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.

Appeals court rules ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ can stay open, rejecting push for federal environmental impact review

EXCLUSIVE: DHS honors angel families during National Crime Victims Week, calls crimes ‘completely preventable’

Democrats win Virginia redistricting fight, threatening Republican House majority

‘Melrose Place’ and ‘Starship Troopers’ Actor Patrick Muldoon Dies at Age 57

Top House Republican Warns Ilhan Omar That Her Financial Disclosure Revision Won’t Save Her

EXCLUSIVE: Pence warns GOP ‘must deliver,’ or Planned Parenthood gets taxpayer cash on Fourth of July deadline

Federal court upholds Texas law requiring Ten Commandments in public classrooms

DOJ says Southern Poverty Law Center funneled $3M+ to white supremacist and extremist groups

Trump and DeSantis Discuss Appointment to Key Administration Position: Report

Rep. Luna calls for GOP ticket of JD Vance and Marco Rubio in 2028

‘ICON’: Biden DOJ officials privately fawned over Fani Willis as they coordinated on Trump investigation

BREAKING: President Trump Makes Major Announcement About Upcoming Attack on Iran

High school counselor pleads guilty to multiple sex crimes involving teen she was meant to help

Trump says China tried to send ‘gift’ to Iran, undermining his ‘good relationship’ with Xi

Americans among injured at shooting caught on video at tourist hot spot in Mexico

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.