Report ordered by Hochul calls for ‘overhaul’ of CUNY antisemitism policies

A third-party review of antisemitism and discrimination at the City University of New York called for a total overhaul of the system’s policies related to antisemitism and the creation of a center to address antisemitism and other forms of discrimination.

Gov. Kathy Hochul ordered the independent evaluation of CUNY’s “policies and procedures” last October, as anti-Israel activities rocked CUNY campuses in the weeks after Hamas’ invasion of Israel on Oct. 7.

Protests and turmoil over the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, along with allegations of antisemitism, have continued across the CUNY system’s 25 campuses over the past year, restarting as its 225,000 students returned to campus in recent weeks. Dozens of students were arrested at pro-Palestinian encampments last spring, and Hillel events have faced protests.

Judge Jonathan Lippman, a former chief judge of New York State and a CUNY graduate, headed the evaluation and is the lead author of the report, which was published on Tuesday, with assistance from his law firm, Latham & Watkins. It recommends far-reaching changes, which Hochul has ordered CUNY to implement.

“CUNY’s current system of handling complaints regarding antisemitism, discrimination, and retaliation is ineffective and needs to be completely overhauled,” the report said. “CUNY’s current policies and procedures are in many respects outdated and potential sources of confusion.”

The report paints a picture of inept and muddled handling of antisemitism on CUNY campuses, partially due to the sprawling, decentralized structure of the university system, the nation’s largest urban college network. The colleges have significant autonomy from the central CUNY administration.

Many Jewish students feel unsafe on campus, the report said, even as it praised CUNY’s leadership for its good-faith efforts to ensure safety and combat discrimination.

“All leaders in the CUNY system uniformly take safety on their campuses very seriously,” the report said. But, it added, that commitment does not always translate into a comfortable environment for students, including Jews.

“We heard from many in the CUNY community that they do not feel safe on campus due to antisemitism and other forms of hate,” the report said.

In a letter to Hochul, Lippman cited recent “alarming” incidents, including the targeted harassment of incoming Jewish Baruch College students at a kosher restaurant earlier this month.

“Not only did the protestors cruelly taunt the students about the murder of six hostages by Hamas terrorists in Gaza, but the protesters also appear to have threatened the students with violence, and used antisemitic tropes in the process,” Lippman said. “It is truly saddening that students just beginning their college education were subject to such blatant hate.”

“Incidents such as this must never be tolerated at CUNY,” he said.

CUNY’s chancellor, Félix V. Matos Rodríguez, condemned the incident at the time and vowed an investigation.

CUNY is one of several universities to have commissioned and published reports on campus antisemitism after a year of protests over the war and as bigotry against Jewish students has vaulted into the national spotlight. A report last month on antisemitism at Columbia University, 20 blocks south of CUNY’s City College, said Jewish students there faced “crushing” discrimination.

Alleged antisemitism at CUNY predates Oct. 7. Some Jewish faculty sued their union in 2022 for discrimination, and city lawmakers have pressured CUNY to take action on antisemitism. Federal investigators have also probed antisemitism allegations at Brooklyn College. In 2022, in response to complaints about antisemitism, the university system announced a series of measures to address the issue.

The report sought to clarify two thorny and related issues that universities across the country have confronted when addressing protests over the Gaza war: the limits of free speech protections and when anti-Zionism crosses the line into antisemitism. On free speech, the report acknowledged that the law is complex but said categories of speech that are not protected include some forms of incitement, threats, defamation, obscenity, and “fighting words,” such as personal abuse.

On the question of Zionism, the report said the CUNY system should “recognize,” but not necessarily formally adopt, a popular but controversial definition of antisemitism from the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance. Some universities have employed the IHRA definition as part of their anti-discrimination policies, but it has drawn opposition because it defines some criticism of Israel as antisemitism. CUNY’s administration has previously called the IHRA definition a “vital resource.”

“For many Jewish people, Zionism is part of their Jewish identity and shared ancestry. For that reason, when dealing with speech related to the State of Israel, understanding what is protected free speech and what constitutes antisemitism is critical,” the report said.

