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NYU facing accreditor complaint: ‘Orwellian’ censorship of student, faculty opinions

University investigates professor for anti-Israel speech, disciplines students with ‘reflection’ essays

A campus legal organization has filed a complaint with the accrediting agency of New York University, accusing the institution of “flagrantly violating” the free speech of its students and faculty.

The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression is still awaiting NYU’s response to the complaint, filed in September with the Middle States Commission on Higher Education, Program Officer Graham Piro told The College Fix.

“NYU is a private institution, which means it’s not bound by the First Amendment,” Piro said in a recent email.

But the university’s student conduct policy “makes strong promises that students and faculty enjoy expressive freedoms on campus. FIRE believes that when a private institution clearly states it upholds free speech rights on campus, it should stand by those promises,” he said.

“This means that the university should refrain from punishing speech unless that speech crosses the line into categories like discriminatory harassment, defamation, or incitement,” Piro said.

Free speech concerns raised by the legal group include reportedly requiring anti-Israel student protesters to write “reflection” essays after they were arrested in connection with an April pro-Palestinian encampment at NYU.

An instruction sheet stated the essay must not “serve to justify your actions, evaluate the actions of others, or challenge a conduct regulation,” The Fix reported.

The essay also had to describe student’s personal values and consider what they need to do to “make things right.”

The NYU Faculty and Staff for Justice in Palestine referred to the essay punishment as “Orwellian” in a news release at the time.

The group did not respond to an emailed request for comment this week from The Fix, asking for its opinion about the complaint and free speech on campus.

But FIRE’s complaint echoed the group’s criticism, stating, “Demanding such obeisance to the official views of NYU as an institution is Orwellian in the most literal sense of the term, and cannot possibly be compatible with the responsibilities of an MSCHE-accredited institution.”

Other concerns raised by the legal group include an “investigation of a professor for his comments about the severity of Hamas’s attacks in Israel” and “a student who sent an email blaming Israel for the October 7 attacks.”

MORE: ‘Hate speech’ should be censored online: NYU media professor

The Fix reached out to the university’s media relations office three times in the last two weeks by email, asking about the complaint and its free speech policies, but it did not respond.

The Middle States Commission on Higher Education communications team also did not respond to two requests for comment by email within the past two weeks. The Fix asked about the commission’s process of action when it receives complaints and the potential consequences if a university is found to have violated its requirements.

In regard to the complaint, Piro said FIRE alerted the commission after NYU ignored its repeated letters and warnings.

“… we believe that New York University is falling short of one of the accreditor’s standards, which is that accredited institutions maintain ‘a commitment to academic freedom, intellectual freedom, [and] freedom of expression,’” Piro told The Fix.

“NYU has repeatedly failed to demonstrate this commitment. It has targeted protected expression for punishment, whether that’s a professor who made controversial statements denying Hamas’s war crimes or a student who argued that Israel bears responsibility for the October 7th, 2023 attacks,” he said.

Piro said unpopular and offensive opinions are still free speech.

“Many may have taken offense to these statements, but if NYU is going to profess to be a university where ‘debate and dissent’ thrive, then it must refrain from punishing protected speech,” he said.

Piro said FIRE has “not received a substantive response yet,” but he expressed hope that the accrediting commission “will act to protect expressive rights on NYU’s campus.”

In 2020, NYU also faced criticism about its commitment to free speech after it opened an investigation into a professor who was outspoken about his concerns regarding COVID-19, according to a College Fix article at the time.

MORE: Professor teaches students to question COVID-19 ‘propaganda’ as NYU investigates him

IMAGE: Al Jazeera English/Youtube

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About the Author
College Fix contributor Samantha Swenson is a graduate of Liberty University where she received a BS in law and policy: pre-law. She is attending Widener University Commonwealth Law School in pursuit of a juris doctorate beginning in the fall of 2024.