CUNY Denies Jewish Group’s Claim That Board of Trustees Chair Told Chancellor Not to Attend Antisemitism Hearing

The City University of New York (CUNY) is denying a claim from the Jewish group Students and Faculty for Equality (SAFE) CUNY that the chairman of the CUNY Board of Trustees told Chancellor Felix Matos Rodriguez not to attend the New York City Council’s hearings on antisemitism.

SAFE CUNY posted a lengthy statement to social media on June 6, claiming they have “an immaculate source” saying “that CUNY Board of Trustees Chair Bill Thompson TOLD the chancellor NOT TO ATTEND the antisemitism hearings. If this is true, [New York Governor Kathy Hochul (D)] must get involved in this horrifying antisemitic mess IMMEDIATELY. Also incredibly disturbing is that City Council leaders running these hearings had no idea just how duped they were– Rodriguez was never going to come to those meetings.” They concluded their post with a call for CUNY to receive “a complete overhaul, top to bottom.”

Huge EXCLUSIVE story:

For a year @ChancellorCUNY has deservedly taken flak all over the media for skipping out at the last minute from not one but two City Council hearings probing CUNY Antisemitism.

We have just learned from an immaculate source that his absence goes HIGHER…

— SAFE CUNY (@SAFECUNY) June 7, 2023

A spokesperson for CUNY told the Journal that SAFE CUNY’s claim “is patently false.” “The Chairperson of CUNY’s Board of Trustees never instructed the Chancellor not to attend the public hearing,” the spokesperson said. “CUNY was well represented at the hearing by a senior member of CUNY leadership. It’s unfortunate that this misguided group continues to spread lies and inflammatory accusations designed to malign our system and ignores CUNY’s proud 175-year history of educating and employing Jewish New Yorkers. CUNY has repeatedly and consistently denounced antisemitism and has taken a number of recent steps to combat it on our campuses. These steps include partnering with Hillel to build community and understanding across campuses, distributing hundreds of thousands of dollars systemwide for programming specifically targeting antisemitism and all kinds of bigotry, launching an online portal for the community to report hate crimes, partnering with the Foundation to Combat Antisemitism to raise awareness about antisemitism and forming a new Advisory Council on Jewish Life.”

Thompson himself denied SAFE CUNY’s claim, telling The New York Post: “I never instructed the chancellor not to attend the Council hearing. The statement in the article is absolutely false and the chancellor is issuing a statement to that effect.”

CUNY Professor Jeffrey Lax, who founded SAFE CUNY, is standing by the claim “with 100% confidence.” “Our source is immaculate, and we know what is happening at our once-proud university,” Lax said in a statement to the Journal. “CUNY has repeatedly gaslighted and lied to its Jewish communities and it predictably does so, yet again, here. It is clear that the Jewish people of New York City no longer believe CUNY’s lies about its purported efforts to fight antisemitism and that they will also not believe CUNY’s latest lie, which does not even make any logical sense. There is no precedent for the top executive at an agency or department of the city or state to evade multiple requests to appear by a legislative body.  Rodriguez was under a politically directed instruction not to appear by Trustee Chair Thompson.”

Lax accused CUNY of lying “in a public statement about the very tenets of the First Amendment” when the university said in a statement that “hate speech, however, should not be confused with free speech.” “It would have been laughable, were it not so sad, that CUNY asserted that ‘hate speech’ was not protected ‘free speech,’” Lax said. “Why would CUNY and its top lawyers go to such lengths as to lie about the protections of our constitution? It did so in order to avoid admitting that its law school’s commencement speaker may have engaged, not merely in hate speech (which is protected), but in incitement to violence –which is not protected under the first amendment. Lies. Lies. And more lies.” CUNY’s statement about hate speech was released on May 31, addressing the commencement speech given by Students for Justice in Palestine activist Fatima Mohammed.

Matos Rodriguez had come under fire last year after he didn’t appear at a June 2022 antisemitism hearing; the hearing had been postponed from earlier the month because the chancellor claimed to have a scheduling conflict. The Journal reported at the time that it is our understanding that CUNY chancellors typically only testify on budget hearings, while all other hearings feature university subject experts and officials close to the situation.