New York Governor Orders to Remove Palestinian Studies Job Listing at Hunter College

New York (Quds News Network)- The Democratic governor of New York ordered Hunter College last week to remove a job listing for positions in Palestinian studies, claiming it was necessary to “ensure that antisemitic theories are not promoted.”

Hunter College – which makes up one of City University of New York’s (CUNY) 25 campuses – advertised it was seeking both humanities and social sciences faculty to take “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”.

The roles were announced Monday afternoon after they were posted on CUNY’s website, but the posts were removed by mid-week.

When the listing was posted, Jewish groups protested the inclusion of words that they claimed are antisemitic when applied to Israel, according to The New York Post.

In a Bluesky post announcing the roles, sociology professor Heba Gowayed said, “I am so pleased to announce a Palestinian Studies cluster hire. This is an incredible source of pride for me as a faculty member and one of the many reasons that I feel so lucky to work here.”

She also said she felt like “the luckiest person in academia…Proud of Hunter administration for being a voice for justice in the face of so much horror.”

According to a statement that The New York Post said her office had issued, governor Kathy Hochul had taken action the next day and ordered the postings be removed “to ensure that antisemitic theories are not promoted in the classroom.”

The very same day, CUNY chancellor Felix Rodríguez and board of trustees chairperson William C Thompson Jr capitulated and announced they agreed with Hochul’s decision to remove the postings, and the university would continue to “tackle antisemitism”.

In a joint statement, they said: “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. CUNY will continue working with the Governor and other stakeholders to tackle antisemitism on our campuses and combat hate in all of its forms.”

By Wednesday, the postings had been taken down.

The Professional Staff Congress, a labour union representing 30,000 faculty and staff at CUNY, hit back at the removal of the postings, calling it “a violation of academic freedom” at Hunter College, in a letter to Hochul and Rodriguez.

“We oppose antisemitism and all forms of hate, but this move is counterproductive. It is an overreach of authority to rule an entire area of academic study out of bounds,” the letter said.

“This is an act of censorship and a break from the norms of respecting academic freedom,” said Gowayed.

“There’s always a lot of censorship and pushback when people talk about Palestine, but no one expected a Democratic governor of New York to get involved in such an egregious way in something that should be decided by the experts in the field.”

She pointed out that terms like “settler colonialism,” “apartheid” and “genocide” appear in many academic fields — and thus many faculty job listings — without objection.

“It’s ironic that Democratic leaders loudly and rightly denounce Republican interference with higher ed, but then do it themselves,” said Corinna Mullin, a CUNY adjunct professor and organizer for the group CUNY4palestine.

“This is part of a larger pattern of overreach and intervention into campus freedom that has accelerated since Oct. 7.”

By Thursday afternoon, when Governor Hochul was scheduled to speak at the City College of New York, also part of the CUNY system, a few dozen demonstrators gathered to protest her canceling the listing, calling it an impingement on critical inquiry.

“You can’t expect people to learn any truths from history if you don’t teach true history,” said Michael Loeb, 51, who has worked in the Department of Education and for CUNY for the last 25 years, and who identified himself as the son of a Holocaust survivor.

The governor’s speech was canceled for security reasons, The Post said.