CUNY Rescinds Kushner Honorary Degree Due to Dispute

The New York Times reports this morning that board members of CUNY have voted to withdrawal an honorary degree that was to be presented to famed playwright Tony Kushner at John Jay College in light of offensive remarks they feel he made against Israel.  Kushner has aggressively defended his remarks, stating that he feels "dismayed by the vicious attack and wholesale distortion of my beliefs" on the part of CUNY and is asking for an apology from the university, adding that even if they were to reverse their decision, he would not accept the degree.

According to CUNY Trustee Jeffrey S.Mr. Wiesenfeld, "Mr. Kushner had tied the founding of Israel to a policy of ethnic cleansing, criticized the Israel Defense Forces and supported a boycott of Israel."

He states in the Times: "I think it's up to all of us to look at fairness and consider these things," Mr. Wiesenfeld said. "Especially when the State of Israel, which is our sole democratic ally in the area, sits in the neighborhood which is almost universally dominated by administrations which are almost universally misogynist, antigay, anti-Christian."

To read the full report in the New York Times, click here.

Kushner would have received the honorary degree for his career achievement. His plays include The Intelligent Homosexual's Guide to Capitalism and Socialism with a Key to the Scriptures, opening tonight in New York City, A Bright Room Called Day; Angels In America, Parts One and Two; Slavs!; Homebody/Kabul and Caroline, or Change. His adaptations include Corneille's The Illusion, S.Y. Ansky's The Dybbuk, and Brecht's The Good Person of Sezuan and Mother Courage and Her Children (Public Theater). He wrote the screenplay for the HBO film version of Angels In America, directed by Mike Nichols and for Munich, directed by Steven Spielberg. His books include Brundibar, illustrations by Maurice Sendak; The Art of Maurice Sendak, 1980 to the Present; and Wrestling With Zion: Progressive Jewish-American Responses to the Palestinian/Israeli Conflict (co-edited with Alisa Solomon). Kushner has received the Pulitzer Prize, an Emmy Award, an Oscar nomination, two Tony Awards, three Obie Awards, an Olivier Award, two Evening Standard Awards, and is the first recipient of the Steinberg Distinguished Playwright Award. He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

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