The City University of New York public school system welcomes the “independent third-party” review of its “policies and procedures related to antisemitism and discrimination” conducted by Jonathan Lippman, former chief judge of the New York Court of Appeals, Félix Matos Rodríguez, the CUNY chancellor, said during a city hearing on Monday.
Speaking to the New York City Council’s Committee on Higher Education, Rodríguez said that CUNY is making progress on recommendations in the September report.
“The fight against hate and intolerance is particularly important as our nation, our city and some of our campuses face a disturbing uptick in antisemitism,” he said. “While we know there is more work to do, over the last few years, we have built a multi-pronged approach to address this growing problem.”
Eric Dinowitz, who chairs the committee and the council’s Jewish Caucus, told JNS that the goal of the hearing was to focus on implementing the advice of the Lippman report, including a revamped system for students to use to file bias complaints.
“The work of this committee doesn’t happen for a few soundbites,” he said. “This is work that needs to be done so Jewish students can feel safe and welcome at CUNY.”
Rodríguez came to the hearing, “because he recognizes this is a really critical issue for a good portion of the student body,” Dinowitz told JNS. “When students don’t feel safe and don’t feel welcome, that should be deeply disconcerting to everyone.”
To the chancellor’s credit, his “presence sent a message to Jewish students that he’s on their side and wants to fix the structural problems at CUNY,” Dinowitz added.
The hearing was part of a larger process to tackle Jew-hatred at the public school system, according to the committee chair, a Democrat who represents the city’s 11th District, which covers the Bronx, N.Y., including the heavily-Jewish neighborhood of Riverdale.
“It is going to take all levels of government to address discrimination at CUNY,” Dinowitz said. “The state and city both significantly fund CUNY, and it’s going to take all of us working together to address the issue.”
The state budget for the 2025 fiscal year recommends a total of $5.8 billion for CUNY, including “$441 million in new appropriations and $4.2 billion in reappropriations for capital projects.” CUNY sought $352.1 million from the state and $76.8 million from the city in its 2025 operating budget request.
“When we asked CUNY representatives for certain timelines, they didn’t have any, and we are requesting specific data to follow up with them,” Dinowitz told JNS. “As far as I’m concerned, I’m going to continue to work with CUNY and partners in government to see the recommendations put forth by the Lippman report fully implemented.”
Defining anti-Zionism
Jefferey Lax, a law professor at CUNY who testified at the hearing and who has been one of the most vocal critics of antisemitism at the university, told JNS that the Lippman report didn’t define anti-Zionism as Jew-hatred.
“He totally should have done so,” Lax said. “If there is going to be any progress on this issue, CUNY has to start identifying Zionism as a characteristic that is protected under their discrimination laws.”
“It’s actually more important to define Zionism, because that’s where most of the discrimination nowadays is happening, and it is not widely understood,” he said.
“It’s the only way there is going to be progress and any safety for Jews going forward on these campuses,” he added.
