NYU Israeli Alumni Cut Ties Over Antisemitism

New York University's Israeli alumni cut ties with the school on Tuesday over what they say is a "blasé" attitude to combatting antisemitism from the institution's president.

The NYU Alumni Club of Israel, which boasts 2,000 members, blasted NYU President Linda Mills and told Board of Trustees Chair Evan Chesler that it was suspending its relationship with the university until it could rein in antisemitism on its campus.

In a letter sent Tuesday, the group said that Jewish students on NYU's campus "have been subject to antisemitic rhetoric and violence from Hamas-supporting students and faculty," including a "hostile takeover" of Bobst Library earlier this month and chants of "Hitler was right" and "Gas the Jews."

Alumni told the New York Post that during a Nov. 1 Zoom call with Mills, she said the anti-Israeli phrase "From the river to the sea" was not necessarily antisemitic and also ate lunch throughout the meeting.

The school president reportedly began the meeting with about 20 alumni by asking if anyone objected to her eating a salad during the call. Participants who spoke with the Post said she appeared "blasé" and was "not taking it seriously."

"We're talking about the worst event in the history of the Jewish people since the Holocaust and she's eating lunch," one participant who requested anonymity from the Post said.

Steven Aiello, 35, who serves on the alumni group's leadership board, said Mills' behavior was disruptive and disrespectful and "made it seem like she didn't see any real problem to address."

Aiello, of Tel Aviv, told the Post that two members of the 10-member board had already resigned out of frustration with NYU administrators.

"She was surprisingly blasé about it all," he said. "It was very strange given the audience. Felt like either she was totally oblivious about the situation or spinning it all."

Another Israeli member of the alumni group said Mills told meeting participants that "some of it's coming from social media, it's exaggerated."

"She told us it's not as bad as you think it is," she said. "She whitewashed the whole thing."

Sharon Sion Sasson, 58, told the Post that Mills tried to downplay the frequency and seriousness of antisemitic incidents at NYU.

"She said that 'From the river to the sea' could have many meanings," Sasson, a 2003 graduate of NYU's Stern School of Business, said. "She also said she didn't think the students saying it understood it the way we did."

In its letter, the alumni group called for NYU to classify the phrase as hate speech and issue a public condemnation of it.

The group also demanded that individual students and student groups face consequences for using hate speech and discipline or terminate faculty members who "engage in hate speech, harass Jewish students, and/or encourage student participation in antisemitic activities."

"We, the alumni of NYU in Israel, cannot stand in silence while NYU students and faculty members chant for the annihilation of the Jewish State of Israel, and intimidate and assault Jewish students on NYU's campus," the letter read. "Times like these require not just words but moral leadership and action."

"Until the university can protect its Jewish students from the extreme rhetoric and violence of faculty and student-led hate groups using NYU's name, the NYU Alumni Club of Israel suspends any cooperation and affiliation with NYU and its institutions," the group added.

University spokesman John Beckman told the Post that NYU was not aware of the alumni group's intention to cut ties and said it was one of the first U.S. universities to publicly condemn Palestinian militant group Hamas' attack on Israel. The school has also promptly investigated complaints of antisemitism, he said, adding that "it always saddens NYU to learn that we've disappointed members of our community."

"However, with full respect, we would remind our alums in Israel, who no doubt have experienced excruciating pain, that NYU has been taking many steps to fight antisemitism and keep the campus safe," Beckman said.

He defended Mills eating lunch on the Zoom call, saying nobody raised any objection to it at the time.

"This was about being famished and having an incredibly demanding job, not about disrespect," he said.