The protesters declared a “state of emergency” at the state’s public college system.
New York: Jewish activists have called for the impeachment of Sudha Setty, the Indian-American dean of the City University of New York (CUNY) School of Law, for admitting and congratulating a graduate student for her anti-Israel “hate speech.”
A group of 50 protesters gathered outside CUNY’s Manhattan headquarters last week over Fatima Mohammed’s May 12 remarks in which she bashed Israel and called the NYPD “fascist” in her controversial speech, the New York Post reported.
In her fiery speech, she also accused Israel of encouraging “lynch mobs” and praised resistance to “Zionism around the world.”
According to The Post, Setty was seen congratulating and applauding Mohammed’s comments – which were condemned by the CUNY board of trustees as “hate speech” and “hurtful to the entire CUNY community.”
“As horrific as the student’s comments to her Jewish classmates and their families were, it is even more reprehensible that CUNY Law’s dean, Sudha Setty, echoed that hate speech with applause,” said Ronald S Lauder, president of the World Jewish Congress. , tweeted.
“I therefore call on the Board of Trustees to immediately fire Dean Setty without ambiguity to send a message that Jew-hatred will not be tolerated in New York’s public universities,” Lauder added.
The protesters declared a “state of emergency” on the state’s public university system and made several other demands for CUNY, including “booting any professor who endorsed or approved Muhammad’s speech targeting Jews.”
It also called for CUNY to introduce mandatory anti-Semitism training; apply and enforce the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition of anti-Semitism; punish students who engage in anti-Semitism, and ban the practice of letting students choose a novice speaker.
Also, a coalition of Jewish legal groups separately urged the American Bar Association (ABA) to consider stripping the law school of its accreditation, which would prevent its graduates from taking the bar exam in any state.
Setty joined CUNY School of Law on July 1, 2022, becoming the first woman of South Asian descent to serve as the dean of an ABA-accredited law school.
She was formerly Dean of Western New England University School of Law, where she focused on improving social justice and increasing institutional commitment to racial justice and diversity, equality, and inclusion
Setty is the recipient of the 2021 National Conference for Community and Justice Human Relations Award.
She received her JD cum laude from Columbia Law School and her AB in history cum laude from Stanford University.