NYU Pres. Hamilton Talks Global Network, BDS and Divest at Town Hall
The town hall with the president comes after student protests clamoring for a trustee town hall.
NYU President Andrew Hamilton and student body president Juan Calero addressed NYU’s role as the “Global Network University” in an hour and a half-long town hall Thursday afternoon. During the second half, students asked the panel questions ranging from recent BDS controversies to the university’s handling of calls to divest from fossil fuels.
While the town hall followed the Kimmel occupations by NYU SLAM and NYU Divest, in which the groups demanded a two-hour town hall with the Board of Trustees, it was scheduled well in advance according to NYU spokesperson John Beckman and was not a direct result of their demands. The town hall with Hamilton is an annual affair; last year’s tackled why NYU is not a sanctuary campus.
“The global network matters now more than it did even two years ago, three years ago,” Hamilton said. “The change in the political climate means it’s even it more important that NYU sticks to its principles.”
Hamilton said NYU sends more students abroad than any other university, but he would like to see more graduate students take advantage of the 14 study away sites.
“The global network is becoming such a key part of the way NYU defines itself that we really must aim and strive to have more students participate,” Hamilton said.
The NYU president also dropped hints about where the next study abroad site might be.
“We have no presence in the Indian subcontinent,” Hamilton said. “I think that there are opportunities in Southeast Asia that we’re not fully exploiting. Brazil is a very large country that’s not represented in the Global Network.”
After, the panel touted the advantages of the Global Network such as language immersion, community building and education elevation, but students voiced concerns about the impact of the university’s global network, especially in the wake of the NYU Abu Dhabi controversy where two professors were denied visas because of their religious beliefs.
“Of course, one of the things that came up in the visa denials that is very hard to overcome is that the university does not give visas. Governments do,” Hamilton said. “And we have little control of that decision-making process.”
President Hamilton also acknowledged the three University Senate resolutions to put students and faculty members on the Board of Trustees.
“Those will be passed to the Board of Trustees and they will consider them, those resolutions and requests, at their next meeting,” the president said. “That will be in June. One of the things I’ve been pleased about is that in the two years that I’ve been here, [student engagement with the Board] has increased quite significantly.”
In addition, a different student asked if the university has responded to the 105 faculty members who signed a letter expressing concern about how NYU had threatened student activists, to which President Hamilton replied, “We have responded already.”
A senior brought up discrimination against people of color and Muslims at Stern, such as use of the n-word and calling Muslims terrorists: “We’ve tried over and over again and the responsibility as fallen on us, as minority students, to educate others, or we don’t get any response. So, what are you doing about this?” she asked.
“What you’ve said is disturbing and the incidents you describe are completely unacceptable,” Hamilton explained. “While I haven’t seen the letter, I have been made aware about the growing student unhappiness there. One of the things that I would say is that this is an opportunity that Stern must take this seriously to begin a conversation, the kind of conversation that have been taking place at this university.”
Calero said that the process to establish diversity committees has been a struggle.
“A lot of it does depend on the willingness of each particular dean,” Calero said. “So that’s something that needs to be addressed across this institution.”
President Hamilton cited the Being@NYU climate survey as one of the steps to understand discrimination on campus better. The results of the survey will be released on Tuesday.
Divest member Ismail Ibrahim asked President Hamilton, who is a chemist and who has participated in the March for Science, accused him of hypocrisy on climate change. “I’m wondering about how you, as our president, can discuss the issues of climate change as it will affect our Global Network University and how you can talk about these things with a straight face when NYU has incredible amounts of money — undisclosed amounts of money— invested in the fossil fuel industry?”
“I can answer with a straight face very easily because I take climate change very seriously,” President Hamilton replied. “My personal opinion is not necessarily the same as the board’s. For me, a critical part of the solution to climate change is partnership and that partnership will involve all parts of American industry including the fossil fuel industry.”
The president also listed the initiatives NYU has taken to amplify current research on climate change and how new buildings will be built to be energy efficient.
An additional “conflict of interest” was about NYU’s new policies to admit formally incarcerated students but still uses Aramark to supply food. Aramark, notably, serves as a food vendor in private prisons.
“We are in the process of looking at the provider of our food services,” Hamilton replied. “Student engagement and involvement will be important in the coming months. It is gratifying to see how NYU engages with those in the incarcerated community in a positive way.”
Furthermore, multiple students asked about the university’s response to online and in-person harassment of the 50 student groups that have supported the BDS movement.
“We are a place that encourages free speech, but that should never extend into name calling, should never extend to harassment,” Hamilton said. “We need to know about these particular assaults and attacks to investigate them.”
However, President Hamilton said he ultimately opposes BDS and is “quite frankly” distressed by the statement 50 student groups made.
“The university will not participate in the boycotting of academics based in Israel,” Hamilton said. “We believe in academic freedom and the free flow of ideas. Boycotting is antithetical to that position.”
His comments were met with hisses and mutterings of “that’s not what BDS is” from some of those in the crowd. The president also argued that the protection of the “free flow of ideas” is also why he wrote a letter to the Israeli government in which he “conveyed [his] reservations to the Israeli authorities” regarding the laws that barred from entry those that adhere to and promote the BDS movement.
“I can’t change the world,” said Hamilton. “The world can sometimes be quite a mean and bitter place.”
