After joining pro-Palestinian sit-in, Andrew Ross and Sonya Posmentier were declared ‘personae non gratae’

Two professors declared “personae non gratae”, or PNG, by New York University have accused the university of escalating suppression of pro-Palestinian speech under pressure from donors, politicians and pro-Israel groups.

NYU has barred the two tenured faculty members, Andrew Ross and Sonya Posmentier, from entering some buildings after they joined a sit-in at the library and other protests over two days last week to demand the university make public its investments in companies tied to Israel and close its campus in Tel Aviv. On the second day, they were arrested and charged with trespass and disorderly conduct, relatively minor offences that do not result in a criminal record.