New York City Mayor Eric Adams (D) faced substantial opposition from graduating students of City University of New York (CUNY) Law School when he delivered their commencement address on Friday.
Adams, in fact, faced booing and heckling. Students even turned their backs on him as he spoke. And, the unfortunate thing for Adams is that the humiliating scene was captured on video.
Take a look:
The new grads did not disappoint during the speech. Lots of heckling, most grads turned their backs pic.twitter.com/D8uLMAyTMU
— ɐılıs (@ilissilia) May 12, 2023
The above video picks up with Adams speaking about how some of the graduates may, like him, go into public service.
The viewer will likely notice within the first few seconds of the video that, just in front of the stage, a large number of the graduating students could be seen standing with their backs turned to Adams as he delivers his speech.
Adams goes on to bring up the fact that he was a New York City police officer for over two decades before he became New York City mayor. The initial reaction from the crowd was loud booing.
Adams continued by claiming that he "knows what it takes to hold this together." This comment drew some jeering, with at least one person shouting, in response, "no you don't."
This sort of thing continues throughout the two-minute and 20-second video. Adams, at one point, tries to identify with the protestors, saying, "I know what it is to protest." But, this didn't appear to help the situation.
Why exactly did the CUNY Law graduate act as they did toward Adams?
The New York Post reports, "Students said they protested the mayor for reasons ranging from school budget cuts to his response to the controversial chokehold death of Jordan Neely."
Regarding the budget cuts, the Washington Examiner reports:
In fiscal 2023, reductions to CUNY's budget by the City of New York totaled $155 million, according to the comptroller's office. Two hundred and thirty-five faculty and staff positions were lost due to the budget cuts. The fiscal 2024 budget cut $41.3 million annually for 2024-2026.
Regarding the Jordan Neely situation, one student said, "My class’s rage is fueled by Adams’s opportunistic response to Jordan Neely’s lynching by demonizing the poor and propping his forced psychiatric incarceration policies."
It was a bad, humiliating day for Adams. It's not the first of its kind for Adams, and it likely will not be the last.
