Since fall 2023, NYU has repeatedly violated the expressive rights of students and faculty who engage in pro-Palestinian speech. This unmistakable pattern of viewpoint discrimination signals that the university’s commitments to free expression mean nothing when it comes to political speech. Over the last year, FIRE has asked NYU many times to keep its promises. But the university has maintained a shameful silence.
NYU must be held accountable for its campaign of censorship. Here are just some of NYU’s free speech violations since fall 2023:
- NYU publicly investigated a student merely for sending an email to the student body arguing that Israel bore responsibility for instigating the October 7 attacks. (֭ urged NYU to end the investigation.)
- NYU publicly suspended and investigated an adjunct professor for public comments he made about the Israel-Hamas war. (Again, ֭ wrote to NYU, urging it to end its investigation into the professor’s political speech.)
- NYU to an event hosted by FIREfor Justice in Palestine because the event’s speakers were “contentious.”
- NYU mandated thought reform for pro-Palestinian protestors arrested after police cleared a campus encampment.
- NYU moved to codify ideological censorship by singling out the use of the term “Zionist” for discipline in its .
In September 2024, ֭ wrote to NYU’s accreditor, the Middle States Commission on Higher Education (MSCHE). We explained how NYU’s violations of intended to protect the expressive rights of its students and faculty also violate that accredited institutions demonstrate “a commitment to academic freedom, intellectual freedom, [and] freedom of expression.”
FIRE heard back from the Middle States Commission on Higher Education on October 25, notifying us that the commission had sent our complaint to NYU to request a response. On December 4, MSCHE informed us it had determined that NYU is in compliance with MSCHE's requirements and it had closed the complaint without further details. But, with due respect to MSCHE, that finding can’t be squared with the pattern of censorship we’ve seen at NYU.
FIRE will not let NYU off the hook. We hope you’ll join us in sending the message to NYU that the school’s violations of the rights of its students and faculty will not be tolerated. Send an email to NYU president Linda Mills today, urging her to recommit NYU to its own free speech promises.
