NYU Appointment of Pro-Hamas, Critical Race Theory Prof Sparks Debate on Campus

Edited by: Fern Sidman

New York University’s recent appointment of Eve Tuck, a professor specializing in critical race and indigenous studies at the University of Toronto, has stirred controversy and sparked debate within the academic community, as was reported by the New York Post.  The appointment, made on October 9, came just days after a tragic event in which 1,400 Israeli civilians lost their lives in a barbaric attack by Hamas terrorists in southern Israel.  While Tuck’s academic work primarily focuses on indigenous peoples, her comments on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict have raised eyebrows, the Post report said.

Tuck’s statements on social media have drawn attention due to her seemingly sympathetic stance towards Palestinian terrorists.  In an October 7th post on Bluesky, a liberal social media network, she made the following comment: “Unprovoked is a dishonest framing. A free Palestine is possible because of how Palestinians have worked to keep alive and remake other framings, other futures,” the Post report said.

Days after the inhumane Hamas attack, Tuck referred to it as “resistance” to Israel, which she described as “affirming,” according to the Post report. Furthermore, on October 26, she added her signature to a letter that attributed blame to Israel for the October 7th attack. The letter asserted, “The past two weeks of horrific violence in Gaza resulted from 75 years of Israeli settler colonial dispossession. The atrocities of the Israeli apartheid regime in Palestine are relentless, illegal under international law, and consistent with settler-colonial projects globally. Colonized peoples have the right to defend themselves and to resist colonial violence. We support Palestinian liberation and their right as an oppressed people to resist colonialism and genocide,” as was reported by the Post.

Critics argue that Tuck’s rhetoric overlooks critical aspects of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. They point out that Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005, and the Palestinian population has quintupled since 1960, as confirmed by the United Nations, as was indicated in the Post report.  As was noted in the Post report, concerns have been raised by several members of NYU’s board, including Elliott Bross of NYU’s Stern School of Business and Stan Polovets of NYU’s Tandon School of Engineering. They claim that Tuck’s statements can be seen as fueling anti-Semitism and have called on her to reconsider her position.

NYU has recently faced anti-Semitic protests, with reports of students tearing down signs featuring Israeli hostages who were kidnapped by the Hamas terrorists, the Post report said. The university, however, has not issued a condemnation of Tuck’s statements. The Post report also indicated that in response to the controversy, NYU’s spokesperson, John Beckman, stated, “NYU’s perspective is that terrorism is immoral; that there is no justification to commit acts of terrorism, ever; and that laying the blame on victims of terrorism is indefensible.”

Tuck, in her response to The Post, stated, “I condemn the Hamas’ terrorist attack on Israel and the taking of hostages, whose safe and swift return I fervently wish for. I reject anti-Semitism; it is repugnant and indefensible.” The controversy surrounding Tuck’s appointment highlights the challenges of navigating sensitive geopolitical issues within academia.