New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, told Hunter College, a public school that is part of the City University of New York system, to remove a job posting for a Palestinian studies professor, a spokesperson for the governor told New York Post on Tuesday.
JNS viewed the job listing before it was removed from the CUNY website. The college said it was looking for a tenure-track professor, who would be a part of at least one of the anthropology, history, sociology, political science, and women’s and gender studies departments.
The role, which carried a salary range of $82,928 (for the low end of an assistant professor) to $141,858 (on the high end for a full professor), was one of two Palestinian studies positions that the school was looking to fill, per the job posting. It stated that candidates must hold a Ph.D. and ideally “will also have a record of public engagement and community action.”
“We seek a historically grounded scholar who takes a critical lens to issues pertaining to Palestine including but not limited to settler colonialism, genocide, human rights, apartheid, migration, climate and infrastructure devastation, health, race, gender and sexuality,” wrote the public college’s job listing. “We are open to diverse theoretical and methodological approaches.”
Hochul “has directed CUNY to immediately remove this job posting and conduct a thorough review of the position to ensure that antisemitic theories are not promoted in the classroom,” a spokesperson for the governor told the Post. “The governor has continued to strongly condemn all forms of antisemitism and has made clear that hateful rhetoric of any kind has no place at CUNY or anywhere in New York State.” (JNS sought comment from the governor’s office.)
The American Jewish Committee told JNS the job posting was offensive.
“It is an insult to students and all those who value education based in critical thinking, viewpoint diversity and fact-based inquiry that a job description for a Palestinian Studies professor at Hunter College sought candidates who would further a divisive, one-sided narrative that would have been replete with falsehoods about Israel,” the AJC said.
“We thank Gov. Hochul for ordering the listing’s removal and ensuring that taxpayer dollars are not used to stoke hatred toward Israel, which often turns into outright antisemitism,” the AJC told JNS. “While CUNY has taken some measures in recent months to address the many concerns of Jewish students and faculty at its campuses, this job should never have been posted in the first place.”
“Academic freedom is not at odds with the need to ensure that Jewish students and faculty can learn in environments free from prejudice, in fact, it requires it,” it added.
“Thank you, Gov. Hochul, for taking decisive action against a course that would have promoted hate and antisemitic conspiracy theories at CUNY,” stated the UJA-Federation of New York. “This decision reaffirms the importance of fostering a respectful and inclusive educational environment.”