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CUNY chancellor takes heat, avoids viral moment in congressional testimony
By
Jessica Gould
Published Jul 15, 2025
Modified Jul 15, 2025
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Erik McGregor/Getty Images
By
Jessica Gould
Published Jul 15, 2025
Modified Jul 15, 2025
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CUNY Chancellor Felix Matos Rodríguez sought to avoid the fate of some of his Ivy League counterparts last year when he appeared Tuesday before the congressional committee on antisemitism.
Republicans followed a similar playbook to last year’s hearing, which yielded some viral moments and helped topple three Ivy League presidents. Democratic members tried to shift attention to the Trump administration’s steep cuts to higher education.
Rep. Elise Stefanik, a New York Republican whose interrogation of Ivy League presidents dominated headlines last year, described a “heinous scourge of antisemitism” at CUNY.
She referred to a series of incidents, including reports that anti-Israel protesters harassed Jewish freshmen at Baruch College, and swastikas were scrawled on posters of Israeli hostages at Hunter College’s campus that took hours to remove.
Matos Rodríguez called the statements at Baruch “deplorable” and said students were disciplined. As for the swastikas at Hunter, he said all hateful symbols are “unacceptable,” but the university had to wait for the NYPD to investigate them before they could be eradicated.
Matos Rodriguez was asked about a job posting at Hunter in February seeking a Palestinian studies professor with “a critical lens” toward “settler colonialism." He said the posting was "inappropriate." Jewish groups had protested the posting, and Gov. Kathy Hochul had demanded that it be pulled.
“Let me be clear, antisemitism has no place at CUNY,” Matos Rodríguez said, adding the university was “not immune” from antisemitic incidents, which have been on the rise in the city and across the country.
He said the university is determined to investigate all allegations and discipline any student or staff member who has violated the university’s code of conduct. He said the university has already made a series of changes to address the issue.
In November 2023, Hochul called for a review of CUNY’s policies on antisemitism. But in the months that followed, protests against the war in Gaza erupted at the public university’s campuses, including an encampment at City College. By September 2024, the outside review found “an alarming number of unacceptable antisemitic incidents” and called on university officials to significantly overhaul their policies.
Matos Rodríguez said the university has since initiated a “zero tolerance” policy for encampments; bolstered security; streamlined the process for registering and investigating discrimination complaints; and started expanding enrollment outreach to students from yeshivas to strengthen the university’s Jewish community.
“Although I am proud of the progress we made, I will not rest until every student feels safe,” he said.
Stefanik countered that the CUNY chancellor was “all words and no action,” saying he has “failed the people of New York.”
Some Democratic representatives accused their Republican colleagues of hypocrisy.
Rep. Suzanne Bonamici, an Oregon Democrat who is Jewish, accused White House officials of having “ties to white supremacists,” while “exploiting my community’s legitimate fears and concerns” to advance “repressive, unconstitutional, and harmful” policies.
She said the Trump administration’s massive cuts to higher education will harm all students, including Jewish students.
Rep. Yassamin Ansari, an Arizona Democrat, said the Trump administration has dismantled key protections for Jewish students by gutting the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights, whose mission is to investigate discrimination.
After publication, a Trump White House spokesperson responded.
“If combating antisemitism is controversial to President Trump’s critics, their derangement has reached new lows," said Harrison Fields, special assistant to the president and principal deputy press secretary. "No leader has been a stronger ally to the Jewish people than President Trump. His administration is fully committed to enforcing law and order, protecting civil rights, and ensuring pro-Hamas radicals face the full weight of the law in our unwavering fight against antisemitism."
Pro-Palestinian protesters tried three times to interrupt proceedings, accusing Israel of war crimes and leaders of complicity, but they were ushered out.
This story has been updated with comments from the White House.
Tagged
Politics
education
new york city
Jessica Gould
Jessica is the education reporter for WNYC and Gothamist. During the Covid-19 pandemic, Jessica reported on the shutdown and reopening of the nation’s largest school system, highlighting the unprecedented impacts on learning, health and mental health for students, staff and families. Got a tip? Email [email protected]
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