OUR DEMANDS:
- Declare NYU a sanctuary campus! Commit to stopping student deportations and refusing collaboration with ICE!

- Publicly pledge to protect trans rights on campus!

- Reflect the city you claim to be our campus! Commit to increasing black enrollment!

- Commit to protect cultural programs on campus! Publicly pledge no cuts or defunding of cultural groups, ethnic studies or race-based scholarships


Statement:
In the months since inauguration day, the Trump administration has relentlessly attacked higher education and the students within it. The administration has threatened our fellow students – pushing ICE onto campuses to arrest and harass international students, attacked trans students' right to exist in public spaces, and promised to end programs designed to make NYU accessible for all. At the same time, they have attacked the quality of our education itself – pushing to dissolve ethnic studies programs, demanding the end of student community groups, and cutting federal funding. These efforts are targeted – the Trump administration is trying to reverse the progress of decades of student movements, pushing education back to a time when it was conservative propaganda available only to the rich and white.

Unfortunately, university administrations across the country have acquiesced in the face of this threat. Resistance has become rare, with compliance being the norm. NYU has been no exception.

When Trump announced he was going after trans care, NYU Langone canceled treatments preemptively, in violation of New York state law. When Trump suggested ICE might come on campus, NYU announced that it would comply with their efforts, leaving their international students out to dry. And as Trump strives to rescind already inadequate efforts to bring our student body’s demographics in line with the city we claim as our campus, NYU quietly halved its admission of Black students. For all the risk facing so many of our student body right now, the NYU administration has failed even to publicly commit to the protection of its own students. This cowardice on the part of NYU is appalling, but it is not surprising: NYU has always been driven by the interests of its wealthy board members, and not its student body.

In the face of these continued attacks, it falls on us as students to stand up and advocate for ourselves and our communities. NYU Students for a Democratic Society is proud to play a role in this fight: we DEMAND that NYU take action to protect its students. We demand that NYU commit to a sanctuary campus, so international students can be protected as they study; we demand that NYU pledge to protect trans rights on campus, so trans students can continue to exist in our shared public spaces; we demand that NYU commit to increasing its black admissions, to help undo the damage done by a long history of overt racial discrimination; and we demand that NYU commit to protecting cultural programs on campus, so students can continue to find support and community amidst these attacks.

If ever there was a time to get organized, now is the time. Sign our petition to voice your support for NYU meeting our demands, attend rallies and protests to put pressure on the administration, and if you can, join a meeting to help us organize for our campaign.

Dare to Struggle, Dare to Win,

NYU Students for a Democratic Society