In the grand scheme of things, an honorary degree from the City University of New York means little. Yet the contretemps over the university’s on-again-off-again degree for playwright Tony Kushner has turned into a shameful circus.
In this cavalcade of ineptitude, we have an object lesson in how Jews with opposing political views should not behave.
In brief, CUNY had planned to bestow the degree at graduation ceremonies later this month, but at a May 2 board meeting, trustee Jeffrey Wiesenfeld objected, due to harshly anti-Israel statements Kushner had made in the past.
The board tabled the matter, thereby withholding the award from Kushner, which sparked a loud and immediate uproar. Everyone from conservative former New York City mayor Ed Koch to liberal J Street founder Jeremy Ben-Ami condemned the decision, as did a very petulant Kushner.
Withering under the scrutiny, the CUNY executive board overruled the board’s decision and decided to grant the degree after all. Kushner initially said he would refuse to accept the honor, but later changed his mind. Despite calls for his resignation, Wiesenfeld has refused to step down.
The war of words continues, and there’s plenty of blame to go around.
Though he says he is for a two-state solution, Kushner’s comments and writings suggest otherwise. He has shown repeatedly that his views on Israel remain on the outer fringes of Jewish communal thinking, and rightly should be challenged.
Nevertheless, this degree was intended to honor Kushner’s art, not his politics. For his Pulitzer Prize– and Tony Award–winning play “Angels in America” alone, Kushner stands as one of our greatest living playwrights.
To blur the lines and make one contingent on the other smacks of McCarthyism, and flies in the face of the academic freedom CUNY purportedly represents.
Were Kushner up for a similar award from a Jewish institution, the playwright’s views on Israel should be considered, and would likely prove a deal-breaker.
But CUNY is a publicly funded university, not a nominally Jewish institution. Therefore, Kushner’s politics, though anathema to pro-Israel Jews, fall short of Hamas-like rhetoric, and should not be a factor in granting the degree.
Forums abound in which to debate people such as Tony Kushner. We reject his contemptuous comments on Israel. But CUNY made a mistake by serving up a political litmus test for its arts honorees. After all the embarrassment, it’s a mistake we hope this or any other similar institution will not repeat.