Antisemitism at CUNY Marches On

New York, NY – Alums for Campus Fairness (ACF) Executive Director Avi D. Gordon released the following statement after yet another antisemitic commencement address at the City University of New York (CUNY):

“Once again, a featured speaker at CUNY Law’s commencement ceremony harangued the audience about the perfidious nature of Jews and Israel, using thinly veiled tropes like ‘ending Zionism around the world’. The university won’t even condemn the speech or the speaker, Fatima Mousa Mohammed. How many more acts of antisemitic hate will it take for CUNY and its Chancellor to do something meaningful to protect Jewish students?”

Gordon has previously authored two Op-Eds on the rise of antisemitism at CUNY and Chancellor Félix V. Matos Rodríguez’s refusal to take meaningful action to protect Jewish students.

Last semester, ACF, America's unified alumni voice countering antisemitism on college and university campuses, launched a six-figure advocacy initiative highlighting institutional failures by CUNY and Chancellor Matos Rodríguez.

  • CUNY Law’s Student Government Association passed a resolution to ban Hillel and other mainstream Jewish institutions;

  • Faculty endorsed the antisemitic Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions campaign;

  • A CUNY group issued a statement pledging to create programs and networks to challenge and critique Jews so that they may “unlearn” Zionism and their Jewish identity;

  • Nerdeen Kiswani, CUNY Law’s graduation commencement speaker last year, praised axe-wielding terrorists who murdered three Jewish civilians and called to “globalize the intifada” and eradicate the State of Israel;

  • Chancellor Matos Rodríguez refused to take action, including dodging a City Council hearing on antisemitism in the university system. 

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.