CUNY settles federal complaints alleging antisemitism, Islamophobia: ‘Step in the right direction’
CUNY has entered into a settlement agreement with the US Department of Education to resolve nine discrimination complaints alleging antisemitism, Islamophobia and other harassment — many occurring well before the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel.
Under the Monday agreement — which also cites alleged civil rights violations by the central office — the City University of New York agreed to more aggressively confront anti-Jewish hatred and other bigotry on its campuses through more extensive training, surveys, and better probes and reporting of discrimination.
“The CUNY agreement is a step in the right direction as it recognizes that CUNY failed to adequately address the problem and sets up federal monitoring and oversight,” said Alyza D. Lewin, president of the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law, which represented students in the Brooklyn College case.
“It is a far cry, however, from an ‘all clear’ for CUNY. The devil will be in the details. We are eager to see what specific steps CUNY will take to actively address the anti-Semitism that has run rampant on their campuses for far too long,” Lewin said in a statement.
At Brooklyn College, white and Jewish students in the Graduate Program for Mental Health Counseling told of being bullied — and deemed “privileged” — in the fall of 2020.
When a student complained, the deputy director of the program allegedly said white students should “keep quiet” and “keep their heads down.”
Among the other complaints cited by the federal DOE’s Office of Civil Rights at other CUNY schools, including Hunter, Baruch and Queens Colleges and the School of Law were:
- Students and professors hijacked two Zoom sessions of a Hunter College course in 2021 by reading a statement calling for the decolonization of Palestine while demonizing Israel. Several students wrote in the Zoom chat that they were scared. “OCR found that Hunter concluded—without interviewing students present during the sessions—that the disruption did not deny access to education, and that Hunter did not respond to requests from Jewish students to learn Hunter’s response,” the department said in a letter sent Monday to CUNY Chancellor Felix Matos Rodriguez.
- A videotaped incident in 2020 of CUNY Law School student holding a lighter flame close to a sweatshirt bearing the emblem of the Israel Defense Forces, claiming she was going to set it on fire. The complainant alleged that the incident constituted antisemitic harassment, and that the incident and the Law School’s response to it were inadequate. The Law School said it never received a formal complaint the incident, which occurred off-campus and therefore the student was not disciplined.
- Pro-Palestinian students alleged discrimination after the Law School cancelled a Muslim Law Student Association event titled “Fighting Complicity Against Genocide” on Nov.15, 2023. The Law School — which is being sued by pro-Palestinian students for nixing graduation speakers after years of hate-spewing messages — cancelled the event for not having enough time to address safety concerns.
- At Queens College, Muslim students claimed they were verbally harassed and called names, such as “ISIS” and “terrorists” during pro-Palestinian protests in fall 2023, and and one was harassed for wearing a keffiyeh on campus. Jewish students also complained of being subjected to slurs at pro-Israel rallies.
- In the spring of 2022, a Baruch College student alleged harassment after hearing slurs such as “f—ing Jew,” or “f—ing Jew who doesn’t want to wear a mask.” “Baruch did not provide to OCR information regarding complaints of national origin harassment (including shared Jewish ancestry) during the spring 2022 semester,” the department said.
The letter cited testimony of Jewish students and professors at a 2022 City Council hearing, saying they had been targeted with antisemitic slurs, including calls for the murder of Jews.
Rachel Pomerantz, the regional director of the OCR, said anti-discrimination policies at CUNY campuses may not be uniformly enforced.
“OCR identified concerns that particular constituent campuses, such as Hunter, the Law School, and Brooklyn appear not to have taken sufficient action in response to the existence of a potentially hostile environment, as evidenced by the persisting and sometimes escalating incidents,” Pomerantz said.
“For example, OCR is concerned that Brooklyn appears not to have either promptly or effectively responded to reports and incidents of discrimination, including harassment of students, based on race and shared ancestry.”
As part of the agreement, CUNY has agreed to conduct a system-wide campus climate survey at all 25 campuses to help address bigotry and harassment.
The university also agreed to provide training for new hires, including campus chief diversity officers and compliance and campus safety officers.
Three colleges — CUNY Law, Hunter College and Brooklyn College) will reinvestigate four incidents dating back to 2019-21.
“CUNY is committed to providing an environment that is free from discrimination and hate and these new steps will ensure that there is consistency and transparency in how complaints are investigated and resolved,” said CUNY Chancellor Felix Matos Rodriguez.
CUNY board of trustees chairman Bill Thompson said CUNY “believes in the dignity of all human beings and stands united against bigotry or hate of any kind on our campuses.”
