Q&A
Student describes discrimination in CUNY fellowship nomination process
4:10:42
·
105 sec
Council Member Inna Vernikov asks a student, Gideon Askowitz, to elaborate on his earlier testimony about a DEI officer trying to stop him from pursuing a complaint. Askowitz describes his experience of religious discrimination during a fellowship nomination process and the subsequent attempts by CUNY officials to discourage him from pursuing the complaint.
- Askowitz was told his Sabbath observance would be an issue for the fellowship
- He faced pressure from CUNY officials, including a DEI officer and an attorney, to drop the complaint
- CUNY officials suggested that pursuing the complaint would deprive other students of opportunities
Inna Vernikov
4:10:42
You testified earlier that a DEI officer tried to stop you from pursuing your complaint.
4:10:48
Can you talk a little more about that?
Gideon Askowitz
4:10:50
Sure.
4:10:50
So this, complaint actually went all the way up to the chancellor level.
4:10:54
So everybody at the university was aware of it.
4:10:56
The reason for that is because the fellowship in question was the primary fellowship that CUNY partners with.
4:11:02
So they basically rely solely on CUNY Schools to nominate students and then they accept from a pool.
4:11:07
I had an interview where I had informed them in advance I was Sabbath observant, and they told me that would be an issue and that was my choice to be religious.
4:11:15
They had then alerted the campus, person who had nominated me, who's a very nice person, who then sent told me that what they had done, which I already knew from the interview.
4:11:26
I complained to the school.
4:11:27
I was eventually got to the DEI officer.
4:11:30
They sat me down with an attorney in the room without me knowing.
4:11:33
They said, we just wanna talk to you.
4:11:34
I show up.
4:11:35
There's an attorney there, and there's her.
4:11:37
So I'm now in an environment where I'm a student in my freshman year in college, and I'm facing an attorney and a and a and a, essentially, a dean of the school.
4:11:44
They then told me that we're gonna look into the issue, and we would just just wanna know how you feel.
4:11:48
And they then attempted to play it down.
4:11:50
Then when I got on the phone with another, dean of DEI at the school, I believe his name was Dean Rose, he basically attacked me on over the phone, was telling me that I should be quiet.
4:12:01
That was then similarly advocated for by another member of the CUNY, higher up government.
4:12:07
They told me that, listen.
4:12:09
Our options are either to suspend partnering with this group and deprive many of our students from the benefits of this program, or you can drop the or you could drop the issue.
4:12:18
So they then essentially put it on me to say either we're gonna because of you, we're gonna remove a benefit to other students, or you can be quiet and go away because you're a religious Jew.
