Pro-palestine law students at New York University have secured a major victory against the university istration’s attempts to silence protests. On May 4, the NYU istration confirmed that 31 law students who had been barred from campus and prohibited from sitting for final exams, unless they sign away their right to protest, are now permitted to take their exams.
“This type of public pressure, the backlash that [the istration] got from not allowing students to sit for exams, was not something that they expected,” said one of the affected NYU law students, who spoke to Peoples Dispatch about this latest decision.
The NYU istration had sent a message out to 31 law students, barring them from campus including to take exams, unless they signed a “Use of Space Agreement” which included the language “you may not participate in any protest activity or disruptive activity on Law School property.” The law students who received the message are accused of participating in peaceful sit-in protests on March 4 and April 29, at NYU’s library and outside the office of the dean of the law school.
These student activists have pointed out that this is a form of protest permitted by the school’s own outlined policies. NYU’s Guidance and Expectations on Student Conduct explicitly states that “peacefully protesting on University property” is a type of “permitted” protest.
“They thought that they could do this behind closed doors. They thought they could coerce and scare students into g these agreements,” said the NYU law student. “Instead, not a single one of the students who has been threatened has signed on to these coercive agreements. Every single student has stood firm, refused to sign on, and instead gotten the law school to back down and allow them to sit for exams.”
Students like this NYU law student view the istration’s reversal as a victory stemming from a public pressure campaign waged by students themselves, which has included an extensive article published in The Intercept and an open letter demanding clarification regarding NYU’s disciplinary action, which nearly 20% of the law student body has signed onto.
The bold stance that pro-Palestine students took at NYU is echoed throughout the student movement in the US, even as the Trump istration moves to escalate attacks against free speech on campus – revoking international student visas, detaining student organizers, and targeting university istrations. “To Trump and his cabinet: I am not afraid of you,” said Columbia University student activist Mohsen Mahdawi upon his release on bail from ICE custody, to a crowd of ers gathered outside a Vermont courthouse. Amid the Trump istration’s crackdown on free speech and detention of student protest leaders by federal immigration authorities, Mahdawi is the first such student to be released following arrest by ICE.
The NYU law student, who spoke to Peoples Dispatch anonymously, labeled NYU’s actions against students “pre-compliance” with the Trump istration, and claims that the university istration is attempting to take pre-emptive steps before Trump can wage war against the institution by revoking federal funding – as has happened to schools like Harvard – among other measures.
However, the law student disagrees with the common characterization that universities are simply “falling in line” with the Trump istration’s demands. “I actually think it’s an excuse for them to realign their interests and realize that the interests of power have always been aligned,” said the student. “The Trump istration’s interest in cracking down on protesters, and the university’s interest in protecting its own investments and complicity in the genocide in Palestine are completely aligned.”
Despite being allowed to take exams, these law student activists are still fighting against the other disciplinary measures NYU has taken against them, including deeming the 31 students “personae non grata” on campus.
Students also stand firm on their principle demand: divestment of the institution from Israeli genocide in Gaza. “Regardless of the actions that the university takes against us, the only way that they can get out of the mess that they’ve created for themselves is through divestment,” the law student told Peoples Dispatch. “They can’t use draconian punitive measures and expect students to stop showing up. The only way out of this mess is through complete disclosure and divestment.”
