NYU Students Upset Homeless Junkies Were Cleared from Park Despite Crime

Some New York University students are criticizing recent police efforts to remove drug activity and homelessness from Washington Square Park, even as an NYU student was violently attacked near the same area this week.

The reaction follows a major NYPD crackdown that cleared out many of the park’s regular vagrants and dealers after a federal drug investigation.

The campus outlet Washington Square Park News reported, “With the local unhoused community now almost entirely displaced, a once vibrant park is now characterized by an uncanny stillness.”

Students wrote “Where are our neighbors?” in chalk on park walkways in reference to the individuals who had occupied the northwest corner of the park.

First-year student Caspin Berklee told the outlet, “I feel like a large community is gone. The park was a home for them.”

Another student, Sara Karp, a social work and public policy major, said, “The criminalization of poverty is never the solution to anything. It ruins the form of community that these people have built and puts them in riskier situations.”

Last month, federal authorities dismantled a large drug ring operating out of the park.

The NYPD then deployed nearly 70 additional officers to maintain order at the Greenwich Village landmark.

The move received broad support from local residents, who had long complained of open-air drug dealing and violence.

The student criticism emerged the same week an NYU student was assaulted near the park.

On Monday, 20-year-old Amelia Lewis was walking to class when a man approached her from behind, slapped her, pulled her hair, and threw her to the ground.

Lewis later wrote on X, “These people are disgusting, and they should not be able to be walking around the streets freely targeting girls. I should not be scared to walk to my 9:30am class.”

NYC’s SOFT ON CRIME policies aren’t working. Terrified NYU student Amelia Lewis, who was randomly attacked last week by a man with a previous criminal history of abuse, calls for change in her city.

Amelia Lewis: “I should not be scared to be walking the street to go to my 9.30… pic.twitter.com/4FQ119lKCq

— DeVory Darkins (@devorydarkins) December 3, 2025

Police identified the suspect as James Rizzo, 45, who has a lengthy criminal record in the area.

According to authorities, Rizzo was also suspected of burglarizing four apartments in Washington Square Village early the next morning while residents slept.

When officers arrested him, they discovered he had been squatting in an empty penthouse in a university-owned building, Washington Square Park News reported.

NYU’s daily crime log reflects ongoing safety issues in and around Washington Square Park. Staff and students reported 102 incidents last month, including stalking, harassment, robbery, larceny, fondling, and extortion.

NYPD data from the Sixth Precinct lists 14 rapes and 71 other sex crimes reported in 2025, a 9% increase from the previous year.

Despite the data, some students interviewed by The Post said they believe the park feels less inviting since the police crackdown.

“The vibe was better before, I lowkey avoid the park now,” sophomore Sharnova Nashra said.

“The same energy isn’t there. It’s just less welcoming. I didn’t hear people complaining about the presence of homeless or drug dealers.”

Another student told the outlet, “I hate it. It feels devoid of the spirit of New York.”

Local residents expressed different views. Trevor Sumner, president of the Washington Square Association, said the cleanup was overdue.

“Hostile is a drug ring that’s been operating in the park for the last four years, distributing millions of doses of fentanyl, heroin and crack,” Sumner said.

He added, “Hostile is walking through the park and being harassed by mentally ill people who are violent at much greater rates. Hostile is women getting punched in the face, stabbings becoming regular, areas of the park that people are too afraid to walk in.

“Overwhelmingly, the residents of Washington Square Park and around see this as a much-needed improvement so that the park can be inclusive for everybody.”

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