City U. of New York Cancels Plan to Honor Tony Kushner

The Board of Trustees of the City University of New York has scuttled John Jay College’s plan to give an honorary degree to the playwright Tony Kushner at its June commencement ceremony, The Jewish Week reported. At the board’s meeting on Monday, Jeffrey S. Wiesenfeld, a trustee, condemned Mr. Kushner’s purported beliefs about Israel. (A podcast of the meeting is available here. The discussion occurred during the final 10 minutes.) After Mr. Wiesenfeld’s remarks, the trustees tabled the proposal to honor Mr. Kushner—a move that effectively kills the plan for this year, because the trustees will not meet again before John Jay’s commencement. Mr. Kushner replied with an open letter to the trustees on Wednesday, arguing that Mr. Wiesenfeld had badly distorted his positions. In an interview with Salon, Mr. Kushner described the trustees’ behavior as “McCarthyite nonsense.”