The barely three-week-old Trump administration is already taking its toll on higher education, and its discernible effects on NYU have quickly created a campus environment defined by uncertainty, fear and anxiety.
In response to President Donald Trump’s threat to rescind federal funding to medical providers offering gender-affirming care to minors, NYU Langone Health has reportedly denied treatment to two children. In response to the crackdown on immigration in Washington, D.C., NYU has said that it will “comply with the law.” And to top it all off, notably absent NYU President Linda Mills broke her silence to provide some much-needed assurance: The university won’t be “writing community-wide emails with every new development.” The lack of communication, justification or reassurance in light of NYU’s recent concessions to the Trump administration is what really cements this atmosphere of dread.
NYU Langone’s decision to cancel appointments for two 12-year-old patients scheduled to receive puberty blockers was a clear response to Trump’s executive order limiting gender-affirming care to patients under the age of 19. This action goes beyond mere compliance with federal law — it actively goes against the medical center’s stated values. In addition to providing gender-affirming care, NYU Langone is one of few medical centers in the country with a program dedicated to serving transgender children. To abandon what was seemingly a point of pride at NYU Langone for a few million dollars in federal contributions — at an institution that draws in billions of dollars from donors — is very alarming. More than 1,000 protesters took to the streets last Monday to condemn NYU Langone’s decision to deny care, yet the medical center has declined to speak on the issue, both publicly or with the press. This silence, however, sends a clear message to members of the NYU community: This institution doesn’t prioritize their well-being.
In a similar fashion, NYU said in a statement to WSN that it will “comply with the law” amid Trump’s prospective crackdown on student visas, echoing reports that NYU Langone instructed its staff to “not try to actively help” patients targeted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement personnel. Though NYU senior leadership later clarified in a public statement that ICE officers would not be permitted on campus without legal grounds, the university has yet to take a stance against the aforementioned crackdown or provide resources to protect students who may be deemed eligible for deportation, leaving them defenseless.
NYU’s systemic crackdown on pro-Palestinian speech and active disregard for the well-being of its community isn’t anything new — at this point, it’s a defining trait of the university. But its proclaimed compliance with Trump’s immigration enforcement not only puts international students at risk of losing their visas, but it further institutionalizes the university’s reckless reaction to dissent. Conflating pro-Palestinian protesters with “Hamas sympathizers” or “anti-Semitic harassment” has long been weaponized to minimize voluntary organization against Israel’s war in Gaza and longstanding occupation of Palestine. With Mills seemingly busy exchanging emails with a parent encouraging the deportation of “foreign students and faculty that support Hamas,” it’s no wonder that members of our community have been left concerned, confused and fearful.
We at WSN are students working day-to-day to serve the interests of our community as best we can. We care deeply about the well-being of the NYU community and believe that it is the university’s responsibility to ensure that its values will not be and have not been abandoned. NYU needs to do whatever it takes to stand its ground in the face of a government that has proven time and again to jeopardize the safety of its students.
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