Jewish professors seek freedom from union accused of antisemitism: 'Cruel and oppressive'

By Samantha Kamman, Christian Post Reporter Thursday, August 29, 2024

Columbia University students participate in an ongoing pro-Palestinian encampment on their campus with a pro-Israel student holding an Israeli flag on April 23, 2024, in New York City. In a growing number of college campuses throughout the country, student protesters are setting up tent encampments on school grounds to call for a ceasefire in Gaza and for their schools to divest from Israeli companies. | Stephanie Keith/Getty Images

A group of Jewish professors petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to free them from the representation of a union they view as antisemitic because it maligned Israel as an “apartheid state” and defended the anti-Israel protests at Columbia University, among other actions.

The six professors at the City University of New York, five of whom are observant Jews, contend that they have the right to disassociate from the Professional Staff Congress union, but New York law forces them to accept the union’s representation.

The Fairness Center, along with the National Right to Work Foundation, filed a lawsuit in 2022 on the professors’ behalf. The lawsuit argues that forcing the professors to accept representation from the union is a violation of their First Amendment rights. Last year, the professors appealed the case in appeals courts, and earlier this year, the case made its way to the Supreme Court.

In response to an inquiry from The Christian Post, a PSC spokesperson dismissed the lawsuit as “meritless.”

“It has been brought by members of the CUNY faculty who are not members of the PSC and who are funded by the anti-union National Right to Work Legal Foundation in another attempt to eliminate unions,” the spokesperson stated. “Representing every worker in a shop is fundamental to a union’s power. It’s what makes the workers’ power collective and gives them the combined strength to win better pay and working conditions.“

The spokesperson argued that appeals courts have already ruled that public sector unions acting as an “exclusive bargaining unit” for all employees is not a First Amendment violation. PSC’s spokesperson added that “right-to-work executives” are scared of a reported increase in support for unions.

“So, they’re distorting the deeply held convictions and pain that some PSC members feel about Israel and Palestine to leverage their anti-union agenda and are using it to recycle the same failed legal arguments,” the spokesperson concluded.

Just last week, the Goldwater Institute think-tank filed a friend-of-the-court brief in support of the professors. The conservative and libertarian think-tank called it “cruel and oppressive” to coerce someone to associate what the institute described as ideologically driven organizations.”

In its brief, the Goldwater Institute highlighted a 2021 PSC resolution that accused Israel of “apartheid,” suggesting the Palestinians’ situation is similar to the racism Indigenous people and people of color have faced in the United States. The union also condemned what it believes is a “massacre” of Palestinians by Israel.

Earlier this year, anti-Israel activists set up a series of encampments on college campuses in response to Israel’s war against the terror group Hamas. Jewish students at multiple schools reported that they experienced antisemitic harassment and intimidation from the activists. Students at Columbia University took over a building on campus, while demonstrators at UCLA prevented Jewish or pro-Israel students from accessing certain areas of the school. The anti-Israel demonstrations on college campuses throughout the country resulted in multiple arrests.

In April, PSC condemned Columbia University for allowing the New York Police Department to arrest the students protesting on campus. The union claimed that freedom of speech rights have come under “increasing attack,” citing as an example recent congressional hearings questioning university leaders about addressing antisemitism on campus.

“As faculty and staff who work to develop students into critical thinkers and active participants in a pluralistic democracy, PSC members have a responsibility to challenge the forces now casting student protest as adjacent or even antithetical to higher education,” the union stated. “Student safety and freedom from harassment on campus are achievable without resorting to the forcible removal of peaceful protestors.”

Samantha Kamman is a reporter for The Christian Post. She can be reached at: samantha.kamman@christianpost.com. Follow her on Twitter: @Samantha_Kamman