Interfaith Event at CCNY Erupts Into Antisemitic Walkout
Last Thursday, our Hillel Director, Ilya Bratman, accepted an invitation to speak at an interfaith event at City College of New York. We stepped into that space with genuine excitement. Building allyship sits at the core of our mission, and we believed this gathering would strengthen the bridges we’ve been working hard to build with the administration and with the university chaplain.
Ilya and two Jewish students entered the room ready to join a panel intended for open dialogue. Instead, they walked into an environment already staged against them. The Muslim faith leader and his students—who filled nearly every seat—had prepared for Ilya’s arrival, not to engage, but to reject the presence of a Jewish leader entirely.
The atmosphere deteriorated immediately. The university chaplain asked all groups to refrain from communal prayer in order to maintain a neutral space, yet the Imam rose in defiance. He led an extended prayer in protest, followed by a sermon that proclaimed the superiority of Islam, invoked sharia, and included disturbing calls for violence. Christian and Jewish students sat frozen, trying to process the hostility unfolding in front of them.
Nothing about the rhetoric attempted to hide its hatred. Students left that room realizing that the campus climate has not progressed since October 7th. Many said it felt like October 8th all over again.
As the Imam finished, the entire group of Muslim students stood and walked out in coordinated protest—rejecting the panel, the conversation, and the very idea of sitting in a room with a Jewish Zionist person. The remaining students—Jewish, Christian, and a few Muslim students who chose to stay—sat in disbelief, fear, and deep uncertainty about the future. Our concern is not only for Jewish students. It extends to Muslim students and the broader community, because leaders who shut down dialogue leave their own communities vulnerable as well.
Since October 7th, our team has invested nearly two and a half years’ worth of work into protecting and supporting our Jewish students, including interfaith efforts. With only ten staff members serving 5,000 Jewish students across CCNY, the work is enormous—and the need grows daily. Last year we hired a staff member dedicated entirely to combating antisemitism and strengthening campus relationships. The urgency of that investment has never been clearer.
We cannot carry this burden alone. We rely on you to help us safeguard the Jewish students of City College and the 9 campuses we serve throughout Manhattan. In moments like these, our strength comes from standing together. Only together can we affirm, with conviction, “never again.”