Danny Shaw, who has lived in the Bronx since 1996, has taken numerous hits in the ring as a former heavyweight boxer — and he’s now fighting for his academic career in the wake of the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas. After 18 years of teaching Latinx Studies and international affairs at CUNY’s John Jay College of Criminal Justice, Shaw, 46, was fired in April. Though he says he never received a full explanation for his firing or evidence of a policy he violated, he believes the problem stemmed from social media posts from his personal accounts.
The Bronx Times reached out to John Jay for comment, and a spokesperson replied that the college could not comment on personnel matters. Shaw did not hide or tamper down his pro-Palestinian views — and said he understood the risks before posting. With almost 20,000 Instagram followers and even more on X (formerly known as Twitter), some posts have gone viral, including one from October 2023 that reads, “The Bronx says no to the extermination of the Palestinian people” in which Shaw appears on video describing the war as “David versus a genocidal Goliath.
” While his social media content and life’s work addresses a wide range of international issues, the current conflict and the United States’ response to it — which he has followed for decades — prompted Shaw to come out swinging, regardless of the consequences. He participated in the protests and encampments at his undergraduate alma mater, Columbia Universi.
