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NY Times May 10, 2011
Pressure Grows for Trustee to Leave Board of CUNY
By LISA W. FODERARO and WINNIE HU
The day after City University of New York trustees approved an
honorary degree for the playwright Tony Kushner, pressure
continued to mount on Tuesday for the resignation or removal of
the trustee who had raised concerns about Mr. Kushner’s views on
Israel.
The CUNY faculty union renewed its calls for the trustee, Jeffrey
S. Wiesenfeld, to step down, while CUNY officials said they had
received dozens of e-mails — including some form letters —
demanding his removal.
Barbara Bowen, president of the union, the Professional Staff
Congress, which represents 22,000 faculty and staff members, said
the honorary degree was the latest episode in which Mr. Wiesenfeld
had inserted himself inappropriately in university activities.
In 2001, he called participation in an October “teach-in”
sponsored by the union about the 9/11 attacks “seditious.” In
2006, he blasted a book that Baruch College had chosen for its
freshman reading, “War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning,” by Chris
Hedges, calling it “deeply offensive” and “anti-Semitic.”
“That’s overstepping one’s role as a trustee,” Dr. Bowen said.
“There’s a consistent pattern of vilifying students and
particularly faculty whose political views he objects to. He is
entitled to his political views, but to use those views to
interfere with academic freedom is not acceptable.”
But Mr. Wiesenfeld indicated Tuesday that he had no intention of
resigning, and a number of others questioned the wisdom of trying
to force him to do so. “I am proud to represent this great
university,” Mr. Wiesenfeld said. The son of Holocaust survivors,
he was first appointed a trustee in 1999 by Gov. George E. Pataki;
he is serving his second seven-year term, which is to end in 2013.
Mr. Kushner’s name was removed from a list of honorary degree
candidates being considered during a May 2 board meeting, after
Mr. Wiesenfeld, a vocal supporter of Israel, denounced Mr.
Kushner’s past statements about Israel and the Palestinians,
including a reference to “ethnic cleansing” of Palestinians during
the state’s formation. Mr. Kushner later disputed Mr. Wiesenfeld’s
characterization of his views, arguing that he was a strong
supporter of Israel’s right to exist.
Some trustees later said that they were caught off guard by Mr.
Wiesenfeld’s last-minute objections to honoring Mr. Kushner. Ten
trustees, including the chairman, Benno C. Schmidt Jr., voted to
table the matter, effectively denying Mr. Kushner the degree,
since the board would not meet again before the graduation
ceremony for the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, which had
proposed awarding the degree.
The board’s decision provoked a fierce outcry from Mr. Kushner’s
fellow artists, his supporters, university professors and civil
libertarians, and also led to calls for Mr. Wiesenfeld’s resignation.
After the board’s executive committee approved the honor on
Monday, some trustees expressed relief that the conflict had been
resolved — and apologized. “I participated in an action that
damaged CUNY’s reputation, and I’m devastated about that,” said
Peter S. Pantaleo, a trustee and a partner in DLA Piper, a law
firm, who said he was confused by the proceedings on May 2 and
assumed there would be discussion immediately after the motion to
award the degree had been tabled.
Still, Mr. Pantaleo rejected the idea that Mr. Wiesenfeld should
resign. “I think it would be a mistake for trustees to step down
based upon their political opinions, no matter how inartfully
expressed,” he said. “The calls to resign is the equivalent of the
mistake the board made.”
One of CUNY’s biggest donors, Larry Field, a real estate developer
in Los Angeles, also criticized the notion. Mr. Field, who gave
$30 million to Baruch over the past decade, said he strongly
agreed with Mr. Wiesenfeld on Israel, though he also supported the
Kushner degree. “I would make a bigger stink over that,” he said,
referring to Mr. Wiesenfeld’s possible departure.
But others, including the writer Michael Cunningham, who last week
renounced his own honorary degree from CUNY in support of Mr.
Kushner, called for Mr. Wiesenfeld to quit. Mr. Cunningham said
Mr. Wiesenfeld’s “biased politics are not appropriate for a board
member of one of the greatest university systems in the world.”
Under state education law, a trustee appointed by a governor can
be removed by the governor only upon proof of official misconduct,
neglect of duties or mental or physical incapacity. The trustee
also is entitled to notice of the charges and a hearing.
Josh Vlasto, a spokesman for Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, said Tuesday
that the administration had not received any requests for Mr.
Wiesenfeld’s removal.
Matthew Goldstein, the CUNY chancellor, said after the meeting
Monday that while Mr. Wiesenfeld had “very strong views,” he had
been an effective trustee. “I think that he’s done some very good
work on the board,” Dr. Goldstein said, though he added, “I
disagree with the strenuousness of his statement” about Mr. Kushner.
At Monday’s meeting, Dr. Goldstein told the trustees that CUNY had
awarded 450 honorary degrees during his 12 years as chancellor and
that this was the first time there was “any difficulty with the
process.”
“So while it is hard to conclude that the system is broken,” he
said, “there is always room for improvement.”
Dr. Goldstein said that for the future, he would recommend that
honorary degree candidates be reviewed by a committee of trustees
before coming to the full board for approval. Currently,
candidates are nominated and vetted by individual colleges and
then reviewed by the chancellor, without comment from trustees.
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