July 21, 2025
CUNY’s Repression of Pro-Palestine Students Continues in Front of Congress
By Nic Wong
By placating House Republicans during a hearing on antisemitism, CUNY’s Chancellor left students and faculty to fend for themselves.
“We now have a zero tolerance policy against encampments,” said CUNY chancellor Felix Matos-Rodriguez. “We have also hired more than 150 full-time security employees and contracted with an additional 250 security personnel. Our approach has shown results.”
On July 15, Matos-Rodriguez was one of three university presidents, along with the heads of the University of California and Georgetown, to face questioning before the House Committee on Workforce and Education about a supposed unchecked crisis of antisemitism.
The Professional Staff Congress—CUNY’s staff and faculty union—and many from the greater CUNY community are saying the hearing by House Republicans was really meant to silence CUNY’s advocates for Palestinian human rights. Matos-Rodriguez, they argue, failed to defend those community members, as well as the tenets of free speech and robust, open conversation that are critical components of a thriving academic institution. “It was an egregious abdication of his responsibility as an academic and his responsibility as a leader of an academic institution,” said Heba Gowayed, an associate professor of sociology at Hunter College.
