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We Stand Against Hate has been a campus fixture since 2017. This ongoing initiative features lectures, workshops, concerts, programs, and events that reflect our enduring commitment to elevating dialogue, enhancing understanding and compassion, and celebrating the voices that make up our diverse campus community.
Professional Development Messages to the Campus Community Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Resources
After the spring 2024 semester drew to a close, several members of the Brooklyn College administration attended training sessions designed to help colleges navigate on-campus reverberations of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The group of trainings included guidance on how to ensure that all students feel both secure and listened to.
In June 2024, Vice President for Student Affairs Ronald Jackson and Associate Director of the Office of Diversity and Equity Tunji J. Fussell attended The Summer Institute on Countering Antisemitism in Higher Education at Brandeis University.
Also in June, Executive Legal Counsel and Interim Chief Diversity Officer Jaclyn Helms attended two workshops on strategies to support students, staff, and faculty in the context of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The presentations were led by licensed attorney and experienced mediator Dorit Price-Levine, who has lived and worked in both Israel and Palestine. The workshops—one on “Antisemitism as Part of Our DEI Work” and the other titled “Dual Narratives Approach to Understanding the History of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict”—sought to help attendees better understand the conflict and bolster support to communities like Brooklyn College that encompass diverse points of view.
In July 2024, President Michelle J. Anderson and Vice President Jackson attended a webinar sponsored by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) and titled “A Conversation on Jewish Student Life on Campus.” Involving leadership from multiple organizations, the conversation included representatives from Hillel, Chabad, and Jewish Greek life as well as from the ADL.
Later in July, President Anderson attended a webinar hosted by the American Jewish Committee (AJC) that aimed to help university administrators strike a balance between protecting free speech and ensuring that students are able to navigate their campuses in an atmosphere free from discrimination and harassment. The event featured David Schizer, the Harvey R. Miller Professor of Law and Economics at Columbia Law School and the co-chair of Columbia’s antisemitism task force.
In the spring 2024 semester, Brooklyn College offered two opportunities for community members to learn from the New York City Commission on Human Rights.
February’s Know Your Rights Workshop, hosted by the Undergraduate Student Government (USG) and the Division of Student Affairs (DOSA), addressed legal protection from discriminatory harassment and from bias-based profiling by law enforcement as well as legal rights and obligations in employment, housing, and public accommodations.
In April, the commission offered a workshop titled “Gender Nonconforming Communities.” Hosted by the LGBTQ+ Resource Center and DOSA, this session addressed local legal protections in the face of widespread discrimination against the transgender community in New York City and discussed the correct terminology to use in addressing members of the LGBTQI community.
On March 8, 2024, in honor of International Women’s Day, the CUNY Haitian Studies Institute hosted a conference titled “Resisting the Policing of Women’s Bodies: Affirming Individual and Collective Rights in 21st-Century America.” Speakers included 2011 Nobel Peace Laureate Leymah Gbowee, the executive director of the Institute on Gender, Law, and Transformative Peace; Michele Bratcher Goodwin, the Linda D. & Timothy J. O’Neill Professor of Constitutional Law and Global Health Policy at Georgetown Law School; and Carine Jocelyn, CEO of Diaspora Community Services, and founder, Haitian Women’s Collective; The event was co-chaired by Assistant Professor Marie Lily Cerat and Assistant Professor Aleah Ranjitsingh.
The City University of New York (CUNY) has a long-standing commitment to diversity and equal opportunity in all aspects of employment. Its leadership across the campuses fully supports policies and practices to foster non-discrimination, affirmative action, and diversity and inclusion, in the workplace and our community overall. Continue reading.
Dear Brooklyn College Community,
We are rightly proud of the great diversity on our campus community. With diversity across race, ethnicity, and religion also comes a diversity of political thought on issues of great public importance, including the tragic developments in Israel and Gaza.
As you know, members of the Brooklyn College community have close ties to the region. We are home to students of both Israeli and Palestinian background—Jews, Muslims, Christians, and others—who are suffering because their families and friends in the region have experienced or are now at risk of violence. People around the world are mourning the innocent Israeli, Palestinian, and American lives lost, and the suffering that remains in its wake.
