Open Letter- Racism, bullying and silencing at New York University
“We have determined that this matter does not rise to the level of warranting an investigation by our office”
-Investigator from The Office of Equal Opportunity, New York University, 21st October 2020
Dear New York University,
The American colony that is your Florence campus has done everything to prove that you have, and are entirely committed to, a normalized culture of racism, bullying and silencing, with all the insidious intersections of abuse that arise from it. All the programming and liberal White posturing, loudly proclaiming inclusivity and diversity, are obscene when paired with how your institution allows many Directors, staff and professors to behave on the grounds of that campus. From what I have experienced personally from the staunch inaction of your offices, and management when reporting discrimination, there is a well organised system in place to undermine complaints.
After having endured the disgrace that is your institutions’ dismissive attitude towards racism, glorified Golliwog adoration and mafia style silencing and bullying, it beggars belief how you have been able to openly promote yourself as progressive for so long.
There is a clear White bias (Read: racism), abuse of power, unfettered racism, Islamophobia and bullying that needs to be uprooted in order to retain any semblance of integrity. Retaliation, belittling, upholding of racist rhetoric and racialised language, should not be the norm. I have spoken and written up plans to address this via the Office of Student Life, Inclusion Diversity Belonging and Equity committee, Human Resources, The Global office, The Office of Global Inclusion and, finally, to the Office of Equal Opportunity, before resigning. Bar the talk on Race and Whiteness that happened recently, most of my suggestions for improvements to the community culture either fell on closed ears or, as is custom, I was swiftly iced out of the development process of them.
The pandering to Whiteness at your institution makes for uncomfortable viewing. To watch the institution’s attempts to distance itself from its abusive behavior with empty statements like ‘We take these accusations very seriously’, all while strategically creating ‘The Token and the Problem’ dynamic between its Black and POC staff and lecturers, is deplorable. Having willing marionettes as tokens does not make it any less acceptable.
Notwithstanding complaints, the institution has continued to outsource its brand of liberal White racism on their Florence campus. I have been present in conversations where some of my then colleagues, both American and British, have pivoted blame by expressing the violence experienced has everything to do with the location of the campus. I will restate this point, yet again, for those of the institution who feign ignorance and add fuel this kind of discourse. NYU Florence’s issues should not be framed as just an Italian problem. You are an American institution with your own very well honed history of discrimination.
Americans exercising their privilege over Italians by calling Italian racism ‘worse’ is a special breed of cognitive distancing. This is not a few bad apples, but institutionally led. You treat Black, Indigenous and People of Colour like the noble savages and Italian Whites as the ‘petite blancs’.
The psychological hoops some of my then colleagues would jump through, so as not to admit their own racism and bias, is very familiar to me being a Black Brit. The racism on campus is influenced by its location, yes, but upheld and nourished by the power of American settler colonial racism. Exploring how it manifests differently depending on the environment makes sense, debating degrees of racism, does not. Racism is caustic, violent and debilitating. Always.
The colonial pandering and plantation like dynamics only confirm your institution, and the individuals playing the role of master, had no plans to truly embody progressive values. It is disingenuous to invite the likes of Ta-Nehisi Coates and Angela Davis to speak at the Florence site, only to maintain a campus so hostile that the very few students and employees of colour feel the need to escape. It is pointless to have diversity committees and offices that do not respond to complaints with the urgency and respect merited- if they respond at all. It is manipulative and counterproductive to hire and uphold people that have proven, through their actions over many years, that they are not willing to do the work to decolonize their own minds- though make a point of being very well versed in the language that makes them appear progressive.
Many in the NYU community, past and present, have experienced the same stains left from the aggressive racism and bullying. Many of these people are no longer broken or silent by your dehumanising behaviour. Your strategies to divide and conquer while protecting your bottom line are transparent.
In response to your Equal Opportunity Office, ‘administratively closing the matter’ after having ‘reviewed all the relevant information’, I wrote, in part:
“It was the duty of your office to deal with my claims of racialised harassment and disparate treatment. It is offensive and obscene that NYU would deem it appropriate to pass this matter, yet again, to another department. Racial harassment is more than a HR matter… Your institution’s abusive behaviour is allowed to propagate in your silence and continues to prove that Black lives do not matter to NYU, outside promotional material.”- 2nd November 2020
As expected, the offices and individuals copied into the email did not respond.
I spent 2 years bearing witness to how caustic racism works in NYU Florence. I gave the benefit of the doubt, had the ‘difficult conversations’, listened as staff and faculty suggested racism was my personal problem, and observed that for an uncomfortable many, it was better to align themselves with individual interests and superficial allyship, rather than being principled. I spent 2 years being mined as a resource to then be discarded, my experience, knowledge and ideas reappropriated and presented by a more palatable face of diversity.
Why are these duplicitous behaviours the norm at your institution?
September 2020, when I finally decided to resign, I made sure that your senior management and the relevant offices all knew why, in no uncertain terms. Everyone from NYU Florence and NYU New York that needed to know was emailed. I received no response, apart from one brief non apology response, with your legal counsel neatly copied in.
I filed my last two complaints officially with the Office of Equal Opportunity before making my resignation final. I gave over 20 incidents with dates, locations and witnesses, sent the requested PDF document with over 120 pages of emails of supporting evidence, spoke to your investigators via zoom for an hour a half, and wrote a exhaustive list of steps on how repairs should be made to myself and the whole community. I did all this notwithstanding the besmirching of my character, intimidation, elitism and deafening silence. I even continued when I was coldly told I was not permitted back on campus after returning university property. The item was taken, but I was not even allowed to use the bathroom.
“Perché?”
(Why ?)
“Mi hanno detto di non farti entrare”
(They told me not to allow you in)
“We have determined that this matter does not rise to the level of warranting an investigation by our office”.
Who will determine who you are answerable to?
Say your mind Podcast by Kelechi Okafor (begin at 52.30 seconds)
NYU Local article by Sarah Patt
WNYU Radio- The Rundown, segment by Jennifer Sanchez
Flow Radio Interview- interview by Emma Grace
Public Archive of NYU Discrimination
