Dear Commons Community,
The trustees of the City University of New York have voted to table a vote for an honorary degree that one of its campuses, John Jay College, planned to award to Tony Kushner, the Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright of “Angels in America.” A NY Times article quotes CUNY’s Senior Vice Chancellor Jay Hershenson, “ that since 1961, no other honorary degree nomination had been tabled after reaching the board.”
One of the 12 CUNY trustees present, Jeffrey S. Wiesenfeld, objected to John Jay College’s submission of Mr. Kushner for an honorary degree. In a letter to his fellow trustees, Mr. Wiesenfeld described Mr. Kushner as “a self-hating Jewish anti-Semite.” He further stated: “Every year, there are candidates that you or I don’t particularly like. We can all express dissent where we warrant it – it is our right. Every nominee that has been brought before the board, during my 12 years at least, has been approved by the Board. Mr. Kushner, however, was opposed because he is an extremist. No extremist from any quarter is a good face for any University.”
In a letter to the CUNY Board of Trustees, Mr. Kushner stated:
“Trustee Jeffrey S. Weisenfeld delivered a grotesque caricature of my political beliefs regarding the state of Israel, concocted out of three carefully cropped, context less quotes taken from interviews I’ve given, the mention of my name on the blog of someone with whom I have no connection whatsoever, and the fact that I serve on the advisory board of a political organization with which Mr. Weisenfeld strongly disagrees…. As far as I’m able to conclude from the podcast of this meeting, at the conclusion of Mr. Weisenfeld’s vicious attack on me, eight members voted to approve all the honorary degree candidates, including me, and four voted to oppose the slate if my name remained on it. Lacking the requisite nine votes to approve the entire slate, the Board, in what sounds on the podcast like a scramble to dispense with the whole business, tabled my nomination, approved the other candidates, and adjourned. Not a word was spoken in my defense.”
Mr. Kushner is quoted in the NY Times as saying that:
“This has been an incredibly ugly experience…that a great public university would make a decision based on slanderous mischaracterizations without giving the person in question a chance to be heard.”
“I’m sickened,” he added, “that this is happening in New York City. Shocked, really.”
Shocked indeed. And I don’t think we have heard the end of it.
Tony
P.S.: Inside Education published a piece on Tony Kushner after I had posted the above.
