The PSC issued an immediate public condemnation of the CUNY administration’s decision to bring the NYPD Strategic Response Group (SRG), a militarized unit of 70-80 riot police, onto the Brooklyn College campus the afternoon of May 8 to break up a non-violent student led protest against the ongoing military campaign against Palestinians, a decision that resulted in a massive street confrontation and extraordinary use of force by the police. Since then, PSC’s principal officers met with the CUNY administration, read BC President Michelle Anderson’s statement, heard first-hand accounts from members who were present, and discussed the matter with the union’s Executive Council. We have also seen video footage of the ensuing melee on the sidewalks and streets around campus, during which police made at least 14 arrests and brutalized a number of people. For those who have not seen the video footage, it is difficult but important to watch. It indicates that the NYPD SRG escalated the protest into a chaotic, violent confrontation.
The PSC stands by our condemnation of the administration’s decision and now demands the following distinct forms of accountability from the CUNY administration and City authorities.
The Brooklyn College and CUNY administration must publicly answer key questions about their actions during and after the campus protest.
- What steps were taken by the administration to engage the protesters in dialogue or to diffuse the situation?
- What specific violations of college or university policy are alleged? Did any alleged violations include criminal conduct, disruption of educational activities, or the prevention of others to move freely through the campus?
- What discretion did college or university administrators exercise over the timing of the NYPD arrival to the campus gates and their entry, the number and type of units deployed, and the tactical approach taken by the officers who entered the campus?
- What disciplinary charges, if any, are being brought against participants in the May 8 protest on campus?
- What steps will be taken to allow members of the college community to engage in a process of restorative justice?
The NYPD must be held publicly accountable for its role in escalating violence.
A formal investigation must be conducted into the extraordinary use of force by the SRG units and other NYPD officers during the street confrontation with protesters outside the campus, and the results of the investigation must be made public. This conduct cannot be normalized.
The SRG must be limited, if not abolished.
The New York City Council must immediately pass the CURB Act, which would end the deployment of NYPD SRG at protests and other first amendment-protected activity. The SRG is a militarized unit that was established to combat terrorism. The exercise of constitutionally protected speech and assembly is not terrorism or criminal conduct, even when it is offensive to some members of the community.
CUNY personnel must be trained in de-escalation and be authorized to perform that role.
Preparation to engage constructively and non-violently in de-escalation in the cases of campus protest must be prioritized. Each college must have on staff representatives of the administration with full training in de-escalation and conflict resolution, including but not limited to campus security. If college administrators will not represent themselves in such situations, trained staff must have the authority to represent them.
CUNY colleges’ new restrictions on constitutionally protected activity must be revisited.
Many CUNY colleges have implemented new policies that place conditions on the time, place, and manner in which freedom of speech and assembly may be exercised. We believe these conditions impose prior restraint, are overly broad, and grant such extreme administrative discretion as to invite discrimination based on the content of the speech or assembly in question. We are concerned, as the Brooklyn College Policing and Social Justice Project observes, “Since the administration can always find a justification for any restrictions, they are then free to apply those restrictions based on the content of the speech.”
The PSC has always prioritized making CUNY campuses accessible, safe, and rigorous places to learn, and we will continue to do so. Discrimination and harassment have no place on our campuses and should not be tolerated. But a commitment to the “maintenance of public order,” the stated purpose of CUNY’s Henderson Rules, must not become a tool of repression, a pretext for depriving members of the campus community of their civil or constitutional rights, or an excuse to drive them to the maw of police brutality.
Our union has a strong history of opposing the abuse of police authority and state repression of the constitutional rights of our members and students – from our 2024 public statement against the militarized policing of campuses, to our 2020 resolution that CUNY “refrain from requesting or approving NYPD presence on CUNY campuses in non-emergency situations,” to our 2016 resolution that Governor Cuomo’s Executive Order 157 and City Council resolution 1058-A, “by condemning protected forms of speech and assembly, present a chilling effect on the freedom of speech,” to our 2013 opposition to “the violent and unprovoked actions by the NYPD against students peacefully protesting the appointment of [General] David Petraeus as a Visiting Professor at the Macaulay Honors College of CUNY.”
Today, the authoritarian regime in Washington DC is seeking to criminalize protest – particularly on college campuses, even when non-violent, and especially when aimed against Israel or U.S. support for Israel’s military campaign against Palestinians. Whatever one feels about that war – and PSC members have a range of opinions and experiences – we can say collectively that alternatives can and must be found to the militarized policing of non-violent campus protests.
James Davis, President
Jen Gaboury, First Vice President
Felicia Wharton, Treasurer
Andrea Vásquez, Secretary
Published: May 16, 2025
