The New School In Exile

Response to Kerrey's letter to the New School Community

2009-04-21T20:29:00.001-07:00

[editor's note: Kerrey's message is in normal font, the response is in bold]

Message from President Kerrey to the New School Community

A response to President Kerrey’s message to the New School Community

The past few weeks have seen increased protest actions on and off our campus. These demonstrations have involved many individuals outside of The New School community and the issues they protest vary. Among their concerns are the war in Iraq, Darfur, homelessness, and the economy.

Mr. Kerrey is quite confused. The direct concerns are Kerrey and Murtha and their characteristic lack of tact, understanding and ability to run a university. This includes, but is not limited to the brutality shown by the NYPD on April 10, Mr. Kerrey’s support for the Iraq War and the pressures of the economic downturn on the New School Student body (and students as a whole). Is it so unreasonable to think that students who care about such things are only self-interested and thus would not be concerned about homelessness and the genocide in Darfur? I think not. However, Kerrey seems to forget the part of Thursday’s actions when the rally (predominantly students of The New School, joined in solidarity by students from other NYC Universities) stood outside his home and reminded him that they want him to leave.

While this kind of activity by various groups is likely to continue, I write to assure you that the university continues to function normally. Classes, public programs, and events are proceeding uninterrupted. I am heartened by the hundreds of messages from students, parents, faculty, staff, and alumni who reinforce their support and appreciation for their New School experience, even in light of this recent activity.

This paragraph shows another moment of Kerrey’s lack of clarity. The point is not to prevent students at this university from achieving the education they are here for. Instead it is to remind them that Kerrey and his cabal are the primary roadblocks standing in the way of our university having such simple things as a proper library or enough cameras for those students required to take photography classes to borrow. That Kerrey has wasted the money of those he has termed both “customers” and later “terrorists” on branding while the necessities of academic pursuit are left unattended.

Your academic leaders and senior administration are working very collaboratively on recommendations for best practices with regard to the demonstrations. Provost Tim Marshall, the academic deans, Executive Vice President Jim Murtha, who is responsible for campus security, and I will continue to work together, calling in others in our community as needed, to help me decide on the appropriate response from the university.

How is it that a man who acted so foolishly during the December Occupation of 65 5th Avenue is still allowed to be in charge of security. Murtha slammed his hands on the glass of the reading room and threatened to send in the Police while the negotiators were meeting. Additionally, if Murtha is in charge of campus security then he is the man responsible for the continued and intensifying intimidation of students, particularly those who oppose his violent temper and Kerrey’s misplaced faith in him.

The suggestion made by many that we can, in most instances, increase the amount of collaboration with our academic leadership and the board is correct. Tim and the deans will focus on this change. The intent of this effort is to make changes that will make it even clearer what our protocols are for responding to occupations of buildings and other types of protests and demonstrations.

The Students must be involved in any and all developments and changes. Provost Marshall and the Deans understand this. The Faculty understands this. Why is it, Mr. Kerrey that you still do not? Your changes are illegitimate without us and I, for one, accept nothing that has not been approved by the Students of this University.

Protocols for demonstrations were not followed on Thursday, April 16. A group of about 50 individuals began a protest on the sidewalk in front of 55 West 13th Street at about 6:00 p.m., blocking the entrance and making it difficult to enter and exit the building. The group grew in size, to about 80, and marched to the corner of 6th Avenue and 13th Street and then to the Presidents residence, where they chanted and shouted for about 10 minutes before marching on to the front of 65 5th Avenue. They were met by a small contingent of NYPD officers at the Presidents residence, and a larger contingent of officers in front of 65 5th Avenue. Neither I, nor anyone else in the university administration called in the NYPD.

Protocols? Kerrey’s protocols are a miserable joke and everyone at the University knows this. After Kerrey’s blatant show of megalomaniacal disregard for all Protocols on April 10, I would be surprised if anyone wasted their time going through such a pointless process. Would Kerrey have called the now toothless demonstrations committee? It is unreasonable to think that those who reject Kerrey’s failed leadership would ask Kerrey’s administration for permission to oppose it.

From the start, I asked Provost Marshall to monitor the event and provide academic leadership for our students. He consulted closely with Lang Dean Neil Gordon and NSSR Dean Michael Schober and they monitored the situation closely.

Yes, Provost Marshall did monitor the situation closely. He took his safety into his own hands and was treated roughly by Kerrey’s friend, Ray Kelly’s officers. This was uncalled for and not only does it show Kerrey’s fallacy (as the Students would not have engaged with you as many are willing to with Provost Marshall), but it also shows the disregard for the safety of the Students and potential negotiators by both yourself and the NYPD.

The NYPD did intervene at one point when the group left the sidewalk in front of 65 Fifth Avenue and began to demonstrate in the middle of the avenue, bringing vehicular traffic to a halt. The NYPD requested that the crowd move back onto the sidewalk, however, some in the crowd refused multiple warnings. The NYPD then formed a line and started to walk the crowd toward the sidewalk, causing some pushing and shoving that resulted in the arrest of three individuals, including two Lang College students. At about 7:35 p.m. the group proceeded to Washington Square Park and protested in front of NYU’s Kimmel building, before moving on to the 6th Police Precinct to continue their protest. The event ended shortly thereafter. The three individuals arrested were issued summons for disorderly conduct and released about 10:30 p.m.

While Kerrey cowered in the President’s Residence with full knowledge that it is his foolishness and mismanagement that has brought this on. How does Kerrey think his Democratic Party friends will approach him now? Will Kerrey be asked to run for Senate again? Somehow I think that the combined cowardice of brutally murdering women and children in Vietnam followed by fear of unarmed students with a legitimate protest against his leadership will help him to fall out of favor with the party big-wigs.

The police involvement in these protests is a source of concern for many. We have been talking and listening to many in our community who are very concerned about the way the Friday, April 10 events were handled. While I and the trustees continue to believe that it is appropriate to ask NYPD to remove and arrest if necessary anyone interfering with the safety and operations of the university, I believe some changes could increase the confidence of the New School community that the correct course of action is taken.

May I remind Kerrey that it was his decision to bring in the NYPD? That the building occupied houses no classes and that it would not have disrupted the University if it had not been for the overreaction of both Kerrey and his friend Ray Kelly’s Police force. Additionally, the only people who interfered with the safety of our University were the NYPD, their unnecessary use of pepper spray on students who were attempting to peacefully surrender and the physical harm they brought to two people outside the building are horrendous displays of the contempt which Kerrey and his administration seem to have for students, especially those who oppose them.

Accordingly I have asked Tim and the deans to work with students and faculty to recommend ways to improve our demonstration policies with a mind to make clear that we support vigorous debate including protests. We must also make clear that we need policies that maintain the safety and operational security of our buildings and classrooms.

Whether or not an improved demonstration policy is drafted, any institution that either Kerrey or Murtha has power over will never support vigorous debate in opposition to their control. The Students of this University have yet to intentionally harm anyone, while the security forces, especially one Mr. Jose Villegas, have repeatedly shown contempt for their safety.

In the past four months, we have made great strides in addressing the concerns of faculty and students expressed in December, working together with the Student Senate, Faculty Senate, and the deans, officers, and Board of Trustees. This includes opening lines of communication and initiating greater participation by students and faculty in socially responsible investing, among other areas of governance.

In the past four months Kerrey has attempted to pacify one and all with grand promises and little actually change. He has set up committees to form committees (e.g. for Socially Responsible Investing) and has acquiesced to the choice of a Provost whom the Faculty and Students have faith in, while attempting to make his job as difficult as possible.

I am writing to you to help place the events of the past two weeks in context, to summarize what we have learned from these experiences, and to reassure the New School community that university operations are normal. We now need a period of reflection to take stock of the progress produced by the hard work of the faculty, students, and staff.

In this letter, Kerrey shows his clear lack of understanding of the context of the events of the last two weeks. He apparently has learned nothing at all from them and is hoping to dig in his heels while pretending that none of this will affect his standing in any way. Thus, I agree, Kerrey must reflect, gain understanding and realize that the Students of this University oppose him, the Faculty opposes him and fairly soon, the Board of Trustees may oppose him.

All of us have learned from these events. We must find ways for our knowledge to become a part of policies that maintain the highest values of our university.

How can a man who so obviously does not understand what is going on at the University he is responsible for have any understanding of the values that it holds?

Bob Kerrey

Mr. Kerrey, your time is up.
Scott B. Ritner
NSSR Department of Politics.

New School Reoccupied

2009-04-13T09:37:00.000-07:00

Dear Friends and Comrades,

We apologize for the lack of information on this particular blog about the second occupation of 65 5th Avenue late last week.

Please see http://reoccupied.worldpress.com for all pertinent information and we will try to be better about keeping information up on this blog as well.

Solidarity,

The New School in Exile

Solidarity!

2009-03-13T06:23:00.000-07:00

Just a Reminder to the New School and any other forms of authoritarian structure imposed upon us: We stand together, We have Solidarity, We do what we do because of love for each other and love for our future; You are impersonal, You cannot stop us, You will never jeopardize our movement through crack-downs and other inhospitable actions. Our Solidarity
cannot be broken by false accusations and extreme counter-revolutionary action. We will win because We stand together no matter what befalls us, You will lose, because you can punish us as individuals as much as you like, but you cannot break our collective will!

Student Strike at Technological Institute of Puerto Rico, Manati!

