On Saturday, March 22nd, an image that categorized the average statistics of admitted students from the graduating high school class of 2025 who were accepted into NYA by race was released. A dark web user took responsibility for the brief hacking of NYU’s website. The site was reclaimed after around two hours, reverting to its normal graphics at 12:54 PM.

Instead of the normal images of NYU athletes and the Greenwich Village campus, the site simply featured a black background with green writing that showed a message, stating “On June 29, 2023, racial affirmative action in college admission was ruled illegal. Computer Niggy Exploitation (CNE) reveals NYU continued anyway.” 

Below this are three charts each categorizing a different student statistic in racial demographics: Asian, White, Hispanic, and Black. These three statistics were SAT scores, ACT scores, and GPAs.

This astonishing data and message raises questions about the dignity and transparency of NYU. While the hacker committed an illegal act, the rightness of his act is up for question. The hacker, who is thought to go by the name “@bestn-gy” on X, in theory, did a positive act. NYU, a school respected across the country for its academic excellence, honor code, and sports, seemingly committed fraud against its students, giving different criteria for students based on their race.

This data only shows the issues in the US.