NYU Board Member Warns of ‘Importing’ ‘Screwballs’ After NYC Truck Attack
Ken Langone, a member of NYU’s Board of Trustees and a Donald Trump inauguration donor, reacted to Tuesday’s truck attack by arguing for scrutiny of immigrants.
NYU Board of Trustees member Ken Langone appeared on Fox News Tuesday afternoon, making the case for vetting immigrants in response to the truck attack in downtown New York City. Langone, a co-founder of Home Depot, is also a major benefactor of NYU Langone Medical Center.
Eight people were killed and 11 injured when Sayfullo Saipov drove a rental truck down a bike lane in Lower Manhattan Tuesday. Saipov, an immigrant from Uzbekistan, had pledged allegiance to ISIS and planned the attack in advance, according to law enforcement.
But before the identity of the perpetrator, motive and final death toll were discovered, Langone suggested that the attack provided a lesson on immigration policy while appearing on “Your World with Neil Cavuto.”
“Nothing proves to me more than this experience that we need to know who’s here with us,” he said during the second half of the 4 p.m. show. “How the hell can we just say, ‘Come on in and we don’t care how you got in here and we don’t care where you’re from or what you did or what your background was’?”
“This argument that we should look the other way with illegitimate immigrants is nuts,” Langone said later in his appearance.
When Cavuto raised the argument that little could be done about immigration policy to stop terror attacks, Langone dismissed the premise. “Look, there’s nuts in the world,” he said. “We have enough screwballs in America without importing them.”
Langone’s analysis mirrored President Trump’s initial reaction to the tragedy. “I have just ordered Homeland Security to step up our already Extreme Vetting Program,” Trump tweeted Tuesday evening. “Being politically correct is fine, but not for this!”
Langone donated to President Trump’s inaugural committee.
Sophomore Stephanie Rountree, an organizer for Student Labor Action Movement (SLAM), which has repeatedly called for student representation on NYU’s Board, was angered by Langone’s remarks. She said his comments highlighted the need for an NYU student to be permitted on the Board of Trustees and refuted President Andrews Hamilton’s argument against SLAM’s campaign.
“This is absolutely sickening,” she wrote in a statement to NYU Local Wednesday evening. “Marginalized and minority students receive so little support from the university … and with this statement from Langone, it’s not hard to see why.”
“Our board is dominated by people who have never experienced discrimination and inflict it on others,” Rountree’s statement read. “We have not been given a reason to believe that these people are interested in making life at NYU better for black and brown students, which is why it’s vital that their voices heard on the board.”
NYU spokesperson John Beckman declined to respond to Langone’s comments.
