Make New York Post a Preferred Source Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s plan to combat antisemitism glaringly omits tackling rampant, anti-Jewish hatred at local colleges and universities, Jewish faculty and staff at CUNY and NYU said
The Mamdani administration’s “Strategy to Combat Antisemitism,” released in September, makes scant mention of colleges and universities, though City Hall said it met with all with Jewish leaders “from all corners of the community” including parents, students and educators.
“In a city that is home to one of the world’s greatest concentrations of public and private universities and colleges, the near absence of higher education from the Strategy is a significant omission,” the CUNY Alliance for Inclusion and the Faculty and Staff Against Antisemitism at NYU said in a joint statement to The Post.
“Those commitments should extend meaningfully to New York City’s colleges and universities.”
The faculty groups said antisemitism in higher education cannot be understood solely through claims regarding hate crimes and physical insecurity.
Antisemitism can also seep into the structures of academia including departments, faculty governance, academic associations, professional networks, labor unions, graduate-worker organizations, and others that determine “whose scholarship and viewpoints are treated as legitimate topics for discussion and debate.”
The CUNY and NYU groups also warned that bashing of Israel and Zionism can explode into antisemitism.
Mamdani himself is a fierce critic of Israel and his report was previously criticized for not mentioning Zionism once in its 33 pages and for refusing to adopt a formal definition of what constitutes antisemitism.
“Anti-Zionist rhetoric or advocacy crosses into antisemitism when Jewish, Israeli or Zionist members of academic communities are subjected to exclusion, harassment, intimidation, ideological litmus tests, professional retaliation, calls for violence or unequal treatment because of their identities, affiliations or views,” the groups said.
The groups cited a survey of 209 Jewish-American professors last year that found nearly three-quarters observed anti-Jewish activity or statements by colleagues at their colleges.
The poll, conducted by the Academic Engagement Network and Anti-Defamation League, also found that 43% of respondents felt unwelcome at faculty events — and nearly 40% felt a need to conceal their Jewish identity on campus.
“These findings raise an important question for New York City’s institutions of higher education: Can Jewish members participate fully in university life while openly expressing their identities, affiliations, and views?” the professors asked.
The mayor’s report, the professors argued, doesn’t confront the question.
“Higher education should be an explicit and meaningful part of New York City’s response to antisemitism,” CAFI and FSAA-NYU said.
The professors recommended that the Mamdani administration make higher education an explicit priority to curb anti-Jewish hatred and particularly to talk to faculty groups.
CAFI and FSAA-NYU said rooting out antisemitism in academia can be done without sacrificing free speech.
“The promise that Jewish New Yorkers can belong `fully and openly’ should extend to the professor in a department meeting, the graduate worker in a union, the researcher seeking collaborators, the staff member at work, and the student in a classroom,” the groups said.
The Mamdani report does mention the city’s work with a few colleges and universities.
For example, it noted the city Commission on Human Right in 2022 launched its “Understanding Jewish Experience” training developed in partnership with the Wagner College Holocaust Center. The training covers the diversity of Jewish traditions and helps identify civil rights violations.
Mamdani in April also visited the Kupferberg Holocaust Center at CUNY’s Queensborough Community College, where he met with Holocaust survivors and other CUNY scholars and leaders.
The report also noted that city Department of Education adopted higher education best practices by hiring a K-12 Title VI coordinator, a practice aligned with standards in higher education to manage discrimination complaints, including those based on antisemitism.
In the report, Mamdani said, “We kept a promise made during our campaign and increased hate crime prevention funding nearly ninefold — from $3 million to $29 million annually.
“This strategy is a commitment to something fundamental: that every Jewish New Yorker deserves the same freedoms as every other New Yorker To worship freely To raise a family To celebrate openly To belong completely.”
The mayor’s office declined further comment.
