NY governor demands public university take down Palestinian studies faculty job posting

In what may well be a nod to the Trump administration, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul issued a stern order to a New York City college to remove a potentially anti-Israel job posting.

Hunter College, which is part of the City University of New York (CUNY), was seeking a “Palestinian Studies” professor with a focus on “settler colonialism, genocide, human rights, apartheid, migration, climate and infrastructure devastation, health, race, gender, and sexuality,” according to The College Fix. The school also wanted someone with a “record of public engagement and community action.”

However, Hochul, a Democrat, worried such a posting would result in an antisemitic conspiracy theorist getting a job at the public college, issuing her demand late last month.

“Governor Hochul has directed CUNY to immediately remove this job posting and conduct a thorough review of the position to ensure that antisemitic theories are not promoted in the classroom,” a Hochul spokesman told The College Fix.

The job listing went up around the same time that CUNY’s Professional Staff Congress rescinded its boycott Israel stance.

That change, and Hochul’s action, were likely prompted by President Donald Trump, who has threatened to withhold federal funding from colleges and universities that fail to crackdown on antisemitism and protect Jewish students on their campuses.

Earlier this month, Columbia University in New York lost $400 million in federal grants over concerns about campus antisemitism.

CUNY law professor Jeffrey Lax said he initially expressed concern about the “abhorrent” curriculum mentioned in the job posting. 

Lax contacted the school’s board of trustees to oppose the position.  

“They’re the most classic [antisemitic] tropes of the modern time and developing a curriculum like that is abhorrent and should never have gone through,” he said. 

The university’s guidelines for new program approval say the college, its trustees and the state review proposed courses. 

After Hochul’s office publicly denounced the proposed position, CUNY Board Chairman William Thompson Jr. and Chancellor Félix Matos Rodríguez agreed with her in a joint statement. 

“We find this language divisive, polarizing and inappropriate and strongly agree with Governor Hochul’s direction to remove this posting, which we have ensured Hunter College has since done,” their statement said. “CUNY will continue working with the Governor and other stakeholders to tackle antisemitism on our campuses and combat hate in all of its forms.” 

Lax said anyone who would approve such a job posting doesn’t belong in academia. 

“If you are approving despicable, hateful curriculum like that, you need to go,” he said. “You’re really not qualified to lead an institution of higher learning if that’s the kind of curriculum that you’re approving. 

“The ad itself only revealed what the hateful curriculum had within it,” he added. 

Over 60 universities nationwide are under federal investigation for antisemitism on campus, according to the U.S. Department of Education.