BETTER LATE THAN NEVER: SCHOLARS FOR PEACE CALL ON CUNY TO REVERSE DECISION ON KUSHNER
For Immediate Release
Contact: Sam Edelman, PhD spmeexecdir@gmail.com
Awi Federgruen, DSc af7@columbia.edu
BOARD OF SCHOLARS FOR PEACE IN THE MIDDLE EAST, REPRESENTING 55,000 SCHOLARS, CALLS ON CUNY BOARD TO REVERSE “DEEPLY UNINFORMED DECISION” TO HONOR TONY KUSHNER
New York, May 15, 2011 — The Board of Scholars for Peace in the Middle East (SPME), a grass-roots organization representing 55,000 professors, researchers and students on 3500 campuses worldwide, has sent a letter to the Board of Trustees of the City University of New York (CUNY) to express SPME’s distress at the politicization of the university revealed by CUNY’s selection of playwright Tony Kushner for an honorary degree.
The letter, signed by scholars from across America, calls for a reversal of the highly controversial decision to honor Kushner, who has been involved with the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign against Israel, and has made numerous statements opposing the existence of Israel. Kushner has also made false assertions that Israel was founded upon ethnic cleansing.
SPME questions the CUNY Board’s choice of bestowing its highest honor on a man who frequently makes incendiary and biased accusations against Israel and who thereby fans the fires of anti-Semitism, hatred, and genocide incitement now prevalent in the Middle East.
The full text of the SPME letter is attached.
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