Vincent Boudreau
To the CCNY Community,
I have now had the opportunity to review the video tapes of a lecture given by Ambassador Dani Dayan, Consul General from the State of Israel, at the City College of New York. In viewing these tapes, I believe that the campus community, and I as its representative, owe the Consul General an apology. He was an invited guest of the college and the representative of his nation and merits respect on both counts. He was not treated respectfully last week by our campus community, and I apologize for that.
I have established a committee to investigate the events of last week, and will take their recommendation on what course of action to pursue, including disciplinary actions, very seriously. We also began a series of discussions on this campus among the student groups most closely involved in those events, with an eye to repairing whatever damage has been done to our community.
I will insist that no invited guest or speaker of the college be prevented from making their presentation. I will insist on civility in the back and forth between audience and speaker, and in the discussions that take place among audience members.
I will also work, with so many of you, to insure that spirit of free exchange among a diverse community with natural differences of opinion a spirit that stands at the very heart of what it means to be a university, and at the very core of what we have for so long celebrated at CCNY, be defended and preserved.
Sincerely,
Vince Boudreau
Interim President