An NYU spokesperson said administrators “never offered” to disclose the university’s investments, countering recent claims from pro-Palestinian groups on campus who have revived calls for disclosure.
The statement comes one day after 13 students and faculty occupied the 12th floor of Bobst Library, outside the offices of President Linda Mills and Provost Georgina Dopico, while dozens more held a sit-in in the library’s main lobby. During the demonstration, organizers from Shut it Down NYU posted an audio recording they claimed to be from a negotiations meeting with administrators last semester, during which Executive Vice President Martin Dorph allegedly agreed to release details on NYU’s endowment and its investments. In a press release, the group said the university had since retracted the initial offer.
“Those claims are false,” university spokesperson John Beckman said in a statement to WSN. “It is the height of bad faith to attempt now — in the midst of ongoing violations of university rules — to use a surreptitious recording to try to secure a meeting, all while deceptively failing to acknowledge their own role in scuttling those earlier discussions.”
Beckman said the administrators had proposed that students meet with Dorph, but students elected not to do so. Members of Shut it Down NYU told WSN that last semester, administrators arranged a meeting for students to receive complete documentation of the university’s investment portfolio, but when students refused to evacuate a pro-Palestinian encampment outside the Paulson Center, the meeting was called off. They said administrators did not respond to succeeding emails and did not raise the offer again.
Eight demonstrators, including two NYU professors, were arrested at a pro-Palestinian picket outside the library Thursday afternoon. Dopico and Dean of Students Rafael Rodriguez — two administrators involved in negotiations with students — had approached the group and engaged with a few demonstrators. Students at the picket told WSN that Dopico and Rodriguez offered to hold a meeting but did not specify who would be involved or what it would entail.
In a statement from Shut it Down NYU later that night, students said Rodriguez told them “part of what you’re asking for, the university is not going to give” in response to requests for a meeting with Dorph, and did not follow up.
During the demonstration, Campus Safety head Fountain Walker sent a universitywide email stating that Wednesday’s demonstration led to “targeted threatening graffiti” and called for students to come forward with any information on those involved for an ongoing investigation. Later that night, Mills also referenced protesters’ actions in a universitywide email, adding that “hundreds of complaints came in,” calling them “violations of the respect and norms we expect of each other in this community.”
Beckman did not respond to additional requests for comment.
Contact Dharma Niles at dniles@nyunews.com.
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