will be the first time since its 1961 founding that CUNY’s senior leadership will be Judenrein.” Other significant incidents of anti-semitism at CUNY — none of them addressed by the administration or board of trustees — include:

• CUNY Law student government adopted BDS; CUNY Law faculty also adopted BDS;
• CUNY Law school, encouraged by Dean Sudha Setty, featured two notoriously anti-semitic graduation speeches in 2022 and 2023;
• Professional Staff Congress (PSC), the CUNY faculty union of 20,000 members, defends Fatima Mohammed and endorses BDS;
• CUNY Chancellor, Felix Matos Rodríguez, was a no-show at several NYC Council hearings related to anti-semitism at CUNY.
• In 2021, Matos Rodriguez hired Saly Abd Alla — former CAIR Minnesota director — as the university’s chief diversity officer, overseeing 230,000+ students.

CUNY has 25 campuses including Baruch College, Brooklyn College, Hunter College, Queens College, Kingsborough Community College, John Jay College of Criminal Justice and many other notable institutions. CUNY is funded by the taxpayers of New York and America: in 2022, CUNY received $2.8 billion in government funding ($2 billion from New York state, $527 million from NYC, and $312 million from federal education programs).

WHY DOES CUNY REFUSE TO ACT?

There has been some pressure put on CUNY, but not enough to get it to act. By picking on the tiny Jewish community, CUNY has not seen too much opposition to its policies. There are only 5 million Jews in America, and many are happy to ignore anti-semitism rather than confront it. Furthermore, it has been difficult to figure out how to effectively confront CUNY’s numerous anti-Jewish actions.

We must continue to exert pressure on CUNY on numerous fronts, until they address the systemic problem of anti-semitism in the CUNY system.

ACTION ITEMS

1) Participate with SAFE CUNY or CUNY Alliance for Inclusion, pro-Israel groups across the CUNY system.

2) Sign this petition demanding that CUNY adopt the IHRA definition of anti-semitism.

3) Sign this petition demanding that CUNY take action against anti-semitism.

4) Join Pro-Israel students worldwide on Facebook to fight anti-semitism with others.

5) Support U.S. Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY) bill to rescind federal funding from CUNY due to its anti-semitism. The bill is called
H.R. 3773 — the Stop Anti-Semitism on College Campuses Act. The sponsors are: Mike Lawler (R-NY), Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ), Mark Molinaro (R-NY), Elise Stefanik (R-NY), Nick Langworthy (R-NY), Anthony D'Esposito (R-NY), Tom Kean (R-NJ), Chris Smith (R-NJ), Jeff Van Drew (R-NJ), Max Miller (R-OH), Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA), David Kustoff (R-TN), Pat Fallon (R-TX), Ralph Norman (R-SC), Joe Wilson (R-SC), Glenn Grothman (R-WI) and Lori DeRemer (R-OR).

6) Write to the CUNY Board of Directors demanding specific actions.

BOARD MEMBERS: swilkin@bradfordconstruction.com, sunshine@sunshinesachs.com, john.verzani@csi.cuny.edu, bobergfell@emmetmarvin.com, jtormey@cancerresearch.org, NYConnects@aging.nyc.gov, chancellor@cuny.edu


SAMPLE LETTER #1 — Dear CUNY Board members,

In May, CUNY law school student Fatima Mohammad delivered the Commencement speech, in which she proclaimed: America is an empire; Israel murders others and encourages lynch mobs; and both countries will fail. This speech was pre-approved by Dean of the CUNY law school, Sudha Setty. CUNY law school faculty unanimously endorsed a student council Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) anti-Jewish resolution targeting Israel. Nerdeen Kiswani, the founder of a radical activist group committed to "globalizing the Intifada” against Israeli Jews and their sympathizers, was chosen as a commencement speaker for the CUNY law school the year before (2022). Additionally, the Professional Staff Congress at CUNY — a union representing 30,000 employees — passed a resolution condemning Israel for the “massacre of Palestinians” in 2022.

CUNY Chancellor Felix Matos Rodriguez has refused to take any meaningful actions against Dean Sudha Setty, and also has refused to attend numerous city council hearings related to anti-semitism at CUNY. The New York Times said, "The top guy in charge who gets paid $670,000 a year with our taxpayer dollars does not have the guts to show up." Recently, Mr. Matos Rodriguez was featured as the "Antisemite of the Week" of a very popular website among Jews, Stop Antisemitism: https://www.stopantisemitism.org/anti-semite-of-the-week

While attending college at CUNY institutions, Jewish students are subjected to anti-Jewish experiences year after year. The Jewish community is fed up with CUNY's refusal to do anything to address this vitriol. Professors affiliated with your institution have created the CUNY Alliance for Inclusion (https://www.cunyallianceforinclusion.org/), which documents the climate of hostility at CUNY. Pro-Israel professors created SAFE CUNY (http://safecuny.com/), where we will be organizing against discrimination against Jews at CUNY. Finally, nearly 14,000 individuals have signed a petition to CUNY asking why you won't address anti-semitism (https://www.change.org/p/university-student-senate-abolish-antisemitism-at-the-city-university-of-new-york).

My questions are very simple:

1) When will anti-semite Felix Matos Rodriguez be held accountable for his inaction and refusal to do anything about these problems?

2) Why does the CUNY law school dean, Sudha Setty, permit her commencement speaker — two years in a row — to attack Jews in their commencement speech. Why are Jews and Israel even a topic of consideration in a law school commencement speech? When will Dean Sudha Setty, an avid anti-semite, be held accountable for her approval of the hate speeches?

3) Why are there very few Jews employed by CUNY, and none in the administrative leadership team?


I look forward to your response.


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