2009-03-13T06:21:00.000-07:00

Just received the press release below, issued by students who have been on strike for 10 days at the Technological Institute of Puerto Rico in the city of Manatí. They have an "encampment" in front of the campus 24 hours a day. One of the main issues is "the closing of sections that some of our students need in order to graduate," together with having "too many students per section." They are facing threats of repression and a virtual blackout in the press. Developing international solidarity among different struggles is crucial to our own. I am hoping to get more information soon from friends in Puerto Rico.

COMUNICADO DE PRENSA

Los estudiantes del ITPR de Manatí, representados por el consejo estudiantil y con el apoyo del 100% de nuestros estudiantes declaramos la huelga. Llevamos 10 días de lucha y resistencia con un campamento establecido frente a la institución las 24 horas. Nuestros reclamos, que no son nada nuevos, sino que se vienen arrastrando de semestre en semestre sin que se presente una solución real y definitiva, son varios.

Entre los diferentes factores que están creando malestar entre el estudiantado e incluso entre la mayor parte del personal docente están: la notable falta de materiales necesarios para los respectivos laboratorios de nuestras diferentes tecnologías, entre estas:

· INSTRUMENTACIÓN

· ELÉCTRICA

· ELECTRÓNICA

· CALIDAD AMBIENTAL

· RADIOLOGÍA

· QUÍMICA

· SISTEMAS DE INFORMACIÓN

· ENFERMERÍA

ENTRE OTRAS

No siendo suficiente esto también enfrentamos problemas con el cierre de secciones necesarias para que parte de nuestro estudiantado pueda graduarse, se suma a esto la falta de profesores a nuestros salones lo que provoca que haya demasiados estudiantes por sección sin contar con las facilidades necesarias. Es también notable las pobres condiciones en que se encuentran nuestras facilidades incluyendo salones, baños, áreas recreativas entre otras. Hay que recordar que nuestro instituto ofrece cursos técnicos y grados asociados para los que se requiere completar ciertas horas de práctica, esto nos trae otro problema y es la falta de una coordinadora industrial que sea eficiente y tenga un interés genuino por conseguir que nuestros estudiantes puedan realizar las mismas para cumplimentar sus estudios.

Por último y no menos importante nuestros estudiantes en su mayoría dependen de ayudas económicas puesto que no cuentan con los recursos necesarios para costear y sufragar gastos como los de la compra de libros requeridos para sus clases y estas ayudas no están llegando a tiempo.

Como debe ser de su conocimiento las becas son ayudas federales que son destinadas únicamente a los estudiantes que la solicitan y cumplen con los requisitos necesarios para la misma ¿y el dinero? Nadie puede ofrecer una respuesta clara ni el Departamento de Educación, ni el Departamento de Hacienda, ni la Institución. Es por esto que entre las cosas que reclamamos están el desembolso del dinero y una investigación sobre la manera en que estos fondos se administran.

En resumen, para que la huelga termine exigimos la entrega de la beca, el nombramiento de profesores para abrir las secciones que necesitan nuestros estudiantes graduandos, la limpieza de las facilidades del plantel y el recogido de escombros y además los materiales necesarios para las diferentes tecnologías. Siendo las mismas cumplidas estaremos dispuestos al diálogo para resolver sin más preámbulo las situaciones que nos aquejan.

A pesar de las constantes AMENAZAS de usar la fuerza y la amedrentación por parte de la directora interina de la institución, la Sra. Collazo; continuaremos con nuestra manifestación y lucharemos por nuestros derechos.

From: Concerned Undergraduate Students at the University of the Ryukyus

2009-03-13T06:19:00.000-07:00

Dear the Students in Exile

We, the Students of the University of the Ryukyus in Okinawa, Japan, sincerely express our solidarity with the Students in Exile.
We also began to occupy and sit-in on our campus from March 9. 2009.
The Globe is just one, and we hope that the students could develop a global society of solidarity against the neoliberalism.
Please read our Statement, Support Letter and our Blog (http://loudaisei.seesaa.net/ Unfortunately most of it are written in Japanese) ,if you have much time.

Sincerely
>From the Students of the University of the Ryukyus

(the Statement and Support Letter are as follows:)

The Statement of Occupation

The authorities at the University of the Ryukyus in Okinawa, Japan, have decided to lay off its adjunct language faculty members and massively reduce the number of foreign language courses without fully disclosing why such policies were necessary. Alarmed by the situation, we, the students, have demanded direct negotiations with the university officials twice in the past. But the university dismissed our first demand through writing, and decided to ignore our second request. The university officials thus deliberately failed to create a democratic forum where the students and they could openly discuss the issues and seek possible solutions.

We, the students of the university, will start occupying our campus. As the students who have studied justice, freedom, human rights, and resistance and have been trying to apply them to real life conditions, we question and resist the anti-democratic actions taken by the
university authorities.

The aim of this sit-in is to create a situation in which the university authorities must genuinely acknowledge the flawed and problematic nature of its so-called "new language curriculum." If the university still exists for us, the students (as stipulated in its Mission Statement), then the current situation in which it refuses to consider our concerns not only needs to be rigorously critiqued but must be radically changed.

This situation is not the sole concern of the students and adjunct faculty members at the University of the Ryukyus. While the occupation of campus began as a critical response to the neoliberalization of our university and the attendant impoverishment of our educational program, it also aims to shed light upon other related issues such as the breakdown of our "autonomous" university system, crisis of educational system within the Okinawa Prefecture at large, and the issue of unemployment among the residents of Okinawa.

Based upon these conditions and reasons, we demand the officials at the University of the Ryukyus to:

1) Repeal the so-called "new language curriculum."
2) Hold a public meeting about the "new curriculum" that is open to all members of the society.
3) Dismiss president TERUO IWAMASA, and vice presidents KEISUKE TAIRA and RISHUN SHINZATO.
4) Allow the student representatives to participate, speak, and vote at the Board of Trustees' meetings.
5) Establish the democratic election system to appoint president and all board members.
6) Ensure all the rights of the students involved in the occupation and not impose any punitive measure on them.

This occupation is a protest against the university authorities' irresponsible decision to neoliberalize our university that has rather foolishly foregone its commitment to public education and caused the impoverishment of curriculum. This occupation is also a protest against the university officials who, with their authoritarian mindset, never even thought about offering adequate explanations to the students or inviting them into the decision-making process. We, the students, strongly condemn the university's dismissal of the students' voices and will work to reclaim the student autonomy on our own campus.

Finally, we declare our solidarity with all the others who have been actively working and sincerely hoping to abolish the new curriculum. We act with a hope that the University of the Ryukyus, along with all other universities, will reclaim its status as a "university" in the true sense of the word.

March 9th 2009

Please Support the Student Sit-in at the University of the Ryukyus in Okinawa
March 9, 2009

The authorities at the University of the Ryukyus in Okinawa, Japan, have decided to lay off its adjunct language faculty members and massively reduce the number of foreign language courses without fully disclosing why such policies were necessary. Alarmed by the situation, we, the students, have demanded direct negotiations with the university officials twice in the past. But the university dismissed our first demand through writing, and did not even respond to our second request. The university officials thus repeatedly failed to create a democratic forum where they and the students could openly discuss the issues and seek possible solutions.

As the students who have studied justice, freedom, human rights, and resistance and have been actively applying them to real life conditions, we decided to occupy our campus and voice our resistance against these undemocratically chosen, unforgivable policies. Sit-in has been an important method of self-determination that has been inventively practiced and carefully passed down by the generations of people here in Okinawa in their post-WWII struggles. Sit-in has taken
roots in Okinawa because it has allowed the people to directly create a space in which they could openly speak about what a better future meant for each of them when they were living amidst the presence of massive military forces. We thus urge the university to abolish the so-called "new language curriculum" by learning from and drawing upon the method of the resistance historically developed here in Okinawa: sit-in.

The current sit-in aims to create a situation in which the university authorities must genuinely acknowledge the flawed and problematic nature of its so-called "new language curriculum." If the university still exists for us, (as stipulated in its Mission Statement), then we, the students, need to not only critique but change the current critical situation in which our own university does not even acknowledge the concerns and demands of its students.

This situation is not the sole concern of the students and adjunct
faculty members at the University of the Ryukyus. While the
occupation of campus began as a critical response to the
neoliberalization of our university and the attendant impoverishment of our educational program, our sit-in also aims to problematize other related issues such as the breakdown of our "autonomous" university system, crisis of educational system within the Okinawa Prefecture at large, and unemployment among the residents of Okinawa.

"The new curriculum" has no legitimate basis to justify itself and
benefits no one on campus and in the society, as has been made evident by now at various meetings and through media reports. But it takes much courage for us, the students, to express our demand to abolish "the new curriculum" on the campus of the University of the Ryukyus where all types of harassment take place on a regular basis. To add to this, most tenured faculty members remain silent until today. This is why we sincerely ask for your help because it is difficult to create "the common"or the communal space in our situation now.

Please join our fight to abolish "the new language curriculum." We welcome your participation through various means available:
participation in our sit-in, donation, media coverage, and so on.
Your support and participation is much appreciated.

Concerned Undergraduate Students at the University of the Ryukyus

We stand with you in solidarity today and everyday until our struggle is Won Students of Ryukyus!

2nd Teach-In Scheduled for Tomorrow!!!!

