In march, a new resolution was approved by New York State officials and lawmakers that stated that the budget cuts to CUNY were to “send a message” due to its inaction towards anti-semitic incidents on its campuses. At first glance, the proposal seems well intentioned, but upon closer inspection it becomes clear that their claim is a thinly veiled negotiation tactic to shame CUNY. The state, by tacking on these allegations of inactivity towards anti-Semitism to a budget cut that has nothing to do with anti-Semitism, as a seeming punishment, is subversive and uses these anti-Semitic instances as a scapegoat to take money from CUNY for their own purposes.
In fact, CUNY’s budget has been hotly debated in since December for reasons completely unrelated to anti-Semitism. In December, The Professional Staff Congress, which represents 25,000 CUNY faculty and members, claimed that the state had not negotiated with them in good faith for the past six years, hence, they have had neither a contract nor cost of living increases during that time. In December, the group sent a letter detailing these grievances to Governor Cuomo, demanding a new contract and salary increases. Their demands were ignored by the state. In January, instead of negotiating with the union, the governor proposed to cut CUNY’s budget by $485 million — one-third of CUNY’s budget — and proposed that the city pays for CUNY’s deficit with untapped tax revenue. The issue of CUNY’s on campus policies was never raised throughout the negotiations. Therefore, the claim that the budget cuts were in response to on campus anti-Semitism came as a totally out-of-the-blue and clearly unrelated to the labor negotiations at hand.
The anti-semitic incidents referred to were presented in a letter from the ZOA (Zionist Organization of America), which described incidents at four colleges in particular – Hunter College, Brooklyn College, the College of Staten Island, and John Jay College. The incidents that are cited include swastikas and anti-semitic slurs being drawn on campus walls, as well as hostile demonstrations that threatened violence against Jewish students. Anti-zionist invectives, which quickly degenerated into overly anti-semitic invectives, such as “Jews out of CUNY!” “Zionists out of CUNY!” and “Jews are racist sons of bitches!” were shouted. The letter goes on to state that many jews feel unsafe comfortable attending these campuses.
Nevertheless, despite the state’s accusations of inaction, CUNY hired two high-profile former prosecutors to investigate the allegations of anti-Semitism. The act was commended by the Anti-Defamation League, an organization dedicated to combating anti-Semitism around the world, which stated that, "CUNY is taking these allegations seriously.” The Anti-Defamation League also expressed concern over the State Senate’s decision and said defending CUNY is the “wrong solution to a real problem.”
Rather than combatting anti-Semitism, the attribution of the budget cut feeds into the anti-semitic atmosphere. It is outrageous for the state to capitalize on this issue to avoid finding an honest resolution to its labor disputes. This makes the state an unwitting accomplice to those who foment anti-Semitism on campus and shamefully makes Jewish students unwitting pawns in their negotiations. As a young jew myself, I can attest that the last thing we need is more guilt.
