Jewish NYU graduate student details antisemitic acts on college campus
Justin Feldman said antisemitism is a ‘communicable disease’ and a threat to campus safety.
A Jewish NYU graduate student is telling his side of the story after being reinstated to his school leadership position following a vote to remove him over a resolution that condemned Hamas terrorism.
"Antisemitism is a communicable disease that people spread, not just on social media. You can't quarantine it. People are spreading it in person, across races, across ideologies, across religions," Justin Feldman told Fox News Digital.
"We can't take it for granted that someone who's committing a terror attack against Jewish people comes from just one background or another. It's prolific. It's everywhere," he added.
The Student Government Assembly (SGA) is an umbrella body at NYU comprised of many smaller student governments, including the Graduate Student Council (GSC), to which Feldman belongs. This also makes him a member of the SGA, though he does not have voting power.
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Jewish NYU graduate student Justin Feldman was reinstated to his campus leadership position pending an investigation. ( Fox News Digital/Andrew Lichtenstein/Corbis via Getty Images)
Currently, NYU is holding everything in abeyance for their investigation. This means that the vote to remove Feldman is essentially frozen and he has been given back his rights and privileges as a member of the GSC.
Before the vote to remove him, Feldman was in good standing as a GSC member and was operating under student justice and outreach to address grievances put forth by faculty and staff.
"My mom's Israeli. I felt the need to be a voice for Jewish students, Israeli students and also students of all nationalities. We're a very international school at NYU. There are over 40 nationalities impacted by the October 7 terror attacks by Hamas," he said.
Feldman said widespread organized activity by anti-Israel groups, in particular Students for Justice in Palestine and Faculty for Justice in Palestine, and the demonization of Jewish and Israeli students led him to put forth the "Endorsement, Promotion, or Excusing of Civilian-Murder (Terrorism) in Academia" resolution to tell their side of the story.
Feldman noted that he informed every level of SGA, including his council president and members, about his intentions. He said that while there was some shakiness and opposition towards what he planned to do, they initially accepted his motivation.
"At the level of SGA, in terms of its leadership, the chairman, I wasn't inhibited or obstructed from going forth with this. There was no retaliation from the higher echelons of SGA. It was a number of actors, many of whom have constituents that are proponents in our SGA and they took issue with that within the GSC," he said.
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A screenshot of some of the changes made to the Graduate Student Council Constitution at NYU. (Courtesy of Justin Feldman)
Feldman said his resolution made specific references to acts of terrorism by Hamas and argued that the interests of Palestinians were ignored by Hamas, which was operating independently as a radical group.
It added the student government "stands in solidarity with innocent Palestinian and Israeli civilians" and "reaffirms its commitment to the values of human rights, justice, and diplomacy and the right to criticize any government or entity."
The resolution was voted down on November 9, the same day Feldman submitted it for ratification. Several weeks later, the council president and the GSC suddenly called for Feldman's removal.
As a "guise" for his removal and "intimidation" for putting forth the resolution, Feldman said the council cited two articles, one that claimed he had violated his powers vested in the GSC and another that said he had been "negligent" and not fulfilled the duties of his position.
"Every Student Government Assembly (SGA) member has a right to submit a resolution for consideration by NYU’s SGA. The University takes very seriously Mr. Feldman’s allegation that he was dismissed from the Graduate Student Council for simply exercising that right," an NYU spokesperson previously told Fox News Digital.
Feldman said he had evidence on a Google Drive that the clauses and articles related to the removal of a student officer inside the GSC's bylaws and Constitution were "modified secretly." These changes were allegedly made without ratification and without informing all council members.
Documents provided to Fox News Digital showed that changes were made on December 10, one day before Feldman was informed a vote would be called to terminate his titles and powers.
"To remove a student from our council, you needed at least three people plus the person initiating the vote to cosign and put forth that vote for removal. That did not happen," he said.
The constitution documents were also changed from requiring two-thirds of the council to remove an officer to only requiring a simple majority.
Justin Feldman has been reinstated pending an investigation into his removal from the New York University (NYU) student government. (X/Screenshot/Jin Lee/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
"Measures were taken secretly to remove me with these documents more easily. And even though I alerted the administration to this, they did not act to revise this. They only told me when I met with them ahead of the vote that we can't stop the vote in terms of why they want to remove you; we can only make sure that the procedures are fair. And they didn't do that either," Feldman claimed.
After he was removed and Feldman published an op-ed in the Jewish Journal detailing the experience, NYU began their investigation.
Feldman said the investigation started after he had reported the incident to the proper offices dealing with discrimination on campus. He said his removal was "retaliation" for his Israeli and Jewish identity, which was expressed in the form of the resolution.
"It was understood that this was an identity-based issue of discrimination and that this wouldn't happen to any other demographic, roughly speaking, because we see this is such a widespread institutional issue in universities," he said.
Feldman also said he has been witness to anti-Israel demonstrations, "hate" and "physical violence" on campus.
"Antisemitism is reaching unprecedented peaks in terms of the past few decades post-Holocaust. So, we take it very seriously, no matter where it comes from. Far-left, far-right. You name it, any demographic, any race, religion, ethnicity," he told Fox News Digital.
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A street view of New York University NYU in Greenwich Village, Manhattan. (iStock )
Soon after the investigation began, the council president allegedly moved to hold an emergency vote to affirm the constitution that had been secretly altered.
"You had very few people actually voting to ratify our constitution and bylaws, which sounds very illegal and shady," Feldman said.
"Now we're at a stage where I'm part of the bylaws Committee, and we are working on revising things together. But if I wasn't present and involved, then her monopolization of powers could go unchallenged to the degree that people are intimidated not to respond or take any action against her, which I believe a lot of council members are," he added.
Feldman graduates in May and will likely retain his position until he leaves the university.
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Before October 7, Feldman said NYU had had several infamous hate incidents against Jewish students, including flag burnings, assaults, and disruptive demonstrations across campus.
He said that his resolution was meant to ensure safety for all demographics on campus and to condemn terror in all forms.
"I understand there's a place for dissent, for freedom of speech. But incitement to violence against unarmed civilians in any context is not something that campuses should normalize and deem acceptable," Feldman said. "That doesn't just apply to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict but to any conflict. So, I think speaking up and addressing this before October 7 and following is a vital necessity for campus safety."
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