Around four dozen students gathered outside the wall barricading Gould Plaza on Thursday afternoon to protest escalated security measures at NYU and an uptick in police presence at on-campus demonstrations.

Students lined up in front of Gould Plaza’s entrance and chanted while holding banners reading “NYU out of Palestine” and “Disclose; Divest; Shut Down NYU Tel Aviv.” Organizers from the People’s Solitarity Coalition said they chose the location to reiterate their criticism of the wall’s erection, which was first built after dozens of students and faculty were arrested at a pro-Palestinian encampment at the plaza in April. In an email statement to WSN, the PSC said the protest aimed to contextualize the wall for students new to the university and its Washington Square campus.

“We wanted to show the university community and administration that we remember what they did,” a PSC representative told WSN. “Their walls quite clearly show where their allegiances lie.”

In addresses to the crowd, demonstrators criticized the university’s expansive real estate across lower Manhattan — one speaker saying the area had been turned into a “hyper-police zone with barricades on every block, cameras to watch our every move and tired guards to stop our steps.” They also called for NYU to shut down its study away site in Tel Aviv and divest from companies like Lockheed Martin, General Dynamics and weapons manufacturers with ties to Israel.

Speakers also condemned the university’s “NYU in Dialogue” series, which the university started last year in response to an uptick in pro-Palestinain protest on campus, saying the program was “beyond absurd.” In a statement to WSN, they also referenced programs such as NYU’s “Extremism Examined,” which offers students $1,000 to go on an all-expense-paid trip and participate in discussions about historical and ongoing movements. One of the program’s summer offerings includes a trip to Israel, where participants will discuss “extremist movements” before and after Oct. 7.

“Students do not want dialogue, they want change,” a student speaker said. “The fact that the university is also offering compensation for these kinds of activities shows massive guilt and defense.” 

The demonstration at NYU was met with two counterprotesters, neither of whom physically intervened. A group of 10 Campus Safety officers surrounded the area and at least two NYPD officers were stationed across the street. 

In a statement to WSN, university spokesperson John Beckman said that there are “limits” to Campus Safety officers’ authority on campus. He also said the “overall plan for Gould Plaza” is to create a space that “better serves the NYU community.”

“The safety of the University community is a foremost priority. The vast majority of the time, that responsibility is in the hands of our Campus Safety Department,” Beckman said. “In some extraordinary circumstances, the safety of the community does require the presence of law enforcement.”

After spending around an hour in the rain outside Gould Plaza, demonstrators at NYU left to join around 100 students from Columbia University, the City University of New York and other local colleges at a protest in Columbus Circle. The demonstration, which commemorated an International Day of Action organized by the national chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine, emphasized crackdowns on student movements at other New York schools, including an ongoing occupation of a building at Sarah Lawrence College and a floor at CUNY’s Law building.

In an interview with WSN, Student Workers of Columbia president Grant Miner said that removing police from university campuses was a major priority across the city’s schools. Miner said that last semester’s involvement of law enforcement incited concern among unions regarding checks within universities’ internal structures, adding that he hoped the backlash would provoke institutional change. 

“I mean, it’s freezing, there’s rain and people are still out here,” Miner said. “More and more people care about it every year, and that really gives you a sense of hope.”

Against a large banner that read “Student Intifada” in graffiti, speakers advocated for the role of art in protests and relayed that progressive movements are traditionally led by youth. After the group left Columbus Circle, they marched down Fifth Avenue and eventually dispersed at the New York Public Library on 42nd Street. 

Jason Alpert-Wisnia contributed reporting.

Update, Nov. 22: This article has been updated with a statement from an NYU spokesperson.

Contact Dharma Niles at [email protected].