April 8, 2022

Dear Chancellor Matos Rodríguez,

The CUNY Alliance for Inclusion (CAFI) was formed to fight the threat to inclusiveness and academic freedom at CUNY posed by those who seek to exclude and silence supporters of Israel’s right to exist. We write to you now because of the escalation of the attack on core values of the City University. Leaders of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and the Student Government Association at the CUNY School of Law are now demanding that Zionists be barred from CUNY.

In their proclamations at a March 30 rally in downtown Manhattan, CUNY School of Law student leaders call upon their followers to 

“Demand that Zionist professors are not allowed on your campus.”

and to

“Demand that Zionist students are not in spaces where Palestinian students are.”

This brings home the point that anti-Zionism is energized by enmity towards Jews and is a contemporary form of antisemitism. For the majority of CUNY's Jewish community, Zionism is an integral part of their identity; they should not be asked to give up part of themselves as the price of admission to full membership in the CUNY community. 

Hostility to Jews and Israel is becoming part of the embedded legacy imparted to our students. We ask for your leadership to counter this corrosive trend and ensure that CUNY remains a singular engine for intellectual growth, upward mobility, and democratic empowerment. We ask that you declare your support for the inclusion of all students, faculty, and staff within CUNY and stand against the demoralization, marginalization, and ostracism of any community. We look forward to the Jewish experience, including the threat of antisemitism, being an integral part of the Black, Race and Ethnic Studies Initiative at CUNY. We count on CUNY being in the leadership of universities across the country who are working to formulate plans to address campus antisemitism. An essential component of such a plan should be mandatory antisemitism education training for student government leaders and all registered student organizations

We are pleased that you will be visiting Israel in the near future. We ask for the chance to meet with you following your visit to see how we can work together to maintain and strengthen the vitality of CUNY.

Sincerely,
The CUNY Alliance for Inclusion