AJC Welcomes Report That Outlines Failures to Address Antisemitism at CUNY Campuses

American Jewish Committee (AJC) today welcomed a sweeping report that found the City University of New York (CUNY) is ill-equipped to handle rampant antisemitism at many of its campuses.

The report, commissioned last year by New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, found that CUNY's handling of antisemitism complaints across its 25 campuses is inconsistent, confusing, and in need of a complete overhaul.

"This report confirms what we long have been hearing, especially after the October 7 Hamas massacre in Israel, that antisemitism is a persistent problem at many CUNY schools," said Laura Shaw Frank, Director of AJC's Center for Education Advocacy. "It offers a comprehensive blueprint for how Jewish students and faculty can feel safe and protected while protecting academic freedom and free expression."

The purpose of the report, written by Jonathan Lippmann, New York's former chief judge, was not to assign blame for past incidents, although he noted he "did find enough blame to go around" for how prior incidents were handled. Rather, Lippmann and his team from the Latham & Watkins law firm set out to determine how CUNY currently handles antisemitism complaints and issue recommendations on how to better this process.

Among its key findings and recommendations:

• Some CUNY policies and procedures are outdated and do not conform with current law, leading to confusion about how to file an antisemitism complaint.
• Some CUNY students do not feel safe on campus, because they were forced to walk through active protests to attend classes. Lippman wrote that CUNY must strengthen its "time, place and manner" restrictions for protests, which he said would also protect the rights of students who peacefully protest.
• CUNY must better address the use of social media, following repeated instances of groups using CUNY accounts to "advance inappropriate hate speech." Lippmann called CUNY's social media policies "woefully dated" and said it needed to make clear the consequences of violating those policies.
• CUNY must respect the First Amendment rights of faculty and students but hold accountable those who engage in antisemitism. Lippmann called on CUNY to draft a policy on free speech and expressive conduct.
• Antisemitism and discrimination is carried out on CUNY campuses by a "small, vocal minority of individuals." Most students are focused primarily on their education, according to the report.

"Given how deep and systemic the problem of antisemitism has been at CUNY, it is now in a position to effect meaningful change without delay or excuses," AJC New York Director Josh Kramer said. "Jewish students and faculty deserve no less."

CUNY was among about 75 institutions that attended the College and University Presidents Summit on Campus Antisemitism in Washington this week. The summit was hosted by AJC, Hillel and the American Council on Education.

AJC has created a toolkit f or university administrators in response to a spike in antisemitic incidents on college campuses nationwide and offered specific recommendations for the 2024-25 academic year.

AJC is the global advocacy organization for the Jewish people. With headquarters in New York, 25 regional offices across the United States, 15 overseas posts, as well as partnerships with 38 Jewish community organizations worldwide, AJC's mission is to enhance the well-being of the Jewish people and Israel and to advance human rights and democratic values in the United States and around the world. For more, please visit www.ajc.org.

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