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Professor to CUNY’s Faculty Union: Let My People Go!
The B. Altman & Company Building housing the City University of New York Graduate Center in New York City. Photo Credit: Beyond My Ken/Wikimedia.
Three years ago, almost to the day, I joined five brave professors at the City University of New York (CUNY) in filing a lawsuit against the union that represents us.
Why? For starters, as a Zionist Jew, I was appalled when the union’s delegates chanted “Zionism out of CUNY!” at an anti-Israel rally.
And I was disgusted when the union passed a resolution supporting the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement that called Israel an “apartheid” state.
My fellow plaintiffs and I aren’t members of the union, but it imposes its tainted services on us, nonetheless.
New York’s Taylor Law cruelly forces us to accept this hate-infested union’s representation, even while the union’s members and delegates openly chant that they want to expel Zionists from the university.
That’s right — this union is supposed to protect our jobs, but it is doing its best to destroy them.
The union has just ratified a new contract, which will affect our terms and conditions of employment and the campus environment for Jews.
Despite the findings by multiple investigations — the US Department of Education Office of Civil Rights, the report by Judge Lippman commissioned by New York’s governor, an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission determination — of the massive antisemitism problem at CUNY, the union has been silent on the issue, and so is the new contract.
Does the contract propose reforms that will protect Zionist Jews from the violence and harassment that we have suffered on campus? No it does not.
Does it rectify what I see as the expungement of Jews from senior leadership positions at CUNY? Not by my read.
Does it demand measures to prevent violent and campus-disrupting anti-Israel encampments? No — probably because the union defended them.
However, because the union has pushed us out of its membership by spouting hateful attacks against our religion and heritage, my fellow plaintiffs and hundreds of other Jews have zero influence over the contract’s details.
We’ve been driven out, then denied a vote on an agreement that affects our careers and our safety.
So much for democracy and a union’s duty of equal and fair representation of all groups.
Union officials don’t want Zionist Jews in their membership ranks? Fine. They shouldn’t be speaking or negotiating for us either. We don’t need or want their “representation.”
A similar conflict existed 3,500 years ago in Egypt.
A tyrannical Pharaoh abused Jews, treating them like an underclass and exploiting their labor — until someone stood up.
Moses made a famous demand of that unaccountable leader: Let my people go.
I say the same to the leaders of the Professional Staff Congress.
They don’t want us, but they are forcing us to labor under the conditions they set. And they have argued that representing every last professor at CUNY is “fundamental to a union’s power.”
By their own admission, they are demanding the right to represent Zionist Jews not for our benefit but for theirs.
Unfortunately, on Monday, the US Supreme Court denied our appeal to address this ongoing injustice, meaning our antisemitic union will remain free to enhance its own power by mistreating groups it considers to be undesirable.
The Court has chosen not to intervene, but that doesn’t mean our representatives can’t get involved. It’s happened before. Just ahead of a Supreme Court decision in 2018 that affected public employees’ rights, lawmakers passed a significant change to the Taylor Law. They should do so again.
And Congress has a role, too. If Federal legislators really want to address the evil and insanity that is transpiring on our campuses, they must recognize that Marxist and antisemitic faculty unions are behind so much of it. A powerful first step would be passing Senator Bill Cassidy’s (R-LA) proposed Union Members Right to Know Act, a bill that would prevent unions from promoting antisemitism and other hateful ideologies.
For our union at CUNY, after years of litigation and discrimination, it’s time.
Let my people go.
Jeffrey Lax is a professor of law and chair of the business department at CUNY, a co-founder of S.A.F.E. Campus, and a plaintiff in Goldstein v. PSC/CUNY.
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Dovid Efune: ‘The Jewish State Has Doused Iran’s Ring of Fire’
Dovid Efune speaking at The Algemeiner’s 11th annual “J100” gala in New York City on Jan. 14, 2025. Photo: FotoBuddy
At The Algemeiner‘s 11th annual “J100” gala on Tuesday night, the event’s co-chair, Dovid Efune, described Israel’s recent military successes.
“Fifteen months have now passed since the Jewish state went to war, since the Jewish people went to war. A terrible price has been paid,” Efune said. “But it is a different world now. Israel has out-maneuvered its foes at every turn in a complex, multi-front war.”
The crowd applauded.
Efune said that Israel “has firmly reestablished in the eyes of all, a role as a regional superpower. Israel’s young soldiers have shown themselves to be more valiant and more committed to their cause than their fanatic terrorist enemies. Its vaunted intelligence agencies have seized the initiative, reminding the world that the Jewish state’s knack for innovation has multiple applications.”
Invoking Israel’s series of hits against the heads of Hamas and Hezbollah, Efune said “we watched in awe, the systematic elimination of a line-up of Middle East terror chiefs. Those who remain are in hiding. The Jewish state has doused Iran’s ring of fire and replaced it with a ring of Israeli iron. The walls of David’s citadel again stand tall and firm.”
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Algemeiner Publisher Simon Jacobson: ‘Times Like This Define Who’s Standing Up for Moral Clarity’
The Algemeiner’s publisher and chairman Simon Jacobson speaking at the 11th annual “J100” gala in New York City on Jan. 14, 2025. Photo: FotoBuddy
At The Algemeiner‘s 11th annual “J100” gala on Tuesday night, publisher and chairman Simon Jacobson issued a call for action.
“We’re living in historic times. Events that are happening now are not just going to shape today, tomorrow, but the entire future,” Jacobson said during the event in New York City. “Every one of us senses it, whether it’s events, the different countries around the world, leaderships in crisis, but especially, which is close to our hearts, the Middle East, Israel, the Jewish people.”
Jacobson continued, “So, as chairman of The Algemeiner, I feel especially honored that we are part of making history because it’s times like this that define who’s standing up for moral clarity amidst all the confusion, for values that we all cherish, that are the foundations and the basis of all civilization. That’s the time we’re in, literally every day.”
Describing three types of people — those who make things happen, those who watch things happen, and those who ask “what happened” — Jacobson said “all of you right here and The Algemeiner, are people who make things happen. We don’t just stand at the sidelines and react but are pro-active. This is the time.”
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Algemeiner ‘J100’ Gala Honors Philanthropists David and Debra Magerman
David and Debra Magerman being honored at The Algemeiner’s 11th annual “J100” gala in New York City on Jan. 14, 2025. Photo: Screenshot
At The Algemeiner‘s 11th annual “J100” gala on Tuesday night, philanthropists David and Debra Magerman appeared as honorees.
After expressing appreciation to The Algemeiner‘s leaders, David said, “I also what to thank my wife, Debra. Her support for me, through all aspects of my life, enabled me to do all the things that I do. She is an equal partner in the merit of all the projects we do to support Torah education in Israel. But most of all I want to thank God. God is the source of all blessing. Baruch Hashem. Round of applause for Hashem, thank you!”
David said that one thing he had learned was “how much God runs the world and how much we are living through the realization of his plan.”
Recalling visiting Israel on Oct. 7, 2023 during Sukkot, David said that, afterward, “as we were flying back to America, I deeply regretted leaving. I had to get my kids back to America and I didn’t expect any of us to be particularly useful to Israel as the attack became a war. Frankly, being there we were a liability. But on the flight back to America, I booked my return trip to Israel and I committed myself to figuring out how I could be useful.”
David spoke about how the anti-Israel animus at the University of Pennsylvania inspired him to cease donations. “I called them out for revealing their true nature,” he said. “They were actively supporting evil and proving time and again that through that support they were showing their true selves. You can’t change your essence. I started a movement to push donors and students away from schools like Penn and that effort has led to a growing number of students and families considering college in Israel.”
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