Latest news with #FélixMatosRodríguez
Yahoo
09-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
CUNY chancellor to testify before House education committee on antisemitism
The head of the City University of New York is going before a congressional panel next month to defend against allegations of campus antisemitism, the U.S. House education committee announced Monday. Chancellor Félix Matos Rodríguez will be joined by the leaders of Georgetown University and University of California, Berkeley at the hearing on July 9. 'Our Committee is building on its promise to protect Jewish students and faculty while many university leaders refuse to hold agitators of this bigotry, hatred, and discrimination accountable,' Rep. Tim Walberg (R-Mich.), chairman of the committee, said in a statement. Prior hearings have played a part in the resignations of the heads of Harvard University and the University of Pennsylvania. While a former president of Columbia University, Minouche Shafik, at first avoided the same fate last year by forcefully coming down on pro-Palestinian protesters, she managed to appease no one when students pitched a tent demonstration against Israel's war in Gaza. Shafik resigned four months later. 'The City University of New York is firmly committed to combating antisemitism and ensuring every student and faculty member is safe from discrimination and harassment,' said a CUNY spokesperson. 'We look forward to discussing the steps we are taking to support Jewish members of our campus community.' In his statement, Walberg suggested that while most of the hearings so far have focused on antisemitic incidents, the upcoming tribunal would center around 'underlying factors' that contributed to the harassment of Jewish students — which he said included 'foreign funding' and 'antisemitic student and faculty groups.' Student protesters have accused Republican lawmakers of conflating their pro-Palestinian advocacy with antisemitism. More recently, some academics allege the Trump administration is using antisemitism as a pretext to claw back federal funding from higher education. CUNY has faced a federal investigation and a Gov. Hochul-ordered probe over its handling of campus antisemitism reports. Last month, Brooklyn College, CUNY's campus in Midwood, enlisted the NYPD to help remove tents, leading to more than a dozen arrests. At least one protester was reportedly tased by police.
New York Post
09-06-2025
- Politics
- New York Post
Leaders of CUNY, other college antisemitism hotbeds to be grilled by House panel next month
CUNY Chancellor Félix Matos Rodríguez and two other college chiefs will be hauled before the House Education Committee next month to get grilled about the antisemitism that has festered at their schools. Rodríguez will join Georgetown University interim President Robert Groves and the University of California, Berkeley Chancellor Rich Lyons in testifying before the education panel July 9, officials said. The hearing will center around the role of 'faculty, funding and ideology' in fueling antisemitism on campuses and mark the second high-profile session the panel has had this year. The move comes after the panel's deep dive into antisemitism in non-Ivy League institutions last month. 'We continue to see antisemitic hatred festering at schools across the country,' said House Education Committee Chairman Tim Walberg (R-Mich.) in a statement. 4 CUNY has been a hotbed of anti-Israel protests. Stephen Yang for NY Post 4 CUNY Chancellor Félix V. Matos is set to testify before the House Education Committee next month. 051525CUNYChancellor3wf 'While much of the discussion has focused on the devastating effects of antisemitism, this hearing will focus on the underlying factors instigating antisemitic upheaval and hatred on campus.' The City University of New York — the nation's largest public urban college system with 25 degree-granting institutions — has been dogged by complaints of antisemitism for years. An independent probe commissioned by Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul and released in September found that CUNY needed a top-to-bottom overhaul to combat 'alarming'' antisemitism fanned by its own faculty and do-nothing higher-ups. The state is the principal source of funding for CUNY's four-year schools, such as Hunter, and the Big Apple chips in to help pay for its community colleges. The governor and Mayor Eric Adams appoint the trustees to CUNY's policy-making board. There's been a spate of Jew-hating and Israel-bashing controversies since the latest Mideast war broke out Oct. 7, 2023. Just last week, The Post reported that the board chairman of CUNY's School of Labor and Urban Studies was forced to resign for spreading 'antisemitic conspiracy theories' about Israel. Anti-Israel agitators also brawled with cops at Brooklyn College last month after the protesters set up a tent encampment and disrupted final exams. An officer was forced to fire a Taser during the violent clash. 