An academic has gone viral after they attacked onlookers who filmed them tearing down posters for kidnapped Israelis who were taken hostage in the shock Hamas attacks.
The popular Stop AntiSemitism account posted the video of Callen Zimmerman, a graduate student at Stony Brook University and previously was listed as an adjunct professor at York College, which operates under the City University of New York system.
Zimmerman – whose bio uses they/them pronouns – tells a couple filming them that they’re ‘so f**king lame,’ then is asked what they’re doing as they take down posters and responds: ‘Go colonize somewhere else.’
They say ‘free Palestine’ after the couple filming says to them: ‘Shame on you.’ The footage taken by the couple then cuts to Zimmerman telling ‘f**k you.’ They then appear to shove one of the people filming.
A spokesperson for Stony Brook University told .com that Zimmerman is a graduate student.
‘The social media post regarding a Stony Brook University graduate student being widely circulated on social media is vile and infuriating, and in no way represents the views of Stony Brook University,’ Stony Brook officials said in a statement.
Callen Zimmerman, a graduate student at Stony Brook University and previously was listed as an adjunct professor at York College
‘During this deeply distressing time, we must condemn antisemitism unequivocally and support every member of our community,’ they added.
The school claims that they ‘do not believe’ Zimmerman has ‘engaged in such conduct on campus’ but will be conducting a review.
‘In addition, Stony Brook has policies in place to support any student who believes they have been treated unfairly, and wishes to reaffirm our commitment to the deeply held institutional values of caring, respect and civility.’
.com have reached out to York College for confirmation of Zimmerman’s employment and a response.
In their now-deleted biography for their employers, it states: ‘Callen Zimmerman explores intricacies of material culture and queer experience, as fashion freak, educator and maker.
They are a graduate of CUNY Graduate Center’s Liberal Studies master’s program and are currently studying ‘women’s, gender and sexuality studies’ in a PhD program at Stony Brook.
‘Here, Callen will continue to explore the dressed body as a technology of power, through a multitude of creative means, looking at and the ways that queers have used self styling to convey desire, build affinity and signal safety.’
Zimmerman teaches fashion studies and art history at York, though their biography at the school has since been deleted.
It’s the latest example of anti-Israel and anti-Semitic conduct coming from academia in the wake of the attack that killed 1,400 Israelis.
Zimmerman – whose bio uses they/them pronouns – tells a couple filming them that they’re ‘so f**king lame,’ then is asked what they’re doing as they take down posters and responds: ‘Go colonize somewhere else’
They say ‘free Palestine’ after a couple filming them appears to shame them. They then cut to Zimmerman telling them ‘f**k you’ and clearly shoving one of the people filming
A spokesperson for Stony Brook University told .com that Zimmerman ‘is a graduate student at Stony Brook University’
However, at CUNY, outrage has spread over conduct of students dating back to this past May, when a student commencement speech led people to call for the school’s defunding.
Fatima Mousa Mohammed was chosen by her classmates as the 2023 commencement speaker at CUNY Law’s graduation ceremony on May 12.
Her 13-minute-long speech has only now become public after CUNY uploaded it to YouTube. Initially, the school kept it private.
In her remarks, Mohammed – whose family is Yemeni but who grew up in Queens – called the NYPD ‘fascist’, accused NYC Mayor Eric Adams of endorsing ‘murder’, labeled the law a ‘manifestation of white supremacy’ and accused Israelis of ‘settler colonialism’.
Her remarks sparked fury and fear among Jewish groups, who are now demanding to know why CUNY allowed such pro-Palestinian commentary at the commencement ceremony for a second year.
Last year’s speaker, Nerdeen Kiswani, is also a pro-Palestine activist who used her remarks to comment on the conflict with similar vehemence.
‘I have been been facing a campaign of Zionist harassment by well-funded organizations with ties to the Israeli government and military,’ she said.
She then called a school-organized trip to Israel ‘an affront to everyone at CUNY fighting for liberation.’
Fatima Mousa Mohammed was chosen by her classmates as the 2023 commencement speaker at CUNY Law’s graduation ceremony on May 12. Her remarks about Israel, Palestine, the NYPD and the Armed Forces sparked uproar
The 2022 commencement speaker was Nerdeen Kiswani, a pro-Palestine activist who used her remarks to comment on the conflict with similar vehemence. ‘I have been been facing a campaign of Zionist harassment by well-funded organizations with ties to the Israeli government and military,’ she said. She then called a school-organized trip to Israel ‘an affront to everyone at CUNY fighting for liberation.’
In a statement, a school spokesman said only that the commencement remarks reflected the students’ views, but not the school’s.
The annual cost of tuition at CUNY Law is $15,000. The national average is $50,000.
The subsidization is thanks in large part to the funding CUNY receives for its 25 colleges from all three branches of government.
In 2022, CUNY received $2.8billion in government funding; $2billion from New York State, $527million from New York City, and $312million from federal education programs, according to CUNY’s 2023 budget request.
Administrators asked for an additional $400million in total for this year and also proposed a freeze on fees.