NYC university system’s faculty union backtracks after Israel boycott vote

NEW YORK — The faculty union for New York City’s public university system, the City University of New York, says it rescinded an Israel boycott vote last week, a month after the 30,000-member labor group approved divesting from Israeli institutions.

The union, the Professional Staff Congress (PSC), has been a battleground for anti-Israel activism for years, and some Jewish professors have long accused the group of bias and discrimination.

The vote to boycott Israel was divisive within the union, and drew criticism from the CUNY administration, New York Governor Kathy Hochul, and two groups representing Jewish and pro-Israel faculty in the CUNY system.

The text of the resolution passed on January 23 cited the death toll in Gaza and anti-Israel measures from the International Criminal Court and the International Court of Justice as reasons for the boycott.

The resolution said the PSC would divest its own funds from “investment vehicles that include Israeli corporate stocks and government bonds.” The resolution also called on the Teachers’ Retirement System, a New York City municipal institution, to enact a “complete disinvestment from Israel.” Around one-quarter of the union’s pension plan participants contribute to the retirement system, the PSC told The Times of Israel last month.

The resolution passed PSC’s delegate assembly by a close vote of 73-70. The union’s executive council and principal officers opposed the resolution, the PSC told The Times of Israel.

On February 20, the union held a second vote on the divestment resolution. It was rejected with 113 opposed and 63 in favor, the PSC said.

“The Delegate Assembly chose to rescind the resolution because irregularities were identified in the January 23 vote. The irregularities were corrected and a revote was held,” said a PSC spokesperson, who declined to provide further comment on the irregularities.

Manfred Philipp, a former chair of the faculty senate and former officer in the union who has maintained ties to the group, said the union held another vote because alternate delegates had voted when they were not supposed to.

Each campus in the CUNY system has regular and alternate delegates in the PSC’s governing assembly. The alternate delegates may only vote when the regular delegates are not present. During the Israel boycott vote, however, some alternate delegates voted alongside their regular delegates, giving the measure enough votes to pass. The vote is done by a show of hands, so it was not immediately clear that both regular and alternate delegates had voted. Also, delegates from other campuses were not present, so there was not a surplus of votes that would have indicated double voting by some campuses.

The union leadership opposed the boycott, and the vote was controversial and close, so the leadership checked whether alternates had voted when they were not allowed to and found the irregularities, Philipp said.

It was not clear whether the alternates had voted deliberately when they were not supposed to. If the alternates had checked into the meeting before the regular delegates, they would not have been informed that the regulars were already there, Philipp said.

Passing an Israel boycott vote could have hurt the union in negotiations with city and state officials who oppose such a measure.

The union leaders “really did not want it to pass, not that the union leadership is pro-Israel, but the union leadership is interested in the welfare of the union and the success of the next round of contract negotiations,” Philipp said.

The resolution was the latest anti-Israel measure to come before the union in recent years.

In May, the PSC rejected a resolution calling for an Israel boycott that differed from the measure passed last month.

Also last month, the US Supreme Court declined to take on a case filed by Jewish professors against the union. A group of professors affiliated with SAFE CUNY, a pro-Israel group, initially filed that case against the union in 2022 after the PSC adopted a resolution criticizing Israel and calling to consider a boycott. Jewish professors said the measure was discriminatory, and dozens resigned from the union. A judge in New York dismissed the case last year, leading the plaintiffs to turn to the US Supreme Court.

Last year, amid protests across CUNY, the union condemned a pro-Palestinian strike by its own members, but also backed student protesters in several statements.

The PSC says it represents 30,000 faculty and staff across CUNY’s 25 colleges. CUNY is part of the fabric of New York City, with more than 230,000 students across the five boroughs.

Anti-Israel activism and allegations of antisemitism have roiled the CUNY system for years, including since the October 7, 2023, Hamas onslaught and the ensuing war.

An investigation ordered by Hochul said last year that many Jewish students do not feel safe and called for an overhaul of CUNY’s system for handling antisemitism.

CUNY has taken some countermeasures in recent years, including establishing a Jewish advisory council for the school system’s leadership and facilitating student visits to Manhattan’s Museum of Jewish Heritage.

It’s not (only) about you.

Join the Times of Israel Community

Join our Community

Already a member? Sign in to stop seeing this

You’re a dedicated reader

Join Our Community

Join Our Community

Already a member? Sign in to stop seeing this