University Joins National #StandUpToJewishHate Blue Square Campaign to Raise Awareness of Hate Against Jewish People
Chancellor Matos Rodríguez Also Announces Formation of Advisory Council on Jewish Life, Part of Multi-Pronged Effort to Build Unity and Combat Hate on Campuses
From left: Queens College Hillel President Avi Koenig, Assembly Member Daniel Rosenthal, Queens College President Frank H. Wu, CUNY Chancellor Félix V. Matos Rodríguez, FCAS Executive Director Matthew E. Berger and JCRC-NY Executive Vice President & CEO Gideon Taylor.
The City University of New York Chancellor Félix V. Matos Rodríguez and Foundation to Combat Antisemitism (FCAS) Executive Director Matthew E. Berger today hosted “Paint the University Blue” at Queens College, an event in partnership with FCAS’s #StandUpToJewishHate campaign to raise awareness about antisemitism and hatred against Jewish people by wearing blue squares or posting or sharing the blue square emoji. Students from Queens College Hillel were in attendance, along with representatives from Hillel International, The New York Board of Rabbis and Jewish Community Relations Council of New York (JCRC-NY). The event also served as the launch for a social media effort across the 25 CUNY colleges, encouraging all students, faculty and staff to join in the campaign.
Additionally, the Chancellor announced the formation of an Advisory Council on Jewish Life, a University-wide body of prominent New York Jewish leaders that will first convene in June.
“We will not waver in our dedication to fighting antisemitism, and we want our Jewish students, faculty and staff to know they are valued and protected at our University,” said CUNY Chancellor Matos Rodríguez. “As we mark Jewish American Heritage Month, I call on our entire CUNY family to help us paint the University blue and stand up against intolerance. Today’s announcements are yet another way we are working to show that our University condemns antisemitism hatred in all its forms and will fight back.”
“We are pleased that the City University of New York has adopted the Stand Up to Jewish Hate campaign to raise awareness and to empower its community to fight antisemitism,” said FCAS Executive Director Berger.“Our hope is that Jewish students and community members across campuses will see the Blue Squares and know that they are welcome and supported, and that CUNY is committed to addressing antisemitism, all hate and all intolerance.”
“We are deeply honored to have hosted CUNY Chancellor Félix V. Matos Rodríguez and the executive director of the Foundation to Combat Antisemitism, Matthew Berger, at Queens College, where vibrant Jewish student life takes place all year round,” said Queens College President Frank H. Wu. “Our college community is enhanced enormously by a fabulous Hillel and a renowned Center for Jewish Studies, on a campus where extraordinarily diverse ethnic and religious groups learn and work together. We are proud to be known as outspoken on the subject of combating antisemitism and reaffirm our support for the Jewish Community and the fight against antisemitism and bigotry.”
“We applaud Chancellor Matos Rodríguez’s efforts to publicly mobilize the entire CUNY community to address the alarming spike in antisemitism,” said Mark B. Rotenberg, vice president of university initiatives and legal affairs at Hillel International. “Hillel also deeply appreciates the Chancellor’s support for Hillel’s Campus Climate Initiative, which offers each CUNY campus the opportunity to learn how antisemitism impacts their students and adopt concrete action plans that provide real support for the Jewish community on campus.”
At the “Paint the University Blue” event, blue square pins and stickers were given to students alongside information about what antisemitism is and how to spread awareness. Students and campus community members were also encouraged to post the blue square emoji on their social media profiles to express their support for the fight against antisemitism. A toolkit has been distributed to all CUNY colleges such that they can join in the effort from across the city.
The blue square was chosen by FCAS to serve as an easily accessible way for people to express their support for the Jewish community and the fight against antisemitism. FCAS builds positive messaging and partnerships to encourage people, especially non-Jewish people, to stand up against hate and intolerance.
QC Hillel President Avi Koenig applies a Blue Square pin to his lapel.
CUNY is participating in this campaign to ensure that every member of its University community is aware of the increasing trend of antisemitism and is prepared to respond to it. With resources provided by FCAS, the University can educate community members on the different types of antisemitism and on different ways to proactively stand against it.
CUNY’s Advisory Council on Jewish Life, which is still in formation, will include Jewish leaders in New York who will advise the Chancellor on ways to lift up Jewish life and foster better communication between all religions on campus. The group will meet each semester and as needed. Members will include Rabbi Joseph Potasnick, executive vice president of the New York Board of Rabbis, and Gideon Taylor, executive vice president and CEO of the JCRC-NY.
“History has taught us that hatred may start against the Jews, but it does not stop with them,” said Rabbi Potasnik. “This important FCAS initiative reminds us that the fight against hatred must be a collaborative effort comprised of people of different backgrounds who belong to one human family. We are many, and we are one.”
