Rep. Elise Stefanik, a prominent conservative figure in the U.S. House of Representatives, criticized the City University of New York (CUNY) during a hearing on the House Education and Workforce Committee for its alleged mishandling of antisemitism issues and its ties to Mahmoud Khalil, an anti-Israel activist. The confrontation came after Stefanik exposed CUNY Chancellor Dr. Félix V. Matos Rodríguez’s failure to address a swastika left up in front of Hunter College for hours. Stefanik questioned why the university did not act swiftly to remove the offensive symbol, despite its deplorable nature.
Stefanik also raised concerns about the lack of accountability within CUNY, particularly in dealing with antisemitism. She highlighted the university’s response to an incident where students were forced to walk beneath the swastika for hours while entering the campus, a move that she criticized as insufficient. Stefanik demanded to know why an administrator had not taken concrete steps to remove the symbol, despite being informed of the request by the director of Jewish studies at Hunter College.
Stefanik further pressed the university leadership about the employment of Saly Abd Alla, CUNY’s chief diversity officer, who had previously worked at the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR). She questioned whether it was acceptable for CUNY to employ someone with ties to an organization that was previously linked to a terrorist financing case and had connections to Hamas, a designated terrorist group. She emphasized that the employment of such an individual was unacceptable to New York and American taxpayers.
Stefanik also brought up the matter of CUNY Clear, a program associated with the CUNY School of Law, which she described as the