Crazy, controversial and even “repugnant” ideas deserve a platform on college campuses — and pols should not try to muzzle them, Mayor Bloomberg says.
In his first comments on the controversy over an anti-Israel forum sponsored by Brooklyn College, the mayor lashed out at elected officials who’ve threatened to cut the college’s public funding if the event proceeds.
“I couldn't disagree more violently with BDS, as they call it, boycott, divestment, and sanctions. As you know I'm a big supporter of Israel, as big a one as I think you can find in the city,” Bloomberg said.
But he added: “If you want to go to a university where the government decides what kinds of subjects are fit for discussion, I suggest you apply to a school in North Korea."
The mayor said the university has the right to sponsor forums on any topic, even BDS, which calls for penalizing Israel financially for its treatment of Palestinians.
“The last thing we need is for members of our City Council or state legislature to micromanage the kinds of programs that our public universities run and to base funding decisions on the political views of professors,” Bloomberg said. “I can't think of anything that would be more destructive to a university and its students.”
State Assemblyman Dov Hikind (D-Borough Park), the leading critic of the event, responded that Bloomberg “was out of his mind.”
Critics including famed lawyer Alan Dershowitz and all four Democratic mayoral contenders charge the political science department’s sponsored forum will be one-sided, noting the only scheduled speakers are two supporters of the boycott group.
Brooklyn College President Karen Gould and CUNY Chancellor Matthew Goldstein argue students and faculty have a free-speech right to debate heated issues.
Bloomberg said the forum opponents should have just ignored the event to avoid drawing attention to it.
“They just don't think before they open their mouths,” he said. “The best way to popularize an idea or book or movie is just to get someone to ban it. All you've got to do is take a look at the history of communism to see that.”
Hikind said the mayor is off base.
A group of 10 City Council members threatened in a letter to Gould last week to withhold financing for the college unless the administration removed its support for the forum.
On Thursday, a group of 17 pols sent Gould a pared-back letter denying they had ever threatened to withhold funding. The note suggested the college clarify its policy to make it clear that “sponsorship does not imply endorsement.”
The heated campus battle has attracted a lot of attention, including from Rodger Waters, the Pink Floyd lead singer.
Waters is supporting the event and called the group of students behind it “the fresh air 'we the people’ need to breathe.”
BDS calls for “nonviolent punitive measures" against Israel to push the Jewish state to change its policy toward Palestinians. The organization also opposes a two-state solution, demanding Palestinian refugees be allowed to return to their homes.
The movement sparked controversy in Brooklyn last year when the Park Slope Food Co-op voted against a proposal to boycott Israeli products.
Bloomberg, long been a vocal advocate of free speech, supported the 2010 proposed mosque and community center near the World Trade Center site.
By Erin Durkin AND Reuven Blau / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
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