The Chancellor of the City University of New York (CUNY) forcefully rejected a resolution passed by the School of Law’s Student Government Association on December 2 endorsing the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement and targeting Jewish campus groups. This stands in marked contrast to Duke University’s half-hearted response to its own student government, which said merely that the student government’s behavior “raised concerns” and that it had “identified options” for Students Supporting Israel to gain university funding.

The CUNY Law student resolution accuses the school of being “directly complicit in the ongoing apartheid, genocide, and war crimes perpetrated by the State of Israel against the Palestinian people through its investments in and contracts with companies profiting off of Israeli war crimes.” It went on to claim that “a number of student organizations across CUNY receive money from the State of Israel, or from organizations lobbying on behalf of the State of Israel, and whose mission includes support for the State of Israel, and whose practices include surveillance, intimidation, [and] harassment of Palestine solidarity activists on campuses. These organizations include Hillel, CAMERA, StandWithUs, Bulldogs for Israel, Israel Independence Day Committee, United 4 Israel, Israel Student Association, [and] Students Supporting Israel at City College of New York.”

In response, CUNY Chancellor Matos Rodriguez said the following:

To be clear, CUNY cannot participate in or support BDS activities and is required to divest public funds from any companies that do. The resolution also states that CUNY and the CUNY School of Law are complicit in censoring Palestinian solidarity organizations and in committing war crimes against the Palestinian people, a characterization that we completely reject. It also calls on the University to end all academic exchange programs with Israel, which is contrary to a university’s core mission to expose students personally and academically to a world that can be vastly different to their own, particularly through international exchange programs.

As mentioned previously, CJV garnered national coverage with its letter to Duke’s president and provost, excoriating the antisemitic double standard exhibited by the student government and demanding further action. The Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law has now followed up the CJV’s letter with one of their own, claiming that the university’s response thus far is “insufficient under the law:”

While we appreciate your efforts to address the matter in your recent statement, it is not sufficient under the law merely to provide ‘options to secure financial and programmatic support’ without formal recognition.” The Brandeis Center went on to explain why Duke is “legally obligated to take corrective action in response to the unlawful treatment of Duke SSI by formally recognizing the student organization and ensuring it has equal access to resources.

Read more at  The New York Post and The Jerusalem Post, and coverage of CJV’s letter to Duke at Fox News.

Photo Credit: Newyorker1987, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons