NYC Department of Education: Stop Censoring Pro-Palestine Educator

Jewish Voice for Peace members at a gathering. Credit: Jewish Voice for Peace

Palestine Legal and the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) warned the New York City Department of Education (DOE) to end its censorship of educator Jon Cohen’s support for Palestinian rights in two letters this year.

A school principal wrongly ordered Cohen to stop wearing his Jewish Voice for Peace T-shirt and to remove several items supporting Palestinian rights from his workspace in May, incorrectly citing New York’s anti-BDS Executive Order. Cohen provides services to children with autism at P255Q at the Parsons Educational Complex in Queens.

Palestine Legal and CCR wrote the DOE in August. The DOE responded in September, agreeing that its reliance on New York’s Executive Order No. 157 “was misguided” and stated that Cohen would be allowed to wear his JVP T-shirt and display a photograph of Rachel Corrie, a postcard-sized handmade Palestinian flag, and a small strip of paper that read “free Palestine.”

However, the DOE now maintains that a Chancellor’s policy prohibiting electioneering in public schools forbids Cohen from displaying items in his workspace bearing the language “BDS” and “End the #Gaza Blockade” “due to their political nature.”

In a reply letter sent on November 19, Palestine Legal and the Center for Constitutional Rights wrote:

The term “political” cannot be taken out of the context of [Chancellor’s Regulation] D-130 to extend beyond election campaign speech to include any issue-oriented advocacy that may be deemed by some to be political. Such an interpretation would prevent holding a forum on any significant issue of the day, including climate change, gender justice, or immigration. D-130 regulates conduct with respect to political campaigns and elections. It does not prohibit a sticker with the word “BDS” and an email that states “End the #Gaza Blockade,” which do not involve elections, candidates or political campaigns attached to such candidates.

Cohen has educated students with autism for 17 years in the New York City public school system.

“I am Jewish, and several of my family members were killed in the Nazi Holocaust. As such, I consider it my moral duty to speak out against injustice, including for Palestinians," said Cohen. "What message is the DOE sending students by censoring an employee for a modest display of support for human rights? It seems that the DOE is encouraging complacency in the face of injustice."

“The DOE agreed that Governor Cuomo’s anti-BDS order was incorrectly used to censor speech supporting Palestinian rights, but it is still silencing speech on BDS and Gaza by incorrectly using a different policy,” said senior staff attorney Radhika Sainath. “There’s really no excuse for this bizarre distinction and the law doesn’t support it.”