JVP Academic Council Statement Condemning CUNY Law and CUNY CSI’s Censorship of Commencement Speakers

Dear Chancellor Matos Rodríguez, President Lynch, and members of the Board of Trustees: 

The Academic Council of Jewish Voice for Peace condemns the anti-democratic, anti-liberatory, anti-justice actions of both the CUNY Law School and the CUNY College of Staten Island (CSI) in refusing to allow the democratically elected student commencement speakers to speak freely at their graduation, apparently out of fear that the speakers might affirm the value of Palestinian lives and liberation. In the CUNY Law school case, the administration is not allowing a student speaker at all; in the CSI case, they are pre-recording the speaker, which censors free speech. It is deeply perverse that an institution that prides itself on being the people’s university and loudly proclaims its commitment to student-centered learning would take steps to silence students at what should be a celebration of their achievements and future promise. This censorship displays a cowardly disregard for your students’ right to political expression. It also deeply damages CUNY’s reputation. 

What kind of lessons are you teaching your students with this censorship? You are undermining CUNY’s commitment to the social justice goals you loudly proclaim as the public interest mission of your university. You are saying that Palestinian lives and liberation do not matter. Despite the fact that the student speakers in 2022 and 2023 at CUNY Law received threats for speaking out about Palestinian oppression, you provided neither a single statement nor any kind of support. Even the New York Bar Association criticized CUNY for failing to protect your students’ right to free speech.

Finally, you are demonstrating that you will bow down to authoritarian power with your anticipatory compliance. Your decisions stifle honest, impassioned debate on topics of pressing social concern that should be at the heart of college and law school education. Combined with the CUNY Board of Trustees’ false accusation against one of the speakers, Fatima Mousa Mohammed, your refusal to allow any speakers or to pre-record them not only suppresses the free exchange of ideas but also stifles intellectual growth and undermines the principles of academic freedom that are integral to the pursuit of knowledge and understanding. 

We join the CUNY students, staff, faculty and alumni in firmly demanding that you reinstate the student speaker at the CUNY Law School commencement and that you do not pre-record – in a word censor – the student speaker at CUNY CSI. 

Sincerely, 

Dr. Jonah Rubin, JVP Sr. Manager of Campus Organizing, on behalf of the JVP Academic Council

The Jewish Voice for Peace Academic Council is a network of scholars dedicated to furthering JVP’s vision and values. Drawing upon our shared commitment to both progressive Jewish values and Palestinian liberation, we organize in solidarity with the Palestinian freedom struggle in educational and academic settings. We draw upon our skills as scholars, educators, and writers to develop critical analysis of contemporary censorship on Palestine. We oppose the deployment of the charge of antisemitism to censor or criminalize speech critical of the State of Israel’s treatment of Palestinians.  We defend employment rights, academic freedom, and rights of association within higher education and confirm the core values of Jewish Voice for Peace.