CUNY's Baruch College tried to halt on-campus celebration of Rosh Hashanah due to security concerns — and only ended up banning the revered course after succumbing to anti-Israel agitators Instead of protecting its Jewish students, the government took this action.
Ilya Bryman, an English professor and Hillel director at Baruch College, told the Post that Jewish students at the public college in Manhattan were asked by school officials not to hold a Sept. 26 event to celebrate the Jewish New Year because Baruch “could not guarantee their safety.”
“We were told by the administration that the campus could not guarantee the safety of Jewish students because other agitators wanted to hurt, intimidate, or harass them,” Breman angrily said.
“It's horrific. It's crazy.”
CUNY officials “changed their minds” when New York Representative Ritchie Torres joined Baruch trustees and Jewish students and faculty in protesting.
In a scathing letter sent Monday to CUNY Chancellor Felix Matos Rodriguez, Governor Kathy Hochul, Mayor Eric Adams, and interim NYPD Commissioner Tom Donlon, Rep. Torres criticized the “under-policing” of anti-Semitic activities on campus.
“Public safety should not be used as an excuse to deny religious liberty, a right protected under the First Amendment. Religious liberty should be a reason to guarantee public safety,” Torres wrote.
The congressman then urged CUNY and city leaders to act “urgently” to end the Jew hatred that thrives on Empire State campuses.
Torres asked, “What does it take for New York and CUNY to address anti-Semitism on campus with the urgency it needs to? Does it have to be a violent attack? Or does it have to be a student's life that's lost?”
He added, “Imagine for a moment if the KKK were harassing black students on or near CUNY's campus. Or if followers of the Westboro Baptist Church were harassing LGBTQ students. Or if white nationalists acting on the Great Replacement theory were harassing immigrants?”
“Does anyone think the reaction from New York’s political and academic establishment will be anything other than overwhelming outrage?”
Torres alleged that Jewish students have been “hijacked by the dangerous climate of anti-Semitic harassment and intimidation that pervades CUNY,” adding that he was shocked to hear “heartbreaking” stories about the rampant anti-Semitism he described. During a meeting Last week there was a meeting with the CUNY Alliance for Inclusion (CAFI).
He specifically mentioned the “violent mob” of pro-Hamas protesters who recently jeered a Jewish Baruch first-year student Attending dinner at a kosher restaurant An event called Mr. Broadway was held earlier this month, sponsored by the group Hillel International.
Hateful harassers called the students “genocide supporters.”
“Inadequate police response to anti-Semitic incidents, which have reached historically high levels, has become its own form of institutional anti-Semitism,” the MP said.
“Anti-Semitism is omnipresent because it has no consequences,” said Bryman, who added that groups affiliated with Students for Justice for Palestine are planning rallies on Oct. 7 to mark the anniversary of Hamas’ covert attack on Israel.
Rep. Torres urged both the state and city, CUNY, and the NYPD to partner with CAFI to implement a strategy to protect Jewish students who feel threatened by the outbreak of anti-Semitism following October 7.
A spokesperson for interim Police Commissioner Donlon assured that the NYPD is “committed to ensuring the public safety of students” at all Big Apple campuses.
“The department takes any reports of hate crimes seriously and will conduct a thorough investigation with the goal of making arrests and bringing those responsible to justice,” the spokesperson said in a statement to the Post.
Rosh Hashanah is celebrated from October 2-4.
