JTOTHEB

NYU Shanghai’s decision to move its graduation ceremony from a 2,500-seat theater to its campus courtyard has sparked criticism from dozens of students, many of whom are concerned that the new spot won’t be able to accommodate all of the attendees.  After it was announced in a campuswide email on Feb. 3, students said the change was unexpected and negligent of community members’ opinions. The school’s commencement ceremony, set for May 25, has previously been held at Bank of Communications New Bund 31 Performing Arts Center — a grand theater about 20 minutes away from NYU Shanghai — and will now take place at the campus’ quad. David Pe, the…

A team of 14 researchers at NYU found that cancer cells cooperate with each other in order to survive challenging conditions, contrasting decades of previous research focused on their tendency to compete.  In the study published in Nature Medicine last month, researchers observed cancerous cells as they received varying levels of nutritional support. Tumor cells usually compete for amino acids — the building blocks for proteins — as a source of nutrients. However, researchers found that when there are fewer amino acids available, the cells begin to evenly distribute the nutrients instead.  “As of now there isn’t any study similar to this one, so this is novel research being published,”…

President Donald Trump’s Federal Task Force to Combat Antisemitism will visit NYU as part of its investigation into 10 U.S. universities with reported incidents of antisemitism, the Department of Justice announced Friday. It is unclear when the investigations will take place. Leo Terrell, a leading member of the task force, said the group will compile information on reported instances of antisemitism on college campuses by meeting with “university leadership, impacted students and staff, local law enforcement and community members,” and assess whether “remedial action is warranted.”  “We are going to use every tool in our toolbox to stop the harassment of Jewish students,” Terrell, assistant attorney general for civil rights,…

Five CAS assistant professors were named Sloan Research Fellows for their accomplishments in the fields of economics, chemistry and mathematics — from scholarship on the physical connections between shapes to the newfound abilities of robots. The faculty members are among 126 early-career researchers in the United States and Canada who earned the fellowship this year, with each receiving $75,000 to fulfill a two-year research project.  This year’s NYU recipients include chemists Tania Lupoli and Glen Hocky, economics assistant professor Corina Boar and mathematicians Chao Li and Lerrel Pinto.  Lupoli, an assistant professor of chemistry and NYU alum, received the recognition for her research on infectious diseases that are notably challenging…

NYU’s chapter of the Young Democratic Socialists of America demanded that university leadership publicly support the Starbucks workers’ union in a rally on Friday. The group threatened to reinstate a campaign against the Starbucks location on West Fourth Street if President Linda Mills and senior administrator Owen Moore do not respond by March 7.  About a dozen students gathered outside Bobst Library before making their way to the Kimmel Center for University Life to deliver a letter to a representative for Mills and Moore, respectively, at each location. YDSA called for the administrators to “pressure” Starbucks to fairly negotiate with its workers’ union amid ongoing bargaining sessions and union expansions,…

NYU leadership doubled down on its cautionary public response to President Donald Trump’s crackdown on higher education at the first University Senate meeting of the semester — a response criticized by dozens of students protesting the administration outside.  In an address to the 100-plus faculty, administrators and student representatives who comprise the senate, NYU President Linda Mills said the university was facing a “challenging and uncertain” political environment. Her chief of staff, Emma Wolfe, said the country has seen “incredibly rapid policy change” and referenced Trump’s 80-plus executive orders since taking office — many of which target research, diversity-related programs and topics relevant to higher education. She said that because…

Since he started campaigning for a second term, President Donald Trump’s promises to slash government spending have targeted universities. With calls to overhaul the Department of Education — including staunch support from Linda McMahon, the department head nominee — Congress most recently proposed a $2.7 billion budget cut to federal need-based financial aid.  However, calls to redistribute Pell Grants and loans — the main forms of federal financial assistance — were discussed long before Trump’s return. The Republican-backed College Cost Reduction Act seeks to address the United States’ $1.7 trillion in student debt by giving larger grants to fewer students. In an interview with WSN, George Spencer, assistant professor of…

Professors criticized NYU’s response to President Donald Trump’s executive orders, including his crackdowns on immigration and gender-affirming care, at an American Association of University Professors town hall on Tuesday.  At the meeting, eight executive members of NYU’s AAUP chapter discussed four areas of concern — cuts to research funding, attacks on gender-affirming care, repression of pro-Palestinian speech and immigration. The group also opened the floor to audience members to share first-hand how they have seen federal mandates impact the NYU community a month into Trump’s presidency.   NYU AAUP president and Tisch professor Anna McCarthy said that administrators should offer more clarity on what the university will do to address student…

Since President Donald Trump took office, his administration has issued a foray of orders for universities to terminate diversity, equity and inclusion programs. With “vague” calls to end “egregious and discriminatory” departments and a full-on aid freeze, the White House has sent colleges across the country into a frenzy of renaming departments, changing protocols and removing identity-based protections. NYU has not yet made clear changes to its policies or websites, unlike dozens of other major universities, including Columbia University and Northeastern University. In a statement to WSN, university spokesperson John Beckman said administrators will continue to “closely monitor new developments to federal policies that relate to our campus.” “NYU remains…