CCNY Under the Magnifying Glass: Investigating Interfaith Events on Campus

thepaper6
Dec 22, 2025
4 min read

By Fiona Fahey

On November 13, CCNY hosted and sponsored an interfaith workshop that was advertised as a space to “delve into the history and current events of this multifaith world.” This event soon turned tense as CCNY alumnus and scholar Abdullah Mady began to express his discomfort with the presence of Ilya Bratman, the director of Hillel, a Jewish student organization at multiple universities. “I came here to this event not knowing I would be sitting next to a Zionist, and this is something I am not going to accept,” Mady said. He then went on to remind the workshop’s attendees of the ongoing war in Gaza and asked all Muslim students present to leave the event. As news of this nearly 100-student walkout hit the airwaves, government officials and media organizations alike began criticizing CCNY and CUNY, claiming that they are permitting “blatant acts of antisemitism” on campuses. In the wake of the United States Department of Justice’s (DOJ) decision to open an investigation into the interfaith workshop on the grounds of alleged antisemitism, students from all over New York City have begun to wonder about the transparency of religious events on campuses.

The CUNY Interfaith Council describes itself as a group of faculty and staff members who “come from various religious traditions and are committed to working together across differences to create a vibrant interfaith ecosystem for CUNY students.” Formally introduced through the establishment of a CUNY Interfaith Advisory Board in 2018, CUNY Interfaith hasn’t strayed away from hosting multi-religious events and exhibits. They've even obtained an Interfaith and Meditation Space, now located in NAC Room 1/211. The group insisted that their main goal is to open the door to “positive interaction between people of different religious traditions and/or spiritual or humanistic beliefs.”

In a press release delivered following the November 13 workshop, CCNY’s Students for Justice in Palestine coalition (CCNY SJP) claimed that the workshop’s walkout came after event organizers ignored a student declaration that said any attempted support for the Israeli government and military at interfaith spaces would be met with “unified, nonviolent action by the community.” The coalition says that university administrators instead invited Ilya Bratman as a speaker, a man who has described himself as a “proud and unapologetic Zionist supporter of the State of Israel.” A spokesperson for the CCNY SJP, who wishes to remain anonymous, told us that this dismissal of student wishes is a worrying possibility to consider when attending future religious events on campus. “We have seen interfaith spaces being used to sanitize political support for war, occupation, and genocide,” they said.

In a conversation with The Post, Bratman recalled feeling unsafe in the aftermath of Mady’s “100 percent antisemitic” speech and call to action. “If the imam stood up and said, ‘If you’re a good Muslim, attack this Zionist,’ they would have done it,” he said. The CCNY SJP sees this turn to hypothetical violence as a calculated move by Bratman. “It’s very Islamophobic rhetoric,” a spokesperson for the organization tells us. “It’s manipulating the situation to demonize those in attendance and to demonize Abdullah for standing in integrity with the people of Palestine.”

Bratman wasn’t the only one to call out antisemitism on CUNY campuses; New York Governor Kathy Hochul said in a statement on X that the events of the November 13 interfaith workshop were acts of “antisemitism, plain and simple.” “I expect CUNY to act swiftly to ensure accountability and protect every student's safety.” CCNY soon echoed Hochul’s conclusions, saying in a statement to The Post that they have “zero tolerance for acts of hate or bigotry of any kind. [They] are investigating this incident and will promptly take all necessary and appropriate actions to address any such discrimination and remedy its effects.”

The CCNY SJP feels that the current accusations of antisemitism towards CUNY campuses are unfounded. “Zionism is a political ideology, and Judaism is a religious ideology,” a spokesperson for the coalition explained. “Conflating the two is undermining genuine efforts to combat real antisemitism.”

CCNY President Vince Boudreau said in a campus-wide statement that the inclusion and comfort of all students is his top priority. “We cannot persist as a community if there are members saying, with good reason, that they feel unwelcome and sidelined,” he said. He went on to say that Mady’s actions were “diametrically opposed to the campus ethos that inspired the interfaith conversation” and encouraged students to work harder for unity and stability regardless of religious or political beliefs.

CCNY and its interfaith initiatives are currently being investigated by the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) following the workshop they deemed “deeply concerning.” Bratman has expressed a desire for campus-wide protection of Jewish students, but doesn’t feel that the conflict between those in support of Israel and those in support of Palestine will ever truly cease to exist. “I don’t think there’s a way for us as a community to de-brainwash them, to deradicalize them, because they’re so far down this rabbit hole of hate, intolerance,” he told JNS. “These are unbelievable values that are so embedded into these young people by people like [Mady].”

Pro-Palestinian students seem to feel that this rift will never dissipate either, and have taken to comment sections to express their disappointment. The CCNY SJP believes that to combat hate and conflict, students need to continue to educate themselves on ongoing political events.

The prevailing political climate on CCNY’s campus has altered the everyday operation of hundreds of students. As a gleaming spotlight has been placed on the school ever since the opening of the DOJ’s investigation, negative commentary on CCNY and its students is nearly inescapable. President Boudreau emphasizes his desire to guarantee a successful future for interfaith spaces and says that the university plans to change “the way we process and approve student events.”

In any case, it can be assumed that students of all religious and political backgrounds will be anxiously awaiting the DOJ’s verdict. CCNY students find themselves moving through a campus shaped by tension. Yet as the department’s decision approaches, many hope it will mark a turning point, rebuilding trust in an interfaith community.

Fiona is a soon-to-be junior and native New Yorker who is majoring in Communications and Media Studies. Her dream is to work in a busy newsroom in the heart of Manhattan. She spends her spare time filling her ears with Irish music, showing her family members terrible films, and hanging around the five boroughs with her friends.