December 26, 2024

Linda Mills, President

Georgina Dopico, Provost

Fountain Walker, VP of Global Campus Safety

Dear President Mills, Provost Dopico, and Vice-President Walker,

In light of the university administration’s widely condemned actions against nonviolent faculty and student anti-war protesters on December 11th and 12th, AAUP-NYU has sought legal counsel. We have determined that NYU Campus Safety’s declaration of our colleagues as Personae Non Gratae on 12 December 2024 violates university policies clearly stated in the most updated Faculty Handbook. Furthermore, the withholding of information from affected parties regarding the basis and disposition of their PNG status is an abuse of institutional power by Vice President Fountain Walker that unaccountably side steps proper procedure and disregards faculty protections.

We note as well the unprofessional and inconsistent ways in which the administration has alleged that students and faculty pose an imminent danger to the NYU community and has deemed them PNG. That the Office of the Provost has neither information nor authority over a situation directly impacting faculty members’ abilities to fulfil their basic teaching and advising duties is itself evidence of the lack of due process and failure to comply with established university procedures.

AAUP-NYU calls for the administration to immediately remove PNG status for all colleagues. If the PNG status is not lifted by January 2, AAUP-NYU will advise affected colleagues to treat their PNG status as illegitimate and to make use of university facilities, such as the library, as they normally would.

On December 12, AAUP-NYU urgently requested information, transparency, and accountability with respect to this latest administrative escalation against faculty and students. We hereby formally renew that request. How does the administration suspend faculty? On what grounds does it ban them from using campus buildings and facilities? How does it determine that they are trespassing on NYU property where they have a reasonable expectation of access? We expect written information regarding the PNG statuses of all affected colleagues by January 2 and an in-person meeting with President Linda Mills in early January to discuss measures for ensuring accountability for those administrators responsible for disregarding proper procedures.

Sincerely,

NYU-AAUP Executive Committee

President: Anna McCarthy

Vice-President: Paula Chakravartty

Secretary: Andrew Ross

Treasurer: Sonya Posmentier

Member- At-Large: Rebecca Karl, Vasuki Nesiah, Sara Pursley, Angela Zito,

Rossen Djagalov, Zach Samalin, Asli Peker