Despite a protest that could have escalated, the New York University Chapter of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) got their wish for the National Security Agency (NSA) to cancel its appearance at a recent career fair at the school’s engineering campus in Brooklyn.
The science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) career fair, held on October 8, was a place for students to come in and search for future job opportunities, but when the NSA was welcomed to the school, students did not feel safe.
The plan was to picket outside of the fair, and for students to know to stay away, but the picket did not happen because the NSA was removed from the event list on Monday. NYU Tandon School of Engineering public affairs officer Leah Schmerl told the AmNews, “The NSA informed us that they were unable to attend the Career Fair due to the federal government shutdown.” On Monday, NYU engineering student Ebtesham Ahmed, 21, saw that the NSA was removed from the employer list, and when they reached out to the college, was told the NSA would not join due to the government shutdown. However, SDS members say it was their opposition to having the NSA come to campus that warded them off. About 60 students signed a petition demanding that the agency not be present because of claims of sharing data for unethical surveillance purposes.
“It was because of the government shutdown and what we do recognize is that that definitely does play a factor, [but] we also believe our campaign pressure” also worked, said Ahmed.
An Instagram post from the campus organization read, “the National Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) declares victory for our campaign to remove the National Security Agency (NSA) from the Fall career fair at NYU Tandon.”
The NSA did not respond to queries from the AmNews.
The New York University Chapter of SDS is a student organization founded in 2023 that meets every Thursday to discuss their campaigns, which currently include to “demand” that NYU become a sanctuary campus, and not to comply with President Donald Trump.
The organization has stood against the NSA’s presence, believing the agency is also complicit in the violence in Palestine.
“It’s known that they shared data with the Israeli military, who use this to train killer AI that is used to target and kill Palestinians,” Ahmed said.
Ahmed said that while many students did not know what the NSA was, when they were told what it does, there was almost complete shock that it would appear on the NYU campus.
Students were “shocked … that this organization was invited to an upcoming career fair,” Ahmed said.