February 5, 2026 General Club Meeting
One of our newest club committees, the Academic Freedom Committee, presented a special speaker program on Education Reform and Academic Freedom. Education is the #1 issue in America, and Republicans and Conservatives and all good people of common sense must get involved with it.
Our featured speakers included former CUNY Trustee Jeffrey Wiesenfeld and renowned historian and educator Gerald Matacotta, who discussed the historical background and the urgency of restoring excellence, merit, and free thought in America’s schools. St. John’s University student Massimo Guerriero shared a powerful firsthand account of his ongoing fight to establish a Charlie Kirk affiliated TPUSA chapter on campus, an effort blocked by the student government, raising serious concerns about viewpoint discrimination at SJU. See the videos below for the full presentation. Thank you to our videographer, Jim Doukas.
Historian Gerald Matacotta Addresses Education Reform and Academic Freedom
Gerald Matacotta presented a historical perspective on free speech and viewpoint diversity in our schools, and what went wrong, at the Feb 5th, 2026 club meeting. He has spent over 50 years in education in NYC, as a high school American History teacher, dean, curriculum developer, college history instructor, and adjunct professor. He founded the History Seminar Series at Queensborough Community College in 2000, a program now hosted by Great Neck Community Education. Since 1988, he has also served as an NCAA collegiate volleyball coach and athletic administrator. Mr. Matacotta has been at the forefront of education policy, championing free speech and diversity of thought in America’s schools.
SJU student Massimo Guerriero shares story of his fight to establish a TPUSA chapter on campus
Massimo Guerriero has been actively working to establish a chapter of Charlie Kirk’s Turning Point USA on the St. John’s University campus and shares his powerful firsthand account of his ongoing efforts and the Student Government’s rejection. Massimo is a sophomore English major at SJU and an aspiring attorney with four years of legal intern experience. He currently serves as a full-time intern for respected defense attorney Joseph Mure Jr. Massimo is a member of the New York Young Republican Club and is the founder and president of the Guerriero Legal Foundation.
Former CUNY Trustee Jeffrey Wiesenfeld on the state of education in New York
Jeffrey Wiesenfeld takes on one of the most urgent issues of our time: political indoctrination in the classroom and restoring excellence, merit, and free thought in New York’s schools. Mr. Wiesenfeld is a retired private wealth manager who also had a lengthy career in city, state and federal government, most prominently with Governor Pataki, Senator D’Amato, Mayor Ed Koch, and others. He was also a long-time CUNY trustee during the Pataki-Giuliani-Bloomberg era and regional director of the Empire State Development Corporation.
