Hillel in talks with NYC’s New School after students vote to defund campus chapter; believed to be first such vote in US

Hillel International says it is in talks with the New School, in New York City, after the university’s student government voted to strip funding and cut ties with the campus chapter of Hillel.

The New School’s student senate passed the measure against Hillel yesterday, shortly before Shabbat, alleging that the Jewish students had violated “international law” due to events with the IDF.

The vote appeared to be the first time a US student government had approved stripping funding from its Hillel chapter.

“The New School famously sheltered Jewish intellectuals fleeing Nazi persecution — and yet its student senate voted to deprive Hillel of funding unless it severs ties with Hillel International, the world’s largest and most inclusive Jewish student organization,” Hillel International CEO and President Adam Lehman says in a statement to the Times of Israel.

“Demonizing Hillel with false charges rooted in age-old antisemitic tropes is wrong, plain and simple. We are in active conversations with university leadership and Jewish community partners to ensure every Jewish student at The New School has access to the Hillel experience, support, and resources they deserve,” Lehman says.