Following U.S. military operations in Venezuela, NYU postponed its swim team’s trip to the Caribbean. Contract faculty threatened to strike and students joined an anti-ICE rally, while the university launched a new food research initiative and began accepting cryptocurrency donations at its hospitals.
As you settle in for the spring semester — and shelter from the season’s coldest weather yet — here are the top stories that you may have missed over break.
Swim team’s training trip halted after U.S. strikes Venezuela
NYU’s swimming team skipped its training trip to Puerto Rico after hundreds of flights to and from the Caribbean were cancelled due to unexpected U.S. military strikes on Venezuela.
The team relocated its annual trip, initially set to start Jan. 3, to Florida after members failed to catch alternative flights. American University’s swim team experienced similar flight cancellations and Duke University’s team was stranded in Puerto Rico.
“Our travel manager and the athletic director were able to help us with a backup plan,” head coach Trevor Miele told WSN. “A lot of people put a lot of really hard work to make it happen and we’re really grateful.”
The U.S. military carried out a strike on Jan. 3 to capture Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, who face cocaine-trafficking and narco-terrorism charges from the federal government. President Donald Trump said in a press conference that the United States will “run” Venezuela until there is “proper and judicious transition.”
The overnight operation left uncertainties regarding the country’s future leadership. On Tuesday, members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee endorsed Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado as the country’s president, despite Trump stating she “doesn’t have the respect” to run for office.
NYU rolls out food impact initiative
NYU launched its Food Impact Program last week, a cross-department effort to catalyze research addressing global food shortages in environmental, animal welfare and public health-related contexts.
The program received an initial donation of $3.75 million to fund its first five years of operation. Co-founded by environmental studies professors Jeff Sebo and Sonali McDermid, the initiative is housed under NYU’s Center for Environmental and Animal Protection within the Department of Environmental Studies.
Considering factors such as climate change, pandemics and consumer behavior, the program will facilitate research, host talks and conferences, and recommend policies in an effort to combat threats to the world’s food supply. To feed the global population by 2050, researchers estimate that food production would need to increase by 70%.
CEAP will host a public event on Feb. 6 at the Silver Center to celebrate the program’s launch.
It’s one of the several research initiatives founded by NYU’s environmental studies department in recent years, including the Center for Mind, Ethics and Policy, the Urban Systems Lab and the Wild Animal Welfare Program.
Contract faculty threaten to strike
In a Dec. 16 letter to administrators, members of NYU’s contract faculty union threatened to strike if the university does not meet their demands for increased compensation, job security and family support.
The letter, titled “We’re Ready to Stand Up for a Fair Contract,” pushed administrators to hold more frequent, longer bargaining sessions in January. Since the union was founded in February 2024, the two parties have held 21 bargaining sessions, where 12 tentative agreements have been reached and 48 policies are still in negotiation.
“We don’t want to go on strike. We think that it shouldn’t be necessary,” CFU representative Jacob Remes said. “But what that requires is the administration to take bargaining seriously, to really engage with us.”
Tenured faculty from NYU’s chapter of the American Association of University Professors sent a letter to Mills in support of the union the same day. More than 250 professors signed the letter, which criticized differences in how contract and tenured faculty are treated — arguing that both groups should have collective bargaining, shared governance and substantial benefits.
In October, administrators offered to hire a third-party mediator to expedite the negotiations process. Contract faculty rejected the proposal shortly after, insisting that the administrators are the ones delaying the process.
NYU SDS joins thousands at anti-ICE rally
Members of NYU’s chapter of Students for a Democratic Society joined over 2,000 protesters on Jan. 8 to denounce the death of Minneapolis woman Renee Good, who was shot by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer the day prior.
Accompanying several grassroot organizations such as the New York City ICE Watch and New York Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, protesters gathered at Foley Square around 5 p.m. before marching north toward Washington Square Park. The square is located next to 26 Federal Plaza, ICE’s New York field office that has held thousands of migrants who were detained during immigration check-ins.
SDS member Zaara Ahmed, who spoke at the protest, told WSN that the event was prompted by ICE’s violent raids targeting numerous U.S. cities and college campuses.
“People are angry, people are upset, people don’t agree with what the administration is doing and they want it to stop,” Ahmed said. “You can see that in the anger of the people who are there — even groups of people who wouldn’t usually be at protests are out protesting and speaking out.”
The demonstration follows a series of nationwide protests against the Trump administration’s escalated immigration enforcement, with nearly 1,000 anti-ICE actions taking place days following Good’s death.
Langone now accepting crypto donations
NYU Langone Health announced on Jan. 5 that it will begin to accept cryptocurrency donations following its partnership with BitGo Bank & Trust, a digital asset, custody and security firm, to support its digital infrastructure.
BitGo’s digital Auto Liquidation feature automatically converts cryptocurrency to U.S. dollars while ensuring compliance with federal law and hospital policies. Funds are insured up to $250 million in circumstances of theft, loss or misuse.
The firm was recently approved by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency in December to convert from a South Dakota-chartered company to national bank. This shift allows BitGo to manage the custody of digital assets in accordance with federal fiduciary and non-fiduciary rules while bypassing state-by-state licensing requirements.
BitGo announced its IPO terms earlier this month, highlighting the broader acceptance of cryptocurrency as a form of payment among institutions. Montefiore Einstein, another New York-based hospital, also began accepting cryptocurrency donations through a similar platform — although no other local hospitals have followed suit.
Contact the News Desk at [email protected].