2009-03-03T19:09:00.000-08:00

*New School Teach-in: Mar 4, Wed, 4-6pm
Parsons lobby, 2 w.13th st @ 5th ave

Come learn about why students and faculty have been boiling since the
winter, and what's to come in the future, including:

- History of the New School and the University in Exile
- Current Power Structure of the New School
- Brief History of Student Resistance since 1970
- What last December's Occupation Achieved
- Grievances and Problems we still have with the Administration
- April 1st: the Deadline for Change*

NewSchoolInExile.Com Revamped and Back Up!

2009-02-26T09:06:00.000-08:00

Dear Friends,

The Primary website of The New School In Exile (www.newschoolinexile.com) has been reformatted and is back online! Please check it out!

Also we want to publish an open letter from a student of the Graduate Program in International Studies at The New School:

Hi GPIA,

I just want to bring it to everyone's attention, again, that there is
a huge issue happening with the administration. I want to share with
you what happened this afternoon so that people know the stakes. There
is an April 1st deadline issued by the students that Kerrey, Murtha,
and Millard step down from their posts, and there's a lot of
anticipation and energy around this date. The attempted suppression
of the teach-in today was appalling. Obviously it won't get press, so
I am sharing.

APPALLING
The teach in was scheduled for 3:30pm-8pm in the Eugene Lang
courtyard. About 20 or 30 students from various divisions of the New
School gathered in the courtyard and in the lower level of the lobby
of 65 W. 12th St. It was too cold so people decided to bring it
inside. As we started to sit down, man twice my height approached
people and started handing out a photocopied paper on New School
letterhead. The paper said that the administration had been informed
of the teach-in and that as all events had to be authorized, and that
this was an unauthorized event, it violates the Student Code of
Conduct, and that violators may be subject to disciplinary action.
After the first speaker began, the man came twice more to threaten
that administration had in fact decided that it was a violation and
that everyone would be subject to suspension.

This was a student gathering! Students were sitting around talking!
Is there a new rule against loitering in the New School? Is this not
what students do? It is abhorrent that the administration would try
to quash this meeting.

I guess I shouldn't be surprised after learning more about the changes
Bob Kerrey made to the school after he began his tenure as president
in 2001. I also imagine that it represents that the administration
feels genuinely threatened. But really! These are some George
Bush-era tactics!

Security stopped allowing visitors or students with no ID into the
building. There was a verbal interchange between the
suspension-wielding man and some students at one point, but the
teach-in continued until 6:30pm, when students left to go to support
the NYU rally for the expelled students involved in last week's
occupation. Security personnel said that they were ordered by
President Kerrey to shut the meeting down, but security refused.

THE TEACH-IN
The format was students sitting and standing around about 5 people who
presented and then solicited discussion with the participants.

The presentation included a history of the University in Exile, which
was formed of scholars dismissed and fleeing persecution from
expanding fascism in Europe, the first wave in 1933 and then more in
1938. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_New_School#University_in_exile

Next there was a description of the problems that people are having
with the president. The list is enormous: unethical investments,
increasingly limited student space, a diminishing and wholly
inadequate library, Kerrey's use of the New School as a platform to
push the country further into the war in Iraq, the use of the Parsons
Institute for Informational Mapping (PIIM) to provide the Dept. of
Defense with battlefield mapping technology, the firing of provosts,
who are like mediators or representatives of the faculty to the
administration, and the list goes on. More students are squeezed into
the biggest-paying programs with less professors. The University's
collaborative program with the Actors Studio was closed in 2005. It
was not bringing in enough profit, and the program was moved to Pace
University.

An international student described her experience of dealing with
trying to find informal work to supplement her tuition costs. Finding
study space and computer space is still a problem. She also reported
big problems with getting medical treatment and having to negotiate
the Medicaid system. Is there no health insurance offered to
international students?

There was a section on past resistance. In about 1971, there was a
21-day occupation of the graduate faculty building. In 1997 a popular
tenure track professor Jacqui Alexander was fired and students went on
a hunger strike. They also invoked the "University in Exile" as a
source of guiding principles for just education. During Kerrey's
term, there were protests against his invitation of John McCain to
speak at Commencement and Newt Gingrich to speak about solving
American poverty, amongst others. And then, the December occupation.
The faculty vote of no confidence.

Apparently Executive Vice President James Murtha is responsible for a
lot of the issues, as his responsibility is the function of the
University. Also is treasurer of the Board of Trustees, Robert B.
Millard, because of his position as chairman of the executive
committee of the military contractor L-3 Communications. Apparently
his business associates have been the recipient of University's
strategic investment plan.

The occupation of the GF building in December, which got a lot of
criticism as well as approbation, pointed to some of the large
problems people have with the administration of the New School. I
would point you to the website to see the list of issues and demands,
but the site is suddenly and mysteriously down. Keep checking...
newschoolinexile.com

I just got my letter informing of this year's 4.5% tuition hike. Can
anyone afford this school anymore? Did anyone in our program receive
a scholarship? Why do we have such a high ratio of adjunct faculty to
permanent faculty?

The recent Times article on the issue:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/11/nyregion/11kerrey.html?_r=1&scp=2&sq=new%20school&st=cse

With Determination,
The New School In Exile

With the New School and NYU Student Occupations

2009-02-21T12:36:00.001-08:00

With laudable exceptions, the myopic mainstream replied to the occupations in The New School and NYU in December and February, respectively, with scorn and dismissal. Four primary cables supported the convenient network of complaints submitted by these sycophants of prevailing power structures: First, the occupants are the sons and daughters of privilege and are therefore ungrateful, unworthy. Next, the push for amnesty as a salient non-negotiable demand proves that they are not dedicated revolutionaries. Third, the demands made by the occupants were unrealistic. Last--and most infuriating--the rejection of the proper channels of student participation is not only evidence of the occupants’ hatred of democracy, but of their recklessness and irrationality.
The first armchair critique is simply weird. A strong number of the students who were inside are spiraling deep into debt since the bank, and not their parents, pays their tuition. Others were only able to attend university because of good scholarship packages. If this is not good enough for those more concerned with identity than action, many of the organizers in the occupations were from low-income communities--a good portion of these were of color. But let us pretend that this is not a distraction and that all the students inside were tremendously privileged. Is there any substance to this point besides the understandable visceral reaction against people of privilege? Those who greatly benefit from the prevailing order are especially trained to wield its tools for self-advancement. This was precisely the opposite of what happened in the occupation, a decidedly anti-establishment action; those students of privilege had every reason to use the tools already in place as opposed to making their own. All that remains is the point that since they are privileged, they are not risking anything--they can always “call daddy.” If this is true--which it is not, since many students face suspension and others criminal charges--is the only solution for a privileged student whose blood boils for true justice to hang her head and pout, doing nothing in the face of a rotten institution? Anyone who is not hurling insults for its own sake can see the absurdity of this claim.
The second critique is connected to the first in that it questions the drive and seriousness of the occupants. There is a Christian ring to it: if you do an action that disrupts the normal flow of an institution, you should drop to your knees and accept your punishment or else self-flagellate because you have sinned--if we are even to accept that a righteous action is a sin! Punish me! the students should scream if they are committed enough. For those minimally concerned with winning a long struggle, why would you not build an exit strategy into a single action? When dealing with a private university whose administration is reluctant to involve the police for PR reasons, the amnesty demand becomes more relevant. Since the power of security guards is fragile at best, their bosses will be more likely to sue for peace and cave in.
The complaint against amnesty implies that the students were cowardly. No further reasons for this are issued because no facts support it. It is roundly untrue! When facing violent security guards, threatened expulsion, a pathetic food supply, dwindling energy, and the constantly stated assurance by the administration that if they just left all would be forgiven, the occupants held fast as one! Show me a mainstream journalist who dares suggest these students were cowards, and I will show you a face that belongs in the dictionary under “gutless”!
Two of the loftier demands: “That the university donate all excess supplies and materials in an effort to rebuild the University of Gaza; that NYU signs a contract guaranteeing fair labor practices for all NYU employees at home and abroad. This contract will extend to subcontracted workers, including bus drivers, food service employees and anyone involved in the construction, operation and maintenance at any of NYU's non-U.S. sites.”
The third cable’s lack of imagination is crippling and self-defeating. The Take Back NYU! demands were not at all in the ether, but again let us play with the critique by accepting its furrowed brows: Why not demand the moon? It is inspiring and empowering to aim for the intangible, working to bridge the impossible with the possible. An occupation itself is impossible. This is shown by the astounding amount of press that both occupations received when each lasted less than two days! An occupation, in challenging authorities in ways to which they are not accustomed--in ways which challenge their very existence--opens vistas previously unseen by the most astute activist. In the first night of both occupations, spirits and numbers were low. Defeat was painted on the walls. No one imagined the strength the next day would bring. For both, it brought more occupied space, incredible media coverage, large influxes of students, and solidarity protests and actions outside that shut down entire city blocks! What leverage might the day after that bring the next occupation? Personally, I am in favor of seeing an occupation as a victory in itself, perhaps not even making demands--instead listing grievances--as the collective attempts to expand the occupied space and reclaim it for grassroots power. But this is hardly a break from those who explode the possible through unrealistic demands.
Finally, the proper channels are those means by which subordinates are permitted to affect the general goings-on. Rationalized privilege, apathy and subjugation to custom aside, there is little doubt as to their true nature. In democracy, they are the brilliant constructions of those in power. All of these channels begin, end and course through the orifices of the ruling elite. They are co-optation manifest--genius because reform is indeed possible through them, but only reform which does not threaten or disrupt business as usual. These power-serving organs through which the lowly voice must be heard in order to be “democratic,” “moral” and “righteous” (according to the conventional wisdom) are, by definition, choked by the powers that grip them. Those who want total transformative change through these appropriate channels find their efforts so diluted and compromised that by the time victory is declared, either they themselves are at the helm of the same unjust order they were originally battling or else reviewing a list of accomplishments that are so watered down the ink displaying them has run and smeared unintelligibly across the paper.
“The majority” cited by the obedient as being alienated by direct action is a mere weapon of the status quo. In this vile social order, our senses are colonized by the fear (the hatred!) of thought and action that truly charts its own channels. Indeed, on a macro level, this explains why many who find little benefit in the preservation of the present order will be reluctant or even spiteful of those efforts that disregard the typical ruts.
When a movement questions the unquestionable, travels beyond the worn routes, then the subconscious and conscious--the deceived and sincere--preservers of the old order must rail: “Don’t alienate the majority! Don’t go too far! What about a broad base? What about the long arc of progress?” Some of these preservers might even masquerade as radicals.
It is necessary to clear the air of these typical pollutants, but it is also crucial to advance, just as in many ways the NYU occupation amplified the empowering echoes of the earlier one in The New School. The indifferent, the doubters, the seated radicals, the contented liberals, must be cast aside as we fearlessly charge for the unattainable horizon, revealing evermore humane, free, terrains of struggle.
The scene made my eyes glassy. Early in the second morning of the NYU occupation, hundreds of restive protestors in solidarity with those inside chanted, sang, danced, shouted, and, at the height of the chaotic crescendo, pressed against the barricades of the heavily armed NYPD--who were protecting the entrance to the building--in a brazen effort to join the occupation. Police batons cracked and pepper spray spewed in streams, but they were not deterred, continuing to push forward without deference for badges or titles. It wasn’t until the cops started arresting and violently wrenching protestors over the barricades that the crest was broken. When the crowd reverted to singing and dancing and simple mischief, you could see--feel!--their simmering power if you squinted hard enough.
We are the strengthening enemy of channeled order. We are the new ground that will allow an infinite diversity of pathways. We are building a revolutionary situation.

