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<H1>Tony Kushner row deepens as supporters renounce honorary degrees</H1>
<P id=stand-first class=stand-first-alone>Pulitzer-winner playwright was removed
from honour list for his critical views on Israel after CUNY trustee lobbied
against him</P></DIV>
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<LI class=byline><A class=contributor
href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/paulharris">Paul Harris</A> in <A
title="More from guardian.co.uk on New York"
href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/new-york">New York</A> </LI>
<LI class=publication><A href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/">guardian.co.uk</A>,
<TIME pubdate="" datetime="2011-05-06T23:30BST">Friday 6 May 2011 23.30
BST</TIME> </LI>
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history</A></LI></UL>
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<DIV id=main-content-picture><IMG alt="Tony Kushner"
src="http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/About/General/2011/5/6/1304718134491/Tony-Kushner-007.jpg"
width=460 height=276>
<DIV class=caption>Tony Kushner was set to get an honorary degree but his name
was removed form the list, apparently because of his critical views on Israel.
Photograph: Dario Cantatore/Getty Images</DIV></DIV>
<DIV id=article-body-blocks>
<P>A row over the decision by a leading <A
title="More from guardian.co.uk on New York"
href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/new-york">New York</A> university to
refuse playwright <A title="More from guardian.co.uk on Tony Kushner"
href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/tony-kushner">Tony Kushner</A> an honorary
degree due to accusations he was too critical of Israel has deepened as several
high profile honorary degree holders renounced their own awards.</P>
<P>Kushner, who wrote the Pulitzer prize-winning Paul Angels in America, was set
to get an honorary degree from John Jay College, a campus of City University of
New York. But his name was removed from a list of other intended recipients
after a CUNY trustee, pro-Israel activist Jeffrey Wiesenfeld, spoke out against
it.</P>
<P>Wiesenfeld accused Kushner of being critical of the Israeli army, supportive
of a boycott of the country and of saying that Israel had been founded partly as
a result of ethnic cleansing. In an open letter to CUNY Kushner responded
angrily, denying the allegations, accusing Wiesenfeld of slander and saying he
was "proud to be Jewish".</P>
<P>Now, in the wake of Kushner's letter, at least three prominent previous
recipients have declared they no longer want their honorary degrees from the
university. Barbara Ehrenreich, an acclaimed activist journalist, issued a
statement saying she had renounced her 2004 award. "Please expunge me from your
record of past honorees," she said. She was joined by Michael Cunningham, who
also has won a Pulitzer, for his book The Hours, and was given an honorary
degree in 2009. "I was shocked and dismayed to hear about the treatment Tony
Kushner received at the hands of the CUNY board of trustees," he said in a
statement.</P>
<P>He criticised the university's decision. "To deny him an honorary degree
because certain members of the board disagree with some of his political views
is a chilling indictment of the freedom of expression CUNY has always
championed."</P>
<P>Yeshiva University historian Ellen Schrecker also wrote to CUNY to protest
and to ask how she could return her own honorary degree.</P>
<P>So far the university has issued little detailed public comment on the
growing row and Kushner has said in interviews that he would no longer accept
the degree if the decision were reversed.</P>
<P>A CUNY statement said that the university's board operated independently in
making decisions and offered no apology. "The board's actions, however, should
not be interpreted as reflecting on Mr Kushner's accomplishments and we regret
any such misunderstanding," it added.</P>
<P>Meanwhile, the decision was condemned even by CUNY's own faculty union. Union
president Dr Barbara Bowen said the vote to not give Kushner an award was
"perverse" and aimed at cutting off genuine political and intellectual debate at
the university. "The trustees' craven decision is an offence against open
intellectual discussion and freedom of thought. It dishonors our university, and
the values for which we ought to stand," she said.</P>
<P>The controversy is not the first of its kind to involve Wiesenfeld. In
February Brooklyn College, another CUNY campus, fired Kristopher
Petersen-Overton from a one semester teaching post after objections were raised
by Wiesenfeld and others about his views on Israel and the Middle East. In that
case Wiesenfeld directly lobbied chancellor, Matthew Goldstein, along with local
Brooklyn politician Dov Hikind, to get the academic removed from his post.</P>
<P>But after a furious row in the media Petersen-Overton was reappointed. For
the time being Wiesenfeld is sticking to his guns. On a blog post at the Jewish
news website the Algemeiner he called Kushner an "extremist".</P>
<P>"The denial of the honorary degree to Mr Kushner, despite his protestations
was a reflection of his long-held radical sentiments," he said.</P>
<P>Kushner, whose latest play is currently playing on Broadway, is one of the
most famous and acclaimed names in modern American theatre. Angels in America,
which is his best known piece, dealt with the Aids crisis in 1980s America.</P>
<P>Ironically, people being persecuted for their political views figures in the
play and is also a re-occurring theme elsewhere in his
work.</P></DIV></DIV></DIV></FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>