New York Governor Orders CUNY Take Down Job Posting for Palestinian Studies

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul has reportedly ordered a City University of New York (CUNY) college to remove a job posting for a professorship in Palestinian Studies, sparking outrage among advocates who say she is contributing to the censorship and dehumanization of Palestinians amid widespread repression of anti-Zionists across the U.S.

The New York Post, quoting Hochul’s office and CUNY officials, reported that the Democrat ordered the takedown along with an investigation into the institution, Hunter College, to “ensure that antisemitic theories are not promoted in the classroom,” seemingly without substantial cause.

CUNY complied with the order, and postings for two positions within the social sciences and arts and humanities departments have been taken down.

The order came after fervently Zionist groups waged a campaign accusing Hunter College of spreading “blood libel” in posting the jobs — a common accusation hurled by Zionist groups, often without substantial evidence to back it up — and likening the posting to Nazi propaganda. The job listing did not mention Israel or Jewish people.

“We seek a historically grounded scholar who takes a critical lens to issues pertaining to Palestine including but not limited to: settler colonialism, genocide, human rights, apartheid, migration, climate and infrastructure devastation, health, race, gender and sexuality. We are open to diverse theoretical and methodological approaches,” the posting said.

CUNY Chancellor Felix Matos and board chair William Thompson said in a statement to the Post that they “strongly agree” with Hochul’s order and that the posting is “divisive, polarizing and inappropriate.”

Zionists have long targeted CUNY and Hunter College, making accusations of widespread antisemitism which have often been refuted by students and faculty at the school; in fact, in 2023, Hunter College’s Jewish Studies Center was awarded a prize for its “innovative campaign fighting anti-Semitism on college campuses” by New York’s city council.

Advocates for Palestinian rights said that Hochul’s order is the latest in a long string of moves from both major political parties targeting protesters against Israel’s genocide in Gaza — and, even further, attempting to erase the very concept of Palestine and Palestinian identity.

“A new McCarthy era is upon us. Stupid, depressing, and dangerous as ever,” said Heba Gowayed, a sociology professor at Hunter College, on Bluesky. “Too many are complicit. I’ll need to find upset and action, but for now I’m feeling grief at the dehumanization inherent to all this.”

Pro-Palestine protesters and advocates have indeed been subject to some of the worst state and institutional oppression in recent years, with university officials instrumentalizing the law to harshly punish their own students and faculty as lawmakers pass legislation to create even more tools for repression.

“This is disgusting,” said Eman Abdelhadi, assistant sociology professor for University of Chicago. “Democrats like Hochul are validating the Right’s playbook: dictating the terms of higher education decisions and destroying academia in the process.”