Lavine Denounces Hate-Filled Speech at CUNY Law Commencement

Assemblymember Charles Lavine (D-North Shore) has sent a letter to CUNY Chancellor Felix Matos Rodriguez condemning a hate-filled speech at the May 12 law school commencement and the failure of school officials to immediately denounce it.

In the letter, co-signed by many bi-partisan members of the New York Chapter of the National Association of Jewish Legislators, Lavine refers to the speech as, “grotesquely inappropriate and designed to demean and antagonize Americans and Jews.”

In reference to the lack of action by CUNY administrators, Lavine, who serves as President of the New York Chapter of the National Association of Jewish Legislators, and as a member of the association’s National Board of Directors, said “The conduct did not occur in a vacuum. It was enabled by CUNY refusing to take meaningful action when the Law School Government Association and the law school faculty endorsed the BDS movement against Israel, setting the stage for the hate-filled diatribe.”

Lavine demanded, “that the Chancellor and CUNY Board of Trustees and the Dean of the Law School issue a strong denunciation and clear repudiation of hateful speech.” He also demanded that “CUNY establish a Jewish advisory council that includes students to create a written policy to address a problem that has been permitted to metastasize for far too long.”

Click here access to the letter in its entirety

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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.