Tony Kushner, fresh from his victory in reversing the City University of New York board move to deny him an honorary degree, is urging his supporters to take action to unseat the CUNY trustee who opposed him.
Here is what he wrote on his Facebook page this week:
“We need to get [Jeffrey} Wiesenfeld off the board, the Trustees ought to be abolished, academic McCarthyism still reigns. All true — though it seems like with each successive fight around the Israel-Palestine issue … our side gets stronger and stronger. But here’s the deal. You want Wiesenfeld off the Board? Organize for it. Get every department in the entire CUNY system to take a vote calling for his instant resignation. Then lead a march to his office at Bernstein Global Wealth Management here in New York. Hold weekly sit-ins there, and at 80th Street, till the man goes. Or have every department in the system take a vote of “no confidence” in the trustees, calling for a restoration of faculty governance and academic freedom. You have a voice. Use it.”
Whether or not you agree with Wiesenfeld’s position or his style, he had a right as a trustee to voice his views.
On what grounds should Wiesenfeld be ousted? For expressing an unpopular opinion? I thought that’s what freedom of speech is all about.
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