More NY Times coverage of the Take Back NYU Occupation!

2009-02-19T10:37:00.000-08:00

February 19, 2009, 12:19 pm — Updated: 12:43 pm -->
Live on the Web, the N.Y.U. Occupation
By Colin Moynihan
Students at New York University barricaded themselves in a room in a school building on Wednesday night and then announced a list of demands that they said they wanted to present to school administrators.The action, organized by a student group called Take Back N.Y.U., began just before 10 p.m. in the John Ben Snow dining room on the third floor of the Kimmel Center, a modern building on Washington Square South that includes administration offices and a theater and is a hub of student activities. (See streaming video of the occupation.)
Students shoved a jumble of tables and chairs against two doors leading into the room then declared their sovereignty.
“We are the Take Back N.Y.U. campaign,” announced a young woman who stood on a table and spoke through a megaphone.
Around her, other students chanted: “Whose space? Our space.”
The takeover was reminiscent of a similar action that took place a few blocks away in December at the New School University, and indeed some of those at N.Y.U. said that the New School takeover –– which took place in a cafeteria and lasted about 30 hours –– was an inspiration.
Students at the New School at first called for the resignation of school officials, including the university’s president, Bob Kerrey, among other demands. Ultimately, they walked out of the cafeteria without resignations taking place, but with agreements from school officials to maintain study and library space and give students a greater voice in various school affairs..
The students at N.Y.U. established a Web site where they published their demands. (Charlie Eisenhood has also been blogging the occupation, with updates Thursday morning.)
The demands included a full and annual reporting of the university’s operating budget, expenditures and endowment. The students also demanded that the university provide 13 scholarships annually to students from the Gaza Strip and give surplus supplies to the Islamic University of Gaza.
The students also called upon the school to allow graduate teaching assistants to unionize and to freeze tuition, which students said could approach $50,000 annually, including room and board.
“We’re going to stay here until the administration agrees to meet with us,” said Farah Khimji, 20, a sophomore studying social and cultural analysis and anthropology.
The majority of he 70-odd students in the dining room said they went to the university. There were also students from other institutions, including the New School and Barnard.
Saher Almaita, 22, said he was a senior studying in philosophy at William Paterson University in Wayne, N.J., and decided to show up at N.Y.U. out of a mixture of curiosity and sympathy.
“We’re so alienated from each other that the opportunity to do something together is a rush,” he said, adding, “I want to experience humanity to its fullest.”
On Wednesday night, Lynne Brown, the senior vice president for university relations, said that the gathering was peaceful and that administration officials would engage the students in a discussion to learn more about their aims.
Having secured the space, the students held meetings. They pledged not to damage property and discussed how to communicate with students outside the dining room. Police officers gathered outside the building. Security guards for the university stood near the dining room doors, allowing students access to and from nearby bathrooms.
The students helped themselves from a store of provisions they had brought, including apples, oranges, hummus and peanut butter. They brewed tea and drank coconut juice from cardboard containers. Some played cards or painted banners, with mottoes like “Make NYU Affordable.” Others read, chatted or gazed at computer screens.
As the late hours of the evening wore into the early hours of the next day, many students bundled themselves into blankets, sought out corners and stretched out to sleep. But others were too wound up to rest. Instead, some of them participated in an exercise session they called the “Calisthenic Dialectic Workout,” stretching and jumping in place for a while before adjourning for a discussion of Hegel that lasted nearly until daybreak.

Exiled in NYU: A communiqué from within the NYU occupation

2009-02-19T05:30:00.000-08:00

At the dawn of the New School occupation last December, we wrote, “This is
only the beginning.”

We weren’t joking.

We are now occupying the halls of NYU alongside their students. With our
bodies and barricades, we continue to manifest ourselves as a force of
interruption against the enforced passivity of the university.

This occupation arises at a time of economic turmoil. The current crisis
of capital is no fluke; it is the result of the real social conditions in
which we live. NYU, one of the largest property owners in New York City,
is a clear perpetrator of the misery everyone now feels. It has no alibi,
only vulnerabilities.

From the insurrection in Greece to the revolts of Eastern Europe, from the
university occupations across England to the general uprising in Oakland,
something is in air. We can’t name it, but we can all feel it.
Uncompromising, our power is growing. What has started as a singular
strike against the structure of NYU’s form of domination will become a
strike against the general logic of domination.

When we occupy spaces and liberate their use, we appropriate for ourselves
the means of our very existence. We find each other here and now, in the
midst of conflict and crisis, overturning every role we’re given,
annulling every attempt to reconcile.

This is how we learn. This is how we fight.

In Exile,
Students of the New School
Feb 19th, 2009

First Press for Take Back NYU Occupation

2009-02-18T23:29:00.000-08:00

Students Protest at N.Y.U.

By TRYMAINE LEE

Published: February 18, 2009

Several dozen students occupied a cafeteria at New York University on Wednesday night, barricading themselves inside with tables and chairs and chanting a list of demands.

The protest began shortly before 10 p.m. when about 70 students, most of them members of a student-run group called the Take Back N.Y.U. Campaign, gathered on the third floor of the Kimmel Student Center at Washington Square South and La Guardia Place.

The students pushed tables and chairs against the doors, and a woman with a megaphone outlined the group’s demands.

They included a full and annual reporting of the university’s operating budget, expenditures and endowment. The students also demanded that N.Y.U. provide 13 scholarships annually to students from the Gaza Strip and give surplus supplies to the Islamic University of Gaza. On the group’s Web site, it also asked that all participants in the protest be granted amnesty from punishment.

Take Back N.Y.U. has been a vocal presence on campus for the last few years, said Lynne Brown, the senior vice president for university relations. Ms. Brown said that she believed only about half of the protesters were from N.Y.U. and that the rest probably included students from the New School, which had its own student occupation in December during protests over the school’s embattled president, Bob Kerrey.

Ms. Brown said the university will allow the students to remain in the cafeteria through the night and will give them access to restrooms.

About an hour after the shut-in began, Ms. Brown described it as a “peaceful” yet perplexing gathering.

“We’ll be trying to clarify the exact nature of their complaints,” Ms. Brown said, “and try to engage them in colloquy and conversation. It’s a little unclear for us now.”

Colin Moynihan contributed reporting.

Rally for Take Back NYU Tomorrow @ 12 Noon!

2009-02-18T23:11:00.000-08:00

Meet in front of the Kimmel Center for a Rally in Support of the Take Back NYU Occupation of the Kimmel Center on Washington Square South next to the Bobst Library!

See you there,
The New School In Exile

NYU's Kimmel Center is now Occupied!

2009-02-18T23:00:00.001-08:00

At approximately 10pm this evening a group of students began an occupation of the NYU campus in the cafeteria of the Kimmel Center (next to Bobst library). The group, Take Back NYU has called for a solidarity rally outside to support their actions inside. They need supporters outside as well as people to spread the word far and wide. I will be posting video from the rally and statement of demands in the next hour on the newschoolinexile.com web site, but in the meantime check out www.takebacknyu.com. Here are their demands as listed on their web site:

Demands

We, the students of NYU, declare an occupation of this space. This occupation is the culmination of a two-year campaign by the Take Back NYU! coalition, and of campaigns from years past, in whose footsteps we follow.