4 CUNY agitators have caused millions of dollars in damage. Anadolu via Getty Images In addition, last spring at City College in Harlem, anti-Israel criminals caused at least $3 million in damage and the need for costly extra security at the campus. Thus far, Rodriguez, first appointed in 2019, has weathered the storm. The board of trustees recently gave him a mostly positive job evaluation to continue leading the public university. Georgetown and Berkeley have faced similar issues amid anti-Israel demonstrations on campus. Last year, students and professors at Georgetown partook in a walkout to 'rally for Gaza' in demonstration against Israel's efforts to subdue the Palestinian terror group Hamas. In September, students gathered outside the building where the university president's office is located and chanted in favor of divesting from Israel. More recently, in April, the university's police were forced to pull multiple anti-Israel protesters out of a building after failing to heed demands to leave. Berkeley is meanwhile facing a lawsuit from Jewish groups accusing the university of allowing an 'unrelenting' slew of antisemitism to fester on campus. Infamously, the campus' chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine made an Instagram post that many interpreted as sounding sympathetic to the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas massacre of Israeli civilians. 'We support the resistance, we support the liberation movement, and we indisputably support the Uprising,' the group wrote shortly after the barbaric attack. Berkeley has been rife with anti-Israel protests since the inception of the war against Hamas. 4 House Education Committee Chairman Tim Walberg (R-Mich.) is keen on complementing the Trump administration's efforts to crack down on antisemitism on campuses across the country. Getty Images Congressional Republicans on the education panel are hoping to dovetail with the Trump administration's broader efforts to crack down on antisemitism on college campuses. The Trump administration has withheld or threatened to withhold funding from colleges and universities that have not stepped up against antisemitism on campus. The Trump administration has also opened probes into antisemitism at several institutions of higher education. 'Until these factors—such as foreign funding and antisemitic student and faculty groups—are addressed, antisemitism will persist on college campuses,' Walberg wrote. 'Our Committee is building on its promise to protect Jewish students and faculty while many university leaders refuse to hold agitators of this bigotry, hatred, and discrimination accountable.'
Yahoo
15-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
CUNY warns $17M in research grants at risk after Trump stop-work orders
The City University of New York could lose up to $17 million in federal research funding after the Trump administration issued dozens of stop-work orders, school officials said Thursday. The federal agencies' directives touched 78 grants — from environmental research to studies about the impacts of diseases on minority groups — and 98 employees across CUNY's campuses. 'This is not just numbers and figures, which are important,' Chancellor Félix Matos Rodríguez warned during a City Council hearing on CUNY's budget. 'This is careers. These are mentorships. These are our potential next generation of scientists or artists that are being cut short by not being able to be part of this grant. So absolutely a disaster disinvestment in research.' In their notification letters, federal agencies cited President Trump's executive orders or changes in priorities as reasons for the stoppages, according to CUNY's testimony. The presidential administration has previously pulled back from climate change and diversity, equity and inclusion research. But overall, school officials suggested it has been hard to predict which federal grants would be terminated. 'It varies all over, and no real rhyme or reason to which ones were canceled,' said Alicia Avero, interim executive vice chancellor and university provost. CUNY's response has involved providing researchers with bridge grants to finish their projects, school administrators said. The public university system has also launched a task force to help challenge stop-work orders and teamed up with New York State Attorney General Letitia James to sue the Trump administration. 'We are trying to be aggressive in defending when we believe that the ground for the stoppage is inappropriate,' the chancellor said. Those efforts may be bearing fruit. To date, federal agencies have rescinded seven of the 78 stop-work orders at CUNY, according to a system-wide tally compiled by administrators. CUNY spokespeople did not immediately clarify if the rescinded directives reduced the federal funding at risk. They also did not comment on the 98 impacted employees, including if any were at risk of losing their jobs. 'The federal government is trying to unemploy CUNY workers and make our students dumber,' said Councilman Eric Dinowitz (D-Bronx), chair of the higher education committee. 'It appears the federal government also wants us to be less healthy — that's my opinion.' In the meantime, CUNY is facing other headwinds from the federal government. A provision in the budget reconciliation bill moving through Congress would raise the full-time credit load to qualify for Pell Grants — potentially shutting CUNY students out of a major source of financial aid, school officials said. The proposed change requires students take 15 credits, instead of 12, to be eligible for the federal support. In recent years, CUNY has received $888 million in federal Title IV funding — which includes grants, loans and work-study programs — and 57% of CUNY students receive federal financial aid, according to university data. 'That's a big, big chunk, obviously, of our students that we serve, that come to CUNY for an education,' said Sherif Soliman, senior vice chancellor for budget & finance and chief financial officer. As a result of Trump administration changes, 25 CUNY international students had their visas revoked, then restored, the Daily News previously reported. But school officials shared that three students had already left the U.S. and planned to finish their degrees online.
