Benno Schmidt, the chair of the trustees of CUNY, has called on the executive committee to reconvene to reconsider the decision about Tony Kushner’s honorary degree. So Kushner will get his honorary. He thinks he can make everyone happy, Schmidt. But he refuses to condemn Jeffrey Wiesenfeld’s scabrous racist language:
If it were appropriate for us to take politics into account in deciding whether to approve an honorary degree, I might agree with Trustee Wiesenfeld, whose political views on the matters in controversy are not far distant from my own. But it is not right for the Board to consider politics in connection with the award of honorary degrees except in extreme cases not presented by the facts here. The proposed honorary degree for Mr. Kushner would recognize him for his extraordinary talent and contribution to the American theater.
Writes my friend: “I might agree with trustee Wiesenfeld, whose political views on the matters in controversy are not far distant from my own.” Meaning that Schmidt thinks Palestinians *might not* be human as opposed to *are not” human?