In order to create a more accountable, democratic and socially responsible university, we demand the following:

Full legal and disciplinary amnesty for all parties involved in the occupation.

Full compensation for all employees whose jobs were disrupted during the course of the occupation.

Public release of NYU’s annual operating budget, including a full list of university expenditures, salaries for all employees compensated on a semester or annual basis, funds allocated for staff wages, contracts to non-university organizations for university construction and services, financial aid data for each college, and money allocated to each college, department, and administrative unit of the university. Furthermore, this should include a full disclosure of the amount and sources of the university’s funding.

Disclosure of NYU’s endowment holdings, investment strategy, projected endowment growth, and persons, corporations and firms involved in the investment of the university’s endowment funds. Additionally, we demand an endowment oversight body of students, faculty and staff who exercise shareholder proxy voting power for the university’s investments.

That the NYU Administration agrees to resume negotiations with GSOC/UAW Local 2110 – the union for NYU graduate assistants, teaching assistants, and research assistants. That NYU publically affirm its commitment to respect all its workers, including student employees, by recognizing their right to form unions and to bargain collectively. That NYU publically affirm that it will recognize workers’ unions through majority card verification.

That NYU signs a contract guaranteeing fair labor practices for all NYU employees at home and abroad. This contract will extend to subcontracted workers, including bus drivers, food service employees and anyone involved in the construction, operation and maintenance at any of NYU’s non-U.S. sites.

The establishment of a student elected Socially Responsible Finance Committee. This Committee will have full power to vote on proxies, draft shareholder resolutions, screen all university investments, establish new programs that encourage social and environmental responsibility and override all financial decisions the committee deems socially irresponsible, including investment decisions. The committee will be composed of two subcommittees: one to assess the operating budget and one to assess the endowment holdings. Each committee will be composed of ten students democratically elected from the graduate and under-graduate student bodies. All committee decisions will be made a strict majority vote, and will be upheld by the university. All members of the Socially Responsible Finance Committee will sit on the board of trustees, and will have equal voting rights. All Socially Responsible Finance Committee and Trustee meetings shall be open to the public, and their minutes made accessible electronically through NYU’s website. Elections will be held the second Tuesday of every March beginning March 10^th 2009, and meetings will be held biweekly beginning the week of March 30^th 2009.

That the first two orders of business of the Socially Responsible Finance committee will be:

a) An in depth investigation of all investments in war and genocide profiteers, as well as companies profiting from the occupation of Palestinian territories.

b) A reassessment of the recently lifted of the ban on Coca Cola products.

That annual scholarships be provided for thirteen Palestinian students, starting with the 2009/2010 academic year. These scholarships will include funding for books, housing, meals and travel expenses.

That the university donate all excess supplies and materials in an effort to rebuild the University of Gaza.

Tuition stabilization for all students, beginning with the class of 2012. All students will pay their initial tuition rate throughout the course of their education at New York University. Tuition rates for each successive year will not exceed the rate of inflation, nor shall they exceed one percent. The university shall meet 100% of government-calculated student financial need.

That student groups have priority when reserving space in the buildings owned or leased by New York University, including, and especially, the Kimmel Center.

That the general public have access to Bobst Library.

A video of the reading of Take Back NYU's demands can be seen here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3EkD_4rWxHU&eurl=http://newschoolinexile.com/

In Solidarity,
The New School in Exile

Video of Thursday's Press conference!

2009-02-18T06:06:00.000-08:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fVnWGfq-sW0

Edinburgh University Occupation for Gaza

2009-02-12T06:30:00.000-08:00

BOYCOTT – That the university immediately suspend all contracts and relations with companies enabling the conflict and/or occupation, including Eden Springs. This demand is contingent on access to information to establish which other companies are implicated.

DIVESTMENT – That the university divest from and cut all links – specifically on-campus recruitment – with BAE Systems, QinetiQ and all other “arms and defence” manufacturers whose products are proven to be in use by the Israeli military.

SCHOLARSHIPS – That the university make full scholarships available to at least 5 students in Gaza, allowing them to attend Edinburgh University. This is a response to the destruction of their universities by the Israeli military, and to other barriers, physical and psychological, which restrict their right to education.

AID – That the university collect and make available non-monetary donations to war-damaged Gazan schools and hospitals, including but not limited to text-books, chairs, computers.

EDUCATION – That logistical and financial support are provided for a series of informative lectures and debates at Edinburgh, involving university staff and guest speakers, on the Palestine/Israel question during the academic year 2009/10.

STUDENT SIT-IN – Lastly, we demand that no legal, financial or academic measures be taken against those participating in, or supporting, a peaceful sit-in to ensure our calls are answered. We call on the university to allow participants unrestricted access to food, water, toilets and people on the outside, including but not limited to fellow students, supporters and media representatives.

We have no intention of preventing, delaying or disrupting lectures. It is not our aim to alienate or create a polarization between the students and the university. There will be rallies and other activities throughout the sit-in, both inside and outside the building. We will endeavour to hold talks and debates, show documentaries and create solidarity artwork. We aim to create an open space, allowing for the constructive and creative spread of awareness on the Gaza conflict and continued oppression of Palestinians throughout the Occupied Territories.

Friends in Edinburgh, we salute you and your resolve!

From the New York Times

2009-02-11T06:38:00.000-08:00

New School Faculty and President Remain at Odds

By LISA W. FODERARO

Published: February 10, 2009

In the two months since Bob Kerrey, the president of the New School, received overwhelming votes of no-confidence from the university’s full-time faculty, he has met nonstop with deans, students, faculty members and trustees and has scheduled a series of dinners with small faculty groups to try to rebuild his support.

Bob Kerrey has been president of the New School since 2001.

But the efforts at reconciliation have apparently not gained much traction, as evidenced by a faculty meeting on Tuesday in which one professor asked the room: “How do we impeach the guy?”

The emergency faculty meeting had been called to “exchange ideas and voice concerns,” but it turned into a large venting session, with professors taking turns at the microphone denouncing everything from Mr. Kerrey’s search for a new provost to what some called his autocratic style.

In one resolution, passed by a unanimous voice vote, the faculty urged the deans of the Greenwich Village university’s eight divisions to “reach out to every trustee” and convey the “strong and continuing faculty sentiment of no confidence” in the university’s current non-academic leadership.

But faculty members acknowledge that they have limited power to force out Mr. Kerrey, a former Democratic governor and senator from Nebraska. The board of trustees holds that authority, and three trustees said privately after the meeting that Mr. Kerrey still enjoyed broad support on the 60-member board.

The revolt against Mr. Kerrey was touched off by the dismissal of a popular provost, Joseph W. Westphal, in early December. But faculty members also complained that Mr. Kerrey let fiscal considerations override academic ones and faulted him for high turnover at the university. There have been four provosts since Mr. Kerrey took over in 2001, with the last, Mr. Westphal, leaving after only a few months.

Mr. Kerrey and his supporters challenge the criticisms, pointing out that he has significantly raised both the endowment and enrollment and has made strides in getting the eight divisions to work together. He also pushed to extend tenure among the faculty and oversaw an increase in dormitory rooms.

In a statement Tuesday evening, Mr. Kerrey said that “substantial progress” had been made in “addressing legitimate concerns voiced by many New School faculty,” adding that the vote of no confidence had “brought up some necessary truths that we needed to address, and we are now addressing them.

“Real channels of communication have opened with faculty and students, beginning a dialogue that will continue in the weeks and months ahead,” the statement continued. “At the same time, my administration and the academic leadership are working together to keep the New School on a steady course in these difficult financial times and continue building on the improvements we have begun.”

James E. Miller, co-chairman of the Faculty Senate, opened the meeting on Monday with a recapping of events. “This was a devastating referendum,” he said, referring to the 271-to-8 vote of no-confidence in December, which was directed at both Mr. Kerrey and his executive vice president, James Murtha, the university’s chief financial officer.

“Even when faculties express a lack of confidence without such unanimity, boards of trustees usually have no choice but to respond, either by changing leadership or by reforming the structure of academic governance,” said Dr. Miller, a professor of political science. “This serves as a useful reminder of who our primary audience now is. It is the board of trustees.”

The trustees will hold a regular meeting on Wednesday, but no action is expected. Almost half the board was appointed by Mr. Kerrey, whose contract runs through 2011.

While the faculty reiterated its dissatisfaction with Mr. Kerrey at its meeting, some students were more aggressive. (In December, students staged a 30-hour sit-in at a campus building, calling for Mr. Kerrey’s ouster.)

At the faculty meeting, Geeti Das, a doctoral student at the New School for Social Research, a division of the New School, called on Mr. Kerrey to step down by April 1. “If on that date he has not resigned, we will shut down the functions of the university,” she said to applause. “We will bring it to a halt.”

The latest skirmish between the faculty and Mr. Kerrey concerns the search for an interim provost. A search committee of deans and faculty members has recommended an internal candidate. But it insisted that almost a dozen conditions, relating to the restructuring of the provost’s office, be met first.

Asked about the restructuring idea, a spokeswoman for the New School said, “Everything’s on the table.”

The committee also demanded that an interim provost serve for at least 18 months and that a search for a permanent provost not start until September.

In an e-mail message to the faculty, Mr. Kerrey rejected the idea of delaying the search for a permanent provost.

