Anti-Semitism claims at CUNY could mean the end of our school

Or at least, there will be no place like CUNY if the claim of anti-Semitism continues to be the apocryphal reason for the New York State Senate to want to cut its budget by $485 million.

Apparently, SJP, Students for Justice in Palestine, “solidarity organizers against U.S imperialism and Zionist Settler Colonialism” is targeted for being anti-semitic and anti-Zionist. SJP is nowhere near anti-Semitic. The organization of Students for Justice in Palestine focuses on solidarity for Palestinian and for any type of anti-Zionist work. It also works with racial/class/gender inequality and voicing any type oppression like anti-semitism. All of these issues are being highlighted and expressed through civil activism, something as simple as tabling-to provide information on what the primary goals of SJP are and be open to all questions regarding these issues.

Last semester’s Million Students March was accused of being anti-Semitic. The purpose of the march was to voice the demands of the students and faculty staff of CUNY and over 100 public schools. The march was organized to deliver three simple demands: tuition-free public colleges, cancellation of student debt, and $15 minimum wage for all campus workers. The only evidence of anti-Semitism, which was provided weeks after the maelstrom of media backlash against Hunter student groups and Jennifer Raab’s statement condemning the march, was of a bystander who wasn’t even a Hunter College student. Hunter College was quick to throw its own students, who come to CUNY for its affordable tuition and educational opportunities, under the bus without proper investigation. So what is that to say about low income minority students engaging in political activity?
Members of ZOA, Zionist Organization of America, had sent out a letter CUNY leaders discussing “anti-Semitic harassment and intimidation Jewish students have been facing at CUNY”. The senior colleges listed were Brooklyn College, Hunter College, John Jay and College of Staten Island. The claims that were against the members of SJPs being anti-Semitic were provided with no evidence.

It’s only SJP that is being singled out for its outreach for solidarity of Palestine and wanting CUNY to divest from institutions that profit from occupations in Palestine. This is not a form of anti-Semitism, this is taking a stand against not only imperialism and settler colonialism and the marginalization of Palestinians in their own homeland. Hunter College cannot stand neutral in such issues specially when Hunter students are being silenced for their activism. So how is cutting the budget suppose to show a lesson to these students? This isn’t a lesson, nor a punishment, this is a locking out of lower income and minority students from CUNY.