Last semester, dozens of students and faculty faced arrests, suspensions and other sanctions for their involvement in a wave of pro-Palestinian demonstrations at NYU. In the immediate aftermath, NYU President Linda Mills told students that “the only path forward” would be a series of listening sessions — and since then, more than 350 community members have shared their grievances and suggestions across 31 forums.
During the sessions — each of which hosts a 5-10-person cohort of either students, faculty or staff — administrators ask attendees about their concerns on campus, what challenges they have experienced and how they feel about the university’s response to pro-Palestinian demonstrations last semester. Participants then recommend steps NYU’s administration can take to better support its community.
In a statement to WSN, Kristie Patten, counselor to the president and creator of the “NYU in Dialogue” series, said one of the most common requests heard was for more opportunities to address tensions on campus and learn about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The series was implemented last semester and sponsors events aimed at mitigating on-campus conflict, including the listening sessions.
“The events of last year were emotionally draining for the community overall,” Patten said. “Many expressed unhappiness — and anger — about the police being on campus, while others believed the police were essential when addressing the disruption — and antisemitism — on our campus.”
Patten said that participants requested that NYU clarify its expectations for protest conduct on campus, establish a faculty advisory committee that would guide responses to on-campus demonstrations and host more “NYU in Dialogue” events about Israel and Palestine. She also said participants wanted the university to foster a “kinder culture,” and that bullying and isolation were common concerns.
In response to the listening sessions, NYU implemented Campus Advisory alerts this semester, which notify students of immediate or upcoming protests in the area. The university has also said that its student conduct guidelines, which cite “code words, like ‘Zionist’” as potentially discriminatory speech, were updated in response to “calls for greater clarity” from listening session participants.
Patten said NYU does not plan on releasing more detailed information regarding the sessions.
Adrian Pica-Borjas, director of diversity for NYU’s Student Government Assembly, said he attended his first listening session two weeks ago to hear administrators address last semester’s crackdown on pro-Palestinian encampments. He said he was the only student in attendance, joined just by Patten and Senior Vice President for University Life Jason Pina.
Pica-Borjas said he told Patten and Pina he was concerned that some pro-Palestinian student organizations are on “the administration’s blacklist” — a claim both denied. He said Patten and Pina told him the university does not support groups that incite violence and referred to an Aug. 5 post by NYU’s People’s Solidarity Coalition, which listed “armed struggle” as a form of resistance.
In an interview with WSN, SGA chair Angela Chou, who attended a listening session this summer, said she valued hearing accounts from students who shared how both the war in Gaza and on-campus protests have impacted their emotional well-being and how safe they feel on campus.
“While it was inevitable for people to still leave the forums disagreeing on certain issues, it still provided a sense of perspective and understanding,” Chou said. “Stepping into the room, you already had your own narrowed perspective of what your personal thoughts were and your stance on the situation, but to actually have students from varying political standpoints providing insight on how they felt was just really jaw-dropping.”
Chou also said she has been working with Patten to expand the “NYU in Dialogue” series to create more events for next semester. She said she aims to feature students’ experiences through discussions inspired by the “Shared Grief, Shared Hope” panel which hosted four members of Israeli and Palestinian families who were personally affected by the war in Gaza.
Contact Mariapaula Gonzalez at [email protected].
