A BDS resolution that accuses Jewish students of “weaponizing antisemitism” and blames labor disputes on “Zionist interests” is advancing in the Cornell University Graduate Student Union — where unlike many other unions, dues are mandatory. 

The draft resolution, which was published earlier this month and obtained by Jewish Insider, states that “the dismantling of unions in higher education based on Zionist interests is not only to the detriment of graduate worker unions — it threatens the working class and labor unions nationwide.”

The resolution also says that a September Senate Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions Committee subcommittee hearing focused on antisemitism within unions “succinctly crystallizes how autocrats are weaponizing antisemitism charges against unions in higher education to undermine labor unions nationwide.”  

“The House Republicans and representatives of the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation repeatedly drew connections [at the hearing] between the collective interests of labor unions and imperial investments in the dispossession and genocide of the Palestinian people,” the draft states. “Under the guise of antisemitism, they denounced graduate worker unions’ interest in protecting their rights to engage in political protest in support of Palestinian liberation.”

Jewish students who have applied for an exemption to the dues requirement over the union’s anti-Israel behavior say they face monthslong waits, intimidation over unpaid fees and even professional consequences.

According to two Jewish students, the union has removed “most Jewish students” from the listserv, making them unaware of when the resolution will be submitted and what the voting process will be.  

David Rubinstein, a sixth year history Ph.D. candidate at Cornell, told JI that the “resolution is merely the latest chapter in CGSU’s yearslong campaign to make Jewish students feel unwelcome.”

“By endlessly attacking Israel and ‘Zionists’ — while ignoring every other conflict in the world — the union has created a hostile work environment that has impacted many students’ academic careers,” continued Rubinstein. “Depicting ‘Zionist interests’ as undercutting the working class has nothing to do with wages or benefits — rather, it reveals a conspiracy-tinged worldview.”

Another Jewish graduate student, who spoke to JI on the condition of anonymity over fears of being doxxed or harassed by the union, said the draft “is full of libelous comparisons and makes no mention of the harm BDS would do to Jewish students on campus.” 

“It’s completely denying antisemitism as a very real and present problem on campus,” the student said. 

In tandem with the resolution, the union has made threats to fire Ph.D. students who refuse to pay them, according to Rubinstein. 

“Cornell could have denied the union’s demand for mandatory dues — as many other universities have done,” he said. “Instead, objectors must undergo a burdensome exemption process requiring the disclosure of highly personal information. It is wrong that antisemites have been granted authority to determine whether I am Jewish enough not to fund their union.”

Cornell did not respond to a request for comment from JI about the resolution and the union’s requirement that all graduate students pay dues. 

Cornell’s graduate school came under scrutiny last month when Eric Cheyfitz, a professor with a history of anti-Israel activism, attempted to exclude an Israeli graduate student from participating in his course on Gaza. Cheyfitz was placed on leave, and retired weeks later. The school’s student newspaper, The Cornell Daily Sun, published a graphic during the week of the second anniversary of Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attacks depicting a bloodied Star of David and Nazi “SS” symbol on the back of a Palestinian person.