Hate-speech flap at CUNY
ALBANY — A group of CUNY doctoral students overwhelmingly passed a resolution Friday calling for a boycott of Israeli academic institutions.
The measure taken up by the Doctoral Student Council also states the group’s support of Students for Justice In Palestine, which pro-Israeli outfits have accused of fostering anti-Semitic activities on CUNY campuses.
Hours before the vote, state Sen. Jack Martins (R-Nassau County) sent a letter to CUNY Chancellor James Milliken blasting the resolution as “disgusting and shameful.”
“It’s not an exercise of First Amendment rights; it’s hate speech,” the senator wrote. “But rather than condemning SJP’s actions, DSC is endorsing them wholeheartedly.”
Making matters worse, he wrote, was that the meeting was set for 4:30 p.m. Friday, hours before the start of the Jewish Sabbath.
“Their effort to silence any opposition by scheduling the vote for this Friday during the Sabbath, when observant Jews cannot attend to voice their concerns, is no coincidence,” Martins wrote.
Milliken has publicly stated he opposes any academic boycott of Israel. But Martins, who is running for Congress, wrote “that’s not enough.”
“The leadership of The City University of New York has consistently and publicly opposed a boycott of Israeli institutions of higher education,” Milliken said. “CUNY has a long history of actively pursuing mutually beneficial relationships to further the interests of our faculty and students ... including those in Israel, and we intend to continue to do so. We are disappointed by this vote from one student group, but it will not change CUNY’s position.”
CUNY’s Doctoral Student Council said it took measures to make it easier for Jewish students to attend the meeting. Typically, the group said in a statement, the meetings start at 6 p.m. But on Friday, it was moved up to 4:30 p.m. “in order to accommodate students who observe the Jewish Sabbath.”