Israel Matzav

Monday, May 09, 2011

Jeffrey Wiesenfeld's 'mistake' on Tony Kushner

I can't find him in my college yearbook, but Wikipedia reports that Jew-hating Tony Kushner was a classmate of mine at Bir Zeit on the Hudson in 1978. The picture at top of left was taken at graduation, and while Kushner looks familiar (and I just figured out why), I don't believe he was the guy who was 2-3 seats over from me who went storming out with the protesters in the middle of graduation. (The guy sitting next to me - a good Republican - tried to trip that guy on the way out).

The Wall Street Journal weighs in on what it calls Jeffrey Wiesenfeld's mistake (full column for those without online access here). They're spot-on.

Mr. Wiesenfeld’s “mistake” was not appreciating that hostility to Israel has become such a deeply embedded principle of the modern academy that objecting to it earns you denunciation as a censor and philistine. The only greater uproar might have come if CUNY’s trustees had voted to award an honorary degree to, say, the CIA interrogators of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.

Sad, but true.

By the way, when I reported the story of the meeting on Monday night to 'reconsider' Kushner's rejection, I mistakenly thought that the Board of Trustees was being reconvened. The Journal reports that is not the case.

So now Mr. Schmidt wants a subset of the board to overrule a decision taken by the ostensible overseers of CUNY. If there was ever definitive proof that university officials see their trustees as mere check-writing rubber stamps, this is it. Even on the symbolic matter of conferring university prestige, the trustees get put in their place when they don’t meet the politically correct standards of the faculty.

People get put on the Board of Trustees of a university by donating money. It's time for those people to start fighting back. I hope that if Kushner's degree is upheld later this evening, Mr. Wiesenfeld will close the book on his service as a CUNY trustee - and his wallet on supporting them.

Labels: BDS, Benno Schmidt, City University of New York, Jeffrey Wiesenfeld, Jewish Voice for Peace, temper tantrum, Tony Kushner

Sunday, May 08, 2011

Tony Kushner to get that degree after all?

Tony Kushner's tantrum is apparently going to result in him getting his way. The Board of Trustees of the City University of New York, which had not planned to meet again until after graduation, is going to meet on Monday night to reconsider last week's vote rejecting Kushner's honorary degree (Hat Tip: Dan F). I have embedded the invitation to the Board of Trustees meeting below (it is apparently open to the public for those of you in the New York area who want to attend). I especially call your attention to the statement by Chairman of the Board of Trustees Benno Schmidt (the last page), which went out on Friday, which accompanied the notice regarding the meeting, which makes it clear that the meeting's goal is to reverse last week's decision.

Notice of CUNY Board of Trustees Meeting to Reconsider Tony Kushner degree

By the way, if you go here, you will see that the person at whom we should be targeting our anger is Jeremy Travis, the President of the John Jay College of Criminal Justice.

Labels: BDS, Benno Schmidt, City University of New York, Jeffrey Wiesenfeld, Jewish Voice for Peace, temper tantrum, Tony Kushner