The City University of New York School of Law (CUNY Law) was hit with a complaint Tuesday after a Jewish advocacy group wrote a letter to the American Bar Association (ABA) about an anti-Israel policy adopted by faculty in 2022.
In June 2022, faculty at the law school adopted a boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) resolution to resist âIsraeli settler colonialismâ and called for a boycott of any and all support of Israel to protest the alleged âoccupationâ and âwar crimesâ against Palestinians. In response, Safe CUNY, a Jewish advocacy organization, sent a letter of complaint to the ABA arguing that the resolution violates the associationâs standards for accreditation and demanding that the law school lose its accreditation status for supporting anti-Israel policies. (RELATED: NYC Law School Commencement Speaker Calls The Law âWhite Supremacy,â Advocates âRevolutionâ)
Safe CUNY claimed that the law schoolâs resolution violated the ABAâs nondiscrimination and diversity standards, which prohibit discrimination against students, faculty, employees and programs based on religion or nationality. The group argued the BDS resolutionâs approval of banning the Jewish student organization Hillel was one of the multiple examples of how the resolution targets âIsraeli and Zionist Jewsâ on campus.
âIn addition, the implemented BDS policy ⌠institutionalizes and effectuates an academic boycott of Israeli universities, Israeli scholars, and any other scholars that engage in research and publication with Israeli institutions or Israeli scholars,â the letter read. âCUNY Lawâs actively implemented BDS policy employs a boycott and divestment of ⌠companies, which it claims, are somehow complicit in âwar crimesâ and other atrocities, by virtue of having had any connection to, worked in any way with, or done any business with an Israeli business, and Israeli individual or with the State of Israel.â
*Alert*
SAFE CUNY has filed a complaint with the American Bar Association demanding removal of @CUNYLawâs accreditation based on new and EXTENSIVE proof that CUNY Law implements illegal BDS policy and based on CUNYâs public admissions of discriminatory conduct at the school. pic.twitter.com/YHFb01gJIb
â SAFE CUNY (@SAFECUNY) June 6, 2023
The group also noted a statement from CUNY Chancellor Matos RodrĂguez on May 30, 2022, that similarly condemned the BDS policy and called the boycott âcontrary to a universityâs core mission to introduce students to a world that can be vastly different from their own.â
âCUNY does not support and to be clear cannot participate in BDS activities, and is required to divest public funds from any companies that do,â RodrĂguez said.
The group concluded by asking the ABA to review the policy and âtake all appropriate measuresâ including, and up to, removing the law schoolâs accreditation, according to the letter. When asked for comment, the accrediting arm of the ABA told the Daily Caller News Foundation that accreditation matters, including investigations, are handled confidentially under its rules.
The university was recently the subject of criticism after allowing a commencement speech by CUNY Law student Fatima Mohammed that bashed Israel and commemorated the âferocity of the violenceâ of âthose who carry the revolution.â Elected officials and Jewish advocates have called for an investigation into the university system following the speech, arguing that it was an âegregious display of hostility.â
CUNY Law and Safe CUNY did not immediately respond to the DCNFâs request for comment.
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This post originally appeared on and written by:
Tyisha Fetzer
The Daily Caller 2023-06-06 16:30:05