Amid a Culture of Mistrust, How Do We Engage in Transparent and Intentional Reporting?

The Gazelle reflects on the diminishing trust students have in the institution and how we can continue to hold our university accountable, amplify marginalized voices, and report honestly.

“I would like to not get by just barely” — partial aid students at NYUAD

The lack of a clear process to appeal one’s financial aid offer as well as general sentiments on campus that almost all students are on full-aid has led to difficult, uncomfortable, and frustrating moments for students on partial aid.

Behind the Scenes of Temporary People: Stories of Collaboration and Community

NYUAD’s fall production, Temporary People, took the form of a multidisciplinary docu-fictive performance, directed by Laila Soliman in collaboration with Faustin Linyekula.

We Have A Responsibility to be More Intentional When We Talk About Migration

It would be a disservice if we leave here after four years stuck in a liminal space of not really defending and not really critiquing, without unpacking the inherent racialization of many of the ways in which migration issues are framed.

Letter From The Editors: Our Community’s Support Is Crucial For Us To Do Our Best Work

Not only do we need less bureaucratic hurdles to navigate but we need active, persistent and purposeful engagement from all members of our community — this includes students but also administration, staff and faculty.

Afro Fest returns as a welcome celebration of community and collective joy

Afro Fest, a showcase and celebration of cultures from the African continent and diaspora, brought the NYUAD community together to share and learn through performances, educational booths, and food.

Meet Nathalie Peutz, the new Executive Director of the Core Curriculum

Nathalie Peutz was appointed as the Executive Director of the Core Curriculum. Here, she talks about her background, how it informs her work and ideas for the future of the Core.

For Tarek Al-Ghoussein, A Humble Mentor and A Generous Friend.

Tarek’s influence is woven into the fabric of NYU Abu Dhabi. You have benefitted from his grace, talent and curiosity. He changed the psychic texture of rooms he walked into. We now move forward without him.

RealAD Holds Up a Mirror to Our Community on Stage Once Again

RealAD returns in person for the first time since 2019 and reminds us of why we have missed seeing it live so much.

On Learning to Live in a World Where There’s No Grace To Pause

My kindness to myself can not be conditional on how well I do on all the metrics I have been taught that define my self-worth. These were the standards that used to define me, without them my being feels boundless but empty. But I am learning.

“Clashing”: What Western Media Narratives Surrounding Sri Lanka Miss

Sri Lanka is hurting — but it faces a revolutionary movement with great potential for change. Leading media organizations need to more accurately chronicle the struggles against a repressive regime.

“We want to show solidarity”: Sri Lankans Abroad Support Protests Back Home

Sri Lankans in New York took to the streets to express support for those struggling and resisting in their home country, which is currently undergoing a devastating economic crisis.

Crisis in Sri Lanka: The Consequences of Institutional Neglect

Shortages and inflation have made life in Sri Lanka more and more difficult by the month. But this situation was not always inevitable — decades of neglect and corruption have met current mismanagement to shape the country’s predicament.

Weeks of Chaos: How ResEd Navigated A Difficult Transition

With the last-minute cancellation of January Term, an overstretched Residential Education staff struggled to overcome challenges of housing more students than were expected. Several students share their experience navigating this challenge.

Encanto: On Familial Love and Generational Trauma

Encanto begins as a simple story but comes to allow for a complex understanding of the emotional tensions within families defined by the traumas of their ancestors.

The NYUAD Climate Survey Report, Explained

The data suggests that large percentages of students, faculty and staff feel positively about NYUAD but that climate is less hospitable for community members of marginalized identities, particularly for People of Determination and Black participants.

Expo 2020: Sri Lanka’s Pavilion of Erasure

The Sri Lankan pavilion not only ignores local exploitation to flaunt an international narrative of exoticism, but also reinforces a hierarchy that Sinhalese-Buddhists are more Sri Lankan than anyone else.

Why We Need To Rethink FYD

The FYD Program is one of the hallmarks of the NYUAD first-year experience. Despite the curriculum’s aims of promoting inclusivity and intercultural understanding, the program has some glaring flaws.

I Was Aware of The Privilege of Being A Student at NYUAD. I Didn’t Know It Would Save My Life.

By virtue of being a student at NYUAD, I am safer than most during a public health crisis that has made crematoriums out of public parks. I am reckoning with that anger and guilt.

Funny Boy: Powerful But Inauthentic

While the movie Funny Boy provides a voice for those who exist on the fringes of our ethnocentric, heteronormative society, the true story becomes inauthentic as its characters are contrived and dislocated.

As We Lose Our Study Aways, We Must Rethink Our Narrow Conceptions of Global Education

Study Away has always been marketed as the backbone of NYUAD’s global education. Faced now with the loss of study aways, we must now reevaluate what it means to receive a global education and whether Eurocentric study aways are imperative to this.

If the Community Standards Non-Compliance Report Form Must Exist, It Should Apply to Faculty and Admin Too

Even if all students follow the current guidelines, it will be in vain if faculty and admin are not obliged to do the same. When different guidelines exist for different community members, it creates a false sense of disconnect within the community.

Forced Cremations Continue the Persecution of Sri Lanka’s Muslim Community

The discriminatory actions of the Sri Lankan government in regards to enforcing cremation have left the country’s Muslim community in a state of uncertainty, grief and exclusion.

Not So Fast: Why Covid-19 Should Lead to the Demise of Fast Fashion

From its environmental impact to ethical concerns, the cost of the fast fashion industry is well-documented. However, the disruption caused by Covid-19 has offered us a chance to forge a different path for fashion, and we cannot let this opportunity.

‘Men Will Suffer’: A Review of Churails

What Churails succeeds at is drawing the connection between Pakistan’s colonial hangover and its current systemic harassment of women. It shows the immense structural violence exercised against women and how it is justified in the name of culture.

How to Ethically Consume Art: The Case of J.K. Rowling and Harry Potter

J.K. Rowling’s problematic and damaging stance towards the trans community forces us to revisit childhood memories but this time with a critical eye.

Social Media Institutions Threaten The Democratic Project

The imperceptible shifts in our behavior induced by surveillance capitalism erode democratic culture and personal autonomy.

Sri Lanka 2020: A Eulogy to Democracy

"We should not have to compromise on our democracy in order to achieve tangible change,” writes Githmi Rabel of the recent election of an authoritarian government in Sri Lanka.

Diversity and NYUAD: Numbers Are Not Everything

Focusing solely on diversity’s quantifiable nature is not enough.

Little Women: An Adaptation for a New Era

Louisa May Alcott wrote Little Women in 1868. In 2020, Greta Gerwig’s film adaptation sets out to free the original characters from the bounds of Alcott’s time, and does so pertinently.

The Legacy of Kobe Bryant

Acknowledging the 2003 allegations of sexual assault does not diminish Kobe Bryant’s legacy. Instead, it provides a more accurate picture of how his life interacted with that of another life, for all too often, we forget the victim.