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New York University intensifies repression to discourage legitimate student protests

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21 January 2025

For holding a brief, non-violent sit-in on campus where they called on the University to disclose and divest from investments in Israel, eleven students at NYU have been suspended for a year by the University management. As this report from the Middle East Eye indicates, the management hopes this will deter other students and faculty from engaging in further protests. Some day we will learn why the managers of a hitherto well-regarded institution of higher learning chose to behave like McCarthyite thugs in their disregard for the students’ freedom of speech and right to peacefully protest.

New York University issues one-year suspensions over peaceful sit-ins for Gaza, staff says

Critics say the move is meant to deter future encampments as Israel’s assault on the enclave intensifies

Pro-Palestinian students and other supporters gather outside Bobst Library at New York University in Manhattan to protest against the school’s investments in Israeli-linked corporations, on 10 May 2024 (Spencer Platt/AFP)

By Yasmine El-Sabawi

Published date: 9 January 2025 17:57 GMT | Last update: 1 week 4 days ago

Almost a dozen students have been suspended for a year from New York University (NYU) for participating in non-violent, anti-war protests for Gaza last month, a pro-Palestine group of staff members there have said. 

NYU Faculty and Staff for Justice in Palestine (NYUFSJP) wrote in a press release that the notices went out on Wednesday, suspending 11 students until January 2026. 

The group called it “a draconian case of collective punishment”. 

“Those suspended thus far include students who participated in a sit-in in front of the administration offices on the 12th floor of Bobst Library and those who simply sat in the lobby of the library in solidarity. The sit-in was to demand a meeting with administration officials regarding disclosure of and divestment from institutional investments in Israel,” the statement read. 

Two NYU faculty members were also arrested during those sit-ins in December, despite the American Association of University Professors saying they were not involved in the protest itself but were there to ensure the safety of the student demonstrators.

Three faculty members were informed at the time that they had been declared personae non gratae (PNG) by the school’s security. The move rendered them unable to enter any university buildings, including their own classrooms.

This week, the Office of Student Conduct at NYU told the students they are being punished for holding a protest which produced “a significant disruptive impact…during a particularly critical time”. 

NYUFSJP insisted the sit-ins can only be described as “minor disruptions of distributing flyers and chanting for fifteen minutes” and were “intended to highlight the much more significant disruption of teaching, learning and scholarship that has taken place in Gaza”. 

The group cites the resolution passed earlier this week by the American Historical Association, in which it voted 428 to 88 to approve a resolution opposing “scholasticide” in Gaza, as well as the US funding of Israel’s 15-month long assault on the enclave.

Over 45,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s war on Gaza, with thousands still missing and presumed to be under the rubble.

University administrators said the suspensions are related to “threatening messages” found in the library the same day the sit-ins took place, but NYUFSJP said there is no evidence connecting the protesting students to the graffiti. 

NYU also accused the protesting students of engaging in “coordinated and collective disruptive events”, but NYUFSJP maintained that designing, printing and disseminating flyers – as well as students disguising their identities by wearing masks – are not violations of the university’s code of conduct. 

“The punishments in this case are dramatically more severe than those issued over the past fifteen months,” the group’s statement said. 

“The extreme sanctions placed on all of the students charged with participating in the protest can only be explained as a complete collapse in any kind of due process and instead the arbitrary meting out of collective punishment – regardless of the actions of any individual student,” NYUFSJP said. 

NYUFSJP characterised the move from the administration as using guilt by association as a “dangerous smear tactic” to delegitimise the student movement.

There was swift backlash on social media as critics slammed the suspensions.

Sydney-based sociology professor Amanda Wise called the move an “extraordinary repression of legitimate political speech”.

Former and current students and staff are now calling on supporters to sign a petition for the suspensions to be revoked and for the administration to meet student organisations at the negotiating table.  

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