NYU Prof Cancelled Finals, Invited Students to Protest Israel
A Title VI discrimination complaint has been sent to the Department of Education.
A professor at New York University (NYU) in Manhattan faces a Title VI discrimination complaint after canceling her final classes to protest Israel, urging her students to join her at a pro-Palestine rally instead of completing their coursework.
Dr. Linda Luu, a Vietnamese scholar who teaches women’s studies, emailed her students at midnight on December 12th to announce that their final presentations were canceled. Instead, she invited them to meet her at the Bobst Library picket line, where protesters—some wearing keffiyehs and face masks—had blocked the entrance.
In her email, Dr. Luu wrote, “The entrance to Bobst is currently blocked by students demanding the university disclose and divest its funds, holdings, assets, and capital tied to the Israeli occupation. I regret that we cannot hear from the last round of students and their projects.”
She continued, “Students are demanding ‘no business as usual’ during a genocide. I have the choice to disavow my academic duties to protest. I invite anyone from class to join me at the picket line.”
While some students appeared to accept the change, at least one New York City resident filed a Title VI complaint with the U.S. Department of Education, accusing Dr. Luu of promoting personal political views at the expense of academic obligations and student rights.
Adam Drisin, a pro-Israel activist and member of Mothers Against Campus Antisemitism (MACA), filed the complaint on Sunday, which was obtained by Liberty Affair.
“The goal of this demonstration was to disrupt campus activity and stop students from studying. Professor Linda Luu went one step further by using an official course communication to express anti-Zionist and anti-Semitic views,” he wrote.
Drisin added, “Additionally, Dr. Luu invited students to join her in disrupting campus activities. In short, she asked NYU students to participate in an action that was both anti-Semitic and anti-Zionist.”
Efforts to reach NYU for comment were unsuccessful. Drisin also accuses the university of failing to address parents’ concerns, enforce Title VI protections, and train faculty on how antisemitism intersects with Jewish identity based on previous issues that have occurred at NYU.
Drisin argued that proper training could have prevented this situation. “Support for the Jewish homeland is a sincere and deeply felt expression of Jewish ethnic identity. Marginalizing students for their Zionist beliefs is as discriminatory as targeting Jewish students for observing the Sabbath or keeping kosher,” he stated.
Title VI of the Civil Rights Act prohibits discrimination based on race, color, or national origin in federally funded institutions. Recent interpretations, strengthened by an executive order from President Donald Trump in 2019, have expanded these protections to include Jewish students as a minority group. More than 3,500 NYU students—roughly 12% of the student body—identify as Jewish.
The controversy escalated after at least eight protesters, including two faculty members, were arrested outside Bobst Library the morning before Dr. Luu’s email. Protesters reportedly harassed students and blocked access to the library.
A university spokesperson disputed claims that the protest was peaceful, stating, “Their behavior disrupted academic operations during a critical time in the semester, interfered with students’ ability to study, and blocked safe passage into and out of a core academic building.”
Toni Airaksinen is a journalist in Delray Beach, Florida. Follow her Substack, Instagram, or on X, where she frequently tweets. Buy her a coffee here.
She is not a professor, she is a professional activist who supports and enables Islamic terrorists--and is encouraging her students to do the same.
A bit of a tangent but the linked descriptions of NYU American Studies PhD students focus (see the link embedded in Dr Wuu’s name in the second paragraph) suggest an ideological environment where nonsense like cancelling finals to barricade a library is a predictable outcome.