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NYU is “awaiting further guidance” from the federal government to share detailed applicant data with the Department of E...
11/26/2025

NYU is “awaiting further guidance” from the federal government to share detailed applicant data with the Department of Education, as universities face mounting pressure from the Trump administration to prove that they do not adhere to race-based admissions.

Starting Dec. 3, the DOE will require four-year universities to submit data on the race and s*x of applicants and admitted students to ensure they are not “passing over the most qualified students in favor of others based on their race.” The submission will be part of an annual series of surveys mandated for all higher education institutions that receive federal student aid or other funding.

“NYU — like all universities — is awaiting further guidance from the federal government regarding revised reporting requirements,” NYU spokesperson Joseph Tirella said.

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📝 Zachary Karp
📸 .0

For last year’s storming, unbeaten and record-setting season, the No. 1-ranked Division III women’s basketball team rece...
11/25/2025

For last year’s storming, unbeaten and record-setting season, the No. 1-ranked Division III women’s basketball team received its championship rings on Saturday. The Violets also added a second consecutive 31-0 banner to the Paulson Center rafters ahead of their dominant 99-37 win against the State University of New York, New Paltz.

“It feels incredible to be able to hang a banner in Paulson to represent the 2024-25 team,” head coach Meg Barber told WSN. “And with the work that’s gone in behind the scenes, we’re just really proud of this moment today.”

Saturday’s ceremony, the last of the fall semester’s Tear It Up! celebrations, began with a brunch for Violets fans who registered beforehand. Last year’s women’s basketball team and coaching staff then took the floor — before the current roster beat SUNY New Paltz by 62 points.

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📝📸.photo

NYU Langone Health retained its “A” grade for patient safety in a national hospital ranking for the 11th consecutive yea...
11/24/2025

NYU Langone Health retained its “A” grade for patient safety in a national hospital ranking for the 11th consecutive year across sites in Manhattan, Brooklyn and Long Island.

The Leapfrog Group is a widely cited nonprofit that awards biannual safety grades to nearly 3,000 U.S. hospitals. NYU Langone’s Tisch Hospital, Kimmel Pavilion, Brooklyn Langone Hospital and Long Island Langone Hospital all earned the “A” rating, and NYU Langone Hospital in Suffolk advanced from a “C” to a “B.” NYU Langone Orthopedic Hospital and the Hassenfeld Children’s Hospital did not participate in the safety ratings program.

“NYU Langone’s reputation in the communities we serve is built on a foundation of safe, top quality care, thanks to our teams who put their patients first every day,” NYU Langone dean and CEO Alec Kimmelman said in a press release. “We are proud of these ratings. This includes NYU Langone Hospital—Suffolk, where the pace of improvements has been extraordinary, because of the incredible work of our teams there.”

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📝Zachary Karp
📸

Over a dozen students gathered in Garibaldi Plaza Thursday evening to honor victims of anti-trans violence at a vigil fo...
11/21/2025

Over a dozen students gathered in Garibaldi Plaza Thursday evening to honor victims of anti-trans violence at a vigil for the Transgender Day of Remembrance, promising to continue the fight for trans rights and stand in solidarity with the community.

Attendees at the vigil, hosted by NYU’s chapter of Students for a Democratic Society, said they aimed to bring attention to the Trump administration’s push for anti-trans policies, as well as NYU Langone Health’s denial of gender-affirming care earlier this year. Event organizers laid trans flags, candles and artwork with pictures of victims of anti-trans violence across the plaza’s steps, and attendees gave speeches quoting LGBTQ+ activists like Marsha P. Johnson, shared poems by trans artists and held a moment of silence for the lives lost to violence.

Ebtesham Ahmed, SDS member and vigil attendee, told WSN that the event sought to raise awareness about increased anti-trans hate crimes across the country, and particularly the death of Sam Nordquist — a trans man from Minnesota who was violently murdered.

“It’s incredibly important that we take the time to commemorate the victims of anti-trans violence, that we give our respect to them,” Ahmed said. “That is why we are out here — to honor the victims and commit ourselves to the struggle.”

