{"id":5457,"date":"2023-11-16T13:18:40","date_gmt":"2023-11-16T18:18:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/?p=5457"},"modified":"2023-11-22T08:45:45","modified_gmt":"2023-11-22T13:45:45","slug":"hunter-college-community-takes-a-stand-against-cancellation-of-professors-film-screening","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/2023\/11\/hunter-college-community-takes-a-stand-against-cancellation-of-professors-film-screening\/","title":{"rendered":"Hunter Community Takes a Stand Against Canceled Film Screening"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Students at the November 15 Hunter Senate meeting display signs condemning the Hunter Administration’s censorship. Photo: CUNY Internationalists<\/figcaption> Photo by P.M. Campbell<\/span><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

When a Hunter professor learned that the college\u2019s president canceled her film screening, she appealed to student protestors, Hunter organizers, and the senate to save it.<\/span><\/p>\n

Tami Gold, 74, scheduled a screening of Daniel J. Chalfen\u2019s award-winning documentary \u201c<\/span>Israelism<\/span><\/a>\u201d to provide an opportunity for dialogue on Palestine and Israel for the student body. The event was co-sponsored by her Film & Media Department as well as the Arabic Program, and was slated for November 14 at 6 p.m. Though Gold, who teaches documentary film making and LGBT Film & Media, started planning the screening in June, she and her colleagues began to receive pushback after Hamas\u2019 October 7 attack.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

When the Hunter administration expressed security concerns surrounding the showing, she was adamant that the event should still be held as a calm and constructive moment for discussion. Gold received word at 9 a.m. November 14, that the fully booked screening would be canceled. Not only did she contact the New York Civil Liberties Union, Center for Constitutional Rights, and the Professional Staff Congress for support in the matter, but she also spoke at an on-campus demonstration later that day.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Hunter\u2019s Palestine Solidarity Alliance held a sit-in demonstration outside of Hunter\u2019s West Building, students held up their hands covered in faux blood and looked up to see \u201cFREE PALESTINE\u201d in large letters on the two bridges connecting the east, west, and north buildings.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The demonstration featured PSA members reading <\/span>names of Palestinians killed since October 7<\/span><\/a>, representatives from the 10 collaborating clubs, as well as faculty like Adjunct Professor Sandor John who spoke about censorship of educators.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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A demonstrator at PSA’s November 14 sit-in in front of Hunter college.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Toward the end of the event, Gold announced that the Interim President Ann Kirschner canceled her film screening, an action which the crowd met with boos and cries of \u201cshame!\u201d She told the demonstrators, \u201cYou can speak truth to power and let the school know that you recognize censorship, you recognize academic freedom being attacked, and our civil liberties being attacked.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

As she addressed the crowd, a large black \u201c<\/span>Accuracy in Media<\/span><\/a>\u201d <\/span>truck<\/span><\/a> with LED screens pulled in front of Hunter\u2019s Starbucks, displaying the words \u201cCUNY\u2019s LEADING ANTISEMITES\u201d with a rotating and unsubstantiated list of CUNY staff who supposedly signed a joint letter \u201c<\/span>taking the side of Hamas<\/span><\/a>.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cOh my god they have the names of professors in my department,\u201d Gold told The Athenian after speaking.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Gold said she attended the event because she is for a free Palestine and emphasized that Israel\u2019s actions since October 7 embody their decades long mistreatment of Palestinians. She said <\/span>\u201c<\/span><\/i>Israelism<\/span>\u201d<\/span><\/i> is \u201cabout the growth of young Jews all over the world beginning to see the truth about Palestine and about Israel and the oppression.\u201d Like the film\u2019s subjects who travel to Israel and Palestine and observe \u201c<\/span>the brutal way Israel treats Palestinians<\/span><\/a>,\u201d Gold felt that conditions could not get worse while on her trip to the West Bank in 2014.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI think they\u2019ve made something much larger for them, a big mess for the president of Hunter college,\u201d she said. \u201cThat our students can\u2019t have disagreements in a very professional, healthy way, that\u2019s what they\u2019re saying, they\u2019re saying that our students can\u2019t be trusted.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Before attending the protest, Simya Sinclair, a 22-year-old media major, explained that members of his family are Zionist, an opposing ideology which causes him to keep his distance.<\/span><\/p>\n

