Students picket outside Vanderbilt Hall, demand NYU Law cut anti-protest contract

Around 20 students picketed outside Vanderbilt Hall on Monday afternoon, calling on the NYU School of Law to pause its demands for 31 students to contractually pledge to halt protests, following a pro-Palestinian sit-in outside Dean Troy McKenzie’s office last week.

The picket, organized by NYU Law Students for Justice in Palestine, featured students and faculty as well as members of the Columbia Law Coalition for a Free Palestine. The protesters, wearing keffiyehs, circled around the entrance of the building while holding signs with phrases like “BAN BOMBS NOT STUDENTS” and chanting “We will march till Gaza’s free.” They also handed out flyers with a number to call and a QR code leading people to a pre-written email demanding that McKenzie revoke sanctions against students protesting Israel’s ongoing siege in Gaza. Five officers stood at the building entrance, preventing the protesters from entering.

“It’s horrible,” a second-year law student, who requested to remain anonymous out of fear of retaliation, told WSN. “It should not be the way that [NYU] responds, especially since they haven’t even investigated students. There’s no due process in that at all, and it seems like a very harsh measure given the peaceful nature of these actions.”

Over the past few days, hundreds of students and legal organizations have criticized NYU Law, claiming its initiation of the contract violated the First Amendment. Since a Bobst sit-in on March 4, the university has barred 28 students from accessing several campus buildings. Following another sit-in outside McKenzie’s office on Tuesday, three additional students were barred from accessing NYU properties.

“I have been furious about how NYU has responded to the disclosure and divestment movement and how specifically the law school has responded to students simply engaging in peaceful silent sit-ins located at the dean’s office,” another law student, who requested to remain anonymous, told WSN. “It definitely feels like intentional retaliation.”