Mayor Eric Adams calls for Zohran Mamdani's Columbia University application to be released
NEW YORK (WABC) -- New York City Mayor Eric Adams is calling on Columbia University to release all records of Zohran Mamdani's admission application and investigate whether school policies had been violated in considering him as a student.
The mayor's call follows the hacked release of Mamdani's 2009 application where he allegedly identified as both Asian and African American.
Mamdani was born in Uganda to Indian parents.
Last week, a politically motivated hacker breached Columbia University's data systems, stealing troves of student documents while briefly shutting down the school's computer systems.
In a statement, Adams called the state assemblyman's application "an insult to every student who got into college the right way."
"The African American identity is not a check-box of convenience," Adams said. "It's a history, a struggle and a lived experience. For someone to exploit that for personal gain is deeply offensive."
In an interview with The New York Times, Mamdani explained his actions, saying "most college applications don't have a box for Indian-Ugandans, so I checked multiple boxes trying to capture the fullness of my background."
Mamdani was not accepted to Columbia University, according to The New York Times.
Meanwhile, a spokesperson for former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo also weighed in on the matter.
"This should come as no surprise as Mamdani, his proposals, his funding, and his background received absolutely no scrutiny. This issue must be fully investigated, because, if true, it could be fraud and just the tip of the iceberg," the spokesperson said.
Mamdani defeated Cuomo in the third round in the New York City Democratic mayoral primary, according to ranked choice voting results.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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