NYU Cancels Former New Yorker Fact-Checker Talia Lavin’s Journalism Class

New York University has canceled an undergraduate journalism class that former New Yorker fact-checker Talia Lavin was scheduled to teach this fall after only two students signed up.

The decision to hire Lavin to teach the elective, “Reporting on the Far Right,” had drawn criticism since she resigned her New Yorker position last June after falsely accusing an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent of having a Nazi tattoo.

Adam Penenberg, director of undergraduate studies at NYU’s Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute, said that low enrollment forced him to cancel the class. “Canceling the class had nothing to do with Talia’s writings, tweets, or anything else. We cancelled it because too few students enrolled,” Penenberg added.

Lavin did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

NYU journalism electives are capped at 15 students, though the department has run courses with as few as eight students under certain circumstances.

Penenberg also said it was unlikely his department would invite Lavin back. “It would make no sense to try it again, given how few students expressed interest,” he said. “We have no plans to offer Talia another course, simply because her main focus (and the focus of her upcoming book) is the far right.”

Lavin’s official NYU faculty bio — which lauded her as an expert in “far-right extremism and social justice” — was removed sometime around April 20, 2019, according to the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine.

Chaotic border chase ends with illegal immigrants found crammed in semitruck sleeping area

Video shows illegal aliens found crammed inside semi-truck sleeper cab in alleged smuggling bust

DOJ sues UCLA over alleged ‘Judenrein’ conditions during anti-Israel encampment

EXCLUSIVE: DHS blasts sanctuary leaders after illegal immigrant accused of bat attack freed from jail

Christian Lifeguard Punished for Removing Pride Flag Is Headed to Trial After Being Told His ‘Religious Beliefs Don’t Matter’ by Gov’t Boss – Lawsuit

Fact Check: Is the Bible ‘Silent on Abortion,’ as James Talarico Claims?

NASA chief pulls back curtain on Trump UFO files after bizarre finds surface in buried fed records

Report: NBA Team Could Interview Woke Women’s College Coach for Head Coaching Job

Democrats break with scandal-plagued Graham Platner, warn of ‘civil war’ in party

Uganda closes border with Congo after surge of rare Ebola cases

Anna ‘Delvey’ Sorokin still posting from New York City as DHS signals her deportation may finally be coming

Federal agents in New Jersey beat back anti-ICE agitators in chaos outside Delaney Hall detention facility

Pro Bowl NFL Running Back Arrested on 5 Charges

US Military Carries Out Deadly Strike on Drug-Smuggling Vessel in Eastern Pacific

U.S. Rushing to Set Up Ebola Quarantine Facility: Report

In her original course, Lavin promised a fulsome exploration of the “far right,” saying she would show students how to track and identify online extremism.

“In an era when hate is on the rise, this course will provide student journalists with a thorough grounding in far-right and white-supremacist movements in the United States, briefly examining their history and delving into their sprawling present incarnations,” reads a now deleted course description, which also promised “a careful analysis of pieces that have fallen short of the mark.”

Lavin’s three-year career as a fact checker at The New Yorker was derailed last June after she tweeted an accusation that Justin Gaertner, a wheelchair-bound ICE agent, of sporting a Nazi Iron Cross tattoo over his left elbow. She later deleted the tweet and apologized after learning the tattoo represented a Maltese Cross, a symbol commonly used by members of the U.S. Veterans of Foreign Wars.

Though the original misleading tweet was only up for a short time, Lavin earned a public rebuke from both ICE and her employer that led to her voluntary resignation.