NYU will suspend its 30-second penalties and stop its persistent email reminders to students who have not agreed to the university’s updated student conduct policies.

Before the change, students who did not complete the agreement — which was part of NYU’s new non-discrimination and anti-harassment modules — faced a 30 second delay while connecting to NYU Home, Albert, and Brightspace. University spokesman John Beckman told WSN the delay was lifted because administrators were “aware” of the upcoming course registration period.

“The university has suspended the 30-second delay for that small percentage of students who have not yet completed the required NDAH preparation,” Beckman said. “All students are subject to the NDAH and NYU’s student conduct policies, and all students are responsible for being familiar with the material in the course.”

At o October 24 meeting between faculty and administration, President Linda Mills said 88 percent of all NYU students — more than 50,000 people — have completed the required training. Students who didn’t fill it out continually received messages warning them of several other penalties they could face, including extended wait times, mandatory password resets and “other administrative actions.” Beckman did not clarify whether students would still be subject to such actions.

In the module, students are asked to agree to NYU updated student conduct guidelineswhich cites “code words such as ‘Zionist’,” as examples of potentially discriminatory speech. Several campus organizations, including the People’s Solidarity Coalition and the Graduate Student Union, called on students to refrain from completing the modules in protest. Tuesday afternoon, the union said in an Instagram post that he filed a complaint this week about the login delays, asking NYU to stop the action and begin bargaining efforts over NDAH policies.

Jonah Inserra, a union organizer, said the updated guidelines complicate what teachers can discuss in the classroom regarding the Middle East and Zionism. Inserra added that the problem was exacerbated by modules and the university’s enforcement of students asserting their understanding of the policy.

“We still would have grieved this with the university and asked for negotiations, which we did,” Inserra said in an interview with WSN. “But it might not have had the same kind of public dimension that was sort of imposed on us by the fact that the university was making a big effort to make sure that everybody agreed and certified it.”

The graduate student union post came after the history Ph.D. candidates received an email saying the administration was “pleased” with the completion rate and would “end reminders and annoyances”. The email, which came from Robyn d’Avignon, director of graduate studies for NYU’s history department, said Lynne Kiorpes, dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, took “very seriously the concerns expressed by students against the formation of NDAH . .”

Kiorpes told WSN that administrators said at the Oct. 24 meeting that there would be “no further or ongoing consequences” for students who did not complete the module.

In the email, d’Avignon also said administrators will review and “revise” the training before next year after consulting with faculty “with expertise in areas relevant to training and current conflicts.” At the Oct. 24 meeting, Mills also said the university would reconsider training processes and how to “train well” in the future. Since the delays, students have expressed dismay and said requiring people to complete the modules does not effectively enforce the policies.

“Making the module optional gives people a sense of agency in completing it, which means they’ll be more likely to complete it,” Tisch junior Kiran Arain told WSN. “However, it doesn’t matter much when NYU has consistently shown a disregard for anti-discrimination and has instead chosen to place religiously based political views in a protected position.”

Contact Mariapaula Gonzalez at (email protected).