An unidentified student’s acceptance to NYU’s Master of Social Work program was revoked in June for “allegedly participating” in pro-Palestinian encampments last semester, a member of Faculty & Staff for Justice in Palestine told WSN.
The FSJP member, CAS professor Lenora Hanson, said the student had attended the Silver School of Social Work’s undergraduate program and was notified of their admission into the graduate school in March. Hanson said that the Assistant Dean of Enrollment Services Amy Greenstein informed the student that “conduct violations” led to their offer being revoked three months later. Hanson told WSN she could not provide details on what policies the student violated, but claimed that “many people understand” that the admissions committee’s access to student conduct records would violate the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act.
The U.S. Department of Education specifies that admissions officers have access to FERPA-protected documents. The university’s Expectations for Admitted Students states that admissions personnel “reserve the right to rescind an admissions offer” if a prospective student violates its student conduct policy.
“NYU is prohibited by law from speaking about an individual student’s disciplinary or academic record, including any admissions-related decisions,” NYU spokesperson John Beckman told WSN. “However, speaking generally and without regard to any specific case, I would point out that everyone who applies to our MSW program signs an agreement at the time they submit their application in which they consent to abide by NYU’s Student Code of Conduct.”
Several on-campus groups, including the People’s Solidarity Coalition, have criticized disciplinary measures put in place by the Office of Student Conduct since NYU authorized the arrests of dozens of students, faculty and alumni at two pro-Palestinian encampments in Gould Plaza and outside the Paulson Center. Some students have since faced sanctioned writing assignments that faculty members called “an insult” to their intelligence. At least nine students have also been suspended and two have received a person-non-grata status for their involvement in a demonstration in Bobst Library.
More recently, students, faculty and alumni have condemned changes to NYU’s updated student conduct guidelines, which include “code words, like ‘Zionist,’” as potentially discriminatory speech. In response to a statement from FSJP criticizing the updated policy, a university spokesperson said that the updates would not change preexisting policies.
Update, Sept. 4: This article has been updated with a statement from an NYU spokesperson.
Contact Dharma Niles at [email protected].
