CUNY Faculty Rally for Fired Colleague and Against Academic Repression

On Friday, more than 100 protesters and union members gathered in defense of one of four faculty members who were fired by the City University of New York (CUNY) more than a year ago over charges related to Pro-Palestine and anti-capitalist activism on its Brooklyn College campus. 

Known as the “Fired Fourth,” this faculty member, who has chosen to remain anonymous for fear of further retaliation, has not only lost their job at Brooklyn College, but has lost their health insurance and been barred from teaching or working across the entire university. Nonetheless they have remained defiant, and along with their allies and the PSC CUNY union, have continued to fight both in the courts and in the streets to force the university to reinstate them. 

The spirited rally was held in front of the labor arbitration board in downtown Manhattan, where the Fired Fourth and lawyers for the union and the university were attending their first arbitration hearing on the case, an important step in the legal battle for reinstatement. Demonstrators chanted “one, two, three, four/ Reinstate the fired fourth” and “One struggle, one fight, students, faculty, and staff unite.” 

They were joined by the PSC President James Davis, who spoke out against what he called the new McCarthyism, and Assemblyperson Diana Moreno, who is a member of the Democratic Socialists of America and who was one of the many candidates endorsed by Zohran Mamdani last election. Moreno connected the fight for free speech at CUNY with the fight for workers rights and the broader right-wing backlash against universities across the country. She also spoke about the Academic Freedom Protection Act, which she and other legislators are proposing in the state assembly. Although Mamdani promised to fight for the Fired Four when he was on the campaign trail, since his election, he has taken no public stand on the firings, nor has he yet endorsed the Academic Protection Act.

Friday’s rally was only the latest in a string of actions and demonstrations that have taken place since the four faculty members were fired in June, 2025. Since then, the fired four, the PSC CUNY, and their allies have successfully forced the university to reinstate three of the fired faculty members — a major victory. 

While the union leadership was quick to take up the cause — which is after all, central to its mission to protect its members from illegal termination — the rank and file have also embraced this struggle as their own. Since 2025, they have organized panels, talks, and  demonstrations; they have flyered to pressure candidate Mamdani to take an open stand on the case, and have printed and sold T-shirts that read “Reinstate the Fired Four” and “Conduct Unbecoming,” a reference to the university’s excuse for firing the fourth professor.

However, despite these best efforts, CUNY has refused to give up its case. Why the university is so adamant about punishing this one particular professor remains a mystery, but it is clear that the administration’s attack on speech at CUNY is related to a broader attempt by the state, and the Trump administration more particularly, to crack down on and punish all Pro-Palestine and anti-capitalist protest on college campuses across the country. 

“I think they are trying to make an example out of one person based on a very flimsy argument. They want faculty in particular to be afraid to speak up,” said Jenna Queenan, a student and adjunct at CUNY.

Indeed, it is no accident that the Fired Four were all outspoken critics of Israel or that the original firings came just weeks before the CUNY Chancellor, Felix Matos Rodriguez, was scheduled to testify before the House Committee on Education and Workforce during a hearing regarding campus antisemitism.

Sadly, the attempt to conflate criticism of Israel with antisemitism is a long-standing tactic of the university administration to appease its donors and protect its investments. But in a climate where even august and powerful institutions like Harvard and Columbia were being threatened with federal lawsuits, the attacks on the Fired Four are as much attacks from the state as they are from the university. 

 As the president of the PSC CUNY James Davis made clear in his own speech, It’s obvious that these firings were politically motivated and part of a larger neo-McCarthyist agenda to silence university students and professors across the country. 

Meanwhile, the university, despite presenting no real case of supposed misconduct, is doing everything it can to drag the proceedings out for as long as possible in order to punish the Fired Fourth and the union. But their intransigence only seems to be adding fuel to the fire. As many at the rally expressed in their speeches and chants: “an injury to one is an injury to all.” It’s clear that these activists will not rest until their colleague is reinstated.

But there is so much more that can be accomplished with this energy and organization. The resistance and determination of the Fired Four, the PSC, and the rank and file members of the union who have taken up this struggle should be an inspiration to everyone at CUNY and across academia. This struggle shows not only that we are the ones who defend us, but that we (the faculty, students and staff) have the power to challenge the liberal logic of austerity and imperialist capitulation that has defined the modern university and transform it into a weapon for working class power.