Faculty members from the state-funded City University of New York have appeared on a far-left TikTok channel to express their support for the anti-Israel protest at City College.
“We’re CUNY faculty, of course we know anti-Zionism isn’t antisemitism,” one faculty member told the camera in the 36-second clip, which was posted by the outlet Left Voice.
Another professor had a small child on his shoulders as he said, “We’re CUNY faculty, of course we support the five demands,” referring to the protesters’ insistence that the university system divest from companies that do business with Israel and condemn the war in the Gaza Strip.
One faculty member referred to Israel’s presence as “apartheid” against the Palestinian people.
The participants in the video all appeared to be speaking from the encampment on City College’s Harlem campus.
The TikTok account is run by LeftVoice, a “revolutionary socialist news site and magazine” that is part of a “Trotskyist news network” that operates across 14 countries.
The camp first emerged on Thursday afternoon, when a hundreds of student protesters hoisted up a Palestinian flag and covered a quad in signs and tents.
“Palestine calls this University Intifada,” Within Our Lifetime organizer Nerdeen Kiswani said into a megaphone at the scene, per indie reporter Oliya Scootercaster.
NYPD officers were seen on the outskirts of the demonstration, though there were no immediate arrests.
Initial reports that the camp would be cleared out by 5 p.m. Thursday never materialized, according to CNN.
The encampment is one of the several campus protests that emerged across the country this week in response to the tent protest at Columbia University in Morningside Heights.
The antisemitic rhetoric at the protests – which have included signs, chants, and slogans called for the destruction of Israel – sparked a rash of concern about Jewish safety at institutions of higher learning.
“City College, and the entire CUNY system, remain committed to ensuring academic freedom and the free and safe exchange of ideas and expression of all points of view for members of the university community,” a CUNY spokesperson told The Post in response to the video.
“This includes students, faculty, staff,” they added.
