Lavine Calls Blakeman’s Hofstra Attack Shameful

November 29, 2023

NORTH SHORE, NEW YORK – Assemblymember Charles Lavine (D-North Shore), who serves as President of the New York chapter of the National Association of Jewish Legislators, has issued a response to Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman’s call for

Hofstra University President Susan Poser to resign over her statement on the Israeli-Hamas conflict.

In his statement, Lavine refers to Blakeman’s actions as being “…calculated to please his MAGA base…”, “…a partisan political threat to academic freedom…”, and “…intended to frustrate the capacity of educators to pursue the liberty of intellectual thought.”

Poser’s comments “…were every bit as condemnatory of Hamas as were the statements of other noteworthy leading university administrators,” Lavine said. “It is beyond obvious that Blakeman’s manufactured attack was intended as revenge for Hofstra’s resistance to his plan to redevelop the hub,” he added.

The entirety of Lavine’s statement is attached.

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Assemblymember Charles Lavine represents New York’s 13th Assembly District in Nassau County. He presently serves as Chair of the Judiciary Committee and is a member of the Committees on Codes, Ethics and Guidance, Insurance and Rules. Lavine previously served as Chair of the Election Law Committee, Chair of the Committee on Ethics and Guidance, co-Chair of the New York State Legislative Ethics Commission and as Chair of the bipartisan Taskforce that produced the Assembly Speaker’s Policy on Sexual Harassment, Retaliation and discrimination.