Washington Square News

Under the Arch, WSN’s magazine, returns with a new issue to welcome first-year students attending NYU. This year’s Welcome Home issue contains everything a new student needs to know to make the most of their first semester at the university, from finding school spirit to navigating protests on campus. https://lnkd.in/ecZTJsgJ

Human rights scholar Martha Minow to speak at this year’s commencement Minow, who is the former dean of Harvard Law School, will be among three women to receive honorary degrees at NYU’s commencement ceremony in May.

NYU acceptance rate stays at 8% for class of 2028 Overall applications to NYU decreased for the 2023-24 admissions cycle for the first time since 2007, but the university saw its greatest-ever number of early decision applicants. 📝 Carmo Moniz 📸📊 Manasa Gudavalli

NYU is reconsidering its test-optional policy for next year’s admissions cycle after some universities across the country found that the approach could disadvantage lower-income students. The university is following in the footsteps of schools like Yale University, Brown University and Dartmouth University — all of which have recently announced a return to mandatory standardized testing policies — and is reviewing internal data to determine the best way forward. The university is also participating in a national study run by the Academic Research Consortium — a global partnership of individuals and organizations involved in making, testing and regulating medical devices — that will help determine the impact of submitting or not submitting test scores in the admissions process, according to NYU spokesperson John Beckman. “The issue of whether to remain test optional is under active study and review,” Beckman wrote in a statement to WSN. “At this juncture, we have not made a final decision for next year’s admission cycle (i.e., for the class that will enter in fall 2025) about how to proceed in terms of testing policy.” Many universities, including NYU, went test optional during the COVID-19 pandemic, when access to testing centers was difficult for many students due to closures. Test-optional policies are also seen by some universities to “[improve] access, broadly speaking, for low-income, underrepresented, and first-generation students,” although research on their effectiveness at increasing enrollment in these groups has yielded mixed results. But a review of internal data by Dartmouth found that some lower-income students who were not admitted would have been accepted if they had submitted their test scores, which they had incorrectly believed were too low to secure admission. In February, the school announced that it would begin to require standardized test scores for the class of 2029. A few weeks later, Yale announced it would return to mandatory standardized testing policies, also citing concerns that its test-optional policies had inadvertently disadvantaged low-income applicants. Brown followed suit earlier this month. Click the link to read the full story.

A U.S. district judge dismissed an NYU lawsuit claiming that Northwell Health, a competitor of NYU Langone Health, had deceived patients by using a similar shade of purple to the university’s medical center in its advertisements and marketing campaigns. In the March 1 order, Judge Valerie Caproni called NYU Langone’s claims against Northwell “vague and overbroad,” also calling them “confusing.” Caproni also said NYU Langone’s June 2023 complaint did not “adequately allege” violations that Northwell had imitated the design and appearance of trademarked products. Northwell requested that the lawsuit be dismissed in August 2023. Steve Ritea, a spokesperson for NYU Langone, told WSN the medical center is “pleased” the court recognized that NYU Langone may have an “actionable claim” against Northwell’s advertising methods over their similar appearance. “The striking side-by-side comparisons continue to demonstrate how Northwell is attempting to confuse the public by capitalizing on our unmatched reputation for exceptional quality and safety outcomes, which is a disservice to patients seeking the best care,” Ritea wrote. In a previous statement to WSN, Ritea said the lawsuit “is not a fight over a color,” and was an effort to protect NYU Langone’s brand. In its complaint, the medical center claimed Northwell’s “confusingly similar advertising” was a means to “trade off of the goodwill and reputation” of NYU Langone. Northwell spokesperson Ramon Soto called NYU Langone’s lawsuit “unfounded,” adding that while Northwell is pleased by the court’s decision, it is disappointed in NYU Langone’s “continuing waste of resources and funds and diverting the attention of the communities we both serve with such baseless allegations.” “Northwell Health has a very distinct and bold advertising style,” Soto wrote to WSN. “We continue to push and challenge traditional health care marketing through our purpose-driven marketing.” Click the link below to read the full story. By Yezen Saadah for Washington Square News Graphic by Krish Dev for Washington Square News

In 2015, NYU was considered the fourth-most expensive university to attend, according to the Chronicle of Higher Education’s analysis of College Board data. With new financial aid initiatives, the university has moved down to the 43rd most expensive higher education institution in the United States, including tuition, annual fees and housing. While NYU has recently made efforts to reduce tuition costs and bolster aid, the university continues to fight its reputation as one of the priciest higher education institutions in the country. In a written statement to WSN, NYU spokesperson John Beckman said that in 2010, the university began prioritizing affordability and accessibility regarding financial aid. Since then, NYU has increased its budget for undergraduate financial aid to $475 million per year — taking up nearly 12% of its $4.1 billion annual budget. This is a larger part of the budget than is spent at some of the university’s peer schools — Columbia University currently allocates around $200 million annually to financial aid, taking up around 3% of its annual budget, and Fordham University awards $71.8 million in aid for first-year students, around 10% of its annual budget. “NYU is hampered compared to many peer private research universities by having a relatively small per-student endowment,” Beckman wrote. “NYU works very hard to make the application process for financial aid as simple and straightforward as possible; however, some of the information required is by the federal government in order for scholarship aid to flow.” For the 2023-24 academic year, NYU announced it would increase tuition by 3.6%. Beckman said President Linda Mills recently announced increases in scholarship grants that match increases in annual tuition. The university has also increased its average scholarship grant by over $20,000 from 2016 to 2021. In 2006, NYU’s average financial aid package was $20,000 per year. Click the link below to read the full story. ✍  Gabrielle Panelo and Nikki Mirala for Washington Square News 📸 Qianshan Weng for Washington Square News