From Where We Stand: A Statement from The New School in Exile

2009-02-10T07:56:00.000-08:00

"This is the hour for the experiment; and New York is the place, because it is the greatest social science laboratory in the world and of its own force attracts scholars and leaders in educational work."
--New School founding text (1918)

OUR POSITION
The New School is now at a critical point. Our ability to do the very thing we came here to do—receive a quality education—is at risk. The obstacles we face as students are diverse and different based on our academic programs and departments, but we are united by the impacts of decisions made by the university. To resolve these diverse problems we must address the root causes, namely the guiding priorities and academic policies of this institution. Unfortunately, the administration has shown time and again that they are more interested in maintaining power than in open dialogue or serious structural change. The senior administration is no longer accountable to the students or faculty they are ostensibly here to serve. Because of this, we call for the immediate resignation of Bob Kerrey and James Murtha no later than April 1, 2009.

OUR VISION
The struggle for an emancipatory education, and against the influences of subjugation and homogenizing tendencies in society writ large, is not new. Students all around the world are struggling with these same issues. We also recognize that this is part of a much larger struggle, one that has at its root the very understanding of what it is to be free. And as students we have an obligation, because of our privilege, to push the envelope and construct a new vision of how the world could be. Formerly our school was driven by calls for open deliberation, anti- authoritarianism and critical and direct engagement with social problems. Now—under the present leadership—decision-making is secretive and closed. Power is consolidated, abused and wielded as a weapon against academic inquiry and critical skepticism. Our “brand” is now more important than our ethics, and students have been reduced to economic units--like cogs in a
corporate machine.

We want an education that enriches our lives while challenging us to grow as both an academic community and as individuals. We want a university we can be proud of, where new theories and ways of being in the world are the very foundation of what we do. A school with a mission of engaged scholarship focused on solving real problems. We desire radical praxis--thought and action--not simply navel-gazing or status-quo reproduction. In short, we want our institution
to reclaim the critical and engaged tradition on which it was founded.

OUR CRITIQUE
As faculty and students simultaneously rose up in opposition to the administration, the thinly constructed veneer of Kerrey's "success" as President was shattered. The more light we cast on the dark recesses of this administration, the more we see its ugly sides, its exposed myths, its abuses of power and outright lies. We have a Board of Trustees that is not accountable to the university community. Our student government bodies have negotiated with the administration
in good faith, only to find that decisions are made and promises broken from one semester to the next. Even a majority vote of no confidence by the faculty has no meaning or weight given to it by the administration. Long before the current recession, we have faced financial hardships. As students we are now worse off than ever when it comes to resources. Class offerings at the graduate and undergraduate level are shrinking and departments are stressed from bloated tuition and teacher shortages. Computers and printers are consistently broken or occupied.
There are major deficiencies in teaching and research opportunities for graduate students. Our library resources, if one can even speak of them, are an academic disgrace and virtually useless for serious research. Those of us attempting to receive an education and help support families have no opportunity on campus to earn enough to live even at the poverty line while our spouses and partners receive no health insurance from the school. Salaries for research assistants and student teachers have not been raised in over ten years. Our study space is essentially non- existent. Campus buildings are run in such a way that students often go elsewhere to actually study, yet our Graduate Faculty building--the building we fought for and occupied to keep as a student space, the building that was supposed to be closed and torn down--now sits open and off limits. Floor after floor of quiet study space where students could be working, meeting and studying is denied to us for no reason other than the administrative whims of Kerrey and Murtha. And we reject the continued harassment of students by university security-
-apparently taking their cues from James Murtha—acting as though they have carte blanche to intimidate, coerce and assault students.

The underlying forces that brought forth the occupation at the New School are still manifest, and our views on the crisis at our university are unchanged. We still call for the resignation of President Bob Kerrey and Executive Vice-President James Murtha. Both represent the way this administration has become out of touch with our academic, philosophic and political roots. The administration has been implicated in abuses of power great and small. President Bob Kerrey
oversaw the execution of civilians in the Vietnamese village of Thanh Phong, and continues to be a staunch supporter of the illegal invasion and occupation of Iraq. The Executive Vice President James Murtha acts like a petty dictator who prefers to threaten--and punish--those in the university who speak out against him or challenge his attempts to further consolidate power. The Board Treasurer Robert Millard presides over L-3 Communications, a corporation that is being sued for torture and human rights violations in Iraq and is one of the largest war profiteers in the nation. These are not men of honor or vision, and they are not appropriate leaders for the New School! To address these varied problems we will continue to apply pressure on the university administration until the April 1 deadline. We will continue to organize the New School community against the present administration while exposing their incompetence and their attempts to stifle criticism. But ultimately a line must be drawn in the sand, a point where we say, this far, and no further. That line is April 1. If, on that day, the current leadership remains in place, we will shut down the functions of the university. We will bring it to a halt. We will make it stop. Through our civil disobedience, we will reclaim the university as a center of academic and political action. In short, we will continue to struggle until we have restored the legacy and integrity of the New School!

--The New School In Exile

A Refutation of a Crude Opinion

2009-02-06T07:28:00.000-08:00

The following gem of a comment was found by yours truly on Kerrey's blog. The author is a certain student and an especially bitter critic of our actions who in the end exposes himself as utterly ignorant of our university's progressive mission. Therefore, the incoherence of its argument must be laid out. First, the comment in full:

To Bob Kerrey, I fully support you and your Presidency here at New School. I am a first year transfer sudent who is technically in my senior year here at New School for General Studies in the BA/MA program. I was not on campus at all during the protests, indeed I did not even know about them until they were over, but I have seen the videos on youtube and I kept up with the articles in the NY Times. I am deeply embarrassed at the treatment you received at the hands of these spoiled-rotten, pop-culture brats or privalege. I study at 65 5th Ave. and in the youtube videos I saw lots of familar faces of many of students who never did much studying anyway...these kids were just amped up by the situation. Word around campus says that many were instigated and enticed into taking this action by certain reactionary, faculty members who were disgruntled over having lost their attempt to oust you last week. Not all of us are as shallow minded or near sighted as these dim,vapid idiots. Its amazing to me that the students were as inarticulate about their demands as they were when you consider that many of them are supposed to be graduate level students. I am seriously considering leaving the New School next semester for several reasons but none of them has to do with you or your presidency of the college. Actually much if it has to do with the fact that when I was looking at the New School I was at first impressed with how bright and intelligent the student body seemed. How experienced, well articulated and worldly the faculty seemed to be. Now that I have been here for a semester I have found that both of those things were nearly falsehoods and were certainly exagerated. The students here are no more bright than students anywhere and many are in fact over-rated and dim-witted, pop-culture brats who may be aware of the current great video on youtube but are entirely unaware that a winner of the Congressional Medal of Honor is anything BUT a war criminal!!! My mother and father are both VIetnam veterans, my great-Grandfather was a vet of WWI and WWII as well as several of my great uncles and distant cousins. I take American identity very seriously and feel shame for my fellow students who allowed themselves to be amped up by reactionary faculty who have their own hidden, narrow agenda. Next time send in the police and let them crack heads! I also have had a rather particularly interesting experience with a certain Foreign Language class which I would be more than happy to explain to you, if you have the time to listen. Bot regardless...keep-keeping on Bob!

Posted by (name removed) on 12/20/2008 at 5:18:10 PM

It's difficult to know where to begin. For one, we are accused of being "pop-culture brats of privalege [sic]" by someone who claims to know that the students involved "never did much studying anyway." Where and how this assumption is made is left unclear, especially since (1) the author states he wasn't physically at the occupation and (2) it's doubtful he has enough knowledge of others' studying habits. How shocking would it be for him to find out that studying and finals work was actually being done in the occupied area while the event was unfolding?

We are accused of being inarticulate about our demands. A quick look at the New School for Exile website exposes this argument as uninformed. Unfortunately, this seems to be the case throughout.

Besides the author's own struggle with the basic grammar of the English language, he is also embarrassingly unaware of the meanings of the words he uses. For one, we are said to have been riled up by reactionary faculty--a term quite unfitting to what's known as one of the most socially progressive body of academics in the country. Deeming them reactionary implies that Kerrey's own reforms are somehow progressive. Clearly, Kerrey has attempted to institute significant change in the school structure, but change itself is not enough to be deemed progressive without looking at the ends toward which its put. It's clear that his vision is to corporatize an institution in order for it to match the status quo of American higher education. Opposition to unwanted change loses the character of a reactionary stance if itself is committed to maintaining a progressive environment. This has been the mission of the New School in Exile.

The lost irony of someone encouraging for cops to be called in so they can break heads actually deeming others reactionary is also too rich not to be pointed out!

Not to belabor the point, one final remark. The author accuses the students of being unaware that "a winner of the Congressional Medal of Honor is anything BUT a war criminal!!!" I must admit, the logical coherence of this statement is lost on me. Does the first part of the statement somehow logically invalidate the second part? What we have here are two loosely related statements that can both coexist as true, since they don't cancel each other out. In fact, there's a circular argument going on: If we were to ask the author why Kerrey isn't a war criminal, he would tell us it's because he has a medal of honor; if we were to ask why he has a medal of honor, he would tell us it's because he is not a war criminal!

