NY lawmakers condemn CUNY chancellor after anti-Israel melee at Brooklyn College: 'Step up or step down'
A bipartisan group of nine New York City and state lawmakers is demanding Brooklyn College take swift action after a mob of anti-Israel protesters brawled with cops on campus Thursday, resulting in more than a dozen arrests.
'It is unacceptable but not surprising that almost two years after October 7th — after an investigation into CUNY and several public hearings — we are still grappling with disruptive and criminal behavior against Jewish students, encampments and masked agitators on campus,' reads a May 9 letter to Brooklyn College chancellor Félix V. Matos Rodríguez exclusively obtained by The Post.
5 NYC councilmembers and state assemblymembers penned a scathing letter to Brooklyn College chancellor Félix V. Matos Rodríguez after a violent fracas on campus Thursday night culminating in 14 arrests.
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5 The bipartisan letter was penned by NY councilwoman Inna Vernikov and signed by eight of her colleagues in the council and state assembly.
Stephen Yang
The letter was signed by Councilmembers Inna Vernikov, Farah Louis, Mercedes Narcisse, and Robert Holden, and Assemblymembers Kalman Yeger, Lester Chang, Eric Ari Brown, Jamie Williams and Alec Brook-Krasny.
The chaos erupted around 4:50 p.m. Thursday after a group of agitators attempted to start a tent encampment on the Bedford Avenue campus as students were studying for finals.
The protesters 'erected tents on the Brooklyn College quad in violation of college policy,' a Brooklyn College spokesperson said in a statement.
'After multiple warnings to take the tents down and disperse, members of CUNY Public Safety and NYPD removed the tents and dispersed the crowd,' he added.
5 The melee began after anti-Israel demonstrators attempted to set up a tent encampment on the Bedford Avenue campus as students were studying for finals.
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'The safety of our campus community will always be paramount, and Brooklyn College respects the right to protest while also adhering to strict rules meant to ensure the safe operation of our University and prohibit individuals from impeding access to educational facilities.'
The NYPD arrested at least 14 people during the fracas.
However, police waited 'for hours' outside the school's gate before they were allowed on campus to disperse the rioters, the lawmakers' letter said.
Judge Jonathan Lippman — a highly respected, retired state chief judge — conducted a damning 10-month probe into antisemitism at CUNY schools at Gov. Kathy Hochul's behest last year.
5 The letter was addressed to CUNY Chancellor Félix V. Matos Rodríguez, whom Vernikov said to either 'step up or step down.'
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Among the findings were that the state schools' own professors at times fanned the flames of campus antisemitism, and that the CUNY system needs a major overhaul to address the 'alarming' problem.
The lawmakers pointed to an incident on Thursday in which faculty members 'stood in lockstep' with the anti-Israel protesters chanting 'We don't want no Zionists here,' including a staffer named Zeno Wood — who the group claims 'showed the middle finger' to a Jewish student.
The school's website lists Wood as a piano technician at Brooklyn College. He did not immediately respond to The Post's request for comment on Sunday.
Among the demands outlined in the letter is an investigation into Wood, as well as any other faculty members who took part in the protest. The pols further called for those who are alleged to have engaged in misconduct to be terminated.
5 The anti-Israel demonstration at Brooklyn College came a day after another chaotic protest at Columbia University, in which 80 people were arrested and the Ivy League school meted out dozens of suspensions.
Michael Nigro/Pacific Press/Shutterstock
The group also requested extra security at the school's Hillel house, the college's off-campus home for Jewish life, which they say protesters targeted after cops escorted them off campus.
Additionally, they said the school must 'immediately' prohibit facial coverings except for medical reasons across the CUNY system, and allow NYPD to enter campus grounds as soon as safety officers secure the buildings during unlawful disruptions.
The letter requires a response no later than the end of business on Monday, May 12.
Vernikov went a step beyond the letter and called on the chancellor to resign if he didn't sort out the chaos.
'There are only two ways to end the pro-terror anarchy that has infested our campuses: for the CUNY Chancellor to either step up or step down,' she told The Post Sunday.
'We are far past the time of allowing leadership at the top to play politics with the lives of Jewish students. Inaction isn't going to slide anymore.'
The incident at Brooklyn College came a day after dozens of masked anti-Israel radicals stormed Columbia University's Butler library, resulting in 80 arrests. The Ivy League school handed out dozens of interim suspensions to students involved in the takeover pending further investigation.
In March, Columbia agreed to adhere to a series of Trump administration demands aimed at curbing campus antisemitism, under threat of losing around $400 million in federal funds.
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