College students and professors at New York Metropolis’s public schools testified Thursday that they've been focused over their Jewish religion, telling lawmakers that the campuses of CUNY and different faculties are a hotbed of anti-Semitism.
CUNY Chancellor Felix Matos Rodriguez, nevertheless, was a no-show for the long-awaited listening to held by the Metropolis Council Committee on Larger Training — and his refusal to testify didn’t go unnoticed.
“Final night time, in a really cowardly vogue, the chancellor stated he gained’t seem. As an alternative he despatched a lawyer to characterize him. What a sham, what an insult to the Jewish neighborhood of New York,” stated Brooklyn Councilwoman Inna Vernikov.
“Relating to Jews, do Jewish lives matter?!” fumed Vernikov, a Ukranian-born Jew, who's the rating Republican on the Council’s Training Committee.
The chancellor missed out on listening to horror tales from college students and professors at metropolis universities.
Former CUNY College of Regulation pupil Rafaella Gunz stated she transferred to Yeshiva College as a result of, “I feared for my bodily and emotional nicely being” after she was demonized by different college students over her Jewish religion and Zionist beliefs.
Joshua Greenberg, a Baruch School pupil, stated he was assaulted for being a “Jewish, disabled pupil,” and complained about restrictions on prayer.
“It’s utterly unacceptable what’s happening at Baruch School,” he stated.
Michael Goldstein, a professor at Kingsborough Neighborhood School, stated “it's horrible for Jews at CUNY”, claiming that anti-Semites defaced a photograph of his dad, Leonard Goldstein, the previous longtime president of Kingsborough, on the Brooklyn campus.
College students outdoors the CUNY system additionally sounded the alarm about anti-Semitism at their campuses.
Former NYU pupil Adela Cojab Moadeb stated the downtown non-public faculty turned “very unsafe for Jewish college students” the place pro-Palestinian supporters “equated Zionism with Nazism” and college students have been uncovered to the burning of the Israel flag.
“I used to be afraid,” stated Cojab Moadeb, who filed a federal civil rights grievance in opposition to NYU that resulted in a settlement, which The Publish reported on in 2020.
Prime reps from CUNY testified remotely, however didn't have information at hand on the variety of anti-Jewish incidents on its campuses, and acknowledged that it doesn't have a systemwide sensitivity coaching about anti-Semitism.
Bronx Councilman Eric Dinowitz, chairman of the upper training committee and head of the Council’s Jewish Caucus, stated he was “deeply dissatisfied” that Matos Rodriguez, the CUNY chancellor, opted to not attend.
His absence and that different CUNY officers testifying remotely “doesn’t fill me with hope” that the college, which oversees 26-public schools within the metropolis, will aggressively stamp out hatred in opposition to Jewish college students and professors, Dinowitz stated.
Dinowitz learn off a few of the slurs and hate symbols that Jewish college students who testified anonymously confronted on CUNY campuses together with, “We want Hitler once more,” requires the homicide of Jews, the presence of swastikas, “jokes about Jews in ovens” and discovering a Star of David smeared in feces, amongst others.
Council Republican Minority Chief Joe Borelli famous that Matos Rodriguez testified earlier than the Council on CUNY’s funds request “begging for cash from Metropolis Corridor” however on Thursday he was MIA “on the subject of discussing the very severe and pervasive nature of anti-Semitism on CUNY campuses.”
Gerard Felitti, an lawyer with the pro-Jewish Lawfare Undertaking who's representing a Jewish sufferer in a federal hate crime case, known as on Matos Rodriguez to get replaced by a chancellor “who cares in regards to the Jewish folks.”
CUNY stated it's normally represented at Council hearings by campus leaders and topic consultants who intently oversee the subject being mentioned, whereas chancellors sometimes testify on the funds listening to.
Throughout their testimony, CUNY senior vice chancellor for institutional affairs Glenda Grace and vice chancellor for pupil affairs Denise Maybank rattled off packages and occasions at numerous campuses to assist fight anti-Semitism.
“We perceive extra must be completed.” Grace stated.
Maybank stated “I hear you” and that extra has to completed to take care of “uncivil discourse” earlier than it crosses the road into discrimination. She stated it “stays our accountability” to make college students “really feel secure and welcome on campus.”
The Jewish advocacy group AMHCA testified that's logged greater than 150 anti-Semitic incidents on 11 CUNY campuses since 2015, when it started its monitoring.
Greater than 60 of these incidents contain acts that straight focused Jewish college students for hurt, together with swastikas and different varieties of “genocidal” vandalism, bullying, suppression of motion and demonization.
A lot of the incidents involving Jewish college students being harassed on CUNY campuses have been Israel-related, and these acts have greater than doubled over the past 12 months, stated AHCA Director Tammi Rossman-Benjamin.
Jewish college students and professors stated the rising pro-Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions motion in opposition to Israel has contributed to hatred in opposition to those that assist the Jewish State.
CUNY regulation faculty’s college council and pupil authorities have handed resolutions backing the BDS motion in opposition to Israel, which pro-Palestinian activists accuse of working towards apartheid.
Vernikov requested CUNY officers how Jewish college students may really feel welcomed when their very own professors accredited BDS resolutions “that promote discrimination in opposition to them.”
At one level, CUNY officers stated they didn't use the IHRA definition of anti-Semitism, which incorporates “Denying the Jewish folks their proper to self-determination, e.g., by claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavor.”
CUNY, in a press release, stated, “Ensuring everybody feels secure and guarded at our campuses is a prime precedence at CUNY, which is arguably the nation’s most various college system and attracts folks of all backgrounds and nationalities.
“CUNY management was happy to testify as we speak in regards to the College’s ongoing efforts to fight antisemitism, violence, hate, racism and intolerance of any form on our campuses, in our nation and on the planet. That is necessary however arduous, unending work, and we're at all times studying new methods to enhance our efforts. CUNY is dedicated to fostering an surroundings the place all college, employees and college students can work, train and study free from any type of discrimination.”
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