NY governor condemns NYC university system’s faculty union for Israel boycott vote
Resolution passed by CUNY’s Professional Staff Congress, representing 30,000 members, puts organization at odds with the university administration and state government
Luke Tress is The Times of Israel's New York correspondent.

NEW YORK — The faculty union for New York City’s public university system, the City University of New York, voted last week to boycott Israeli entities, putting the 30,000-member union at odds with the US university’s administration and the state government.
The union, the Professional Staff Congress (PSC), has been a battleground for anti-Israel activism for years. Jewish professors said the boycott resolution was the latest discriminatory measure by the union, their sole labor representation. The resolution also divided the union’s delegate assembly, the governing body that voted on the measure.
The text of the resolution cites the death toll in Gaza and anti-Israel measures from the International Criminal Court and the International Court of Justice as reasons for the boycott.
The resolution said the PSC will divest its own funds from “investment vehicles that include Israeli corporate stocks and government bonds” by the end of January.
The resolution also calls on the Teachers’ Retirement System, a New York City municipal institution, to enact a “complete disinvestment from Israel.” Around one-quarter of the union’s pension plan participants contribute to the retirement system, the PSC told The Times of Israel.
The union will also establish a volunteer committee to investigate further divestment. That committee will report to the union’s delegate assembly by next month, the resolution said.
The resolution passed PSC’s delegate assembly by a close vote of 73-70, on January 23, the union confirmed. The union’s executive council and principal officers opposed the resolution, the PSC told The Times of Israel.
“Many PSC delegates oppose the Israeli government’s conduct of the war in Gaza and are concerned about how the pension funds and union dues of PSC members are invested,” PSC President James Davis said in a statement to The Times of Israel. “We were elected to protect PSC members’ rights, to improve their pay and working conditions, and to strengthen their union. Keeping focus on these primary responsibilities while engaging in wider struggles for justice and peace is important.”

New York Governor Kathy Hochul condemned the measure in a Wednesday statement to The Times of Israel.
“In my first week as governor, I signed an executive order to divest public funds from institutions that participate in the harmful BDS movement — and that order remains in effect,” Hochul said. “I strongly oppose the resolution narrowly passed by the PSC-CUNY delegates and will continue standing up against antisemitism and hate in all forms.”
In 2016, Hochul’s predecessor, Andrew Cuomo, signed an executive order that demands state entities divest public funds from companies or institutions that boycott Israel. Hochul reaffirmed that order after taking office in 2021. Hochul’s statement did not address what specific actions would result from the PSC boycott.
In response to the governor’s statement, union chief Davis said, “The PSC unequivocally deplores all forms of hate, including antisemitism. The divestment resolution was an incredibly close vote on an issue on which our members have deep, sincere disagreements.”
The CUNY administration also condemned the resolution.
“Our university has consistently denounced BDS activity and we condemn the resolution passed by Professional Staff Congress delegates calling on the union to divest,” a CUNY spokesperson told The Times of Israel. “The PSC-CUNY organization does not speak for the university and this vote does not reflect the university’s position or our values. CUNY will not participate in any form of BDS activity.”
Two groups representing Jewish and pro-Israel faculty in the CUNY system blasted the resolution as discriminatory.
One of the groups, Students and Faculty for Equality at CUNY, said it had filed a complaint with the New York State Division of Human Rights against the boycott. New York anti-discrimination law bars labor organizations from excluding or expelling members based on creed or national origin, and the complaint argues that the resolution discriminates against Jews and Israelis. The complaint also says the resolution violates the executive order against Israel boycotts.
The CUNY Alliance for Inclusion, another pro-Israel faculty group, said in a Tuesday statement that the resolution “disgraces CUNY.”
“For two decades now, Hamas has been igniting periodic wars against Israel, knowing that anti-Zionists would come to its defense and portray Israel as the aggressor. The PSC has been complicit in this,” the statement said. The statement noted that the PSC has passed two resolutions condemning Israel, and none against any other country.
New York City Councilmember Inna Vernikov, a Jewish Republican who has been an outspoken critic of antisemitism at CUNY, said, “They’re clearly telling us that none of them are unbiased enough to mold the minds of the next generation.”
“I have a feeling that this boldness won’t last very long under the Trump Administration,” she said.
It was unclear what the legal ramifications for the resolution would be, if any. New York State’s Division of Human Rights did not respond to a request for comment and Hochul’s office did not address a question about whether the executive order would prevent the state from working with the union. Asked about the legal ramifications, a PSC spokesperson said, “The PSC is not a state entity. The Teachers’ Retirement System of the City of New York is a City entity.”
Manfred Philipp, a former member of the delegate assembly who has maintained ties to the union, said the legal fallout was still unclear, but the vote would affect the union’s ties to the public and the state.
“Where this goes, I don’t know,” he said.
He noted the Teachers’ Retirement System is not controlled by the union.
“The union has perhaps some influence but it’s not their money,” Philipp said. “I think there’s almost zero chance they will do what the union is asking here.”
The motion is “unlikely to have any effect, except on the union itself,” he said. “There will be an effect on the union.”

The resolution was the latest anti-Israel measure to come up before the union in recent years.
In May, the PSC rejected a resolution calling for an Israel boycott that differed from the measure passed last week. Philipp said at the time that the rejection was likely tied to union negotiations taking place at the time, and was voted down because it could have hurt the union’s chances of security a salary increase from lawmakers who are sympathetic to Israel. Earlier this month, the PSC ratified a new contract with CUNY, but Philipp said new negotiations would take place almost immediately.
It was unclear why the resolution passed this time around. Philipp confirmed a number of top officers at PSC voted against the measure, and added that the “people opposed to Israel have been organizing and they took their advantage.”
Also this month, the US Supreme Court declined to take on a case filed by Jewish professors against the union. A group of professors affiliated with SAFE CUNY initially filed that case against the union in 2022 after the PSC adopted a resolution criticizing Israel and calling to consider a boycott. Jewish professors said the measure was discriminatory, and dozens resigned from the union. A judge in New York dismissed the case last year, leading the plaintiffs to turn to the US Supreme Court.
Last year, amid protests across CUNY, the union condemned a pro-Palestinian strike by its own members, but also backed student protesters in several statements.
The PSC says it represents 30,000 faculty and staff across CUNY’s 25 colleges. CUNY is part of the fabric of New York City, with more than 230,000 students across the five boroughs.
Anti-Israel activism and allegations of antisemitism have roiled the CUNY system for years, including since the October 7, 2023, Hamas invasion of Israel and ensuing war.
An investigation ordered by Hochul said last year that many Jewish students do not feel safe and called for an overhaul of CUNY’s system for handling antisemitism.
CUNY has taken some countermeasures in recent years, including by establishing a Jewish advisory council for the school system’s leadership and facilitating student visits to Manhattan’s Museum of Jewish Heritage.