“JCRC-NY welcomes CUNY’s ongoing efforts to foster a safer and more welcoming environment for all students,” said Taylor. “The challenges faced by CUNY’s Jewish students and faculty are part of the current alarming increase in antisemitic incidents throughout New York City. The unique challenge within academic spaces is how to encourage constructive discussions about complex realities without allowing for them to devolve into hate, prejudice and discrimination, or to go unnoticed or veiled under a banner of free speech. While work still remains, we hope that CUNY’s new portal will allow for incident of bias and hate to be better addressed and that the substantial investment of funds for educational programs to confront hate and antisemitism will have a lasting positive impact.”
The campaign and council are part of CUNY’s ongoing effort to address hate and discrimination at the University. This year, CUNY distributed $750,000 systemwide for programming to fight against antisemitism, bigotry and hate of all kinds.
The existing funding has been used to support projects including:
- a Holocaust education program for faculty and staff that Queensborough Community College has offered, leveraging its Kupferberg Holocaust Centerand hosting an exhibition on the intersection between antisemitism and racism.
- a workshop at John Jay College of Criminal Justice presented by the NYC Commission on Human Rights focused on understanding Jewish experiences and antisemitism, educating attendees on the diversity of Jewish cultures and identities while developing strategies to combat antisemitism and discrimination.
- a poster exhibit at New York City College of Technology entitled “I am a Jew,” which includes students, faculty and staff on campus sharing their stories.
- a panel discussion at LaGuardia Community College on diversity, equity and inclusion that included Rabbi Mira Rivera, Rabbi-in-Residence at the Jewish Community Center in Harlem and the LUNAR Collective, discussing the increased trend of incidents of hate speech directed at people of Jewish and Asian descent.
A Month of Education
As part of Jewish American Heritage Month, Chancellor Matos Rodríguez will also accompany 20 CUNY students on a visit to the Museum of Jewish Heritage in Battery Park City on May 22.
These announcements add to the University’s continued efforts to ensure that Jewish students, faculty and staff feel welcomed on CUNY campuses. The Chancellor, who has repeatedly spoken out against antisemitism and calls for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) against Israel, launched a centralized online portal to report instances of antisemitism and other forms of discrimination and harassment.
“There is no place for hate on college campuses, including antisemitism,” said U.S. Rep. Grace Meng, co-chair of the House Bipartisan Task Force for Combating Antisemitism. “We must continue to use all the tools at our disposal to fight this alarming rise in antisemitism, nationally. This includes raising awareness of the incidents that occur on college campuses. I applaud this campaign to raise awareness at Queens College and across the CUNY system. I hope it will further underscore the need for communities to come together to reject hate and bigotry.”
“I am sponsoring legislation that will modernize how colleges and universities across the state report hate crimes on their campuses,” said State Senator Toby Ann Stavisky, chair of the Committee on Higher Education. “This is just one of the steps we are taking to combat the disturbing rise in hate crimes and anti-Semitism across the country. I thank Queens College for hosting this event as we strive for inclusivity and equality throughout CUNY.”
“As incidents of antisemitism continue to rise across the U.S., we must all do our part to stand together in solidarity against hatred and bigotry,” said State Senator John Liu. “The Paint the University Blue campaign is a simple yet effective way college campuses can contribute to the battle against the ignorance, fear and hatred that has become far too commonplace. Many thanks to the Foundation to Combat Antisemitism, Queens College Hillel, Chancellor Félix Matos Rodríguez, Hillel International, the New York Board of Rabbis, the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York, and the CUNY colleges, students, faculty and staff who are united in this effort to stand up to Jewish hate.”
“It’s fundamentally important that in places of higher education that there is no hate or intolerance,” said Assembly Member Daniel Rosenthal. “Colleges should be a place where it is safe to be yourself and share ideas. I commend CUNY for taking proactive steps to make sure students feel safe and not targeted. This partnership with the Foundation to Combat Antisemitism sends a message that any student is welcome at CUNY.”
About FCAS
The Foundation to Combat Antisemitism was founded by Robert Kraft in 2019, after he received the Genesis Prize, a $1 million prize awarded to a Jewish individual who has achieved significant professional success. FCAS’ mission is to win the hearts and minds of non-Jews through powerful positive messaging and partnerships, motivating and equipping them to be defenders of and upstanders for Jews as they continue to face antisemitism.
The City University of New York is the nation’s largest urban public university, a transformative engine of social mobility that is a critical component of the lifeblood of New York City. Founded in 1847 as the nation’s first free public institution of higher education, CUNY today has seven community colleges, 11 senior colleges and seven graduate or professional institutions spread across New York City’s five boroughs, serving over 243,000 undergraduate and graduate students and awarding 55,000 degrees each year. CUNY’s mix of quality and affordability propels almost six times as many low-income students into the middle class and beyond as all the Ivy League colleges combined. More than 80 percent of the University’s graduates stay in New York, contributing to all aspects of the city’s economic, civic and cultural life and diversifying the city’s workforce in every sector. CUNY’s graduates and faculty have received many prestigious honors, including 13 Nobel Prizes and 26 MacArthur “Genius” Grants. The University’s historic mission continues to this day: provide a first-rate public education to all students, regardless of means or background.
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