Commentary: On the New Guidance and Expectations of Student Conduct at New York University

September 26, 2024 1 min read

Rebecca E. Karl
Academe Blog

Excerpt: The NYU administration dissimulates and even prevaricates. Our provost, our deans, and our spokesman have each proclaimed, publicly and behind closed doors, that the newly issued guidance on student speech, sprung upon the university on August 22, “changes nothing.” (Our president has gone AWOL, apparently remaining only in her own echo chamber.)

Despite the protestations, all signs are that things have changed fundamentally. In addition to the walling off of swathes of what used to be public gathering spaces on and near our campus, as well as the newly severe proscriptions on permitted assembly in or around university buildings, this new guidance doubles down on specific conflations. It broadly equates anti-Zionism with antisemitism and specifically names Zionism a “code word” for probable racist intent.

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