College denies claims of blocking celebration as activists bash school for ‘under-policing’ antisemitism
The City University of New York’s Baruch College is under fire after accusations that it attempted to block a Rosh Hashanah celebration from taking place on campus due to security concerns.
Administrators deny these claims and the event, scheduled for next week, is expected to go on as planned, according to news reports.
The college had allegedly told Jewish students not to host the celebration on Sept. 26 because the school could not “guarantee their security” due to “other agitators who want to hurt, intimidate or harass them,” Baruch College English professor Ilya Brayman said, according to The New York Post.
Israel National News reports campus leaders denied blocking the event.
“Baruch College did not request that students or faculty cancel Rosh Hashanah celebrations and any reports suggesting otherwise are entirely false,” the college told the news outlet.
“A Rosh Hashanah Festival will continue as planned on the nearby public plaza on September 26.”
“Baruch College does not tolerate antisemitism or any act of hate and is dedicated to providing a learning environment that is safe and fosters respect and inclusion for every member of the community,” according to the statement.
But Jewish students, faculty, and public officials are condemning campus leaders for this latest incident as well as their overall handling of campus antisemitism, demanding stronger protections.
New York Rep. Ritchie Torres (pictured), Baruch trustees, and Jewish students and faculty sent a letter to CUNY Chancellor Felix Matos Rodriguez, Governor Kathy Hochul, Mayor Eric Adams, and Interim NYPD Commissioner Tom Donlon, condemning them for “under-policing” antisemitism.
“Public safety should not be an excuse for denying religious liberty, which is a protected right under the First Amendment. Religious liberty should be a reason to guarantee public safety,” the letter reads.
“What is it going to take to get New York and CUNY to treat campus antisemitism with the urgency it demands? Must there be a violent assault? Or the loss of a student’s life?” it states.
The letter also stated Jewish students have been “hijacked by the menacing atmosphere of antisemitic harassment and intimidation that has taken hold at CUNY.”
The school allegedly revoked its decision to ban the event after the pushback, but is also denying it ever forbade it in the first place, according to various news reports.
Last week, Rep. Torres met with a group of Jewish students and faculty called the CUNY Alliance for Inclusion to discuss antisemitism on campus, according to a recent post from the New York representative on X.
“The City and the State, as well as the NYPD and CUNY, are fundamentally failing Jewish students, who have been harassed by violent mobs,” he wrote.
The fall semester at Baruch has kicked off with a tumultuous start after anti-Israel protesters converged near campus, hoisting a large banner that stated “Bring the war home” with an AK-47 painted above it, The College Fix reported in August.
Earlier this year, the group Students, Alumni, and Faculty for Equality on Campus urged the American Bar Association to investigate the CUNY School of Law. The group alleged the law school failed to adequately confront antisemitism on campus, as previously reported by The College Fix.
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