Letter regarding the initiation of an investigation of NYU students and faculty because of their alleged involvement with an “Anti-Zionist Passover Seder”

Linda Mills

President, New York University

 

Mathew C. Varughese

General Counsel and Secretary, New York University

 

Kristen Day

Vice Provost, New York University

 

Charlton McIlwain

Vice Provost for Faculty Engagement, Pathways and Public Interest Technology, New York University

 

Dear President Mills, General Counsel Varughese and Vice Provosts Day and McIlwain:

 

We write on behalf of the Middle East Studies Association of North America (MESA) and its Committee on Academic Freedom to express our concern about the launching of an investigation by New York University’s Title VI Office of a number of NYU students and faculty for alleged violation of the university’s Non-Discrimination and Anti-Harassment Policy (NDAH). These students and faculty are facing possible disciplinary action because they co-posted a flyer inviting people to an “Anti-Zionist Passover Seder” that referred to “Jewish supremacy” in Israel/Palestine and included a call to “Drop Hillel.” This investigation, initiated on specious grounds, serves to delegitimate and silence criticism of Israel and of Zionism at NYU. As such, it constitutes an egregious violation of the principles of academic freedom and of the right to free speech as well as of the university’s avowed commitment to political and religious pluralism. 

 

MESA was founded in 1966 to promote scholarship and teaching on the Middle East and North Africa. The preeminent organization in the field, the Association publishes the prestigious International Journal of Middle East Studies and has nearly 2,800 members worldwide. MESA is committed to ensuring academic freedom and freedom of expression, both within the region and in connection with the study of the region in North America and outside of North America.

 

On 2 April 2026 a number of individuals and organizations at NYU, including Jews Against Zionism, NYU Faculty and Staff for Justice in Palestine (FSJP) and NYU Law Jews for Palestine, co-posted a flyer on Instagram inviting NYU community members to an “Anti-Zionist Passover Seder.” The flyer explained that the Seder, scheduled for 9 April 2026, was “rooted in solidarity with the Palestinian struggle against colonialism and Jewish supremacy,” and it included the phrase “Drop Hillel.” The flyer made it clear that the Seder was open to all students, faculty and staff.

 

On 6 April 2026 NYU Vice Provost Kristen Day notified members of two organizations – FSJP and Law Students for Justice in Palestine – that NYU’s Title VI Office “will be commencing an investigation into this conduct for possible violations of our Non-Discrimination and Anti-Harassment Policy.” Day’s message declared:

 

Our collective commitment is to honor and respect the diverse cultures, heritages, faiths, and viewpoints that make up the fabric of NYU. Hillel is a vital venue for Jewish life around campus, providing a space for spiritual growth, community, and cultural expression. We are a university, and recognize that constructive critical engagement is at the heart of what we do. But when we shift from discussing and debating ideas to excluding and ostracizing an organization and its members based on identity and faith, we undermine the very pluralism that protects us all.”

 

Despite Day’s demand that the post be deleted, that did not happen and the Seder took place without incident on 9 April 2026, attended by students and faculty.

 

There is no evidence that those who organized and posted about the Seder violated Title VI by, as Vice Provost Day inaccurately put it, “excluding and ostracizing an organization and its members based on identity and faith.” The phrase “Drop Hillel” clearly refers to a national Jewish-led campaign to convince colleges and universities to dissociate from Hillel because of its emphatic embrace of Zionism and Israel, which as you no doubt know has been widely condemned for waging what many regard as a genocidal war in Gaza. In this context we call your attention to the recent report released by a committee of the New School’s University Student Senate documenting Hillel’s connections with the Israeli military (including arranging for American Jewish students to provide services at Israeli military bases) and concluding that it should no longer be recognized and funded as a “Registered Student Organization.” As for the reference in the flyer to “Jewish supremacy,” we call your attention to the 2021 report by B’Tselem, Israel’s leading human rights organization, which analyzed what it termed “a regime of Jewish supremacy from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea” and concluded that “This is Apartheid.” 

 

It is possible that some members of the NYU community are made uncomfortable by criticism of Israel or by calls to boycott Hillel because of its Zionist affiliations, and NYU as an institution has publicly embraced Hillel International and denounced criticism of it as “in bad faith” and “corrosive and dangerous.” Nonetheless, there is no justification for a Title VI investigation targeting individuals and organizations involved with or endorsing a religious celebration organized by Jewish students and faculty, and open to all members of the NYU community. This is a gross distortion of the original purpose and intent of Title VI, which defines discrimination as adverse treatment based on protected characteristics such as race, color or national origin.

 

We call your attention to the recent report issued jointly by the American Association of University Professors and MESA, titled “Discriminating Against Dissent: The Weaponization of Civil Rights Law to Repress Campus Speech on Palestine,” which documents how (as in NYU’s investigation) provisions of Title VI have been improperly used to delegitimize and suppress certain political perspectives on Palestine. We also refer you to MESA’s letter to NYU dated 30 August 2024, which addressed the university’s recent revision of the NDAH and stated the following:

 

…the policy’s explanation of what constitutes discriminatory or harassing behavior [now] asserts, among other things, that “Using code words, like ‘Zionist,’ does not eliminate the possibility that your speech violates the NDAH Policy” because “For many Jewish people, Zionism is a part of their Jewish identity.” The implication that the term “Zionist” is self-evidently or always a “code word” whose use and interpretation can and should be policed by university administrators is dangerous. It is rooted in the improper conflation of criticism of Israel and of Zionism – a political ideology – with antisemitism, which we have criticized on many occasions.

 

Unfortunately, by threatening disciplinary action against Jewish students and faculty who reject Zionism as incompatible with their understanding of Judaism and who seek to celebrate their Jewish identity and commitments in their own way, and against those who support their stance, NYU persists in efforts to suppress the expression of political perspectives supportive of Palestinian rights. The university’s action also makes a mockery of its claim to “honor and respect the diverse cultures, heritages, faiths, and viewpoints that make up the fabric of NYU.”

 

We therefore call on NYU to immediately terminate its investigation of those it deems responsible for the language of the co-posted flyer, to apologize publicly to those named or affected by the investigation and to do everything necessary to compensate them for any reputational harm they may have suffered. We further call on NYU to not only reiterate its commitment to academic freedom and freedom of speech but also to at long last actually conduct itself in a manner consistent with those rights and with the commitment to pluralism and open debate that it professes.

 

We look forward to your response.

 

Sincerely,

 

Ussama Makdisi

MESA President

Professor, University of California, Berkeley 

 

Judith E. Tucker
Chair, Committee on Academic Freedom
Professor Emerita, Georgetown University

 

 

cc:

Washington Square News

 

Farida Shaheed

United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Education