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CUNY Law suspends commencement speakers in wake of anti-Israel fiasco - USTimeToday

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CUNY Law has quietly banned student speakers from next year’s class, The Post has learned, months after hateful speech sparked widespread condemnation and a resulting public relations nightmare.After CUNY law graduate Fatima Mousa Mohammed’s fiery, anti-Israel commencement speech, the school is under continued pressure to restore its tarnished image.However, the change was met with mixed reactions from the Jewish community.“It’s a big step in the fight against hate speech at the law school – that they change the process to make sure that what happened in the last two years doesn’t happen again,” Councilwoman Inna Vernikov told The Post, after learning of the action arose from her meeting with CUNY Board of Trustees Chairman Bill Thompson last month.“They are trying to make a statement that the university will not approve such speech.”CUNY has been embroiled in a fierce investigation into its alleged anti-Semitic culture after it allowed a scathing speech in May in which Mohammed infamously claimed that Israel was guilty of indiscriminately killing Palestinians.The graduate and Palestinian activist condemned Israel for “murdering the old and the young and even attacking funerals and cemeteries while encouraging lynch mobs to target Palestinian homes and businesses.”She also called the city’s police force “fascist” and said the university’s central administration was “racist” – to loud cheers and applause.It was the second year in a row that problematic student speakers expressed unbridled hostility toward the Jewish state.During CUNY Law School’s 2022 commencement, student government speaker and “blatant anti-Semite” Nerdeen Kiswani said he had done so previously called for abolition She called the “illegitimate” state of Israel the “key to peace” and claimed she was “subjected to a campaign of Zionist harassment by well-funded organizations with ties to the Israeli government and military based on my Palestinian identity and organization.”CUNY faced a swift and relentless backlash from back-to-back hate speech earlier this year — and was public enemy number one for the Jewish community.“We appreciate the small steps, but everything they do can’t just be a reaction to bad press,” Vernikov added of the school’s move to stop student commencement speeches first reported by the Forward. “There has to be a real commitment to change. It can’t just be a constant reaction to their PR failures.”Adar Rubin from the advocacy group Stop the hatred of Jewstold the Post that he discovered an X account with detailed notes from a CUNY faculty meeting last month, to a “very homophobic” allegation detailing the school’s decision to ban future student speakers.The leaked note goes on to say that administration floated the idea of ​​a “private” event before it began, where a student speaker could address the class.The leaked note also states that disgruntled representatives of the “SG” (Student Government) criticized the decision and informed the faculty and administration at the September 13 meeting that the decision “would be viewed as censorship and restriction of free expression “.The notes of the meeting, posted to a now-deleted accountrevealed that CUNY Law School Dean Sudha Setty suffered a headache after Mohammed’s speech, citing the “anti-Palestinian harassment” faced by CUNY and other schools in New York.Rubin, who called on CUNY to recognize his group’s action plan to combat “systemic Jew hatred,” added that eliminating student speakers was “a nice gesture, but not nearly close enough to the right steps that need to be taken.” , and pointed out the pressure that is on the school.Rubin noted that the move also comes after the embattled university sparked outrage in August over its decision to hire pro-Palestinian professor Marc Lamont Hill, who was fired from CNN for his speech about Israel.“The climate will only get worse if nothing is done. The whole world looks at CUNY and laughs at their complete failure to support these completely traumatized Jewish students,” Rubin said, shuddering at the firsthand stories he had heard. “No Jewish student should ever have these experiences.”Rubin noted that CUNY’s refusal to curb the hate “is almost like they’re proud to wear it on their sleeve.”After celebrating the Jewish holiday of Sukkot with members of Brooklyn College on Thursday, CUNY Chancellor Felix Matos Rodriguez said, tweeted“CUNY works hard to foster a climate that is inclusive of all community members…”The chancellor, who did not respond to the Post’s request for comment, was criticized for skipping a critical hearing of the City Council’s Higher Education Committee in the spring involving allegations that students and teachers were being targeted in the system because of their Jewishness faith would be targeted.Representatives from CUNY Law did not respond to The Post’s request for comment.

CUNY Law has quietly banned student speakers from next year’s class, The Post has learned, months after hateful speech sparked widespread condemnation and a resulting public relations nightmare.After CUNY law graduate Fatima Mousa Mohammed’s fiery, anti-Israel commencement speech, the school is under continued pressure to restore its tarnished image.However, the change was met with mixed reactions from the Jewish community.“It’s a big step in the fight against hate speech at the law school – that they change the process to make sure that what happened in the last two years doesn’t happen...

CUNY Law suspends commencement speakers in wake of anti-Israel fiasco - USTimeToday

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