"As a debater, a product of Jesuit schooling, a scholar of religion, and a legal scholar, I was taught that words matter. Rational discourse matters. Setting an example matters. --more--

NYU President John Sexton standing with Global Debate Students
NYU President John Sexton With Global Debate Students

“I want to address the deplorable rise in Islamophobia.

“As a debater, a product of Jesuit schooling, a scholar of religion, and a legal scholar, I was taught that words matter. Rational discourse matters. Setting an example matters.

“So, it is dismaying and hard to believe the state of our national discourse, and the suggestions that our country take actions against certain people on the basis of their religion.

“As the president of the U.S. university that educates more international students than any other, that sends more students to study abroad than any other, and that arguably has a more expansive global presence than any other, I can state with some considerable authority that these sentiments are as misguided as they are odious and reprehensible.

"We should put an end to spread of such egregious prejudice. In this current climate, I would ask that all the members of the NYU community bear in mind what is being said about our Muslim colleagues, friends, and peers; that they let them know that as a community we reject it; and that they go out of their way to remind them that they are valued here and belong here."

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