NYU Law Statements Regarding Student Listserv Exchange

Dear Students,

The Law School is aware of the debate that has been taking place on our student listserv over issues relating to Israel and Palestine. Statements made by individual students and student groups in that forum (and other settings) are their own; they do not speak for the Law School. NYU Law is committed to free discourse, debate, and dissent, even though the vigorous exchange of ideas may include statements that some find challenging, offensive, or painful.

Of course, NYU Law condemns as immoral the intentional killing of civilians. That includes but is not limited to the recent attacks in Israel. Tragically, there is too much such violence around the world for the Law School ever to respond to all of it. At the same time, NYU Law does not take institutional positions on broader issues of public concern like the Israel-Palestine conflict in general. As students and others voice their own views on such issues, it is important to bear in mind that everyone in the NYU community is required to abide by NYU’s Non-Discrimination and Anti-Harassment Policy. Students who believe they have been subject to violations of this policy are encouraged to report it to NYU’s Bias Response Line or the Law School’s Office of Student Affairs. The Law School has received such reports in recent days and will be investigating them as required by our policies. Therefore, we do not expect to offer any further public commentary on the matter.

Trevor Morrison

NYU and NYU Law vehemently reject and condemn anti-Semitism; it has no place in our community. Several complaints have been filed in connection with recent dialogue among law students on a listserv. They are being investigated in accordance with the Law School’s policies and procedures for such matters. Any complaint of anti-Semitism submitted by a student will be investigated and, where appropriate, subject to discipline in accordance with the University’s Non-Discrimination and Anti-Harassment Policy and Complaint Procedures for Students, as is the case for student complaints of discrimination or harassment on any other ground prohibited by that policy.

Dear Students,

Over the course of the last week, I and others in the Law School administration have continued to hear from students who are disturbed by aspects of the recent Coases thread on the Israel-Palestine conflict. Dean Kendrick and I have met with and heard from numerous members of our community on this issue, who have expressed a range of concerns that we take seriously. We have also received complaints that aspects of the thread involve expressions of antisemitism that violate the University's Non-Discrimination and Anti-Harassment Policy. The Law School has a process for handling complaints of this sort, and we will follow that process.

Whatever the outcome of that investigation, I can say that the Coases thread in question worries me greatly. First, although the Law School does not take general institutional positions on matters of broad public concern like the Israel-Palestine conflict, it is perfectly in keeping with that stance for the Law School to condemn unequivocally, as we did last week, the intentional killing of unarmed civilians. From the standpoint of international law (which matters at a law school like ours), it has long been clear that intentionally targeting unarmed civilians for the use of deadly violence is wholly impermissible. Certainly, civilians killed in such ways are not to blame for their own deaths. Second, parts of the Coases thread include phrases like “Zionist grip on the media” that parallel very closely hateful, antisemitic tropes about the supposed Jewish influence on the media. Although complaints about the use of those phrases are still being investigated under NYU’s non-discrimination and anti-harassment policy, President Hamilton has already made it clear that he finds them very troubling. I share that view. Whatever the intent of those who used those words, I am concerned about their potentially harmful effect on some Jewish members of our community. 

Moreover, wholly apart from NYU’s non-discrimination and anti-harassment policy, NYU has a Student Conduct Policy that applies to all students. That policy makes clear that, as members of a common educational community, we owe to one another duties that, in some respects, go beyond what we owe to the public at large. In particular, we are obliged to refrain from saying or doing things to other members of this community that entail “threatening, tormenting, mocking, intimidating, maliciously or inappropriately ridiculing another’s work or comments beyond the scope of scholarly inquiry.” Put more simply, NYU requires us to treat fellow members of this community with respect.

In both tone and substance, the Coases thread at the heart of this controversy did not consistently live up to that standard. Similarly, we have heard from students who expressed support for the Law Students for Justice in Palestine statement that they are now being targeted in emails, group chats, letters, and social media in ways that also threaten to violate that standard. As I have said before, vigorous debate, disagreement, and dissent is vital to a university community, and should not be discouraged. But within the NYU community, such debate can – indeed, must – be conducted in ways that demonstrate mutual respect, and that affirm that we all deserve to feel safe as fully fledged members of this community. As this school year draws to a close, I urge all of us to think about how we can do better on this front.

Part of doing better is striving to find effective and respectful ways to have difficult, even painful conversations with those with whom we disagree. In the last week and a half, we have heard from many of you hoping that the Law School might provide additional opportunities for community-building programming of this sort. As a starting point, we plan to host before the May exam period a set of conversations focused on tools for having difficult conversations within our community. Following the exam period, we plan to offer additional programming on antisemitism, bias, and discriminatory speech. At this time, we invite students and student groups interested in participating to reach out to the Office of Student Affairs at law.studentaffairs@nyu.edu.  

Finally, it must be acknowledged that the Coases listserv may itself be part of the problem here. In the final weeks of the semester, now is not the time to make changes to Coases. But over the summer, the administration may well choose to consider alternative communications platforms with different functionalities. In the meantime, I would urge that the use of Coases be limited to the kinds of simple informational exchanges for which it was initially intended.

I wish everyone a successful close to the semester.

Trevor Morrison