Antisemitism-Plagued CUNY System to Spend $750,000 to Fight Jew-Hatred, Will Adopt IHRA Definition

The City University of New York (CUNY) system is allocating $750,000 to address rising “antisemitism and other forms of religious or ethnic bigotry” on its 25 campuses, the New York Post reported on Monday.

In a Sept. 28 letter to New York City Councilwoman Inna Vernikov, CUNY Chancellor Félix Matos Rodríguez wrote detailed an eight-point plan to reduce attacks targeting Jews.

“We are developing a system-wide web page for reporting campus incidents, including antisemitism, to facilitate and standardize reporting,” Rodríguez wrote.

Rodríguez also noted that CUNY would adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) Working Definition of Antisemitism.

Check out @CUNY’s official response to our requests! pic.twitter.com/2fEqOBgEcr

— Councilwoman Inna Vernikov (@InnaVernikov) October 6, 2022

“While we are far from celebrating victory, I am pleased to see that CUNY’s response reflects what can be a monumental shift in the right direction within the University system,” Vernikov told the New York Post.

“The fact that they are publicly committing to building a database/system that will record antisemitic incidents for the first time reflects an acknowledgment of a real problem plaguing the halls of CUNY,” she added. “Their willingness to refer to the IHRA Definition of Antisemitism in their DEI training can be be a game changer.”

CUNY has been plagued by a slew of antisemitic incidents in recent years, and a complaint filed with the U.S. Department of Education earlier in July described a “pervasively hostile environment for Jewish students” at CUNY schools.