Over a year after an anonymous list accusing film students of misconduct emerged in the Tisch School of the Arts, the court dismissed claims in an alumnus’ lawsuit that NYU violated federal discrimination law in its handling of the incident. The 2022 lawsuit, filed by an anonymous alum accused of sexual misconduct on the online “blacklist,” could still be pursued at the state level due to separate claims of human rights law violations, “intentional infliction of emotional distress” and “breach of contract” under New York law.  The plaintiff, referred to in the suit as John Doe, was accused of being a “rapist” and a “narcissist” on the list, which also included anonymous misconduct claims against other film students. The list, a Google spreadsheet that was shared among students in March 2022, circulated through a QR code in a Tisch bathroom. In the suit, Doe claimed that NYU committed sex discrimination against him “by not identifying and disciplining the individuals behind the anonymous allegations.” He also argued that the university was “indifferent” to the harassment he endured and responsible for the “hostile environment” he faced at NYU. The court found that Doe failed to meet the requirements for a peer harassment claim under Title IX — which requires evidence that the harassment was based on sex and that an institution was deliberately indifferent to the discrimination. In a recent opinion, the court determined that NYU’s “refusal” to identify the list’s creators or take disciplinary action against them was not “clearly unreasonable” on grounds of free speech, and that Doe failed to prove that “NYU exercised substantial control over the harassment.” Doe also said that NYU’s alleged “failure to promptly and adequately” respond to his complaints qualified the university as a hostile environment under Title IX, according to the court’s opinion. The court determined Doe did not sufficiently plead that the university had failed to properly respond. Click the link below to read the full story. ✍  Aashna Miharia 📸 Kiran Komanduri

Each year, a new batch of interns, some of them NYU students, walks through an unassuming mirrored door on West Eighth Street expecting the opportunity of a lifetime — to work with the world-class music recording studio Electric Lady. However, the experience wasn’t what they thought they signed up for. Multiple former interns told WSN that their work for the studio included clearing up sewage spills, hiding in closets, mopping floors and cleaning bathrooms — all while being unpaid. Electric Lady boasts a famous repertoire of visiting artists. Everyone from The Rolling Stones to Taylor Swift has recorded with the company. Albums like Swift’s “Midnights,” SZA’s “SOS” and Olivia Rodrigo’s “GUTS” — all of which were nominated at this year’s Grammy Awards — were recorded at Electric Lady. The studio was founded by musician Jimi Hendrix in the 1970s, and is intended to be a comfortable recording space for artists to relax and create. Despite the studio’s reputation in the music industry, former interns told WSN that they learned very little that could help them advance their careers while working there. Multiple former interns and engineers told WSN that they felt the studio exploited them as unpaid interns. Students at NYU’s Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music told WSN that Electric Lady stopped being recommended to them by professors after they learned about the work conditions for interns through word of mouth. “We learned where to buy the best organic fruit, not how to mix up a song,” one former intern said. “Go hide, don’t talk, but be there.” Click the link below to read the full story. ✍ Julia Diorio 📸 Matt Petres

NYU students now have access to free test preparation courses on the international educational services company Kaplan, Inc., university administration announced on Wednesday. Students are currently able to take Kaplan courses designed to prepare them for the Dental Admission Test, the Graduate Management Admission Test, the Graduate Record Examinations, the Law School Admission Test, the Medical College Admission Test, the Optometry Admission Test and the Fundamentals of Engineering Exam as part of NYU’s new partnership. Kaplan’s test preparation courses typically cost over a thousand dollars, with its MCAT courses ranging from $2,099 to $3,599 and its LSAT courses ranging from $799 to $1,999. In a written statement to WSN, Interim Provost Georgina Dopico said the partnership aims to help alleviate students’ struggles in accessing “high-quality test preparation courses.” “We are committed to ensuring that our students have the educational resources they need to thrive in their academic and professional pursuits, regardless of economic status,” Dopico wrote. “We are happy to offer this new resource to students, which eliminates at least one financial barrier to graduate education and professional licensing and responds to one of President Mills’ key priorities to help our students thrive.” Read the full story in the link below. By Adrianna Nehme for Washington Square News Photo by Natalia Kempthorne-Curiel for Washington Square News

A program director at NYU’s journalism institute may have been involved in hiring her former editor, who has been accused of sexual misconduct, as a professor in the department. The director, Katie Roiphe, had previously acknowledged the allegations against former Paris Review editor Lorin Stein in a 2018 essay. NYU recently canceled a graduate journalism class that Stein was scheduled to teach this semester, following a WSN inquiry regarding the allegations against him. On Feb. 5, The Daily Beast reported that “a source familiar with NYU’s hiring process” said Roiphe’s role as director of the Cultural Reporting and Criticism program allows her to have “near-total discretion over the hiring of adjunct faculty members.” The source also said that the Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute’s hiring process for adjuncts does not require the review of the hiring committee, unlike that of full-time faculty. Roiphe has two bylines in The Paris Review, one of which was published during Stein’s editorship. In a 2018 essay for Harper’s Magazine, Roiphe said “female writers flourished” during Stein’s time at The Paris Review, citing her personal experience with him and acknowledging positive reviews of female authors. Read the full story in the link below. By Dharma Niles for Washington Square News Photo courtesy of New York University