CUNY Law School faculty: Administration must apologize for calling student address 'hate speech'

Faculty at the CUNY School of Law are calling on the university’s administration to retract a statement characterizing a student’s graduation address as “hate speech,” following criticism of her speech as antisemitic.

Professors are rallying behind recent CUNY law graduate Fatima Mousa Mohammed, whose May 12 remarks in support of the Palestinian cause amid her criticism of “Israeli settler colonialism” has drawn fierce condemnation from Republicans and some Democrats.

But faculty say Mohammed’s remarks, despite their controversy, are protected under the First Amendment, warning that a statement condemning the speech, issued by Chancellor Félix V. Matos Rodríguez and the CUNY Board of Trustees on Tuesday, will have a chilling effect.

“The implication that an elected-student speaker at an institution devoted to social justice and human rights was applauded by her peers, faculty, and attendees for engaging in ‘hate speech’ is an affront to both the student speaker and our entire community,” reads the letter, signed by more than three dozen law school faculty members.

They are demanding an apology to Mohammed, who has been targeted by “death threats and Islamophobic harassment,” according to the letter. Additional public safety officers from other colleges at CUNY have been directed to the law school, according to an email to faculty and staff obtained by Gothamist.

Mohammed’s remarks began on a note of triumph over COVID-19 and spanned several topics in the aftermath, from sharp criticism of Israel and the child welfare system to “the self-serving interests of CUNY Central, an institution that continues to fail us that continues to train and cooperate with the fascist NYPD.”

The graduation speech was made on May 12, shortly after Mayor Eric Adams spoke and was greeted by members of the graduating class turning their backs in protest. It wasn’t until May 30, after video of Mohamed’s speech surfaced and became fodder for tabloid coverage, that CUNY issued a statement.

“The remarks by a student-selected speaker at the CUNY Law School graduation, unfortunately, fall into the category of hate speech as they were a public expression of hate toward people and communities based on their religion, race or political affiliation,” read the administration response.

Law school faculty said the characterization was way off base.

“No reasonable interpretation of the student speaker’s remarks would suggest it was ‘hate speech,’ given that none of the student’s comments attacked any persons or protected classes, but at most commented on nations and state institutions that are incontrovertibly causing harm to people domestically and internationally,” the faculty letter reads. “Moreover, the May 30 Statement’s suggestion that hate speech includes ‘political affiliation’ as a characteristic similar to race or religion is wildly inconsistent with long-standing and legal definitions of the concept of hate speech.”

Attempts to reach Mohammed were not immediately successful.

The speech has spurred a firestorm among prominent Republicans like Lee Zeldin and some Democrats. Rep. Ritchie Torres, a Bronx Democrat, tweeted on Sunday that Mohammed was “crazed by hatred for Israel as a Jewish State.” Adams has also repeatedly condemned the speech.

“If I was on that stage when those comments were made, I would have stood up and denounced them immediately because we cannot allow it to happen,” Adams said to applause at a Gracie Mansion reception celebrating Jewish Heritage Month on Wednesday.

Some critics, including Councilmember Ari Kagan and billionaire Ronald Lauder, are calling on CUNY leadership to fire Sudha Setty, dean of the law school. Kagan also demanded an investigation into the speech’s approval. CUNY declined to comment on the record for this story.

But Democrats and people within the Jewish community are typically split on criticism of Israel in relation to the Palestinian cause. The CUNY School of Law Jewish Law Students Association swiftly issued a defense of Mohammed as news coverage of her speech began to surface.

“The organizations currently attacking Fatima and the rest of CUNY Law’s student body, with absurd and false claims of antisemitism, are doing so against the wishes of the majority of CUNY Law’s Jewish students, who wholeheartedly stand with Fatima and have been grateful to have her as our classmate throughout law school,” reads the letter, which was cosigned by a slate of organizations within and beyond CUNY.

Other Democratic politicians including Councilmember Shahana Hanif have rallied behind Mohammed and condemned CUNY leadership over its statement.

The letter from faculty warns that CUNY’s statement “undermines the identification of actual hate speech and state-sponsored bigotry that is sadly on the rise in the United States and often targets many of us in the broader CUNY community.”