\n<\/p>\n
New York University<\/span> School of Law barred 31 pro-Palestine law school students from campus facilities and demanded that they sign away their right to protest in exchange for being allowed to return. If the students \u2014 deemed \u201cpersonae non grata,\u201d or PNG \u2014\u00a0don\u2019t renounce their right to protest on campus, they will be unable to sit for final exams.<\/p>\n \u201cYou may not participate in any protest activity or disruptive activity on Law School property,\u201d says the so-called \u201cUse of Space Agreement\u201d sent to the students, which explicitly lays out conditions for being allowed to return to key campus buildings during the school\u2019s \u201cexam period.\u201d<\/p>\n The law students, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to avoid further repercussions from the school, are accused of participating in sit-ins, a time-honored form of nonviolent demonstration<\/a> that is allowed according to NYU policy<\/a>. The sit-ins on March 4 and April 29 took place, respectively, at the school\u2019s Bobst Library and outside the office of the law school dean. (NYU did not immediately respond to requests for comment.)<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cWhat we\u2019ve seen is a complete violation of our campus norms.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n <\/p>\n Barring the students from campus and demanding they refrain from protesting represents a dramatic escalation against NYU students involved in demonstrations against Israel\u2019s war on Gaza \u2014 breaking with school policy and upending precedents for disciplinary procedures, said seven of the PNG students who spoke with The Intercept, as well as other NYU students and faculty.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat we\u2019ve seen is a complete violation of our campus norms,\u201d said Andrew Ross, a sociology professor who was himself barred from campus buildings in December before the school reversed the decision three weeks later. \u201cIf you take a step backward and see the walled-off campus spaces and heavily-patrolled entrances to buildings, the uniformed security personnel everywhere, this advanced security infrastructure, and all these new rules that have been established on the fly regarding speech and conduct \u2014 this is a very, very exceptional violation of every kind of campus norm that we were accustomed to.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n According to emails to the students obtained by The Intercept, they are barred from campus while under investigation for failing to comply with directives from public safety, including to leave the areas of their sit-ins, and of disruptive conduct. NYU conduct policies say any protests at libraries are disruptive, but the law students pointed out that they were protesting outside NYU president Linda Mills\u2019s office on the top floor of Bobst Library.<\/p>\n \u201cThe school\u2019s policies are vague and arbitrary enough to be wielded in any situation against any kind of speech the university looks down upon, particularly pro-Palestine speech,\u201d said a law student who received a PNG notice. \u201cThe school claims protests are banned in the library, which is conveniently where the main administrative offices, including the Office of the President, are located.\u201d<\/p>\n While at the protests, the students were handed fliers quoting from the \u201cfailure to comply\u201d and \u201cdisruptive conduct\u201d rules, according to photos reviewed by The Intercept.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cNo site or forum is acceptable to the university when it comes to pro-Palestine speech.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n <\/p>\n \u201cThe school explicitly outlines sit-ins as permitted,\u201d said a second student. \u201cBut as soon as they don\u2019t like the sit-in or protest happening, they tell people to stop and, when they don\u2019t, they then hand people policies on \u2018failure to comply\u2019 with orders. So, in essence they are communicating that they can immediately make any protest they want a violation of the rules based on whether they are amenable to the content.\u201d<\/p>\n NYU students and faculty pointed to past protest actions that did not result in similar repressive sanctions as evidence that pro-Palestine organizers are being disproportionately punished because of their political beliefs. In 2015, for instance, a group of students staged<\/a> a die-in in the library over Black Lives Matter, but did not face disciplinary consequences.<\/p>\n That same year, students staged a sit-in on the 12th floor of Bobst calling for the university to divest from fossil fuels. Students were granted a meeting<\/a> with board of trustee members after the sit-in \u2014 and the school eventually divested from fossil fuels in 2023.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cThe divestment sit-in at the same location in Bobst led to actual divestment from fossil fuels,\u201d said the first PNG student. \u201cThere have been dozens of sit-ins in campus libraries since October of 2023, with no punishment meted out. Yet it seems the proximity of our action to the president\u2019s office, and the clarity of our demands, made the university more eager to apply the rules to our group.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe truth is that no site or forum is acceptable to the university when it comes to pro-Palestine speech.\u201d<\/p>\n\u201cVague and Arbitrary\u201d<\/strong><\/h2>\n
The Law Student Sit-Ins<\/strong><\/h2>\n