NEW YORK (AP) — New York’s governor ordered a state school to remove a job posting for a Palestinian studies teaching position this week, saying she wanted to ensure “antisemitic theories” would not be taught.
The job posting at Hunter College had called for a historian “who takes a critical lens to issues pertaining to Palestine including but not limited to settler-colonialism, genocide, human rights, apartheid, migration, climate and infrastructure devastation, health, race, gender, and sexuality,” according to screenshots published by the New York Post, which first reported the job announcement.
Following the coverage, Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, ordered the City University of New York school to remove the posting “and conduct a thorough review of the position to ensure that antisemitic theories are not promoted in the classroom,” her office said in a statement.
The CUNY Board of Trustees agreed, and university officials have since removed the posting for a “Palestinian Studies Cluster Hire,” which was marked as expired on Friday.
“We find this language divisive, polarizing and inappropriate and strongly agree with Governor Hochul’s direction to remove this posting,” Chairperson William C. Thompson Jr. and Chancellor Félix V. Matos Rodríguez, adding they would work “to tackle antisemitism on our campuses and combat hate in all of its forms.”
The governor’s statement added that no class is being canceled.
The CUNY school said it will still hire a relevant expert.
“Hunter College took down the job listings following the concerns raised about the language used in the online posting. We will be reviewing the posting process and look forward to adding scholars with expertise in this subject matter to our distinguished faculty,” the college said in a statement, adding that expertise would include ”Palestinian history, culture, and society.”
The Israel-Hamas war that erupted on Oct. 7, 2023, has tested free speech at U.S. colleges. Pro-Palestinian students and their allies launched protests at campuses across the country, demanding schools divest from Israel in demonstrations that resulted in thousands of arrests. Meanwhile, some Jewish students called on administrators to rein in the protests, saying they made them feel unsafe.
Campus free speech advocates criticized Hochul’s intervention, saying the move hurts academic freedom
“She’s setting a terrible precedent,” Robert Shibley, special counsel for campus advocacy at the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, said in an email. “Involving politicians directly in the process will only further politicize hiring decisions and will undermine academic freedom in public universities across the country.”
Another free speech group called on CUNY officials to reverse their decision.
“The posting may have been offensive to some, but it is the right and responsibility of the academic community to confront challenging areas of inquiry through independent research, teaching, and publishing,” said Kristen Shahverdian, Campus Free Speech program director at PEN America, in a statement Thursday.
PEN, a literary and free expression organization, faced its own protests last year, after a group of pro-Palestinian writers said it did little to “mobilize” members against the Gaza war, in contrast to forceful protests against the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Last month, Israel and Hamas paused the conflict after 15 months of war, in the first phase of a ceasefire that has freed Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners and increased humanitarian aid in Gaza. Officials were negotiating Friday on a second phase of the ceasefire.
