New York Gov. Hochul Suppresses Palestine Studies Job Announcement

My new essay for The Hill addresses New York Gov. Kathy Hochul’s suppression of a Palestine Studies job announcement at Hunter College. I explain that Hochul was wrong to intervene, but that does not absolve the job posting’s blatant anti-Israel bias.

Here is the gist:

New York is walking a thin line on Palestinian Studies

Hochul had absolutely no business demanding the removal of the Hunter College job posting. Political interference in curriculum is an unwarranted violation of academic freedom.

 Hochul’s intrusion aside, was the job posting as “divisive, polarizing and inappropriate” as the administration claimed? 

Taken individually, the listed subjects — including settler colonialism, apartheid and genocide — can be significant areas of inquiry in Palestine Studies.

In combination, however, the list comprises a distinctly political agenda, as though the sum of Palestine Studies consists only of Israel’s purported crimes.

Lest there be any doubt, the emphasis on “public-facing” work is clearly a thinly coded call for activism.

The concatenation of accusations against Israel, and the absence of anything denoting scholarly objectivity, communicated the intended message that successful applicants will be expected to engage in anti-Israel advocacy.

Hochul was just wrong to intervene in Hunter College’s curricular decision. Period. Nonetheless, the job posting itself sent an unmistakable political signal that “public facing” hostility toward Israel was a requirement for the position.

You can read the full essay at The Hill.