On May 30, 2024, it was reported that United Arab Emirati (UAE) authorities had detained and then deported a graduate student who had made pro-Palestinian comments during New York University Abu Dhabi’s (NYUAD) graduation ceremony.
On May 17, NYUAD administrators sent an email to graduating students stipulating that they could only wear “approved academic attire” and prohibiting all “cultural attire,” including scarves, at the commencement ceremony. The email also stated that students could not decorate their caps or gowns, or bring in bags, signs, posters, banners, flags, or “flag-like” attire into the ceremony.
During the May 22 ceremony, a PhD student walked across the stage wearing a keffiyeh, a traditional Palestinian scarf, and shouted “Free Palestine.” Shortly thereafter, UAE authorities detained the student for nearly a week, and subsequently deported him.
Scholars at Risk is concerned about the detention and deportation of a student in retaliation for their peaceful exercise of freedom of expression— conduct that is expressly protected under international human rights instruments including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which the United Arab Emirates is a party. State authorities must refrain from interfering with such conduct as long as it is carried out peacefully and responsibly. In addition to the harm to the immediate victims, detentions and deportations of students undermine academic freedom, university autonomy, and democratic society more generally.
Sources:
https://www.chronicle.com/newsletter/latitudes/2024-06-20
https://x.com/aaup_nyu/status/1796560244572651757
https://mesana.org/advocacy/committee-on-academic-freedom/2024/06/03/letter-to-the-president-of-nyu-and-the-interim-vice-chancellor-of-nyuad-regarding-the-deportation-of-two-nyuad-community-members-and-other-repressive-acts-by-the-uae-authorities
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/uae-hamas-palestine-israel-student-b2577202.html
https://facultyforpalestine.education/2024/05/30/may-30-aaup-press-release-nyu-leadership-fails-to-protect-speech-and-academic-freedom-from-extreme-repression-at-nyus-abu-dhabi-campus/
https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/uae-deported-student-who-wore-keffiyeh-graduation-ceremony
https://nyunews.com/news/2024/06/09/nyu-abu-dhabi-free-speech/
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/global/us-colleges-world/2024/06/28/scholars-blast-nyu-abu-dhabi-crackdown-palestinian-support