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📝 Ashlie West
📸

Student graduation speakers will not have to sign a binding commitment agreeing to deliver a preapproved speech, the uni...
11/20/2025

Student graduation speakers will not have to sign a binding commitment agreeing to deliver a preapproved speech, the university confirmed following rumors that circulated among students and faculty. This comes months after the university withheld the diploma of a Gallatin graduate who condemned the “atrocities currently happening in Palestine” during his speech.

Chris Dickey, chair of the Full-Time Continuing Contract Faculty Senators Council, said in a September meeting that many NYU community members are concerned about potential new policies restricting what students can say in their graduation speeches. In a statement to WSN, NYU spokesperson John Beckman said that although there is no policy restricting student graduation speech, the university has a “longstanding expectation” for students to commit to their “prepared, submitted remarks.”

“There was never a moment when the administration directed me to try to limit the students’ ability to express themselves, with respect to some very sensitive issues around Gaza,” Dickey told WSN.

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📝 Noah Kim & Ashlie West
📸 Jason Alpert-Wisnia

Nearing the final week of Zohran Mamdani’s historic campaign for mayor, CAS junior Sebastian Martinez found themselves a...
11/19/2025

Nearing the final week of Zohran Mamdani’s historic campaign for mayor, CAS junior Sebastian Martinez found themselves addressing nearly 13,000 attendees at the mayor-elect’s “NYC is not for sale” rally in Forest Hills Stadium. Headlined by politicians like Bernie Sanders, Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez and Kathy Hochul, the Oct. 26 rally acted as a final push before the general election — and Martinez, who served as one of Mamdani’s field coordinators for the Bronx and Upper Manhattan, was one of the team members to kick it off. 

But Martinez’s relationship with the mayor-elect began years before his run. They first encountered Mamdani while researching for their work as a tenant organizer in Harlem, through a YouTube video of the then-assemblymember discussing public housing. Over the years, as they established their membership within the Democratic Socialists of America, Martinez continued running into him at rallies before door-knocking with him for assemblymember Claire Valdez back in December 2023.

“I remember vividly, because he made fun of me and said I looked like I was in a sitcom from the ’80s, because I had really long hair at the time,” Martinez said. “He eventually made that joke after the Forest Hills Stadium rally we had, where he took my passport, looked at it and was like ‘Seb, come on,’ and then left.”

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📝 .kim
📸 Kaleo Zhu

Thiago Guimaraes expected a routine commute to class when he boarded his NYU shuttle on Oct. 23. But less than 10 minute...
11/18/2025

Thiago Guimaraes expected a routine commute to class when he boarded his NYU shuttle on Oct. 23. But less than 10 minutes later, he was hastily evacuating as the bus stopped at East 16th Street.

“The bus driver stood up and said, ‘Everybody get out,’” Guimaraes, a CAS junior, told WSN. “We all asked, ‘Why?’ And he said, ‘I don’t know. They didn’t give me a reason.’”

Over the next hour, reason behind the abrupt stop became clear: NYU’s buses had received a bomb threat and temporarily shut down all operations in response. Confusion cleared up and shuttle routes resumed by late afternoon. However, taking place just weeks after NYU faced backlash for its vague resposnses to a hoax shooting threat — and immediately after administrators promised to “do better” as a result — pressure was on the university to keep community members informed.

But alerts relating to the the bomb threat still lacked clarity, a WSN survey of 355 students found. The series of three emails — one informing students of the threat, one updating them on traffic flow and one letting them know that the issue had been cleared — satisfied around 50% of the group, but was still insufficient to nearly 44%. Some students said they never knew about the bomb threat to begin with.

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📝 Paige Avalon & Roya Statler
📊 .reilley

Over 100 New Yorkers rallied in Union Square Park Sunday afternoon, urging Gov. Kathy Hochul to back Mayor-elect Zohran ...
11/17/2025

Over 100 New Yorkers rallied in Union Square Park Sunday afternoon, urging Gov. Kathy Hochul to back Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani’s proposals for universal child care, free buses and affordable housing by raising taxes on corporations and high-income residents.