Over the past few weeks, I have met with students to better understand what they are feeling and experiencing. Some have expressed concern that others make assumptions about their positions on the conflict simply because of their religion or ethnicity. These assumptions are dangerous: we must never assume a person’s political beliefs on the basis of their religious or ethnic identity.
We are an inclusive institution of higher education that values free speech and the opportunity to engage peacefully with one another. We hope that campus events will shed light on the deepening humanitarian crisis in the region and lead to respectful dialog amidst varying perspectives. For example, a group of faculty is hosting a panel next Tuesday as part of a series of campus conversations, and the Office of Student Affairs is working with Student Government to develop additional programming. As these events come together, they will be listed in the BC Brief and Bulldog Connection.
I deeply believe that everyone should have a home here at Brooklyn College. Every student should feel safe to express who they are. I promise I will do everything in my power to keep this campus a safe place for all our students. Providing a learning environment in which students have equal access to an excellent education is our top priority, and we are stepping up efforts on campus to ensure the safety and rights of all are protected.
I continue to learn from our students, and I appreciate the opportunity to dialog with them. I invite any student group to set up a meeting with me to discuss these issues. Additionally, anyone who believes they have been a victim of discrimination or retaliation should use the CUNY reporting portal.
As always, students who are experiencing distress can reach out to a wide variety of Student Support Services available at the College, including our Health Clinic, our Personal Counseling Services, and additional CUNY Mental Health Services. Faculty and staff can use the confidential employee assistance program by calling (800) 833 8707 or logging onto www.myccaonline.com with the code “CUNY.”
I want to remind everyone that, especially in trying times, it is important to remember the values that unite us as a campus. As an institution of higher education, we seek increased knowledge and understanding, and we strive to find common ground across our differences. Let us engage with one another with compassion and a deep respect for the human dignity of all.
Yours sincerely,
Michelle J. Anderson President, Brooklyn College
On September 8, 2022, more than a dozen Brooklyn College faculty members received an email from a sender outside of the CUNY system containing inflammatory rhetoric grossly mischaracterizing Islam and members of the Muslim community as inherently anti-American and a threat to national security. This type of message is antithetical to the college’s values and the college has taken appropriate action. While Brooklyn College encourages scholarly discourse and a robust exchange of divergent ideas, speech that incites hatred does nothing to advance that discourse or exchange of ideas.
Brooklyn College denounces Islamophobia and all other forms of hatred including, but not limited to, hate based on religion, national origin, race, and ethnicity. The college works hard to ensure that students, faculty, and staff enjoy a work and educational environment free from unlawful discrimination and harassment. If you have experienced an incident that you believe violates CUNY’s Nondiscrimination Policy, e-mail Diversity Officer Anthony Brown.
In late December, a Brooklyn College student and a friend were beaten and called “dirty Jews” in an incident that is being investigated as a hate crime in Bay Ridge. The College denounces hatred and stands in solidarity with the student and members of the Jewish community, as well as any community that is subjected to acts of targeted hate. Antisemitism has no place at Brooklyn College. If you believe that you have been discriminated against on the basis of religion or any other protected identity with regards to a Brooklyn College program, please contact my office.
Thank you,
Anthony Brown, Esq. Chief Diversity Officer and Special Assistant to the President Office of Diversity and Equity Programs
Office of Diversity and Equity Institute on Gender, Law, and Transformative Peace LGBTQ+ Resource Center Women’s Center
Food and Toy Drive
Urban Contours: Brooklyn College Faculty Exhibition—Fall 2024
Brooklyn College is pleased to announce Deborah Willis as its 2023 Franklin Day Speaker. Willis—an educator, photographer, curator, artist, author, and historian—will lead a discussion based on the visual archives of Black
Serving as an expert on education, Anderson will work with other top community leaders to help move the borough of Brooklyn forward.
The programs include a lecture series on the artistic and cultural Impact of West Side Story.
November 2, 2023
September 13, 2022
January 3, 2022
Anthony Brown, Esq. Chief Diversity Officer and Special Assistant to the President Office of Diversity and Equity Programs Brooklyn College 718.951.4128 Anthony.Brown@brooklyn.cuny.edu
With the Pride March less than a week away, staff and faculty at Brooklyn College spoke with News 12 about the support and resources they are making available to students and members of its LGBTQ+ community.
