Hackers Target NYU, Publish Admissions Data by Race
If the hackers’ data is accurate, it strongly suggests that NYU is still practicing affirmative action in its admissions decisions.
At 10:00 a.m. ET on Sunday, hackers breached New York University’s website. According to university officials:
Malicious hackers took control of the systems that display NYU’s web presence and redirected traffic to NYU’s site to a webpage the hackers created.
The University’s IT team responded immediately, and the University notified law enforcement. The malicious redirection was brought to a halt, the webpage the attackers established was taken down, and NYU’s website is once again online and available.
The University will work closely with law enforcement as they pursue their investigation.
Shortly after 10:00 a.m. ET today, malicious hackers took control of the systems that display NYU’s web presence and redirected traffic to NYU’s site to a webpage the hackers created. (1/3)
— New York University (@nyuniversity) March 22, 2025
Although the website was back in working order within several hours, visitors were redirected to a webpage that showed the average SAT test scores, ACT scores, and Grade Point Averages of admitted students in 2024—by race!
Additionally, Washington Square News, NYU’s student newspaper, reported that the hacked page also linked to the names, test scores, majors, and zip codes, of more than three million applicants as well as “information related to family members and financial aid dating back to at least 1989.”
Worse, the hacked page was archived and a link to the data was posted on social media.
Shortly before 1 p.m., an X user announced that NYU’s website had been restored.
NYU's main page has now been restored.
Thankfully, the hacked page was archived, and can be viewed here:https://t.co/pLZhwBCVNH
— i/o (@alkonata) March 22, 2025
According to the graphs on the leaked page, the average SAT scores for admitted students were as follows: Asians, 1,485.86; whites, 1,428.23; Hispanics, 1,355.10; and blacks, 1,289.87. This reveals a nearly 200-point disparity between the average scores of Asian and black students.
A similar pattern emerged in ACT scores: the average for admitted Asian students was 32.94, compared to 31.14 for whites, 29.51 for Hispanics, and 27.78 for blacks.
The differences in average GPAs among admitted students were narrower across all racial groups. In fact, white students had the highest average GPA at 3.66, surpassing Asian students, whose average was 3.61. The average GPAs for Hispanics and blacks were 3.57 and 3.48, respectively.
NYU was hacked earlier today and the admissions statistics for the university were posted.
We saw the typical racial hierarchy that emerges under Affirmative Action and DEI programs where Black and Hispanic candidates are artificially boosted with race preferences while Asian… pic.twitter.com/PGBbLHNVet
— The Rabbit Hole (@TheRabbitHole84) March 22, 2025
The hackers noted on the page, “On June 29, 2023, racial affirmative action in college admissions was ruled illegal.” They added that the data “reveals NYU continued anyway.”
It is unknown if this data is accurate or if the hackers were leaking false information.
One Twitter user pointed out that since the university did not publicly “deny the authenticity of the data,” it is likely accurate. That might be a stretch.
Notice that they do not deny the authenticity of the data, which, if accurate, would be grounds for a lawsuit. https://t.co/PZP1tvBMZT
— Aaron Sibarium (@aaronsibarium) March 23, 2025
The hackers identified themselves by the pseudonym, “Computer Niggy Exploitation.” Washington Square News reported:
In July 2023, an online group who went by the same pseudonym, leaked more than 7 million social security numbers by hacking the University of Minnesota’s admissions records since 1989, in a similar attempt to compare students’ racial demographics to their test scores.
In June 2023, the Supreme Court ruled that “colleges and universities can no longer take race into consideration as a specific basis in admissions — a landmark decision that overturns long-standing precedent that has benefited Black and Latino students in higher education.”
At the time, NYU issued a statement condemning the decision as a “step backwards.”
According to the student newspaper:
Admissions data released last October showed a significant drop in historically underrepresented minority groups — namely students who identify as “Black, Hispanic, Native American and Hawaiian and other Pacific islander” — with Black student enrollment falling to 4% from 7% and Latino student enrollment falling to 10% from 15%. In a corresponding statement, president Linda Mills said the changes were “not unanticipated” but that the university will “continue to innovate on.”
However, if the statistics reported by the hackers are genuine, they cast doubt on that report. In other words, if the hackers’ data is accurate, it strongly suggests that NYU is still practicing affirmative action in its admissions decisions.
The only way to resolve this mystery is through transparency. Any university that receives federal funding should be required to disclose the average test scores and GPAs of admitted students. And yes, NYU does receive federal funding.
