Jewish professors who were investigated after criticising BDS activity on campus are now suing their university over alleged antisemitism. 

The subject of the lawsuit is a group of "progressive" academics at the City University of New York (CUNY) who allegedly wrote about bringing "violence to Zionists" and prevented Jews from participating in their group.

The Jewish academics have claimed that events were arranged for Friday evenings with the purpose of preventing observant Jewish faculty members from attending. 

The lawsuit, seen by the JC, claims the professors have faced "pervasive anti-religious discrimination" from a “particular group of faculty members” at the college.

These academics, the lawsuit says, are from the Progressive Faculty Caucus of Kingsborough Community College (PFC), which is part of CUNY and was formed in 2016 with the aim of advancing progressive initiatives on campus. 

It is claimed PFC members collaborated with members of the New Caucus of the Professional Staff Congress, a political party of the labour union for faculty at the college, to “dominate campus elections and call for the removal of observant Jewish faculty members, administrators, department chairs and others at Kingsborough".

The academics also claimed the PFC group “denied entry” to every Jewish applicant who wanted to join the group and alleged that events were organised on Friday evenings with the purpose of preventing observant Jewish faculty members from attending due to Shabbat. 

An internal PFC email allegedly mentioned the need to bring “violence to the Zionists” at Kingsborough and antisemitic flyers were distributed on campus. The lawsuit also alleges that nails were found in some Jewish professors' car tyres.

Alongside CUNY, the New Caucus of the Professional Staff Congress, labour union The Professional Staff Congress and several academics at Kingsborough College are named in the lawsuit.

CUNY New York Law

CUNY Law school building in Queens, New York (Photo: Google Maps)

A ruling from New York’s Supreme Court last month said the lawsuit against CUNY, the New Caucus of the Professional Staff Congress, the Professional Staff Congress and several professors could proceed.

CUNY and the Professional Staff Congress, who deny the allegations, had filed a motion to the court to dismiss the lawsuit.

Advocacy group SAFE CUNY, which represents Jewish students and staff at the university, said of the ruling: “SAFE CUNY stands with the long-suffering Observant and Zionist Jewish Kingsborough Community College professors who have endured endless harassment at what is one of CUNY’s darkest hotbeds of antisemitism."

Four of the academics who are part of the legal action were placed under investigation by CUNY earlier this year after expressing concern over BDS activity on the university campus. One of the professors, Jeffrey Lax, revealed he was one of the academics under investigation.

In recent years, CUNY staff and students have reported several alleged antisemitic events on campus.

In May, graduate Fatima Mohammed delivered a speech in which she accused Israel of “indiscriminately raining bullets and bombs on worshippers” and lauding CUNY’s efforts to allow students to “speak out against Israeli settler colonialism.” New York Mayor Eric Adams and Texas republican Senator Ted Cruz condemned the speech. 

The university also came under fire when CUNY's law school faculty endorsed a student government resolution backing the BDS campaign in May 2022.

CUNY, the New Caucus of the Professional Staff Congress at CUNY, the Professional Staff Congress at CUNY and the academics named in the lawsuit were approached for comment.