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SUNY Purchase President Steps Down Amid Backlash Over Handling of Anti-Israel Protests, Campus Antisemitism
SUNY Purchase College President Milagros Peña attends the 52nd annual commencement at Westchester County Center in White Plains, New York, May 17, 2024. Photo: USA TODAY NETWORK via Reuters Connect
State University of New York (SUNY) Purchase president Milagros Peña will leave office at the end of this academic year, ending a four-year tenure that was derailed by pro-Hamas demonstrations on the campus.
According to The Journal News, Peña announced her “retirement” in a letter to the campus community and further discussed the decision at a convocation event held earlier this month.
“After considerable reflection and discussion about what is best for me and my family, I informed Chancellor [John B. King, Jr.] over the summer that this 2024-2025 academic year will be my last year as president,” Peña wrote, according to excerpts of the letter shared by the local news outlet. “I have mixed emotions about my decision to retire as president after the spring semester, because, though we still face challenges as a community, we have accomplished a great deal together and our shared mission of providing access to a high quality, transformative public education is as important as ever.”
Appointed to office 2020, Peña became a target of far-left faculty last academic year when she authorized the clearing of an illegal “Gaza Solidarity Encampment,” which, the school’s newspaper reported at the time, led to clashes between law enforcement and pro-Hamas students who refused to obey orders to leave the area. An estimated 70 students were arrested, The Phoenix Purchase has said, and at least one professor was detained for obstructing justice.
However, Peña was inconsistent as a policy maker. In an account of her responses to campus antisemitism published by The Algemeiner on Wednesday, SUNY Purchase alumna Esti Heller said the president ignored numerous supplications for increased security for Jewish life on campus after Hamas’s Oct. 7 massacre across southern Israel. Peña was unresponsive, even after someone vandalized an Israeli flag and desecrated a sukkah, a hut built for the Jewish festival of Sukkot. Later, Peña reversed course in her handling of the pro-Hamas protesters, Heller said, acceding to their demands for “ethical investing,” amnesty for students charged with violating the code of conduct, and public disclosure of the school’s financial decisions.
Ultimately, Peña lost a no-confidence vote on June 3 in which 87 percent of the voting faculty called for her to leave office.
“While disappointed by the resolution, I am committed to continuing to take part in conversations with stakeholders on and off campus about many of the issues raised and look forward to engaging with the faculty, staff, and students about our shared goals and the best way of moving forward as a community,” Peña told the Purchase following the vote.
Now, three months later, Peña has granted faculty their wish, becoming the third university president in New York State this year to leave office after being criticized for mismanaging a series of crises, antisemitic incidents, and riotous demonstrations. Last month, Minouche Shafik resigned as president of Columbia University after her administration’s credibility crumbled amid revelations of antisemitic conversations between administrators and a partisan investigation of a pro-Israel professor. In May, Cornell University president Martha Pollack resigned after weeks of convulsive protests and disruptions on campus caused by mobs of pro-Hamas students and faculty.
In Wednesday’s announcement, Peña pledged to make her final months in office productive.
“We still have a lot to do before I step away, and I look forward to working together to ensure that Purchase College continues to thrive,” she said. “While there are challenges ahead, I feel confident that we have the flexibility, the skills, and the determination to continue to provide an excellent education for our students and to make progress as an institution that is continually evolving, while safeguarding our community and living up to our values during this extraordinary time.”
Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.
The post SUNY Purchase President Steps Down Amid Backlash Over Handling of Anti-Israel Protests, Campus Antisemitism first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Iran Showcases New, Advanced Missile Systems Amid US Threat
Russian President Vladimir Putin shakes hands with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian during a meeting on the sidelines of the BRICS summit in Kazan, Russia, Oct. 23, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Maxim Shemetov
i24 News – The Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corp revealed their latest missile systems on Saturday, which have been deployed on three different Iranian islands.
This comes amid increased US pressure to return to the negotiation table over Iran’s nuclear ambitions, with US President Donald Trump implementing a return to his “maximum pressure” policy.