As we just witnessed with Columbia University, financial incentives play a powerful role in shaping institutional decisions.
Elizabeth writes commentary for Legal Insurrection and The Washington Examiner. She is an academy fellow at The Heritage Foundation. Please follow Elizabeth on X or LinkedIn.
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Comments
The first thing that most surprises me about this article is that there is an organized hacking group that is not flaming left-wing Commie. The second was disappointment that if there were to be one, it would choose to go by a name that is so patently offensive.
I smell a rat!
Agree on the first point. I don’t have enough data on the second point.
Many hackers hack to be patently offensive. That name would fit right in on 4Chan.
Hispanics doing pretty good actually (except congressman (AOC)and leftwing judges). Good to see, Blacks not so much.
Would like to see distributions of scores since averages can be misleading,
Would also like to see graduation rates and majors.
Hispanics have a much better work ethic and culture than blacks, average IQ of Hispanics is 87, blacks 85, Hispanics 2 points does not explain their better performance, culture does.
A lot of those “Hispanics ” are quite literally Hispanics In Name Only.
My daughter had a “Hispanic”.boyfriend. 6ft,2″, blue eyes, reddish blond hair. Could have passed for Scandinavian. But had a typical Hispanic last name.
Bright kid, but nothing special. Slam dunk for Medical school.
Well South/Central America hispanics are quite often mixed race. A lot of intermarriage between indian, african, european leads to a white variety of people. There is probably a unstated caste system where the more european you look the higher in status you are treated. Indians are at the bottom and the bred resentment in people like Hugo Chavez or so i think,
Are you sure about those in scores
Boarding on retarded
Hispanics are doing fine. Latinx not so much.
I’m sure you can look at the full data set to glean that data. I’d be more interested in what the bottom 1/3rd of admits by race looked like.
Yes, graduation rates and majors would be very helpful.
Leave it to Leftists to thumb the
. . . to thumb their noses at the law of the land.
“t strongly suggests that NYU is still practicing affirmative action”
We knew they were going to do this. It is time to sock it to NYU, withhold Federal money. In fact, these stats are a good way to police universities. There should be zero tolerance for any Affirmative and DEI crap.
While we are at this, no student loans or Pell for BS majors.
Wonder who the insider is?
I must say that though there is disparity, all the applicants seem intelligent for this generation. Of course the modern SAT does not compare favorably to the older test.
Don’t forget rampant grade point inflation.
I still get confused when someone has a GPA above 4.0
A+
I actually got a couple of those in college. Perfect score on all tests and quizzes and also on all extra credit assignments and questions lifted my consolidated score above 100/100 and granted me an A+.
Back in my day (maybe still now, I dunno) your grade in an AP class counted one point higher than it would in a regular class. Increased your average.
MIT uses 5.0 as their high score.
for basketball players
The elephant in the room isn’t the test scores. It’s admitting unqualified students to a university based on skin color or ethnicity where they have a far less chance of succeeding. It’s not fair to them.
That’s the mismatch problem. It’s why excellent Black premeds (who would excel at their local university) have trouble at high-pressure colleges and rarely complete the premed program. They drop out into something like Afro, where they are guaranteed success.
please tell me:
how else do you get basketball players
My daughter played D1 basketball. She took nearly all AP classes in HS and was in orchestra for all of HS g the cello
She didnt need a helping hand to academically qualify.
Well who is paying for this? POC’s ain’t getting full rides, they’re taking out loans just like white kids.
Isn’t it racist to admit people into a worthless program, charge exorbitant amounts of money for something of very little value which will saddle them with a lifetime of debt and disproportionately target POC?
I honestly think this is racist AGAINST black people.
Didn’t have that 3D chess in your bingo card did you?
Pell grants give thousands per semester and are a used by so many it would turn your stomach
There were Pell Grant recipients of my daughter‘s basketball team and all of them use fake addresses said they were brought up by their grandparents so that they would qualify and this was 20 years ago and they were getting 5000 a semester plus books and etc., and all that, even though that would be covered by their scholarship. I can only imagine how much they get probably 10,000 a semester at this time we need muk to look into this.
Grade inflation being what it is, I wouldn’t put a whole lot of stock in the reported GPA data.
Will Robert’s rebuke NYU for ignoring court rulings on racial discrimination? Will Boasberg demand written answers by morning?
no one is surprised that the lefty is violating laws
their goals are stated and clear
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