Dear Colleagues,

We write because we care deeply about the City University of New York, our academic and professional home. Our pride in CUNY flows from its intellectual vitality and its commitment to inclusion and upward mobility for all. When high school students from disfavored groups could not gain entry to other universities, and when the potential of high school students from failing schools could not be judged by standard metrics, CUNY stepped in to offer a free, and later, an affordable first-rate college education, providing a path for all New Yorkers to fulfill their professional dreams while becoming lifelong learners and engaged citizens. 

CUNY has a distinguished legacy of welcome, freedom of inquiry, and robust engagement on contentious issues. This legacy is the basis of its support by the people of New York, support needed for the university to thrive. However, that legacy and that support has been placed in jeopardy by the resolution of the Delegate Assembly of the PSC-CUNY union purporting to be in support of the Palestinian People. This resolution condemns Israel for defending itself from aggression and seeks to lay the foundation for the boycott of Israel. This would be a direct attack on CUNY students who want to study in or about Israel, or to openly express their support for Israel. In the spirit of free and open inquiry, we invite you to engage in confidential discussion with any of the CUNY faculty members listed below. They have volunteered so that CUNY’s dynamic intellectual tradition can be kept alive. We would be happy to send you a new book, Israel, A Simple Guide to the Most Misunderstood Country on Earth, by Noa Tishby that could be the basis of discussion. The book is an easy read; its cost will be covered by a fund fully supported by the volunteer discussants. Noa Tishby has made many campus appearances over the last year. Her guest appearances and book talks have elevated the discourse and encouraged civil debate and discussion. Please visit our website to learn more about the reality of Israel and its place in the Middle East. Please find a discussion that places the June 10, 2021 resolution in the context of other statements by the union.

Many who supported the PSC resolution did so in the name of social justice. Indeed, the resolution can only be understood in the context of the development of Western concepts of justice, which have been built by emergent religions, nationalisms, and ideologies using the tool of anti-Judaism (David Nirenberg, Anti-Judaism: The Western Tradition, WW Norton & Company, 2013). Following the Holocaust, and modern protestations against all forms of racism, including antisemitism, a new birth of antipathy to the Jewish People has created a narrative that positions one of the many nationalist conflicts in the Middle East at the epicenter of the world-wide struggle between good and evil, and between native victims and their colonialist oppressors. And so, the PSC, “an academic labor union committed to anti-racism, academic freedom, and international solidarity among workers,” slides into advocating for the suppression of academic freedom and hostility to the collective of the Jewish People without feeling the need to present evidence. This resolution advances the cause of radical Islamic leaders and indiscriminately harms the all the people of the turbulent Middle East. But it is mostly Palestinians who suffer from the support given their leaders' incitement against Jews and Israel and their leaders' opposition to engagement between the people in the region.  Boycotts thwart engagement between peoples which is necessary for achieving a just and lasting peace of any conflict. By promulgating the latest version of the “large untruth,” the PSC deeply insults its own members and citizens of New York who see Israel as a beacon of hope and are inspired by the ability of a tiny democracy to contribute to the well-being of the world in the face of unrelenting efforts to defame and destroy it. We look forward to hearing your perspectives and discussing current political issues and broader questions of tolerance and freedom from oppression at home and abroad.

Respectfully,
The CUNY Alliance for Inclusion (CAFI)