NYU students: We didn’t break rules

A trio of NYU students suspended from school for partying without masks claim they were following state COVID-19 guidelines, new lawsuits say.

Marc Santonocito, Ashley Storino, Elnaz Pourasgari and eight other students were suspended in August after an anonymous tipster told NYU officials the students were photographed at a party without personal protective masks, say lawsuits filed in Manhattan Supreme Court.

But the students, who can’t return to online classes this fall, say they were hanging out in a small group and followed state and city guidelines.

Their “social bubble consisted of primarily other track athletes and his roommate. This group ran together in New York City with masks on, talked, and generally hung out between their respective off-campus residences,” Santonocito’s lawsuit says.

Santonocito, Storino, and Pourasgari say the costly punishment meted out by NYU was arbitrary, capricious and fundamentally unfair.

The students were seen at the off-campus social event late on Aug. 13. Two weeks later, on Aug. 27, the students received an email from the school’s Office of Student

Conduct informing them they’d been caught partying in a pandemic.

“It is alleged [you] attended a large gathering at an off-campus location without proper use of masks and social distancing. Photos of the gathering were posted on social media and shared with our office through the university’s anonymous reporting channels,” the email reads.

The email went on to charge the student with violating NYU pandemic safety rules.

As part of their punishment, the students were suspended for the fall 2020 semester, which will be conducted online, and put on disciplinary probation through Aug. 31, 2021, the lawsuit shows.

They were also given an academic assignment with an Oct. 1 deadline — which they have to complete in order “to be considered for reinstatement in January” 2021, filings show.

In their lawsuits, the students say they were following state and city guidelines by sticking with a small crew of friends. Further, they weren’t even on campus, the suits say.

The students claim all three of them took COVID-19 tests in the days after the event and tested negative.

A spokesman for NYU did not immediately respond to a request for comment.