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 within the 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.”

All Student Government Assembly members present at Thursday’s meeting voted to approve the letter. However, because attendance did not reach the SGA’s 37-person requirement to pass resolutions, senators will send out absentee ballots and receive them within the next week.

The letter was initially presented around two months ago, immediately after a hoax shooting manifesto threatening to open fire at Black students and faculty circulated the NYU community. President Linda Mills faced backlash from the Black Student Union, among other on-campus groups, which said her initial responses lacked clarity because they didn’t disclose the threat’s anti-Black nature — leaving many students to learn details through social media reposts.

The letter suggests that the university reaffirm a policy of zero tolerance for anti-Black racism, make its safety alerts more specific and create a reparations committee to address NYU’s historical and current ties to slavery. Stern junior Christian Howze, author of the letter and senator at-large for Black students and students of color, said at the meeting that passing the statement was the best way to present the SGA’s advocacy for Black students.

Senators also debated the extent to which the student government should spend its annual $500,000 budget on services from companies that don’t align with its goal of supporting human rights.

Zahraa Al-Saif, who presented the proposal and is the senator at-large for Arab students and Shia Muslims, told WSN that the SGA’s future spending should match the values of its previous resolutions. Al-Saif cited the student government’s history of statements condemning civilian deaths in Israel’s war in Gaza, boycotting food providers invested in the prison industrial complex and pushing to replace an on-campus Chick-fil-A.

“It’s really important for SGA to put its money where its mouth is,” Al-Saif said. “This resolution will be all-encompassing of everything that has been said in the past and everything that will come in the future.”

Several students raised concerns about how to determine ethical standards for businesses, and what interactions — such as hiring a speaker who opposes an issue the SGA advocates for — the resolution would prohibit. They also questioned whether the proposal would be feasible, noting that the SGA makes use of services provided by companies like Amazon for essential activities. 

CAS senior Emma Bell, senator at-large for students with disabilities, said in a statement to WSN that she suggested the resolution be a recommendation for SGA purchases rather than a strict prohibition on certain businesses. 

Senators involved in the proposal will work out details over the next few months before bringing it back for an assemblywide vote.

“This resolution is really a love letter from me to the efforts of SGA members in the past, and an aid for all SGA members in the future,” Al-Saif said. “When you see all of our work, you see SGA standing up for many causes: human rights, global conflict, climate change. Those efforts should not disappear as just words of encouragement or campaigning and should be actualized.”

Contact Zachary Karp at [email protected].