Wednesday, April 04, 2012
Brooklyn University Provost Accused of Anti-Jewish Discrimination
Twenty members of the New York State Assembly, the state's Senate and the City Council sent a letter on Tuesday to the chancellor of the City University of New York (CUNY) about Tramontano's discriminatory practices. The letter said that "numerous accusations have been voiced regarding Provost Tramontano's racial, anti-female and blatantly illegal actions. We demand an immediate and thorough investigation by an independent group into these actions," the letter reads.
According to CUNY Board of Trustee's member Jeffrey Wiesenfeld, it's not yet known if Tramontano is operating at the University with any inherent prejudice(s) but if he is, it would be a serious offense.
"The Post indicated that Tramontano had made a comment about 'you already have a Miriam'. I don't know if he said it but if he did, he's not too intelligent. It's similar to saying, 'we've got enough Leroys at Medgar Evers in Brooklyn', or enough Joses at Hostos, or enough Patricks at Lehman, or enough Moshes at Queens," Wiesenfeld told The Algemeiner.
New York State Assemblyman Dov Hikind (D-Brooklyn), sent a separate letter to CUNY's chancellor, Matthew Goldstein, on Monday stating there is a "pervasive pattern of anti-Semitism at the highest levels of Brooklyn College" and "based on what we know, this guy [Tramantano] does not belong at Brooklyn College. This is crazy".
William Tramantano has allegedly "denied promotions to professors who are Orthodox Jews and has blocked the hiring of Jewish women for faculty positions".
"It would be of the same vein of making the other four ridiculous comments I referred to," Wiesenfeld said.