What can we gather from all this? The author is unable to lay out a decent argument for why our actions were inappropriate. Reason gives way to thinly veiled spite and bitterness that boils over into a personal rant about American honor, as if the author's own family was being protested against. Needless to say, the events of December were NOT caused by our outrage over the Republican virtues of the poster's family--be what they may.

In conclusion: We welcome criticism, but if any reader in the future would like to point out what we're doing wrong, please make it more coherent.

In solidarity,
The New School in Exile

New Semester, New Plans, New Actions...

2009-01-26T17:26:00.001-08:00

A gathering to continue planning our next actions and ongoing resistance at the New School has been set and everyone is encouraged to come. The campus occupation last December was but one small step in a larger struggle!

Sunday, Feb. 1st, 7pm
the basement of the 16th St. building

This will be a meeting to plan future actions, not a campaign organizing or student movement strategy meeting! Come with creative ideas and actions to kick off a new year of struggle. In solidarity, in resistance, and still in exile!!!

"An open letter to students by workers in Athens"

2008-12-27T15:52:00.001-08:00

A letter to students, December 2008
Link: http://news.infoshop.org/article.php?story=20081217200907717

An open letter to students by workers in Athens, against the background
of the social upheaval following the police shooting of a young boy.

A letter to students

Our age difference and the general estrangement make it difficult for us
to discuss with you in the streets; this is why we send you this letter.

Most of us have not (yet) been bald or big-bellied. We are part of the
1990-91 movement. You must have heard of it. Back then, and while we had
occupied our schools for 30-35 days, fascists killed a teacher because
he had gone beyond his natural role (that of being our guard) and
crossed the line to the opposite side; he had come with us, into our
struggle. Then, even the toughest of us got to the streets and riot.
However, we didn’t even think of doing what you easily do today: attack
police stations (although we sang “burn police stations…”).

So, you’re gone beyond us, as always happens in history. Conditions are
different of course. During ‘90s they passed us off the prospect of
personal success and some of us swallowed it. Now people cannot believe
this fairy tale. Your older brothers showed us this during the 2006-07
students’ movement; you now spit their fairy tale to their faces.

So far so good.

Now the good and difficult matters begin.

We’ll tell you what we’ve learned from our struggles and our defeats
(because as long as world is not ours we’ll always be the defeated ones)
and you can use what we’ve learned as you wish:

Don’t stay alone. Call us; call as many people as possible. We don’t
know how you can do that, you will find the way. You’ve already occupied
your schools and you tell us that the most important reason is that you
don’t like your schools. Nice. Since you’ve already occupied them change
their role. Share your occupations with other people. Let your schools
become the first buildings to house our new relations. Their most
powerful weapon is dividing us. Just like you are not afraid of
attacking their police stations because you are together, don’t be
afraid to call us to change our life all together.

Don’t listen to any political organization (either anarchists or
anyone). Do what you need to. Trust people, not abstract schemes and
ideas. Trust your direct relations with people. Trust your friends; make
as many people as possible in your struggle your people. Don’t listen to
them when they’re saying that your struggle doesn’t have a political
content and must seemingly obtain. Your struggle is the content. You
only have your struggle and it’s in your hands to preserve its advance.
It’s only your struggle that can change your life, namely you and the
real relations with your fellowmen.

Don’t be afraid to proceed when confronting new things. Each one of us,
as we’re getting older, has things planted in their brains. You too,
although you are young. Don’t forget the importance of this fact. Back
in 1991, we confronted the smell of the new world and, trust us, we
found it difficult. We learned that there must always be limits. Don’t
be scared by the destruction of commodities. Don’t be scared by people
looting stores. We make all these, they are ours. You (just like we in
the past) are raised to get up every morning in order to make things
that they will later not be yours. Let’s get them back all together and
share them. Just like we share our friends and the love among us.

We apologize for writing this letter quickly, but we do it swinging the
lead from our work, secretly from our boss. We are imprisoned in work,
just like you are imprisoned in school.

We’ll now lie to our boss and leave work: we’ll come to meet you in
Syntagma sq with stones in our hands.

Proletarians

From an RSU member of The New School in Exile

2008-12-21T18:15:00.000-08:00

I am writing this as a member of the New School Radical Student Union, a student organization whose goal "is to build a movement for social revolution. By social revolution, we mean a fundamental transformation in the defining values and institutions of the various spheres of social life (kinship, community, economy, polity, international relations)." However, in the article to which this response is directed (Rules of Thumb Learned by An Occupant of the New School i Exile), it seems that the only "revolutionaries" inside the New School In Exile's occupation of the Graduate Faculty Building were a group of about 20 anarchists. As many RSU members observed during the occupation, there was a feeling that anytime we opened our mouths we were immediately marginalized and scorned, so maybe it was difficult to actually hear our beliefs in the midst of holding a successful occupation. The RSU's constitution is explicitly anti-capitalist, anti-racist, anti-sexist, and acknowledges the need for revolutionary organization (you can read more at radicalstudentunion.blogspot.com/).

To write that many RSU members had a "pro-negotiation, 'Just reason it out with the authorities' attitude" is disappointing. Again, maybe it was loud, but we weren't saying reason with the authorities, some were stressing the need to open a dialogue and articulate demands that would allow us to win so that we would have the feeling we had when we left last rather than leaving "snatching defeat from the jaws of victory," as Tom Hayden puts it. Additionally, the split between those committed to direct action as a way to achieve our goals and those that were looking to begin a dialogue with the university administration is merely a tactical difference. There were many perspectives on what would have been the best way for the occupants to be able to leave the occupation victorious, which was the attitude of many of the RSU members

The claim that many "prominent [RSU] members were against the occupation," is highly inaccurate. In a meeting on Monday night, one RSU member proposed for the occupation to take place Thursday so that we could spend the next two days organizing the dorms and classroom buildings to spread the word about the occupation, articulate our demands, and get more people to join us either inside the occupation or outside in solidarity demonstrations. That proposal was voted down, but I fail to see where that equates to being against the occupation from the beginning (unfortunate perhaps as I'm sure many have read that a certain amount of New School students either did not know about the occupation or misunderstood its desired effect, something more prior organizing may have helped to limit). For a group with many, many members against the occupation from the beginning, the RSU sure did mobilize a large amount of people who were either participants in the occupation, or were helping to coordinate the demonstrations outside. This speaks to a certain amount of dedication in that some RSU members may have been divided in debate but were certainly united in action, something certainly lacking from some of the 20 revolutionary anarchists mentioned with the setting up of the "Autonomous Faction of Non-cooperation Against the Division of Labor." In fact, many of the RSU members who were participants were indeed willing to go to jail if necessary, and helped formulate demands and do what we could to keep the momentum going. Characterizing RSU members as being against direct action while being largely in attendance of an event that by definition was direct action is problematic as well. There was a difference in strategies in large part, for sure. I myself felt as though the occupation was being driven itself as a strategy when in fact it was part of a much more long-term struggle in which it was merely a tactic – albeit a highly successful one.

New York City is nowhere near the level of struggle taking place around the globe, and it will require a lot more patient organizing and education (which does not negate direct action) before it is. This occupation was an important first step towards more militant action, but we must keep in mind what things were like before the occupation. As it stands, Kerrey, Murtha, and Millard are still in power, yet we could not be in a better place going into the next semester. We must learn from these actions and begin to work together to build the type of student movement needed to take back the university from the warlords and business people who have final decision making power in how the school operates. The occupants of the Graduate Faculty Building articulated a very clear demand for a university in which students, faculty, and staff have a say in the operations of the university in proportion to the degree they are affected. Let us celebrate our significant victory and join in building a student movement capable of being a catalyst for the type of change that our society needs. Education, protests, occupations, and strikes – we must do whatever we can to build a movement and take back our university.

Member,

Radical Student Union

The New School in Exile

Excerpt from the Times piece posted beow:

2008-12-20T22:18:00.000-08:00

“This university was born in chaos and it ought to thrive in chaos,” Mr. Kerrey said. “This is a very important moment in the life of the school. It’s very constructive — not very pleasant, but I have been through more unpleasant things in my life.”

Mr. Kerrey, you seem to lack understanding. Chaos is not what the school is in, it is in revolution and revolution is never pleasant. And you are right, you have been through more unpleasant things in your life: you have had to live with the fact that you killed civilians, including children for over 30 years. You fought in a war, but now it seems you are afraid to allow your students to actually post comments on your blog. You, Mr. Kerrey are quite a dishonest and arrogant man, and We promise you, if you do not step down, we will make this the most unpleasant thing you have ever been through.

Defiantly,
The New School in Exile

Letter from a Member of The New School in Exile

2008-12-20T22:07:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone,

I wanted to say thank you and congratulations to everyone again. It
was amazing taking part in this with all of you, and I am still amazed
by what we did. I think that as we continue to look forward and begin
to plan what comes next we need to hold on to what is no longer just
an idea of what we can accomplish, but the very concrete fact that
when we come together we can mobilize, take action, and really stir
some shit up. We are going to continue this, and part of that is
knowing that the New School in Exile as an idea will always exist, and
as a website. We're keeping that up and running, and when the time
comes, it'll be there for us to mobilize again.

