Pro-Palestine CUNY Students Shut Down Board of Trustees Public Hearing

Photo Credits: Victoria Moran

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By Victoria Moran Garcia

On Feb. 10, at the CUNY Board of Trustees Public Hearing at City College, chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine (CCNY SJP) along with other CUNY SJP chapters and pro-Palestinian organizations called on CUNY to implement the five demands of the CUNY Gaza Solidarity Encampment (CUNY GSE).

Open to any student or NYC community member, the meeting’s stated purpose was for the CUNY board members “to receive testimony and statements from concerned individuals” ahead of the official Board meeting on Feb. 18. The student-led rally gathered outside the gates of Aaron Davis Hall, where the hearing was held, and chanted “Disclose, divest, we will not stop we will not rest,” among other refrains.

The disruption of the hearing came nine months after the NYPD and CCNY Public Safety forcibly dispersed the CUNY GSE established by CUNY students and New York City community members on April 25, 2024, on the CCNY campus Quad. The CUNY GSE had outlined five demands for the university system. These included full disclosure and divestment of investments associated with Israel, a statement of solidarity with the Palestinian people, and the protection of pro-Palestine students and workers, as well as the suspension of ties with the NYPD and collaborations with recruitment institutions including the CIA, Homeland Security and ROTC, and the re-establishment of CUNY as a tuition-free institution. When the encampment was swept, police arrested about 170 people, including eight co-defendants who currently face up to seven years in jail on charges of attempted assault and burglary in the third degree for their alleged participation in the CUNY GSE. The GSE has added the demand for all charges against them to be dropped to the other five demands.

CUNY’s Chancellor Félix Matos Rodríguez has remained opposed to the boycott, divestment, and sanctioning of relations with Israel. He testified to this on Nov. 25, 2024, at a New York City Council Committee on Higher Education hearing on CUNY’s response to the Lippman report on antisemitism and discrimination on CUNY campuses. In response to a question about divestment from Chairman Eric Dinowitz, Matos said, “We don't believe…that kind of boycotting academically is appropriate.” 

In his prepared remarks, he also noted that CUNY had “strengthened safety by deploying additional private officers to campuses…[and] has had a longstanding relationship and regularly works with local law enforcement.”

At the February demonstration at CCNY, Public Safety let those wishing to attend the hearing into Aaron Davis Hall via beefed-up security measures. They allowed people through the gates five at a time, searched all bags and instructed everyone to pass through a metal detector, selecting some for an extra check with a wand. Once inside, the community members who had signed up in advance spoke consecutively for their allotted three minutes.

“You should demand with us that genocide-supporting companies like Nestle be removed from our campuses.” -- Chad Kidd, associate professor at City College

“You should demand with us that genocide-supporting companies like Nestle be removed from our campuses,” said Chad Kidd, an associate professor at City College, referring to the transfer of on-campus dining hall and cafe management to Aladdin Food Management. “End the system of corporate loopholes of exploitation of public goods, and ensure that CUNY is fully funded for the people and run by the people!”

Dr. Emma Gelman, director of the Institute for the Critical Study of Zionism, called for the board to ‘side’ with their community. “Every day that fascism advances, is a day that BOT can pick a different side — that your obligation increases, that the shame of failing increases. Return CUNY to our communities, stop making an instrument of fascism, oligarchy, war, and death.”

After the last speaker testified, organizers urged the crowd to stand up and approach the mic chanting together. The trustees and security failed to regain control, and the meeting was cut short. 

The crowd made their way to the building lobby before a tense confrontation between the demonstrators and public safety erupted. The demonstrators were physically pushed out of the building by CCNY public safety and had the school gates locked behind them. The protest continued to walk through the CCNY campus with several public safety officers following them before ending at the quad where the CUNY Gaza Solidarity Encampment stood for five days last April. 

“We will get CUNY to divest,” said CCNY organizer Hadeeqa Malik before the rally dispersed. “We will get the Zionist entity out of every inch of Palestine from the river to the sea by any means necessary.” 

The author of this story previously participated in demonstrations for Palestinian rights.