ACF Commends NYU Law for Not Hosting Anti-Zionist Conference

IMMEDIATE RELEASE

September 7, 2023

Contact: Avi D. Gordon, Executive Director Alums for Campus Fairness

917-332-1185, [email protected]   

Alums for Campus Fairness applauds the New York University (NYU) School of Law’s decision not to host the Institute for the Critical Study of Zionism’s (ICSZ) upcoming anti-Zionist conference on its campus. 

Per the ICSZ, “Battling the ‘IHRA definition’: Theory & Activism” is scheduled to be held at the University of California, Santa Cruz, on October 13, and at NYU Law on October 14. However, NYU Law said through its spokesperson on August 31, “We will not and have never committed to hosting this event.” The conference requires participants to subscribe to “points of unity” prior to attending, which mischaracterize Zionism — the Jewish movement for self-determination and statehood in the Jewish ancestral homeland of Israel — as a “settler colonial racial project.”

ACF also commends UC Santa Cruz for releasing a statement that it does not endorse the conference on its campus and citing the sharp rise in antisemitism in the U.S. However, we are concerned that two university centers and one department — the UC Santa Cruz Center for Racial Justice, the UC Santa Cruz Center for Creative Ecologies, and the Critical Race & Ethnic Studies Department — are sponsoring the conference.

About ACF: Alums for Campus Fairness (ACF) leverages the unique power of alumni to combat antisemitism on college campuses. ACF helps organize and cultivate alumni chapters for colleges and universities across the country, equipping members with tools, tactics, and training to proactively engage with administrators. Learn more at www.campusfairness.org.