New York University Removes Palestinian Studies Job Listing After Governor’s Demand

The university leadership said the listing includes ‘divisive, polarizing and inappropriate’ language.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul speaks during a news conference in New York City on Nov. 14, 2024. Angela Weiss/AFP via Getty Images

The City University of New York (CUNY) has removed a job advertisement for a Palestinian studies professor following pressure from the state.

In the job listing, now marked as expired, CUNY’s Hunter College wrote that the institution was seeking “a historically grounded scholar who takes a critical lens to issues pertaining to Palestine including but not limited to: settler colonialism, genocide, human rights, apartheid, migration, climate and infrastructure devastation, health, race, gender, and sexuality.”

The listing also emphasized that the college is open to “diverse theoretical and methodological approaches” in teaching the subject.

The ad quickly drew condemnation from pro-Israel groups and individuals who criticized its language as demonizing Israel and Israeli Jews. The objections were first reported by The New York Post.

On Feb. 25, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul demanded that the college immediately remove the posting and conduct a thorough review to ensure that “antisemitic theories are not promoted in the classroom,” according to a statement from her office.

CUNY’s leadership promptly took down the job posting.

“We find this language divisive, polarizing and inappropriate and strongly agree with Governor Hochul’s direction to remove this posting, which we have ensured Hunter College has since done,” CUNY Chancellor Félix Matos Rodríguez and Board of Trustees Chairman William Thompson Jr. said in a joint statement.

Although the listing was removed, the job position itself remains open. Hunter College stated that it is still seeking to hire a professor with expertise in “Palestinian history, culture, and society” to teach the class.

While no class has been canceled, the CUNY faculty union protested Hochul’s intervention, arguing that the governor had overstepped her authority.

“An elected official dictating what topics may be taught at a public college is a line that should not be crossed,” James Davis, president of CUNY’s Professional Staff Congress, wrote in a letter to Hochul and Rodríguez.

The letter acknowledged that there were “deeply held opposing opinions” on the war in the Gaza Strip, even within the union. Earlier this year, the Professional Staff Congress initially passed but then quickly rescinded a resolution calling on the university to cut financial ties with companies doing business with Israel and to terminate academic exchange programs.

“We oppose antisemitism and all forms of hate, but this move is counterproductive,” Davis wrote when the resolution was rescinded, arguing that a better approach would be to develop “more inclusive ways of teaching” the topic.

Meanwhile, a separate group of pro-Palestinian protesters planned to confront Hochul on Feb. 27 at The City College of New York, where she was scheduled to make a workforce-related announcement alongside Rep. Adriano Espaillat (D-N.Y.) and CUNY leaders. The event was called off just minutes after its scheduled start time.

Protests over the war in the Gaza Strip have divided university campuses across the United States since Oct. 7, 2023, when the Hamas terrorist group invaded Israel, launching a spree of killings and kidnappings that led to massive retaliatory bombardments.

As pro-Palestinian students erected protest encampments on campuses and demanded that schools divest from Israel, their pro-Israel peers called on administrators to curb the protests, arguing that they created an unsafe environment.

CUNY was among the hot spots for pro-Palestinian protests. In September 2024, former New York Judge Jonathan Lippman submitted a report to Hochul highlighting “an alarming number of unacceptable antisemitic incidents targeting members of the CUNY community” and advocated a comprehensive overhaul of how the university handles anti-Semitism complaints.

Palestinian and Middle East studies programs, which have been crucial in shaping the U.S. public’s understanding of the Middle East and in influencing policymakers from the military to intelligence communities, have also faced increasing criticism for alleged anti-Israel biases in the wake of the war.

In August 2024, Sens. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) and Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.) urged the Biden administration to cut off federal funding to Middle East studies programs that were “abusing such funding to indoctrinate ... students with anti-Israel propaganda.”

In 2019, the first Trump administration threatened to revoke federal aid to Duke University’s Middle East studies program for lacking balance.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.