People in Islam: Khalid Latif – New York Police Officer, Executive Director of NYU Islamic Center, Imam at local masjid, and motivational speaker.
As a native New Yorker who attends a Catholic private college, Khalid Latif was the first person I turned to for inspiration, motivation, and assistance when deciding to establish a Muslim Student Association at school. Even though it did take a while to finally meet up with him (considering his busy schedule), his level of concern was beyond comforting.
Also known as the Imam or spiritual speaker for the Friday prayers in the basement of a church in downtown Manhattan, Khalid Latif is also a Chaplain for the NYPD. When Muslim students (not only in New York University, but in other universities and local colleges) were threatened by several NYPD officers in terms of security, Khalid Latif arose to not only defend, but to encourage some form of educational awareness by promoting several workshops to keep Muslim students safe.
It comes as no surprise that Khalid Latif has no conflicting agendas or problematic compromises with regards to being a practicing Muslim along with a Chaplain of the NYPD. As an American Muslim woman, I am proud that Brother Khalid represents the religion of Islam in the way that he does. He is not only a great person to be around and work with, but a wonderful Muslim in all regards.
To like his page on facebook (which he personally updates), click here. To follow him on twitter, click here. And to listen to his lecture on how “its tough being a girl,” watch here. Also, to read his Ramadan reflections that are published in the Huffington Post, you can find them here.
Since you’re planning on double-majoring (if you see this, I’d love to know what majors!), I’m going to assume that you’ll be super busy with coursework. This isn’t revolutionary advice, but definitely take time to self-care. Biggest thing off the top of my head as a tip to new NYU students is take advantage of all the free events & opportunities available to them. My biggest thing I miss from being at NYU is all the stuff there is to do. NYU has the free Museum Gateway program, for instance, that to an arts-lover like me, was wonderful.
Here’s a more insider tip: there are also little known workspaces that you can sign up for, such as in the Leslie eLab (like, everybody knows about it, but nobody actually bothers to use it when you totally should), at the NYU Leadership Initiative office (highly recommend/I love the people there), and the Bobst Library (everybody knows about the study spaces, but they don’t know about the digital center where you can borrow a Wacom tablet or fancy computing equipment, or reserve the sound booth or soundproof rooms that a friend of mine and I fooled around and filmed a fake talk show in).
Since we’re still kind of in the middle of the pandemic, I don’t know how ‘normal’ operations are at NYU right now, or if things will be back to rights by the time September rolls around. But if they are, highly recommend just using all the expensive stuff NYU has to your professional advantage, or just for fun!
Y’all, I know I keep saying sorry for being MIA and that I’m back now, and then going MIA for like a year again.
BUT I’M BACK NOW, haha. Don’t know if anybody cares but here’s a little update:
I’ve been working at NYU in the Leadership Initiative office (HMU if you’re interested in learning about the application processes for global fellowships and scholarships like the Fulbright and Rhodes!). It’s been a temp. job (but a great and fun one) for the summer. When the school year starts back up I’ll be teaching ELA full-time in the Upper West Side.
I’m thinking about starting an NYU ‘22ask series to accept questions from freshmen or new students coming into NYU who are curious about certain topics like I did last year, so let me know if you’re interested!
Okay, that’s it for now! x
P.S. I’m planning on heading to the Whitney Museum this Saturday, so look out for one of my photosets of my visit coming next week!
I’m trolling I guess because I’ve scrolled a ways to get here, but I actually am the same grade as you(?) in that I was nyu class of 2016 too so hey I was in a very large, very populated yankee stadium with you probably!
OMG this is hilarious, you really scrolled down far, haha.
Yes! I graduated from CAS in 2016. Yaaaay, Yankee Stadium buddies.
