The University Senate Executive Committee, a group of seven administrators, faculty and a student representative, passed a majority vote to delay the student government’s resolution to “reaffirm protection” of pro-Palestinian speech on campus, saying it is “not ready” and does not “have wide student body support.”
The resolution, which was passed by the Student Government Assembly in December, will now go to the Undergraduate Academic Affairs Committee — a group of students and faculty that advises NYU’s administration. The committee will convene to discuss the proposal on March 14.
“Based on my four years of previous experience in SGA, sending resolutions to committees delays or stops the progress on the issue, which is a concern that I shared and still have now,” SGA chair Ryan Carney, who is a member of the executive committee, told WSN. “There are aspects of the resolution that help all students, and I am hoping those elements are implemented by NYU.”
NYU’s Students for Justice in Palestine claimed in a Feb. 10 Instagram post that the executive committee’s decision to delay the resolution was “nearly unanimous.” The university’s chapter of Faculty for Justice in Palestine called the administration’s decision “undemocratic” in a statement to WSN.
Over the last few months, universities across the country have struggled to address tensions related to the Israel-Hamas war, facing widespread criticism over their handling of on-campus antisemitism as well as concerns over free speech on campus. NYU’s administration was recently accused of violating its own policies when it suspended a professor who received online backlash for his comments on the war, and is also fighting a lawsuit from three Jewish students who claim the university has been indifferent to incidents of antisemitism on campus.
FJP also sent a letter to President Linda Mills and Interim Provost Georgina Dopico accusing the university of failing to protect pro-Palestinian speech on campus earlier this month. The letter, which also criticized NYU for not publicly addressing the ongoing siege in the Gaza Strip, has garnered close to 300 faculty signatures.
“We urge the administration to take seriously the concerns of more than 275 faculty who have signed their names in support of our calls for NYU to take academic freedom of Palestine more seriously,” a FJP representative wrote in a statement to WSN.
An NYU spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Contact Maisie Zipfel at [email protected].
