CUNY’s Baruch College slammed for trying to block Jewish festival: ‘It’s appalling. It’s insane’

A “New Year” and the same antisemitism on college campuses found one New York City school slammed for allegedly blocking a Jewish festival over concerns of “public safety.”

Despite widespread coverage, congressional hearings, and scores of arrests, it appears that little headway has been made in deterring Hamas sympathizers from harassing and intimidating Jewish students. Now, according to Ilya Brayman, an English professor and Hillel director for the City University of New York’s (CUNY) Baruch College, school officials have initially told students not to hold their Rosh Hashanah festival because they could not “guarantee their security.”

Speaking with the New York Post, Brayman said, “We were told by the administration that the campus can’t guarantee the safety of Jewish students because of other agitators who want to hurt, intimidate, or harass them.”

“It’s appalling. It’s insane.”

According to the newspaper, it took a coordinated effort from students, Baruch trustees, and New York Rep. Ritchie Torres (D) to get the school to have a change of heart about the Jewish New Year celebration running from Oct. 2-4 this year.

Writing to CUNY Chancellor Felix Matos Rodriguez, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D), New York City Mayor Erica Adams (D), and interim NYPD Commissioner Tom Donlon, Torres asserted, “Public safety should not be an excuse for denying religious liberty, which is protected right under the First Amendment. Religious liberty should be a reason to guarantee public safety.”

“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?” the congressman expressed as the one-year anniversary of the Oct. 7 terror attack in Israel draws near.

“Imagine, for a moment, if the KKK were harassing black students on or near CUNY’s campus. Or if the congregants of the Westboro Baptist Church were harassing LGBTQ students. Or if white nationalists, acting on the Great Replacement Theory, were harassing immigrants?” he added as, earlier in September a Jewish freshman at the college had been taunted by a “violent mob” while dining at the kosher restaurant Mr. Broadway during a Hillel International sponsored event. “Does anyone think the response from the NY political and academic establishment would be anything other than overwhelming outrage?”

Decrying “institutionalized antisemitism” and “under-policing” of perpetrators, Torres asserted Jewish students had been “hijacked by the menacing atmosphere of antisemitic harassment and intimidation that has taken hold at CUNY.”

Adding to the concern, Brayman went on to tell the Post as rallies coordinated by Students for Justice for Palestine were being planned to mark that anniversary, “Antisemitism is endemic because there are no repercussions.”

According to their own social media, SJP intended to begin a “Week of Rage” on Oct. 7, asserting that universities were complicit in genocide as they continued their “fight for total liberation from the river to the sea.”

Meanwhile, a statement from the school asserted, “Baruch College did not request that students or faculty cancel Rosh Hashanah celebrations and any reports suggesting otherwise are entirely false.”

“A Rosh Hashanah Festival will continue as planned on the nearby public plaza on September 26,” they added. “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.”

Additionally, a spokesperson for the NYPD expressed, “The Department takes any report of hate crimes seriously and will conduct thorough investigations with the goal of making arrests and bringing the individuals responsible to justice.”

Kevin Haggerty

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