NYU is not implementing racial segregation in dorms

CLAIM: New York University has been working with a small, student-led task force to make racially segregated housing a reality in undergraduate student dorms.

AP’S ASSESSMENT: False. “NYU does not have and will not create student housing that excludes any student based on race,” the university said in a statement. After a student group applied to establish a dorm floor around themes of Black history and culture earlier in the summer, NYU clarified such floors must be open to students of “all races and backgrounds.”

THE FACTS: On July 20, NYU’s student-run newspaper the Washington Square News wrote about a student group’s efforts to establish Black student housing for first-year students.

According to the article, two students created an online petition demanding Black student housing on the private university’s New York City campus because they felt the university didn’t provide adequate support for its Black students.

A month later, an article on a socialist news website spun the report into the false claim that NYU intends to segregate its students based on race.

“New York University moves to implement racial segregation in student dorms,” read the headline of the Aug. 24 article, which was captured in a screenshot and shared in an Instagram post viewed more than 100,000 times.

“Since late June, the Office of Residential Life and Housing Services at New York University (NYU) has been working closely with a small, student-led task force to make racially segregated housing a reality in undergraduate student dorms,” the article continued.

This article is not true, according to a statement published the same day by NYU.

In the statement, NYU called the article “false and misleading.” 

According to the statement, when students applied to create an “Exploration Floor” in the dorms based on Black history and culture earlier in the summer, the housing office staff clarified that the floor must remain open to people of any race or background.

“The University strongly supports the goals of diversity, and of creating an environment that is welcoming, supportive, and inclusive for students of color and students from marginalized communities,” the statement said. “However, NYU does not have and will not create student housing that excludes any student based on race.”

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This is part of The Associated Press’ ongoing effort to fact-check misinformation that is shared widely online, including work with Facebook to identify and reduce the circulation of false stories on the platform.

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