Let me begin issues off by saying this plainly: Disgrace on you, NYU.
In an period the place college students are anticipated to be the ethical compass of society, the place they’re advised to be fearless, to problem authority, to talk up for the unvoiced, New York College simply made it crystal clear that it prefers compliance over conscience.
In accordance with studies, the upper training establishment has determined to withhold the diploma of 24-year-old Logan Rozos after he dared to talk fact to energy throughout his commencement speech. Rozos, chosen by his friends at NYU’s Gallatin College, used his platform to denounce what he known as the “atrocities at present occurring in Palestine,” describing the warfare in Gaza as genocide and calling out U.S. complicity in it.
The college’s response? Not dialogue. Not debate. Not training, however punishment.
Rozos’ remarks had been unapologetic and deeply felt: “I need to say that the genocide at present occurring is supported politically and militarily by the USA, is paid for by our tax {dollars}, and has been livestreamed to our telephones for the previous 18 months.” The speech was met with cheers and applause from some classmates and school, and sure, some boos too. That’s democracy in motion, and that’s the hallmark of free speech. Or, at the least it ought to be.
However as a substitute, NYU spokesperson John Beckman swiftly issued an announcement accusing Rozos of mendacity concerning the content material of his speech and of violating the college’s guidelines. However everyone knows this wasn’t about coverage; this was about politics.
NYU has chosen to align itself with the silencing of pro-Palestinian voices in a time when college students throughout the nation are being surveilled, disciplined, and even arrested for expressing dissent, usually underneath the guise of “rule violations.” In case your guidelines muzzle fact, then your guidelines are damaged.
This crackdown isn’t occurring in a vacuum. The Trump administration has amped up strain on universities to police speech round Palestine, and faculties like NYU have been greater than keen to play enforcer.
From locking college students out of campus buildings for holding sit-ins to submitting greater than 180 conduct circumstances tied to Gaza protests, NYU has proven an aggressive urge for food for self-discipline, however solely when the message challenges the established order. If Rozos had stood on that stage and mentioned “Free Israel,” would the response have been the identical? Or is it solely “problematic” when the oppressed are named?
Let’s additionally speak concerning the conceitedness of Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-Florida), who reportedly co-sponsored and voted in favor of a bipartisan invoice proposing to high quality and jail anti-Israel protestors, and who took it upon himself to scold Rozos publicly, saying, “Good luck getting a job. That was a silly, egocentric factor.”
Excuse me? Since when did ethical braveness and civic conscience grow to be résumé disqualifiers? If we adopted that logic, half the civil rights heroes in American historical past would’ve died unemployed. Moskowitz would possibly put on the “D” on his chest, however make no mistake — his rhetoric is extra “MAGA complicit” than “Democrat.”
Rozos didn’t “destroy the ceremony.” Rozos didn’t “abuse a privilege.” Rozos exercised a privilege — one which universities are alleged to domesticate, not punish.
NYU’s response reveals that it prefers sanitized celebration over inconvenient fact. However what’s extra harmful: one scholar mentioning a humanitarian disaster, or a college that punishes dissent to guard its model?
Rozos spoke for “all individuals of conscience,” as he put it, and whether or not you agree along with his use of the phrase “genocide” or not, the information are harrowing: over 53,000 Palestinians killed, in keeping with Gaza’s Ministry of Well being, following Israel’s army response to Hamas’ October 7 assault. The Israeli authorities has confirmed killing at the least 20,000 Hamas operatives, which leaves tens of 1000’s of civilians — ladies, youngsters, households — unaccounted for in that determine. These are lives, not statistics. And Rozos had the center to say so.
The NYU administration could also be hoping this all goes away quietly — that it could actually withhold a chunk of paper and make an instance out of Logan Rozos. However what it’s actually doing is revealing the deep rot in academia, the place energy is preserved in any respect prices, and scholar voices are conditional on political palatability.
To each scholar watching this unfold, don’t be discouraged. Let this second radicalize you. Let it push you to ask why your tuition {dollars} fund establishments that deal with ethical braveness as misconduct.
NYU isn’t sorry for what Rozos mentioned. NYU is sorry he had the audacity to say it on their stage.
Logan Rozos did what NYU did not do. He educated. He challenged. He impressed. And for that, he doesn’t want their diploma — as a result of his legacy is already safe.
However nonetheless, NYU, give him the rattling diploma. You owe him that a lot — and an entire lot extra.
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