Jewish Activists Continue Pushing for the State Government to Punish CUNY Law For Not Fighting Anti-Semitism Hard Enough
Jose Nino
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After being sharply criticized by a Jewish advocacy organization, the American Bar Association announced it will entertain complaints about allegations of anti-Semitism occurring at a New York law school.
It is the most recent episode of a prolonged battle between Jewish advocates, the City University of New York School of Law, and the ABA.
The group Students, Alumni, and Faculty for Equality on Campus has repeatedly called on the ABA to launch a probe into the City University of New York School of Law for seven months at the moment. The group asserts CUNY law school is not properly addressing anti-Semitism on campus and should either be stripped of its accreditation or be compelled to change.
The group’s complaints date back to at least 2022, however.
“Once a proud body that upheld the standards of legal education to the highest degree, the ABA has lost its way, capitulating to a mob mentality that does not concern itself with compliance with the law, legal or other ethical standards,” S.A.F.E. Campus declared in an email it sent to the ABA on December 17, 2023.
The original complaint was filed with the ABA Council on Legal Education, alleged that a “now proven and university-admitted active implementation of that [Boycott, Divestments, and Sanctions] policy.”
The complaint argues that the policy “blatantly discriminates against students, prospective students, faculty and employees, and prospective faculty and employees on the basis of ethnicity, religion, and nationality.”
After receiving answers that were not to its liking, S.A.F.E. Campus pushed for an outside party to kick off a probe of the ABA.
“We believe that the Council (and the ABA) upholding illegal discriminatory practices is itself discriminatory behavior and that the Council violated ABA procedures to do so,” the group said in an email that it sent on January 4. “Only an impartial party can determine whether our allegations have merit. “
William Adams, a managing director at the ABA, informed the group it would “ask the Council to reconsider its decision in light of your allegation that the disposition of your complaint was mishandled and to consider your new claim that Rule 45 is applicable.”
Rule 45 mandates the Council on Legal Education to regularly look over complaints received about law schools, per the ABA’s guidelines.
“It will next meet in February,” Adams stated in early January.
Jeffrey Lax, a CUNY law professor who heads S.A.F.E. Campus, said to the university watchdog organization The College Fix that the ABA “gave in a bit here” with respect to further reviewing the organization’s complaints.
The BDS resolution that kicked off the June complaint lists out concerns with CUNY law school’s investments and policies.
Some of these concerns consist of how “CUNY has a history of censoring, repressing, harassing, and surveilling Palestine solidarity activists, including current CUNY Law students and co-sponsors of this resolution,” and that “CUNY offers food and beverage products for purchase on campus that are notorious for violating Palestinian human rights, including PepsiCo and Sabra Hummus.”
The resolution resulted in the Faculty Council and therefore the CUNY School of Law adopting several policies such as including the endorsement of the pro-Palestinian BDS movement and a demand for CUNY to stop all Israeli exchange programs. The resolution also urged the law school to break off all ties with “organizations that repress Palestinian organizing.”
One CUNY law graduate declared that laws are “white supremacy” once the resolution passed. The complaint also made a reference to remarks made by student speaker Fatima Mohammed in the graduation speech she made on May 12, 2022 that the chancellor and the CUNY board of trustees described as “hate speech.”
This prompted S.A.F.E. Campus to contend that this was a violation of ABA standards.
Again, Semitism on campus is not a coincidence. The US government’s decision to unconditionally support Israel in diplomatic, economic, and military terms and also bring in tons of foreign migrants that don’t like Israel’s actions has created massive instability on campuses nationwide. Such ethnic beefs can be prevented by restricting immigration while halting military aid to Israel.
There is no need to destroy free speech nor cater to the demands of crybaby ethnic groups on university campuses.
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