CUNY told the New York Jewish Week that it “welcomed” the report and “will work to implement” Lippman’s recommendations.

“Amid a rising tide of antisemitism nationwide, CUNY has already taken critical steps to combat hate and discrimination,” Rodríguez said in a statement. “Recognizing there is more to do, we look forward to working on implementing Judge Lippman’s recommendations to redouble our efforts and build on our progress to create a more inclusive campus environment for students, faculty and staff.”

The team of investigators spent 10 months conducting more than 200 interviews and meeting with more than 300 people, including students, college presidents and deans. The investigators visited 13 out of the 25 CUNY campuses, representing a cross-section of the system. It also reviewed applicable laws, such as First Amendment protections, and CUNY policies.

The schools the team visited included some of the most prominent in the system, such as Baruch, Brooklyn College, City College and the CUNY School of Law, all of which have grappled with antisemitism allegations in recent years.

The team did not limit its discussions to antisemitism, but sought information about CUNY’s policies related to other forms of discrimination. It proposed changes to combat all forms of hatred.

The report recommended 13 actions CUNY should take, including creating the center to address antisemitism and other discrimination, promoting civil discourse, monitoring compliance across the system, and creating a more “centralized presence” to deal with hatred.

The report said CUNY’s sprawling structure creates problems because each college has autonomy in dealing with discrimination, creating inconsistencies in the responses. The location and demographics at each school also affect how antisemitism and discrimination are experienced. For example, schools in Manhattan are often squeezed into multi-story buildings with few entrances, making students more vulnerable to protests at those entrances. Schools with large populations of both Jewish and Muslim students had more reported discrimination complaints.

The report said the school system should also revamp its online portal for complaints, which it said is is largely ineffective because it does not provide any feedback to complainants and clashes with reporting procedures at some CUNY schools. CUNY set up the portal in January 2023 as part of a response to antisemitism, which the report said “appears to have had the best of intentions.”

“The discrimination and retaliation portal has failed,” the report said, adding that its categories were unclear and that because anyone could submit complaints, including those unaffiliated with CUNY, administrators felt overburdened by the number of reports. The portal also cannot run queries to identify trends across campuses, or even at a single school.

Some of the policies have not been updated in almost a decade, meaning they are not in line with current laws against discrimination and harassment, the report said. Other recommendations included establishing a victim’s advocate program to assist victims of discrimination, coordinating with law enforcement to establish standard safety protocols, conducting more oversight of diversity officers, ensuring that policies adhere to anti-discrimination laws, holding faculty accountable for “violative conduct” and adopting a comprehensive policy on freedom of speech.

In its statement in response to the report, CUNY highlighted steps it has already taken to combat hatred, including training programs, deploying additional safety officers, meeting with Hillel representatives and providing guidance to campus leaders on protest rules. The school has also set up a Jewish advisory council, partnered with the Museum of Jewish Heritage, and started the 2024 school year with a “campus unity campaign.”

CUNY’s leadership offered “steadfast cooperation” and assistance to the independent review, the report said, but it added that some faculty and student groups refused to speak and encouraged others against cooperation. Participation was voluntary and mostly confidential.

The report was not all critical — CUNY’s leadership, both at its central administration and at the individual school level, all “take safety on their campuses very seriously,” it said. Campus security and law enforcement coordinate their activities, the report said, resulting in few incidents of physical violence. CUNY faculty, however, need to “take more decisive action to stop antisemitism,” including by advancing dialogue between those with differing viewpoints, the report said.

“The overwhelming majority of students, faculty and staff are behaving appropriately at CUNY and are a credit to the institution,” it said. Still, it noted that many students do not feel safe due to protests, doxxing and other issues. Social media also worsens antisemitism by promulgating hate speech against students, it said.

Hochul said that after reviewing Lippman’s report, she directed CUNY to implement his 13 recommendations, and that the report should serve as a guide for all colleges in the state.

“Hate on campus has surged nationwide over the past year, and we needed a candid review of how best to protect our students,” Hochul said in a statement shared with the New York Jewish Week. “My expectation is that CUNY will enact these recommendations, and they have already taken initial steps to address the Judge’s findings.”