Civil Rights Groups Urge CUNY to Retract Anti-Palestinian Statement and Apologize

Fatima Mohammed speaking at her commencement ceremony on 12 May 2023

Palestine Legal and 13 civil rights groups, including the Center for Constitutional Rights, the Arab American Anti-Discrimination Committee, and Law for Black Lives, wrote the City University of New York (CUNY) today to raise serious concerns that the university’s May 30th Statement condemning as “hate speech” the principled remarks by graduating CUNY Law 3L Fatima Mohammed violated state and federal laws. Published two weeks after Mohammed gave her speech in which she criticized Israel’s treatment of Palestinians, the statement from CUNY’s Board of Trustees and Chancellor contributed to the bullying campaign led by anti-Palestinian groups, politicians, and rightwing media outlets in the wake of Mohammed’s speech, and incited additional online harassment and threats against Mohammed.

The coalition letter calls on CUNY to retract the statement, issue a public apology, recognize that opposition to the political ideology of Zionism is a stance for equality and freedom, and hold trainings on anti-Palestinian racism, among other demands.

Mohammed, a first-generation law student whose family immigrated to Brooklyn from Yemen, was elected by her peers to speak at commencement. During the May 12 ceremony, Mohammed received resounding applause for her speech (starting at 1:16:23) in which she discussed the harms experienced by Black and brown communities in the U.S., the experiences of Palestinians living under Israeli settler-colonialism and celebrated CUNY Law’s mission of lawyering in service of oppressed communities.

“Palestine can no longer be the exception to our pursuit of justice,” said Mohammed, who also shared her pride in CUNY Law students’ and faculty organizing in support of Palestinian rights and BDS.

The dean’s office of CUNY Law had reviewed and approved Mohammed’s speech as a condition of her speaking as part of an apparently new school policy. In an April 28 email, CUNY Law administrators told Mohammed that “all student speeches need to be approved by the dean’s office in order to be used at graduation. Speeches that are not approved… will mean that you void your ability to give an address at commencement.” The new policy appeared to be implemented after anti-Palestinian groups lobbied CUNY in protest after Nerdeen Kiswani, a Palestinian activist who has been the target of numerous anti-Palestinian campaigns for her support for Palestinian rights, spoke at last year’s commencement, also in support of Palestinian rights. 

Following her speech, Mohammed, a 24-year-old Arab-American and Muslim woman, faced a barrage of racist attacks from public officials, including members of Congress, state lawmakers, and in rightwing media outlets.

Instead of stepping in to support Mohammed in the face of these attacks, the CUNY administration joined them. Approximately two weeks after the graduation ceremony, after the speech was posted, CUNY’s Board of Trustees and Chancellor published a statement condemning Mohammad’s words as “hate speech” and “a public expression of hate toward people and communities based on their religion, race or political affiliation”—suggesting that her speech critical of government policies was unlawful and sanctionable.

The coalition letter calls CUNY’s condemnation as “hate speech” of Mohammed’s substantive criticisms “an affront to Ms. Mohammed as well as all of those engaged in challenging these injustices‑including her educators, peers and loved ones who applauded her remarks.” The letter continues, “There is nothing in Ms. Mohammed’s remarks that could be construed as an expression of hate toward a protected class.”

As such, the letter further explains, CUNY’s statement is a form of unconstitutional retaliation: “As a public university, CUNY is prohibited from infringing on fundamental free speech rights. Ms. Mohammed’s speech was undoubtedly protected under the First Amendment. The May 30th Statement, which was issued as a direct result of Ms. Mohammed’s protected expression, would deter (and was intended to deter) ‘a person of ordinary firmness’ from continuing to engage in speech or conduct supporting Palestinian human rights‑particularly considering the vitriol and harassment against Ms. Mohammed it helped enflame.”

In addition to First Amendment violations, CUNY’s actions also raise concerns under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The coalition letter states, “The May 30th Statement is evidence that CUNY not only failed to address the anti-Arab, anti-Palestinian and Islamophobic harassment Ms. Mohammed was experiencing, but actively contributed to it by suggesting that it is unlawful or prohibited to say that Palestinians exist as a people in equality with other people.”

CUNY’s statement reinforces the smear campaign led by public officials and anti-Palestinian groups in the wake of Mohammed’s speech and has incited additional online harassment and new attacks. For example, a New York City councilmember and rightwing anti-Palestinian organizations have called on the Character and Fitness committees of the New York courts to find Mohammed unfit to practice law and deny her admission to the bar.

CUNY Law has also come under attack. Rep. Gottheimer called on the Department of Education to defund CUNY, and the International Legal Forum, a group with ties to the Israeli government, called on the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to revoke CUNY Law’s tax-exempt status. New York Republican lawmakers have also called on the governor to condemn “anti-Israel, anti-cop, anti-law and order, and anti-US viewpoints and philosophies” and to defund public universities that allow such speech to take place.

CUNY’s May 30th statement is part of a broader pattern of censoring criticism of Israel’s policies and discriminating against Palestinian students, speakers and alumni across CUNY campuses. Over the past decade, anti-Palestinian groups and politicians have disingenuously accused students, professors and speakers of  antisemitism for speech in support of Palestinian rights, prompting investigations that have ultimately cleared Palestine advocates of wrongdoing. These attacks against Mohammed are part of widespread harassment campaigns to shut down criticism of Israel by attacking Palestinians and their supporters. Since 2014, Palestine Legal has responded to over 2200 incidents of suppression.

“Instead of taking steps to address the harassment Fatima was facing, CUNY joined in on the anti-Palestinian bullying campaign," said Palestine Legal Senior Staff Attorney, Meera Shah. "Not only was the Board's statement condemning the speech of a student who took a principled stance in support of justice and human rights dangerous and wrong," said Shah, "it also violated CUNY's free speech obligations." 

Take action: sign Within Our Lifetime’s petition in support of Fatima and send an email to CUNY admin here.

Read the full coalition letter here.