To him, colleges should provide an opportunity to expand one\u2019s mindset regardless of how they were raised. Discussing the <\/span>repression<\/span><\/a> of pro-Palestine activities across college campuses, he expressed disappointment yet was not surprised.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThis is where young people join together\u2026 it’s where we\u2019re supposed to grow, and part of it is expressing your beliefs,\u201d said Sinclair. He felt that the growing censorship is \u201ccounter-intuitive to the whole purpose of why we\u2019re here in the first place.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Approximately 150 people RSVP\u2019d for the event in the Lang Recital Hall, and that dropped to 100 on November 11 when the administration limited the event to Hunter students. While that figure dropped to zero attendees the morning of the 14th, approximately 60 people showed up to a meeting in the Faculty Delegate Assembly to discuss the cancellation. They spoke with Producer Daniel J. Chalfen and interviewee Simone Zimmerman from \u201cIsraelism\u201d and figured out ways to proceed.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Kelly Anderson, chair of the Film & Media department, discussed the administration\u2019s original willingness to support the event despite hundreds of emails claiming the film would exacerbate tensions on campus.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Anderson maintained that she attended a meeting on the 14 among Dean Polsky,\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Provost Manoj Pardasani, and President Kirschner who justified their cancellation of the screening with a concern for student\u2019s safety and tensions around campus. Though Anderson clarified that she disagreed with their decision, the administrator’s word was final.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI was invited to the president\u2019s office and it was the president who took full responsibility for the decision, and she said that she understood the value of academic freedom and she was concerned about the climate on campus, and that this could be like pouring gasoline on a fire,\u201d said Anderson.<\/span><\/p>\n

The following day, November 15, students walked into the <\/span>Hunter College Senate<\/span><\/a> meeting with signs saying \u201cWe will not be silenced,\u201d \u201cMcCarthyism<\/span> at Hunter?\u201d and other slogans concerning free speech. Anderson, Undergraduate Student Government President <\/span>Bashir Juwara, and <\/span>the PSA president critiqued what they saw as the Hunter President\u2019s lack of support for civil conversations, of impartial support for students, and of recognition of Palestinian students. John discussed his hatred of anti-Semitic symbolism and called the president’s reference to <\/span>\u201cswastikas [which] were drawn on posters surrounding our buildings\u201d a false pretext to cancel the screening.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIf the statement in any way implied that I considered the film anti-semitic, then I did not express myself clearly, I haven’t seen the film,\u201d said President Kirschner in response to Anderson. \u201cTo have shown the film last night struck me as not responsible for campus safety.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Jennifer Gaboury, Hunter Chapter chair of the PSC and one of the <\/span>faculty members doxxed<\/span><\/a> on the Accuracy in Media truck, expressed her disappointment in the president who was present on zoom, and asked the senators to consider endorsing a statement from the union chapter which \u201cobjects to the last-minute cancellation\u201d of the film. Professor Sandor John added an amendment stating, \u201cwe call on the administration to provide a space for the film to be shown in November 2023.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

One member of the audience dissented to the resolution, and agreed with the president that the film posed a safety concern, another felt that a union resolution did not belong in the senate.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThis is not me making a political statement, it’s about me saying I trust that our students can engage in complicated issues,\u201d said Gold in support.<\/span><\/p>\n

All senators participated in an anonymous \u201cclicker vote\u201d at the controversial request of a senator. The first vote, which added John\u2019s amendment to Gaboury\u2019s resolution, passed with 33 in favor, 8 against, and 12 abstaining.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

As the minutes ticked down however, with a straightforward \u201cvoice vote\u201d off the table, the task remained for the senators to digitally vote on the complete resolution. Ultimately, the resolution to condemn the cancellation of <\/span>\u201c<\/span><\/i>Israelism<\/span>\u201d<\/span><\/i> as \u201can egregious and illegitimate violation of academic freedom,\u201d and to reschedule it later in November was passed with 32 in favor, 7 against, and 16 abstaining.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>After the meeting, Gaboury and Gold expressed joy that the senate defended academic freedom.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cLet’s mobilize our students to come to the senate more often\u2026 I\u2019m leaving soon, and I don’t mean I\u2019m leaving Hunter, I’m leaving the planet,\u201d Gold joked. \u201cAnd I want this space to be healthier, and therefore students need to be in the senate so their voices can be heard.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

There is no planned date for screening the film at Hunter.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  When a Hunter professor learned that the college\u2019s president canceled her film screening, she appealed to student protestors, Hunter organizers, and the senate to save it. Tami Gold, 74, scheduled a screening of Daniel J. Chalfen\u2019s award-winning documentary \u201cIsraelism\u201d to provide an opportunity for dialogue on Palestine and Israel […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":131,"featured_media":5458,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,324],"tags":[358,560,558,557,559,556,505,253,555],"class_list":["post-5457","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-student-life","tag-union","tag-censorship","tag-film","tag-israel","tag-media","tag-palestine","tag-president","tag-protest","tag-psc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5457","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/131"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5457"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5457\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5473,"href":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5457\/revisions\/5473"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5458"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5457"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5457"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5457"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}