Tensions mount on CUNY campuses as conflict in Gaza escalates

Chancellor Félix Matos Rodríguez is trying to distance the City University of New York from student groups defending Hamas, as organizations across several of its campuses have rallied behind the Palestinian militant group’s attacks on Israeli civilians.

At least nine CUNY groups officially endorsed pro-Palestine rallies this week in Times Square, outside the Israeli consulate or both, while additional organizations had signed onto statements of support by Tuesday.

“We don’t condone the activities of any internal organizations that are sponsoring rallies to celebrate or support Hamas’ cowardly actions,” Matos Rodríguez said in a statement. “Such efforts do not in any way represent the University and its campuses.”

The public university system of 25 colleges is putting in place counseling and related services for students, faculty and staff impacted by the crisis in the Middles, the chancellor continued, with a focus on those with family and friends in the region.

But several pro-Palestinian organizations were quick to criticize the administration’s official stance.

Student groups from seven CUNY campuses — including Hunter College, Baruch College and CUNY Law School — signed onto a call Tuesday for the administration to “reassess and reconsider its response.”

“We hold unwavering support in the efforts of the resistance and pray for a complete liberation of Palestine,” read an Instagram post by the Hunter College Palestine Solidarity Alliance. “We are extremely disappointed in an institution meant to educate.

“We urge CUNY to recognize the true purpose of the Palestinian resistance as a response to the occupation,” it added.

Antisemitic incidents on college campuses increased 41% in 2022, according to the Anti-Defamation League.

At CUNY, the issue made headlines this summer after a commencement speech at the School of Law denouncing “Israeli settler colonialism” was blasted by the chancellor and Mayor Adams. The graduate program last month quietly phased out student commencement speeches.

“These campuses are horrifyingly allowing pro-Hamas groups to go out there and support them,” said Jeffrey Lax, chair of the business department at CUNY’s Kingsborough Community College in Brooklyn. “That should not be the case, because you are calling for violence. There are limits to free speech … You see swastikas being held up at these pro-Hamas rallies.

“What you’re seeing is horrific and scripted statements defending the actions of Hamas,” said Lax, who co-founded the pro-Israel Students and Faculty for Equality at CUNY. “They’re defending the most brutal actions against civilians.”

Tensions on the city’s college campuses appeared likely to continue as the conflict in Gaza escalates.

On Tuesday afternoon, a weekly email blast from the president of the Student Bar Association at New York University School of Law, obtained by the Daily News, broke with its usual tone of promoting upcoming events and professional opportunities to comment on the war.

“Israel bears full responsibility for this tremendous loss of life,” read the memo from association president Ryna Workman. “This regime of state-sanctioned violence created the conditions that made resistance necessary. I will not condemn Palestinian resistance.”

The message was quickly condemned by the law school, and the law firm where the student previously worked as a summer associate revoked a return employment offer within five hours of the original blast.

“This message was not from NYU School of Law as an institution and does not speak for the leadership of the Law School,” NYU Law School Dean Troy McKenzie said in a statement. “It certainly does not express my own views, because I condemn the killing of civilians and acts of terrorism as always reprehensible.”

The Columbia University chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine scheduled an on-campus protest for Thursday, according to an announcement on their Instagram.