Brooklyn, NY – Elected Officlas Condemn Brooklyn College For Sponsoring Anti-semitic Lectures

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    Press Conference Denouncing Brooklyn College For co-sponsoring Racist Lectures January 31 2013 at Brooklyn College, Main Gate On Bedford Ave. Photography by Stefano GiovanniniBrooklyn, NY – Assemblymembers Dov Hikind and Steve Cymbrowitz along with former NYC Comptroller Bill Thompson addressed a huge gathering of students, faculty and press this morning at Brooklyn College to strongly criticize Brooklyn College for officially co-sponsoring an anti-Israel lecture featuring a well-known racist. The event “BDS Movement Against Israel,” which is scheduled to take place on the Brooklyn College campus on February 7, will be co-sponsored by Brooklyn College’s Political Science Department.

    “This lecture, which is funded by tax dollars, gives a platform to the BDS movement, whose goal is to delegitimize Israel’s existence,” said Assemblyman Hikind. “Like its philosophical brothers in Hamas, BDS aims to eliminate the State of Israel from the map. Only its tactics differ from its terrorist cousins: While Hamas blows up busses of innocent men, women and children, BDS works to isolate Israelis, to cut them off from business.”
    Press Conference Denouncing Brooklyn College For co-sponsoring Racist Lectures January 31, 2013 at Brooklyn College, Main Gate On Bedford Ave. Photography by Stefano Giovannini
    “This isn’t an issue of freedom of speech. This isn’t about having a dialogue. This is about the City’s University, which uses public funds, officially sponsoring speakers who call for the annihilation of the State of Israel; speakers who praise Hamas and Hezbollah. I asked President Gould to just withdraw the official support of the Political Science Department because that support is the City University giving its endorsement. Do that and we have no issue. They can go on and have their hateful forum. But President Gould doesn’t get it.”

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    The Brooklyn College Political Science Department co-sponsored event invites students to hear seasoned propagandist Omar Barghouti, founder of the BDS, who has compared Israelis to Nazis and added that he won’t take a lecture from a “white person”. Barghouti will be joined by Judith Butler, an apologist for Hamas and Hezbollah.

    Assemblyman Hikind’s office reached out numerous times to Paisley Currah, chairman of the Brooklyn College Political Science Department. Currah would not accept his calls, nor calls from other elected officials. Hikind called Currah a coward.

    In addition to former NYC Comptroller Bill Thompson, numerous elected officials turned out this morning to condemn Brooklyn College’s sponsorship of the BDS event, including: NYS Senator Eric Adams, NYS Senator John Sampson, NYS Assemblywoman Rhoda Jacobs, NYS Assemblyman Alan Maisel, NYS Assemblyman Michael Simanowitz, NYS Assemblywoman Helene Weinstein, NYC Councilman David Greenfield and NYC Councilman Mike Nelson.

    Also in attendance were Helen Freedman, Executive Director, Americans For a Safe Israel, as well as Ari Kagan (a leader in the Russian Jewish community) and Wolf Sender, District Manager, Brooklyn Community Board 12. Dr. Rina Yarmish (Chairperson, Mathematics & Computer Science, Kingsborough Community College) addressed the crowd and delivered comments from CUNY Trustee Jeff Wiesenfeld. Joey Saban, a Brooklyn College sophomore, also addressed the crowd.

    NYC Councilman David Greenfield, Press Conference Denouncing Brooklyn College For  co-sponsoring Racist Lectures


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    22 Comments
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    joeynathan
    joeynathan
    11 years ago

    were is the jdl to crack a few heads

    Aryeh
    Aryeh
    11 years ago

    Gould is a self-hating Jew. She has refused any attempts to make the University balanced and fair. Her agenda is radical.

    Materetsky
    Materetsky
    11 years ago

    for the record paisley currah is a woman who identifies as a man. if that gives the cause more legitimacey 🙂

    11 years ago

    I am not going to comment whether it is right or wrong. I am merely supplying the public with an email that was sent to all brooklyn college students and staff members
    Dear students, faculty, and staff,

    Each semester, student clubs, academic departments, and other groups on our campus host events and invite speakers on a broad range of topics. At times, the issues discussed may be challenging and the points of view expressed may be controversial.

    Next week, Students for Justice in Palestine is hosting two speakers who will discuss their views on the BDS movement, which calls for boycott, divestment, and sanctions against Israel. The event is co-sponsored by several campus and community organizations, including the political science department.

    The rest will follow…

    11 years ago

    As an institution of higher education, it is incumbent upon us to uphold the tenets of academic freedom and allow our students and faculty to engage in dialogue and debate on topics they may choose, even those with which members of our campus and broader community may vehemently disagree. As your president, I consistently have demonstrated my commitment to these principles so that our college community may consider complex issues and points of view across the political and cultural spectrum.
    more to follow

    11 years ago

    Unfortunately, some may believe that our steadfast commitment to free speech signals an institutional endorsement of a particular point of view. Nothing could be further from the truth. Brooklyn College does not endorse the views of the speakers visiting our campus next week, just as it has not endorsed those of previous visitors to our campus with opposing views. We do, however, uphold their right to speak, and the rights of our students and faculty to attend, listen, and fully debate. We also encourage our students and faculty to explore these issues from multiple viewpoints and in a variety of forums so that no single perspective serves as the sole source of information or basis for consideration.
    In addition, as I have said on several occasions, our college community values mutual respect and civil discourse. We ask all students, faculty, staff, and guests on our campus to conduct themselves accordingly so that Brooklyn College continues to be a learning environment where all may discuss and debate issues of importance to our world.
    Sincerely,
    Karen L. Gould

    cmvasquez
    cmvasquez
    11 years ago

    BDS. Let’s stop using acronyms and call it what it is… the Arab Boycott, Divest, and Sanction, campaign against Israel…no free speech here.

    11 years ago

    why don’t ALL Jewish students at Brooklyn just PLAY LOUD MUSIC inside the auditorium to drown out the HATERS

    Mordechai_Ben_Yaakov
    Mordechai_Ben_Yaakov
    11 years ago

    In light of the email shared by BC Student, perhaps we should organize for hate groups such as the KKK to speak at Brooklyn College and see what Ms. Gould’s response would be. After all, “it is incumbent upon us to uphold the tenets of academic freedom and allow our students and faculty to engage in dialogue and debate on topics they may choose, even those with which members of our campus and broader community may vehemently disagree” (according to Gould).

    EsqFrum
    EsqFrum
    11 years ago

    If Gould or the political science department wanted to encourage academic freedom and “debate” or “dialogue” she would have requested that the political science department also invite a speaker to represent a different or opposing viewpoint.

    ShlomoH
    ShlomoH
    11 years ago

    Can we organize a massive protest on the day of the lecture? Let’s turn out in droves (thousands of people) and voice our opposition!! Assemblyman Hikind, can you organize a rally as such?

    ReuvenN
    ReuvenN
    11 years ago

    Student fees and taxpayer money are being used to sponsor this blatantly anti-Semitic and pro-genocide event. I agree with Dov Hikind. The Brooklyn College president must be replaced, as should the head of the polical science department. I urge all to contact Brooklyn College with their protests. I have.