On Sunday morning, less than 24 hours after The Intercept reported on the issue, New York University School of Law walked back its demand that 31 pro-Palestine students give up their right to protest in order to sit for in-person final exams.

The school had said that the students, under disciplinary investigation for participation in sit-in protests earlier this year, had to sign a so-called “Use of Space Agreement” that included a pledge not to protest on law school property if they wanted to be allowed into academic buildings to sit their exams.

“Should you decide not to sign the Use of Space Agreement, you will still be able to take your in-person exams in the law school buildings in which they are scheduled,” Maggie Morrow, the law school’s senior associate director of community standards and processes, wrote in an email obtained by The Intercept. “That would just be the only purpose for which you would have approved access to the law school buildings.”

The 31 law students who received the email were assigned interim “personae non grata,” or PNG, status following peaceful sit-ins on campus on March 4 and April 29.

The school’s new email to students did not offer relief from their broader PNG status; they remained barred from most buildings on campus whether they renounce........

© The Intercept