Hackers Target NYU, Publish Admissions Data by Race
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.
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.
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.
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.
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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