Governor Hochul Stands Up for Jewish College Students

By Yehudit Garmaise

In a strongly-worded letter directed to SUNY Chancellor John King and CUNY Chancellor Felix Matos Rodriguez, Governor Kathy Hochul made clear yesterday that “calling for the genocide of any group of people” on any of the 62 SUNY campuses or any of the 25 CUNY campuses will not be tolerated as students’ hateful calls for the genocide of Jews has been tolerated at many elite campuses in the U.S.

Hochul called out the “disgraceful answers to questions” about students’ calls for “Jewish genocide” that U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-21)] posed to the presidents of Penn, Harvard, and MIT last week in testimonies before the U.S. Congress.

When Congresswoman Stefanik, who is Jewish and who attended Harvard, asked three female university presidents whether “calling for the genocide of the Jewish people constitutes ‘bullying’ or ‘harassment’ under each of the schools’ codes of conduct, shockingly, not one president said it did.

The many calls for Jewish genocide heard on campus and terrifying Jewish college students everywhere are “context-dependent,” said former Penn president Liz Magill evasively, while smirking.

“If the speech turns into conduct, it could be harassment,” clarified Magill, who resigned yesterday after her chilling testimony outraged students, alumni, and donors.

Schools in New York that do not “keep students free from a hostile environment based on their ethnicity or national origin” are doing so in violation of state and federal laws, and as a result, such schools could lose state and federal funding.

In addition to insisting that all New York colleges consistently apply their codes of conduct, Hochul demanded that each school have in place “clearly defined and well-publicized mechanisms for students to report complaints.”

Governor Hochul’s letter to the chancellors of SUNY and CUNY can be read here.