NYU will now offer free summer housing to students from Gaza, Israel and the West Bank who may not be able to return home due to safety concerns amid the Israel-Hamas war.
NYU’s Office of Global Services contacted eligible students — who must have good academic standing, be enrolled for the fall semester and have home addresses in the offered locations — after mid-March. Students will share rooms in apartment-style housing spaces in Manhattan.
The university also began to offer free housing to international students from Ukraine, Russia and Belarus after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. NYU will continue to offer these students emergency housing this summer, and provide it on a case-by-case basis to other students impacted by “global crises,” according to Josh Taylor, the associate vice chancellor of global programs and mobility services.
Taylor told WSN that 22 students used emergency summer housing last year, with 39 students having used the program in 2022. He said the university does not yet have an official count for students who will need summer housing this year. Taylor added that students must cover all other living expenses and that those in need of additional aid can apply to the NYU Student Emergency Fund, which provides financial support to students “unexpectedly impacted by conflicts across the globe.”
Sofiia Krazhan, a junior from Kyiv, Ukraine, told WSN she has used the program for the past two years and has submitted an application for this summer. Krazhan said while she is grateful for the university’s current offerings, she thinks NYU should expand free housing for the entire academic year.
“There is no security in the funding we may receive for the academic year as much as there is no funding security in the summer,” Krazhan said. “There are so many investments NYU can make and yet it chooses continuously to ignore the needs of students who, day-to-day, experience the hardest parts of war, and invests into programs that do not help us all. NYU cannot claim to be a global university and still be so shortsighted when it comes to its international students.”
After the Palestinian militant group Hamas attacked Israeli towns near Gaza on Oct. 7, students studying at NYU’s Tel Aviv site had the option to continue their courses at the university’s Abu Dhabi campus, Washington Square campus or remotely from home. Students who returned to Manhattan stayed in Hayden Hall, Alumni Hall and Greenwich Hall. Taylor said that NYU Abu Dhabi and NYU Shanghai will continue to support affected students on a case-by-case basis.
Contact Sidney Snider at [email protected].
