Higher Education Institution

City University of New York (CUNY)

Partnerships

Constructive Dialogue Institute

In October 2024, City University of New York (CUNY) announced a major partnership with Constructive Dialogue Institute (CDI) to “Improve Dialogue on Campuses.” Publicity for the initiative noted that it builds on a partnership with Hillel International (an explicitly anti-BDS organization) to ensure CUNY is “free of antisemitism and harassment.”

Notable People

Félix V. Matos Rodríguez

Chancellor of CUNY.

In 2025, CUNY faculty and students criticized Chancellor Matos-Rodriguez for his announced “zero-tolerance policy against encampments.” Also in 2025, Jewish Voice for Peace criticized Matos Rodríguez’s non-renewal of four adjunct professors, two of whom had engaged in Palestine advocacy. In July 2025 he testified on “antisemitism in higher education” before a committee of the U.S. House of Representatives. In the following excerpt from that testimony, Matos Rodríguez suggests that he sees a link between antisemitism and certain forms of pro-Palestine activism, and that CUNY’s partnership with Constructive Dialogue Institute will reduce these forms of activism:

[W]e have worked to address antisemitism.… In the spring of 2024, an encampment disrupted City College’s campus.… When it became clear that protestors posed a threat to the safety and well-being of our community, we made the serious and necessary decision to request NYPD’s presence on campus. 170 people were arrested that night…. [W]e are also taking steps to address the underlying issues that affect the climate on our campuses.… We’ve partnered with the Constructive Dialogue [Institute] to drive a systemic culture shift across our 26 campuses.

Notable funders

Jeffrey H. and Shari L. Aronson Family Foundation

Amount not identified; funding relationship documented here

Established by billionaire hedge fund founder Jeffrey Aronson, along with his wife, Shari Aronson. The foundation is listed here as a $100,000+ donor to Birthright Israel and it is listed here as a $100,000+ donor to OpenDor Media (an organization with documented ties to the far-right Clarion Project, which SPLC has described as an “anti-Muslim” group). The Aronsons are also significant donors to Hillel International (an explicitly anti-BDS organization). Jeffrey Aronson serves as an executive committee member on the board of the staunchly pro-Israel UJA-Federation New York.

College Presidents for Civic Preparedness

CUNY chancellor Félix Matos Rodríguez is a member of this coalition. Refer to the "College Presidents for Civic Preparedness" entry for details about the organization's leadership and funders.

Campus Policy Context

On April 25, 2024, students, faculty and other activists from across the CUNY system established the CUNY Gaza Solidarity Encampment on the City College campus. Their demands included divestment from companies complicit in Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, disclosure of CUNY investments, and an academic boycott of Israeli universities.

On April 30, administrators ordered the encampment dismantled before students returned from spring break. That evening, after CUNY officials reported vandalism and clashes with campus security, Chancellor Félix Matos Rodríguez and CCNY President Vincent Boudreau requested NYPD assistance. Hundreds of officers, including members of the department’s Strategic Response Group in riot gear, cleared the campus and arrested about 170 people; journalists reported officers shoving, kettling and chasing protesters, while other accounts documented the use of mace and tasers.

In rejecting the protesters' demands, CUNY took the position that it “cannot participate in BDS activities,” citing New York State Executive Order 157, and that ending academic exchanges with Israel would conflict with the university’s mission of exposing students to “a range of opinions and beliefs.” In August 2024, four months after the police sweep, CUNY launched a system-wide campaign to promote “civil discourse and dialogue, tolerance and respect” across all of its campuses. In the same back-to-school message, Matos Rodríguez wrote that CUNY sought environments where people could “voice their opinions and disagree but still respect each other,” while reminding students that university rules now expressly prohibited encampments and permitted restrictions on the time, place and manner of protests.

On Jan. 23, 2025, the delegates of PSC-CUNY—the union representing CUNY faculty and staff—narrowly approved a resolution to divest the union’s holdings from Israeli companies. In response, the university stated that it “has consistently denounced BDS activity and we condemn the resolution.” It added that “CUNY will not participate in any form of BDS activity.” (In February 2025, after discovering irregularities with the first vote, PSC-CUNY held a new vote where they rescinded the resolution.)

Separately, in January 2025, Queens College (one of CUNY’s five largest campuses by enrollment) introduced a policy requiring campus demonstrators to comply with Public Safety requests to “remove masks or face coverings” in order to confirm that they have a right to be on campus. (Demonstrator face-covering restrictions have been promoted by conservative and right-wing groups such as ACTA, The Heritage Foundation, Manhattan Institute, and the Trump administration, as well as Israel advocacy groups like the Anti-Defamation League; by contrast, representatives of the ACLU and its New York chapter have argued that peaceful protesters may wear masks as protection from surveillance and doxxing—and similar concerns about restrictions on protesters’ use of masks have been raised by the U.N. Human Rights Committee, Human Rights Watch, and Amnesty International.)