{"id":122613,"date":"2025-07-16T17:00:17","date_gmt":"2025-07-16T15:00:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/?p=122613"},"modified":"2025-07-16T07:51:40","modified_gmt":"2025-07-16T05:51:40","slug":"17-00-103","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/?p=122613","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Fine Scholar\u2019: UC Berkeley Chancellor Praises Professor Who Expressed Solidarity With Oct. 7 Attacks"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>\u2018Fine Scholar\u2019: UC Berkeley Chancellor Praises Professor Who Expressed Solidarity With Oct. 7 Attacks<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/h5>\n

Dion J. Pierre<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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University of California, Berkeley chancellor Dr. Rich Lyons, testifies at a Congressional hearing on antisemitism, in Washington, D.C., U.S., on July 15, 2025. Photo: Allison Bailey via Reuters Connect.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

The chancellor of University of California, Berkeley described a professor who cheered the Oct. 7 Hamas massacre across southern Israel as a \u201cfine scholar\u201d during a congressional hearing held at Capitol Hill on Tuesday.<\/span><\/p>\n

Richard K. Lyons, who assumed the chancellorship in July 2024, issued the unmitigated praise while being questioned by members of the House of Representatives Committee on Education and the Workforce, which summoned him and the chief administrators of two other major universities to interrogate their handling of the campus antisemitism crisis.<\/span><\/p>\n

Lyons stumbled into the statement while being questioned by Rep. Lisa McClain (R-MI), who asked Lyons to describe the extent of his relationship and correspondence with Professor Ussama Makdisi, who tweeted in Feb. 2024 that he \u201ccould have been one of those who broke through the siege on October 7.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhat do you think the professor meant,\u201d McClain asked Lyons, to which the chancellor responded, \u201cI believe it was a celebration of the terrorist attack on October 7.\u201d McClain proceeded to ask if Lyons discussed the tweet with Makdisi or personally reprimanded him, prompting an exchange of remarks which concluded with Lyons saying, \u201cHe is a fine scholar.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Lyons\u2019s comment came after nearly three hours in which the group of university leaders \u2014 which included Dr. Robert Groves, president of Georgetown University, and Dr. Felix V. Matos Rodriguez, chancellor of the City University of New York (CUNY) \u2014 offered gaffe-free, deliberately worded answers to the members\u2019 questions to avoid eliciting the kind of public relations ordeal which prematurely\u00a0ended the tenures<\/a>\u00a0of\u00a0two Ivy League presidents<\/a>\u00a0in 2024 following an education committee held in Dec. 2023.<\/span><\/p>\n

Rep. McClain later criticized Lyons on social media, calling his comment \u201ctotally disgraceful.\u201d She added, \u201cFaculty must be held accountable and Jewish students deserve better.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

CUNY chancellor Rodriguez also triggered a rebuke from the committee members in which he was also described as a \u201cdisgrace.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

As previously reported by\u00a0The Algemeiner<\/em>, CUNY campuses have been lambasted by critics as some of the most antisemitic institutions of higher education in the United States. Last year, the US Department of Education\u2019s Office for Civil Rights (OCR)\u00a0resolved half a dozen investigations of antisemitism<\/a>\u00a0on CUNY campuses, one of which involved Jewish students who were pressured into saying that Jews are White people who should be excluded from discussions about social justice.<\/span><\/p>\n

During Tuesday\u2019s hearing Rodriguez acknowledged that antisemitic incidents continue to disrupt Jewish academic life, disclosing that 84 complaints of antisemitism have been formally reported to CUNY administrators since 2024. 15 were filed in 2025 alone, but CUNY, he said, has published only 18 students for antisemitic conduct. Rodriguez went on to denounce efforts to pressure CUNY into adopting the boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel, saying, \u201cI have repudiated BDS and I have said there\u2019s no place for BDS at the City University of New York.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC) remarked, however, that Rodriguez has allegedly done little to address\u00a0antisemitism in the CUNY faculty union<\/a>, the Professional Staff Congress (PSC), which has passed several resolutions endorsing BDS and whose members, according to 2021 ruling rendered by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), discriminated against Professor Jeffrey Lax by holding meetings on Shabbat to prevent him and other Jews from attending them.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe PSC does not speak for the City University of New York,\u201d Rodriquez protested. \u201cWe\u2019ve been clear on our commitment against antisemitism and against BDS.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Later, Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY), whose grilling of higher education officials who appear before the committee has created several viral moments, rejected Rodriguez\u2019s responses as disingenuous.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s all words, no action. You have failed the people of New York,\u201d she told the chancellor. \u201cYou have failed Jewish students in New York State, and it is a disgrace.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Following the hearing, The Lawfare Project, a legal nonprofit which provides legal services free of charge to Jewish victims of civil rights violations, applauded the education committee for publicizing antisemitism at CUNY.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI am thankful for the many members of Congress who worked with us to ensure that the deeply disturbing facts about antisemitism at CUNY were brought forward in this hearing,\u201d Lawfare Project litigation director Zipora Reich said in a press release. \u201cWhile it is deeply frustrating to hear more platitudes and vague promises from CUNY\u2019s leadership, we are encouraged to see federal lawmakers demanding accountability.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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\u2018Fine Scholar\u2019: UC Berkeley Chancellor Praises Professor Who Expressed Solidarity With Oct. 7 Attacks Dion J. Pierre University of California, Berkeley chancellor Dr. Rich Lyons, testifies at a Congressional hearing on antisemitism, in Washington, D.C., U.S., on July 15, 2025. Photo: Allison Bailey via Reuters Connect. The chancellor of University of California, Berkeley described a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6],"tags":[26,24],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122613"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=122613"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122613\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":122693,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122613\/revisions\/122693"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=122613"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=122613"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=122613"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}