The New School (TNS) University’s student government voted to suspend funding and collaboration with the New York City academic institution’s Hillel branch on Friday, even though TNS said on Saturday that the student government lacked the authority to make such decisions.
Despite only the administration holding the power to defund or change the recognition of student organizations, the TNS University Student Senate (USS) voted to designate TNS Hillel as “not in good standing” over Hillel International’s Israel trips. USS’s Registered Student Organization (RSO) Compliance Committee claimed the trips provided material support to the supposed Israeli government's international law violations and war crimes.
The administration said in a Saturday statement that the USS does not have authority to determine the “official status of registered student organizations,” and that it was taking action to address the USS’s decision and ensure the student government “acts within its actual purview, now and going forward.”
“Our Hillel chapter remains, as it always has been, in good standing, eligible for funding, and supporting Jewish life at The New School,” said TNS. “The New School was founded on a rejection of violence, hate, and discrimination toward any individual or group, and a commitment to understanding, learning, and open dialogue. Those values apply to every member of our community, without exception.”
Leader Family Hillel at Baruch College executive director Ilya Bratman, whose Hillel network oversees the TNS branch, told The Jerusalem Post that the organization was in contact with the university and the USS decision would not be accepted.
“This is a preposterous attempt to erase Jewish Life on campus and a blatant attempt to exclude and intimidate the Jewish community at New School!” Bratman said on Saturday. “We will fight this injustice and absurdity with every tool at our disposal.”
According to USS, Hillel TNS could supposedly return to “good standing” if it renounced its status as a chapter of Hillel and ended participation in several Israel student trips.
USS claimed that compulsory Senate fees were being funneled to Hillel, which would ostensibly be used to promote Israel student trips. Hillel TNS could supposedly return to “good standing” if it renounced its status as a chapter of Hillel and ended participation in several Israel student trips.
"To continue to fund Hillel at The New School would mean that your student fees would be used to support violations of international law,” USS said on Instagram on Friday. “With this action, we are refusing to violate our University’s established principles.”
The USS said that it was responding to calls made by NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani to ensure that the city “stands up for international law.”
The RSO Compliance Committee report claimed that TNS Hillel was providing material support to the IDF and participated in violations of international law by operating in the disputed territories by backing and promoting several Israeli student trips.
The Hillel on Base program allowed participants to visit and volunteer on an IDF base, which the committee said provided morale and logistical support to soldiers. Onward Israel, an internship program affiliated with Birthright, was condemned for allowing participants to visit IDF bases and partnering with Sar El. Birthright Israel, in addition to the Onward program, was castigated for activities in the Golan Heights and West Bank, which ostensibly constituted support for “illegal occupation.”
Pro-Palestinian orgs. welcome Hillel's suspension
CAIR New York welcomed the suspension of Hillel TNS on Saturday, asserting that it was a “step toward accountability and adherence to international human rights principles.”
“Student organizations should be spaces that foster inclusion, critical dialogue, and respect for human dignity, not platforms that legitimize or support genocide,” said CAIR-NY Executive Director Afaf Nasher.
Jewish Voice For Peace said on Facebook on Saturday that the decision was the first of its kind, and hoped that the resolution inspired “similar efforts to hold Hillel accountable across the nation.”
NYC city council member Eric Dinowitz said on X/Twitter that TNS should not allow the student senate “to be weaponized to target their Jewish population.”
Congressman Ritchie Torres said on LinkedIn on Saturday that while the administration came out against the vote, the action against Hillel was “an ominous sign of the times we live in.”
“Discrimination against Jewish individuals and institutions is becoming increasingly normalized. Even more alarming than the discrimination itself is the lack of outrage it provokes – and the disturbing degree of social acceptability it has acquired in the aftermath of October 7,” said Torres.
“Pressuring pro-Israel Jews to renounce their Jewish identity is not only degrading to Jews. It is degrading to America itself.”