More than 5,000 NYU alumni sent letters to administrators demanding that the university remove police from campus and meet the demands of the NYU Palestine Solidarity Coalition — including divestment from companies with ties to Israel and pardoning disciplinary action against students and faculty participating in pro-Palestinian demonstrations on campus. 

The letter, written by the NYU Alumni for Justice in Palestine group, accused President Linda Mills’ of allowing the “use of brutal force against” protesters at the Gaza Solidarity Encampment in Gould Plaza two weeks ago — where the New York City Police Department arrested 133 demonstrators, including students and faculty. The group also criticized NYU’s response to a second encampment set up outside the Paulson Center which was cleared by police Friday morning, leading to the arrest of 14 student protesters.

“NYU Alumni for Justice in Palestine stands in solidarity with the NYU Palestine Solidarity Coalition  and its demands as outlined in their recent letter,” an AJP representative wrote to WSN. “We share the PSC’s deep disappointment in the administration’s response to calls for divestment from companies profiting from the Israeli occupation, ending police presence on campus and protecting student activism for Palestinian rights.”

In a universitywide statement responding to the arrests at the Gould Plaza encampment, NYU said there had been “disorderly, disruptive and antagonizing behavior” at the demonstration and that protesters who appeared to be unaffiliated with the university “breached the barriers” outside the plaza, leading to “safety and security” concerns. In the May 4 letter, AJP challenged NYU’s account of the incident and said the university “grossly misrepresented” demonstrators as “violent, aggressive and unruly.” 

AJP’s letter comes after the American Association of University Professors — along with several other groups and departmental chairs — criticized Mills’ characterization of the demonstrations, saying that “allegations of threats to student safety inside the encampment are baseless.” 

Following the Paulson Center arrests, the AAUP released a statement expressing “no confidence” in Mills’ leadership and disputing claims that the encampment posed a risk to the university community. After the majority of Gallatin full-time faculty also voted that they “have no confidence in Mills’ leadership” two weeks ago, the board of trustees and faculty representatives in the University Senate expressed support for Mills.

In December, NYU AJP — which represents more than 3,000 pro-Palestinian alumni — sent a letter to Mills and board of trustees chair Evan Chesler demanding that NYU divest from weapons manufacturers and companies tied to Israel, protect “students, faculty, and organizations advocating for Palestinian human rights” on campus and issue a public statement condemning Israel’s ongoing siege in Gaza. The letter also called on the university to shut down its Tel Aviv site and “re-evaluate” on-campus research “pertaining to war and the military-industrial complex,” particularly at the Tandon School of Engineering.

A university spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.

Update, May 7: This article has been updated with a statement from a representative of NYU Alumni for Justice in Palestine.

Contact Dharma Niles and Yezen Saadah at [email protected].