A group of 13 students and faculty sat outside administrators’ offices on Bobst Library’s top floor and dozens more held a pro-Palestinian sit-in in its main lobby at 3 p.m. Wednesday, demanding that the university revisit a spring agreement to disclose its investments in companies with ties to Israel. 

The group, members of Shut it Down NYU, claimed in a press release that university leadership agreed to disclose its endowments and investments last semester during negotiations with student and faculty protesters at the Gaza Solidarity Encampment outside the Paulson Center. When the group posted an audio recording of the alleged agreement on Instagram at 4:45 p.m., students stationed on the library’s mezzanine, second and seventh floors dropped a procession of banners reading “TO BE SEEN, TO BE HEARD, TO BE FREE. SHUT IT DOWN,” “WE DEMAND 1. DISCLOSE 2. DIVEST 3. SHUT DOWN NYU TEL AVIV” and “NYU OUT OF PALESTINE.” 

An NYU spokesperson did not respond to multiple requests for comment. 

In the press release, Shut it Down NYU said that key administrators — Provost Georgina Dopico, Dean of Students Rafael Rodriguez and Counselor to the President Kristie Patten — had aimed to cease on-campus protests by negotiating with students. The students said that when they refused to abandon the Paulson Center encampment, administrators called off the disclosure meeting — which had been scheduled for the following week — and did not raise the offer again.

“We know that they’re prepared on the back end in terms of the actual financial data,” said a student at the demonstration who requested to remain anonymous due to safety concerns. “They know that data and they are refusing to disclose it.”

The group began its sit-in by dropping hundreds of flyers from the library’s upper floors and gathering in the main lobby with signs on their computers reading “Shut down NYU Tel Aviv” and “DIVEST NOW.” Meanwhile, the 13 students and faculty went to the library’s top floor — which houses several administrative offices, including those of President Linda Mills and Dopico. 

Shortly after, Campus Safety officers closed the elevator that leads to the library’s 11th and 12th floors, and blocked off the upward staircase from the 10th floor. A member of NYU’s chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine told WSN that Campus Safety officers took students’ IDs and threatened disciplinary action. 

In a video posted to Shut it Down NYU’s Instagram account, students sat on the ground in front of banners reading “Disclose, Divest” and notecards reading “Complicit” while reciting speeches condemning the United States’ foreign policy in Israel. In a statement to WSN, NYU SJP said that Rodriguez told the members of the group that they could set up a meeting for tomorrow, but did not respond to their email. 

At around 7:30 p.m., demonstrators began chanting “Divest our tuition fees” and “Shut down sites where students are banned” across the 12th and first floors. They continued to chant until 8 p.m., when both groups vacated the building. 

The demonstration was met with a group of around six counter-protesters, who silently sat around 10 feet away from the group on the first floor, holding an Israeli flag. Campus Safety officers approached and filmed demonstrators, however, there were no physical altercations.

Last semester, a similar demonstration in the library led the university to suspend nine students and issue two students persona non grata status. NYU has also closed Bobst in response to student protests, although a Campus Safety officer told WSN on-site that there was little likelihood of that happening at Wednesday’s demonstration. 

Ever since dozens of students, staff and alumni were arrested at encampments last spring, on-campus organizations have called for the university to divest from companies with ties to Israel, as well as shut down its site in Tel Aviv, remove police from campus and pardon students facing disciplinary action for their participation in pro-Palestinian protests. In May, NYU said it does not plan to divest, and it reaffirmed its commitment to working with Tel Aviv University over the summer. 

“What you’re seeing is a variety of approaches being brought to bear at once,” the student said. “By engaging a variety of tactics and strategies, we’re trying to pressure the administration until not just disclosure, but all four of our demands are met.”

Contact Audrey Abrahams and Kaitlyn Sze Tu at [email protected].