Commodore Alireza Tangsiri, the head of the IRGC’s naval force, threatened that “the enemy would be beaten” in the event of a military confrontation. He boasted missile units, submarines, unmanned aircraft, and defense systems deployed in the Strait of Hormuz, located in the Persian Gulf, and in the islands in the region.
A new hangar was revealed in one of the sites that contains the new missile systems. According to the IRGC, these missiles have the ability to destroy maritime targets up to 600 kilometers (373 miles) from their deployment sites.
Last week, a US official told i24NEWS that Trump gave Khamenei a two-month ultimatum to reach a nuclear agreement. National Security Council Spokesperson Brian Hughes threatened “devastating” results.
Therefore, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian attacked Donald Trump in a speech he made, saying “I will not negotiate with you even under threats.” This, after a few days prior, Trump wrote a letter to Iran, asking to restart negotiations on the nuclear issue.
The post Iran Showcases New, Advanced Missile Systems Amid US Threat first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Houthis Falsely Claim to Successfully Hit Ben Gurion Airport, USS Harry Truman
Newly recruited fighters who joined a Houthi military force intended to be sent to fight in support of the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, march during a parade in Sanaa, Yemen, Dec. 2, 2023. Photo: REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah
i24 News – The Houthis claimed on Sunday that they targeted Israel’s Ben Gurion Airport with their alleged hypersonic Palestine 2 ballistic missile, with the strike “successfully achieving its goal.”
Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree boasted that air traffic at the airport was suspended for more than half an hour.
Additionally, Saree claimed Houthi forces launched missiles and drones at the American aircraft carrier USS Harry Truman in the Red Sea with missiles and drones. There is no indication that this attack succeeded, contrary to the Houthi statement.
At around 7:30 am, sirens blared throughout central Israel, with no injuries reported. The IDF said that a Houthi missile had been intercepted successfully outside of Israeli airspace.
This comes after the Houthis restarted their attacks on the Jewish state last week, triggering sirens in central Israel and the Jerusalem area.
Meanwhile, the US Central Command began an offensive against high-level Houthis and terrorist infrastructure in Yemen. US President Donald Trump has also stated that he will hold Iran responsible for any attack emanating from the Houthis.
The post Houthis Falsely Claim to Successfully Hit Ben Gurion Airport, USS Harry Truman first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Hamas: Senior Official Salah al-Bardawil Killed in Khan Yunis Strike
Senior Hamas leader Salah al-Bardawil. Photo: File.
i24 News – Hamas confirmed on Sunday that Salah al-Bardawil, a member of its political bureau, had been killed in an Israeli air strike in Khan Younis, in the south of the Gaza Strip.
His wife also perished in the attack. This targeted killing, initially reported by the Palestinian press agency Shehab, affiliated with Hamas, is said to have targeted “tents sheltering displaced persons.” The Israeli authorities have not yet commented on the reports.
This strike is part of a series of targeted operations carried out by Israel against the Hamas leadership. Over the weekend, the Israeli army and Shin Bet security agency also announced that they had eliminated Osama Tabash, who was the chief of military intelligence for Hamas in southern Gaza and led the organization’s surveillance and targeting unit.
According to the joint statement from the army and Shin Bet, Tabash was a “high-ranking terrorist” who possessed “significant operational knowledge for the terrorist organization.” He had held various positions of importance, including that of battalion commander in the Khan Yunis brigade.
The Israeli services attribute to him involvement in several attacks, including a suicide bombing carried out in 2005 at the Gush Katif crossroads in Gaza, which cost the life of Oded Sharon. In his recent roles, Tabash was responsible for developing the Hamas combat strategy and had participated in planning infiltrations during the massacre on October 7 in the Israeli communities in the south of the country.
The post Hamas: Senior Official Salah al-Bardawil Killed in Khan Yunis Strike first appeared on Algemeiner.com.