The governor of New York ordered that the job posting for Palestinian studies at Cuny be removed.
Kathy Hochul’s order to remove the listing is condemned by the Hunter College faculty and staff union as a “overreach of authority.”
On May 6, 2024, pro-Palestinian Hunter College students demonstrate in New York City to call for an end to the conflict in Gaza. Image: Getty Images/Corbis/Andrew Lichtenstein
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The City University of New York (Cuny) was ordered by New York Governor Kathy Hochul to take down a job posting for a Palestinian studies professor position at Hunter College, which is part of the state university system, right away.
“A historically grounded scholar who takes a critical lens to issues pertaining to Palestine including but not limited to: settler colonialism, genocide, human rights, apartheid, migration, climate and infrastructure devastation, health, race, gender, and sexuality” is what Hunter College stated in its job posting.
Police keep watch as pro-Palestinian demonstrators hold a small protest outside of graduation ceremonies for Hunter College in June 2024. Photo by Getty Images
Hunter College is receptive to “diverse theoretical and methodical approaches” to instruction, it further stated.
“Governor Hochul has directed Cuny to immediately remove this job posting and conduct a thorough review of the position to ensure that antisemitic theories are not promoted in the classroom,” a Hochul official told the New York Post.
“We find this language divisive, polarizing, and inappropriate and strongly agree with Governor Hochul’s direction to remove this posting, which we have ensured Hunter College has since done,” said Cuny chancellor Félix V. Matos Rodríguez and board of trustees chair William C. Thompson Jr. in a joint statement about the job posting’s removal.
Since then, Cuny’s website has removed the job posting, which also stated that it was a part of a Palestinian studies “cluster hire” for two posts.
The teacher and staff union at Cuny wrote Hochul and Rodríguez to denounce the action. The Professional Staff Congress wrote, “We strongly object to your removal of a job posting for a Palestinian Studies faculty position as a violation of academic freedom at Hunter College.” “This action is detrimental, even though we condemn antisemitism and all forms of hatred. To declare a whole field of academic study off-limits is an abuse of power.
In reaction to the university demonstrations that shook the United States following the October 7 bombings and Israel’s subsequent invasion of Gaza, Palestine studies has become a more popular academic field.
However, Jewish organizations and pro-Israel activists immediately and fiercely reacted negatively to the Cuny classification. Watchdog organizations were among the many critics who said that the wording used to describe the position “promotes antisemitism.”
In a post on X.Palestinian, the pro-Israel organization StopAntisemitism called the listing a kind of “antisemitic blood libel” against Cuny.
During the Israeli assault of Gaza last year, Cuny served as a focal point for pro-protests that erupted across campuses, leading to scores of arrests and opposition from the state and university administration. Earlier this month, The Nation revealed that Cuny is looking into student government members for their involvement in demonstrations and advocacy of boycotts of Israel.
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Former state judge Jonathan Lippman sent a report to Governor Hochul in September of last year, “noting an alarming number of unacceptable antisemitic incidents targeting members of the CUNY community” and calling for a change in the university’s handling of antisemitism accusations.
The Cuny conflicts are contributing to larger discussions concerning the boundary between anti-Zionism and antisemitism. One PhD student from Cuny wrote, “The Lippman report is a serious attack on the movement for Palestine,” when it was released. Jewish people, including groups like [Jewish Voice for Peace], have been instrumental in speaking out against the atrocity and demonstrating that anti-Zionism is not the same as antisemitism this year. However, this false equivalency is repeated in this study.