CUNY Law School commencement failed its Jewish students

The student commencement speaker at CUNY Law School used their platform to denigrate Israel, for the second year in a row.

Photo by Cole Keister on Unsplash

Before a backdrop reading “Law in the Service of Human Needs”, Fatima Mohammed took the stage on May 12, 2023 to deliver her address as the elected commencement speaker for the CUNY School of Public Law’s class of 2023. She began like every commencement address everywhere; thanking professors and parents for their support, and the grand statements about how they made it through those three years of law school, two of which took place at the height of the pandemic. But, within less than a minute of taking her place at the podium, the speech began to take a turn. She talked about recognizing law as a vehicle for White Supremacy and global oppression, and mere moments after that, lauded the CUNY Law faculty for supporting the BDS resolution passed by students at the law school the previous year. She listed off her vision for the future of her cohort, including career paths that can only be seen as professing a clear value judgment about which avenues of law are worthy of celebration or respect. During her speech, which lasted a little over 12 minutes, she spent approximately a quarter discussing Israel or making poorly veil Antisemitic remarks, such as scapegoating Jewish Senator Chuck Schumer. This was, unfortunately an arguable improvement over the address given by graduating student Nerdeen Kiswani during the 2022 CUNY Law School commencement, a resolute anti-Israel activist, who spent close to the entirety of her time making statements about Israel that, even at my current stage of desensitization, I found shocking to hear on the stage of a New York City law school.

For as much as Mohammed and Kiswani’s addresses ignite my fire to correct misinformation and disinformation about Jews and Israel in order to stop the spread of the Antisemitic virus, the more times I rewatched and thought about their speeches after they were brought to my attention by a friend, the more they filled me with an intense sadness. 

It was not so long ago that I sat in a row in my university’s athletic centre, my black gown and purple hood covering the dress I had carefully selected to be the right length and style for the occasion, listening to the commencement address at my own law school graduation. The negative experiences we had had as Jewish law students were the last thing I wanted to think about that day. Graduation was a celebration of the end of seven long years of school and a recognition of the transition we were about to make into the next phase of our lives. I would have been deeply hurt to have that day ruined for me by yet another reminder of how unwelcome my presence and perspective were to my peers. 

There is little doubt that the contents of Mohammed and Kiswani’s speeches were a surprise to no one. Both students served as leaders at the CUNY chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine, with Kiswani also being a leader at Within Our Lifetime, and anti-Zionist and anti-normalization organization committed to the destruction of the State of Israel through any means necessary. There is ample video footage of them decrying Jews and Israel at rallies and marches and in their social media activity, much of which has been well catalogued by the Canary Mission, an Antisemitism watchdog with a heavy focus on the campus level. They have each, in turn, made statements that are disconcerting to see from individuals who have avowed themselves to serving minority and marginalized communities. 

How students who have made comments calling for the globalization of the Intifada, a fancy way of calling for the murder of Jews, received these coveted positions at their commencement ceremonies is a phenomenon that is likely shocking to those removed from academia, and the current trends at law schools in particular, and entirely expected to those who have been through or encountered these systems. For several years now, news coverage of Jewish life and the experience of Jewish students on campus has included discussion of the rising tide of anti-Israel rhetoric that frequently takes a significant toll on the ability of Jewish students to participate fully and equally in student life, but we rarely have the opportunity to see it demonstrated as openly as it was here. Following the passing of the BDS resolution at CUNY Law School and the many stories brought to light by SAFE CUNY, an organization formed by CUNY faculty and students committed to addressing Antisemitism on campus, the New York State Department of Human Rights announced that it would be launching an investigation into anti-Jewish bias at the university. 

For several years now, there have been increased attempts to call attention to the anti-Jewish and anti-Israel biases that are being perpetuated at organizations and institutions that trade on a commitment to social justice. The normalization of Antisemitism that took place during the CUNY commencement is something happening with increasing ferocity on campuses around the world. Rhetoric depicting Zionists as an evil to be excised has been used to create barriers for Jews, such as in the case of the SUNY students who were removed from a group for sexual assault survivors when they refused to disavow their support for the existence of the State of Israel. 

This is a trend that, while it should not be happening to begin with, particularly should not be guest starring at graduation. I could spend pages dissecting Mohammed and Kiswani’s speeches and all of the things they said that raised red flags for me from individuals who are about to join the community of legal professionals. But at the most basic level, they should not have been talking about Israel. The role of the student commencement speaker is to talk about the accomplishments of their class. They are not there to promote an ideological bent or make statements that denigrate the career choices of some students. In the simple act of celebrating their classmates, all of their classmates, they missed the mark. 

A few years ago, I would have concluded this by addressing comments directly to Mohammed and Kiswani. I did this last year after the Jewish editor of the Harvard Crimson endorsed a BDS resolution for the student-run newspaper. But I know better than that now, even if this did reach their ears, which it won’t, nothing I say will change their minds. 

So, Jewish and Zionist students of CUNY Law’s class of 2023, this is for you: 

Mazel Tov! Congratulations! Take a deep breath; you made it! Spending three years at a law school where you are confronted daily by faculty and students who call for the destruction of your Indigenous homeland and make veiled and not-so-veiled comments linking the ethnic group you are proudly part of, to White Supremacy, despite nothing being farther from reality (just go ahead and read some statements by White Supremacists) is exhausting. 

A current law student recently asked me if there is a light at the end of the tunnel for Jewish students who find themselves in these environments. I can confidently say that there is. While you will still likely encounter Antisemitism in your lives, it will no longer be in a circumstance where you feel so much like an island in the storm. With your diploma in hand, you will walk away from campus and into a world of lawyers and other adults who will shake their heads in disbelief at the stories you tell them about your experiences as a Jewish law student at a purportedly progressive law school. This is what happened to me, and so many other students like me whose law school experience was marred by the realities of Antisemitism on campus. It will be both jarring and a welcome relief after the stress of the last three years. 

So, celebrate. You got through it. In the words of Lord Rabbi Jonathan Sacks z”l, you are “like James Bond’s martini; shaken, not stirred”. Am Yisrael Chai.