Baruch College, a CUNY institution, attempted to cancel a Rosh Hashana celebration due to safety concerns and only allowed the event to proceed following a public outcry, the New York Post reported.
Baruch College English professor and Hillel director Ilya Brayman said that Jewish students and faculty were instructed not to hold the September pre-Rosh Hashana event celebrating the start of the Jewish New Year because the college could not "guarantee their security.
“We were told by the administration that the campus can’t guarantee the safety of Jewish students because of other agitators who want to hurt, intimidate or harass them," Brayman said.
The Hillel director called the school's attempt to shut down the Jewish cultural event "appalling" and "insane."
Baruch College reversed its previous position after Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY) joined the public criticism of the school. “What is it going to take to get New York and CUNY to treat campus antisemitism with the urgency it demands? Must there be a violent assault? Or the loss of a student’s life?” Torres asked.
“Imagine, for a moment, if the KKK were harassing black students on or near CUNY’s campus. Or if the congregants of the Westboro Baptist Church were harassing LGBTQ students. Or if white nationalists, acting on the Great Replacement Theory, were harassing immigrants?” he asked. “Does anyone think the response from the NY political and academic establishment would be anything other than overwhelming outrage?”
Baruch College denied that it sought to cancel the Rosh Hashana event, stating, “Baruch College did not request that students or faculty cancel Rosh Hashanah celebrations and any reports suggesting otherwise are entirely false."
“A Rosh Hashanah Festival will continue as planned on the nearby public plaza on September 26. Baruch College does not tolerate antisemitism or any act of hate and is dedicated to providing a learning environment that is safe and fosters respect and inclusion for every member of the community,” the college stated.
Earlier this month, a mob of anti-Israel protesters ganged up on Jewish freshman entering Baruch College at a Hillel welcome event in Manhattan.
The masked protesters chanted antisemitic slogans and taunted the Jewish students with the deaths of the six hostages who were executed the week before by the Hamas terrorist organization in Gaza, including US citizen Hersh Goldberg-Polin.
In a video posted to Instagram, one protester could be heard yelling, “Where’s Hersh, you ugly a– b—h? Go bring them home!"
“At what should have been a warm welcome for new students at our annual Welcome Back Dinner at the kosher restaurant Mr. Broadway in midtown, we were met with hate instead,” Baruch Hillel posted on Instagram. “This is the reality Jewish students are facing today on American college campuses.”
Members of the New York City Council have called on CUNY to do more to clamp down on antisemitism on campus, including at Baruch College. The Hillel centers at Baruch as well as Hunter College were both recently picketed with identical banners reading, “Bring the war home,” and, “Hillel go to hell.” The banners also featured an inverted triangle, a symbol of Hamas, as well as a picture of an assault rifle.