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Students at NYC’s woke New School voted to strip funding for its campus Hillel chapter, an unprecedented move critics ripped as a “despicable” ploy to erase Jewish life on campus.
The Greenwich Village school is the first in the country to end financial ties to the group, claiming without evidence it was connected to “grave violations of international law.”
The 22-member student senate made the move Friday by majority vote, boasting it was a “landmark decision” to declare Hillel “not in good standing,” citing its connection to the Israeli Defense Forces through student trips to Israel.
Hillel is an international Jewish student hub with chapters at 850 colleges in the United States, that serves as gathering places for Jewish students to socialize, worship and observe religious holidays.
In a 38-page report, the student government alleged Hillel’s participation in programs that send students to volunteer on military bases in Israel makes the entire student body complicit, fees taken from tuition to fund all student groups.
“To continue to fund Hillel at the New School would mean that your student fees would be used to support violations of international law,” the statement says. “Our shared values require us to enforce our policies until Hillel agrees to affirm and abide by international law.”
City Council Member Eric Dinowitz, chair of the higher education caucus and co-chair of the Jewish caucus, called the Friday vote “despicable.”
“This is a direct attack on Jewish life on campus,” he wrote Saturday on X. “The New School must not allow the student senate to be weaponized to target their Jewish population.”
Jewish alum were aghast by the vote.
“As a Jewish alumni I am ashamed to have been a part of your school,” wrote Nicole Mardkha on Instagram. “Universities should support all student communities equally which you clearly do not. I hear the school has trouble with enrollment of new students… wonder why! Goodluck with donations and enrollment. Jokes on you.”
The report also complained that Hillel, through its participation in the Birthright Israel program, allows students to tour and participate in recreational activities in occupied territories, including jeeping in the Golan Heights.
The private university is the first school to cut ties with its Hillel chapter, but there’s been calls at other schools to stop funding since the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks.
In 2024, Baruch College’s Hillel was protested with a “Rally against Hillel” in front of the Gramercy Park building, with organizers parroting leftist talking points such as “Hillel stands with Genocide.”
Students at Hunter College, the University of Pittsburg, Drexel University in Philadelphia and the University of California in Santa Cruz have made similar demands to boycott Hillel.
Hillel and the New School did not return requests for comments.
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