On February 25, 2025, New York state governor Kathy Hochul directed Hunter College, which is part of the City University of New York (CUNY) system, to remove a job posting for a professor of Palestinian Studies. Hunter College complied a few hours later.

In October 2024, following a series of listening sessions with the college’s community, the Hunter College administration announced that it would open a search for two new positions in Palestinian Studies – one in the humanities division and one in the social science division.

Around February 2025, Hunter College posted the listing for the social sciences position. The listing stated, “We seek 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. We are open to diverse theoretical and methodological approaches.”

On February 25, 2025, the New York Post published an article titled “CUNY’s taxpayer-funded Hunter College promotes hateful ‘Palestine’ instruction targeting Jews, activists fume.” The article quoted several advocacy groups, along with a former Hunter College trustee, as accusing the posting of being antisemitic.

That evening, New York governor Kathy Hochul directed CUNY to delete the posting. CUNY took down the job posting a few hours later, and CUNY chancellor Félix Matos Rodríguez issued a statement contending that the language in the posting was “divisive, polarizing and inappropriate.”

As of March 5, the hiring committee at Hunter College had reportedly revised the job description to remove the line about possible subject areas of focus and had resubmitted the listing for review.

Scholars at Risk is concerned about executive authorities exceeding their legal authority and pressuring higher education leaders on matters including academic content and hiring. This is a direct encroachment by the government on the university’s autonomy to set policies concerning personnel, admissions, curricula, and the content of academic programs. Legislative and executive officials have a right to express their views about higher education communities and policies, but should refrain from using their offices to threaten or otherwise dictate academic decisions, including those relating to curricula or internal university disciplinary processes. External threats and pressures undermine university autonomy, academic freedom, and the university’s ability to contribute to democratic society generally.

Sources:
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/faculty-issues/academic-freedom/2025/02/26/gov-hochul-orders-cuny-remove-palestine-scholar-job
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/27/nyregion/cuny-palestine-studies.html
https://www.thenation.com/article/activism/cuny-hunter-college-palestinian-studies-job-hochul/
https://mesana.org/advocacy/committee-on-academic-freedom/2025/03/06/letter-to-ny-governor-hochul-and-leaders-of-the-city-university-of-new-york-regarding-the-palestinian-studies-position-at-hunter-college
https://www.aaup.org/sites/default/files/Hochul-Rodriguez-letter.pdf
https://nypost.com/2025/02/25/us-news/cunys-hunter-college-promotes-palestine-course-targeting-jews-over-genocide-activists-fume/
https://www.cuny.edu/news/statement-from-cuny-board-of-trustees-chairperson-william-c-thompson-jr-and-chancellor-felix-v-matos-rodriguez-on-a-hunter-college-faculty-posting/