The event, organized by groups including the New York City Democratic Socialists of America, featured speeches from city comptroller Brad Lander, local community board chair and Gallatin alum Andrea Gordillo and several other city representatives and union leaders. They called on state lawmakers to support Mamdani’s proposal to increase taxes for residents who make $1 million annually.

“It’s completely backwards, the way money is actually spent,” Shane, a protester who declined to provide his last name out of safety concerns, told WSN. “That’s because of the way that the working class are disenfranchised from real political involvement — it’s going to take an upending of the current system to get our needs met as working-class people.” 

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📝Fiona Clifford-Fotopoulos
🎨Fiona Clifford-Fotopoulos

Student government members voted on Thursday to approve a letter demanding that NYU adopt stronger recruitment and suppo...
11/14/2025

Student government members voted on Thursday to approve a letter demanding that NYU adopt stronger recruitment and support systems for Black students, and will formally pass the resolution after receiving absentee ballots next week.

The letter, which garnered nearly 300 signatories from students, faculty, alumni and on-campus organizations, raises concerns over NYU’s declining admissions of Black students and public threats targeting Black community members over the past year. It says that the university failed to take substantial actions to protect the safety of Black students, suggesting that it develop recruitment programs in predominantly Black communities and establish a dedicated space for Black students on campus.

“It is crucial that NYU centers students’ voices and validates their concerns with urgency,” Kyla Bernal, CAS senior and senator at-large for Southeast Asian and Pacific Islander students, told WSN. “NYU administrators have had a lack of transparency with the issues going on around campus, especially the threat that targeted the Black community at NYU.”

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📝 Zachary Karp
🎨 Alisia Houghtaling

Faculty accused of discriminatory conduct can now have an attorney present during investigations, marking a step forward...
11/13/2025

Faculty accused of discriminatory conduct can now have an attorney present during investigations, marking a step forward in faculty senators’ ongoing push to ensure fairness throughout conduct proceedings.

Effective since last Thursday, Provost Georgina Dopico agreed to a proposal that allows all accused faculty to have a legal aide present when they meet with the Office of Equal Opportunity, the department that investigates discrimination complaints. The policy change comes after three years of proposals from NYU’s Full-Time Continuing Contract Faculty Senators Council, as well as more recent support from the Tenured/Tenure Track Faculty Senators Council.

“We’re not trying to get anybody off the hook if they did something bad,” Global Public Health professor and C-FSC chair Chris Dickey told WSN. “We really are trying to make sure that everybody has a fair shot at defending themselves.”

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📝 Paige Ablon
📸

The biannual debate between NYU’s College Democrats and College Republicans, initially slated for Wednesday, was indefin...
11/12/2025

The biannual debate between NYU’s College Democrats and College Republicans, initially slated for Wednesday, was indefinitely postponed after the former raised concerns about “verbal attacks” at a recent club meeting. 

Representatives from the Politics Society, which organizes the debate, told WSN that they were not informed of the decision until Monday night. NYU spokesperson John Beckman said in an email statement that the debate was temporarily canceled after a student organization notified the university of its concerns surrounding “interfering events.”  

“After some discussion with the group, the Center for Student Life suggested that it was best to delay the debate to work through some of those issues,” Beckman said. “The Center for Student Life has reached out to all parties in hopes that the issues can be ironed out and with the expectation that debate will go forward soon.”

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📝
🎨 .kiara and .saadah

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Founded in 1973 after New York University’s University Heights and Washington Square campuses merged, Washington Square News delivers news daily to thousands of readers around NYU’s Manhattan and Brooklyn campuses, Greenwich Village, Brooklyn Heights, NYU’s 12 global campuses and beyond. Content is published five days a week during the academic year, as well as in a weekly print edition, and offers news, culture, arts, editorial, sports coverage, photos and videos from around campus and New York City, in conjunction with our magazine, Under the Arch.

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