While I have been pretty quiet today I have been following the
conversations going on between everyone and I don't really want to
jump in on the debates because it seems like they been resolved at
this point. What I do want to suggest is that we all turn our
intention to the blogs and news stories that are continuing to cover
our OCCUPATION, not demonstration and start posting. For starters, our
good friend Bob's blog is back up and running: he says there were 50
of us in the cafeteria when we left...he lies. No surprise, but let's
correct it for the record. Beyond that the NY Times blog has
repeatedly challenged that it was an occupation and that we had
consent: no. And as to all the Kerrey chasing stories...I don't really
care what side of the fence you are on (I personally agree with (name deleted)-
he knew damn well what he was doing, and this was verified by the
reporter who watched it occur): my suggestion is
that when we come across it in print we counter-spin it. Kerrey has
oppressed us, Drunk Murtha authorized force against us, and
intimidated us. While Kerrey was supposedly being "chased" Drunk
Murtha was pounding on the glass of the room negotiations were taking
place in, and telling us if they weren't hammered out in five minutes
he would sic the police on us. The media wants intimidation, and the
use of physical force and violence: we got more than enough that was
directed at us by Kerrey and Drunk Murtha to go around. (Along these
lines a comment on Bob's blog says that "we" being white, rich kids
tormented a black security guard...we should also try to clear that
up...I think we should comment away on Bob's blog and if he doesn't
post them, we expose him for that too.)

In closing I would also like to suggest that we brainstorm on how we
want to go about continuing to target Drunk Murtha...I think we can
come up with a direct way for us to bring our charges and allegations
against him. I would also like to suggest that we try to have Jose
Velagas fired for his excessive and grotesque use of force and verbal
abuse of our fellow students and friends. Do we have other videos
showing him losing his shit?

Sorry to have this go on for so long....

Again thanks everyone!

In solidarity,
(Name Deleted for Protection)

From the NY Times: Behind Discord at the New School: Faculty Sees an Unfocused Leader

2008-12-20T22:01:00.000-08:00

By LISA W. FODERARO and MARC SANTORA

Published: December 20, 2008

Elevator access to the university’s eighth-floor administrative offices has been shut off to all but a few. After a 30-hour sit-in at another building, a proposed student assembly was canceled on Friday for security reasons. Some professors are so fearful that they have stopped using the e-mail system.

Over the last 10 days, the New School has become a campus in open revolt against the leadership of its president, Bob Kerrey, who was given a 269-to-18 vote of no-confidence by the full-time faculty. Mr. Kerrey, the former governor and senator from Nebraska, who took over the university in 2001, made some concessions, admitted certain mistakes, started a blog to face his critics and spent two hours listening to complaints from dissident professors. Yet the mutiny has intensified.

The catalyst for the rebellion was the recent dismissal of a popular provost, but the outpouring of anger and frustration has revealed a deeper, more complex set of problems with both the substance and style of Mr. Kerrey’s efforts to make over the university. The board of trustees, which controls the president’s fate, has so far stood behind him.

A politician without a Ph.D., Mr. Kerrey, 65, was recruited largely for his star power, and given a mandate to unite the New School’s eight disparate divisions and turn a campus long viewed as a kind of academic shopping mall for continuing education into a more ambitious and rigorous one with a greater undergraduate focus.

During his tenure, enrollment in degree programs has grown to 9,800 students from 7,100, and the endowment has more than doubled, to $214 million from $90 million. Freshman applications are up 28 percent since 2006.

But these successes have often come at a cost of alienating constituent groups at the university, spread across multiple buildings in Greenwich Village.

In dozens of interviews with professors, deans, trustees, students and former provosts, complaints abounded that Mr. Kerrey lets economic considerations trump academics, leaves professors out of decision-making, and has a frenetic and mercurial management style that has led to high turnover: In seven years, 18 deans have rotated through eight positions, and there have been four provosts, the last leaving after only a few months.

Critics said that Mr. Kerrey’s drive to change the New School has also been marked by about-faces on important matters, including capital projects, academic programs and faculty appointments. Even a 2005 campaign intended to help integrate what one professor called academic “silos” fell flat with names that made clear the programs were part of a larger whole but were tortuous to say: Parsons the New School for Design; Eugene Lang College the New School for Liberal Arts.

“There’s a profound lack of communication between the president and the faculty,” said David Howell, an economics professor at Milano the New School for Management and Urban Policy and co-chairman of the Faculty Senate (which Mr. Kerrey helped create, but whose meetings he rarely attends).

A key flashpoint in the growing dissent is James Murtha, the university’s executive vice president, who has often acted as Mr. Kerrey’s enforcer and who was also the subject of no-confidence votes by the faculty and of resignation demands by students. Several professors likened Mr. Murtha to Vice President Dick Cheney; at an unabashedly left-wing institution, there could hardly be a more stinging insult.

Mr. Murtha, who did not return calls seeking comment, has his hand in nearly every aspect of the university, according to current and former deans and faculty members. The turnover of provosts — the chief academic officers — has only strengthened the hand of Mr. Murtha, the chief finance officer.

“There is a sense that academics can never control their whole destiny because Murtha sits above the whole enterprise,” said one former dean, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, fearing retribution. Another colleague quipped: “I am not sure I can go to the bathroom without his permission.”

In an interview, Mr. Kerrey stood by Mr. Murtha, saying he had no plans to remove him.

After spending 45 minutes listening to faculty diatribes on Tuesday and trying to meet with the protesting students on Thursday, he suggested that the hubbub should be seen in historical context at a university that was founded in 1919 by a group of renegade Columbia professors and was a haven for scholars fleeing Hitler’s Europe in the 1930s.

The New School is by all accounts a difficult place to lead, since it is so many things to so many people.

Eugene Lang, established 21 years ago, is most like a traditional college, but its 900 undergraduates are a small fraction of the student body of 6,068 undergraduates, 3,320 graduate students and 13,000 adults enrolled in 1,000 continuing-education courses. Tuition and accommodations at its 10 dormitories are more than $40,000 a year, much like Columbia and New York University, with which it would like to be compared; average SAT scores are considerably lower, though, and it is far easier to be admitted.

About a quarter of New School students come from foreign countries. Of the Americans, 40 percent are members of minorities. More than half the undergraduates receive financial aid.

When Mr. Kerrey arrived, the New School was emerging from a period of relative obscurity, when it was known more for its night courses than for the scholarly work in the social sciences that had never stopped. It was also hopelessly fractured: some students enrolled in the design or music divisions did not realize they were part of the New School. Mr. Kerry’s goals were to bolster the institution’s finances and raise its profile.

Professors say they largely believe in the need for integration, but they object to the way Mr. Kerrey has gone about it.

The Parsons fashion program — featured on the Bravo network’s reality show “Project Runway” — is one of the university’s best-known and a huge money-maker, in part because the overhead per student is comparatively low. The much smaller architecture department, also part of Parsons, is more expensive, to operate, because each student requires expensive materials.

A former Parsons dean said that Mr. Kerrey and Mr. Murtha rejected efforts to expand the architecture department and instead instilled “enormous” pressure to expand the fashion program: it has more than doubled, to 663 students from 291 in 2001 (architecture has remained fairly steady, with 74 students now).

“They were shoving kids in anywhere they could fit them,” the former dean said. “It is as if the school was Procter & Gamble and we were talking about how many units of Tide to sell.”

Mr. Kerrey makes no apologies for trying to capitalize on profitable divisions, especially since the university is heavily dependent on tuition because of its relatively small endowment, even after he was able to double it .

“The architecture program costs a million dollars a year more than it generates — I have to make that million dollars up somewhere,” he said in the interview. “If you are not aggressive on enrollment at the New School, you find yourself underenrolled and in real financial trouble.”

One of the most common complaints at Mr. Kerrey’s meeting with the faculty on Tuesday was of wasted committee work, particularly on a much-discussed faculty handbook that sought to establish universitywide standards in hiring, promotion and evaluation.

While faculty members were involved in drafting it, Professor Howell, of the Milano school, said that the handbook was approved by the provost and the board of trustees in 2006, “hastily and over objections.” Worse, he said, faculty members, with a green light from administrators, have since spent “hundreds of hours” on revisions, but the instability in the provost’s office has stymied progress.

“The effect is that the work has been put in a drawer and closed,” he said. “The handbook looks exactly the way it did in 2006.”

Faculty members also blamed Mr. Kerrey for flip-flopping, rejecting his own ideas or studying them into oblivion. They cited proposals for a culinary program and a law school that went nowhere, and a signature building planned and planned, on a prominent site, at Fifth Avenue and 14th Street, then ultimately scrapped.

In 2004, Mr. Kerrey decided that he wanted to replace the existing building on that site, which has classrooms, a cafeteria and a library, amid wide agreement that it was drab and outdated. But participants in the planning said that the president pushed ahead with design ideas before the university had even settled on its mission.

“If he was talking to Donna Karan, trying to raise money, he would say it was going to be a fashion building,” recalled one, again speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of being punished. “If he was talking to someone else, he would say something else.”

The architect Frank Gehry said that when he visited the New School for a lecture and dinner in 2004, he was offered the commission to design the building — only to discover a week later that another firm had been hired.

“He stood up at the dinner and talked all about how I was going to design this great new building,” Mr. Gehry said of Mr. Kerrey. “I was very excited. It is a block long and a great site.”

Mr. Kerrey denied that he ever offered Mr. Gehry the job; four years later, the run-down building, on the east side of Fifth Avenue between 13th and 14th Streets, remains untouched.

Others cite similar incidents that have bred ill will.

Stephen C. Schlesinger, a foreign policy expert and author of “Act of Creation: The Founding of the United Nations,” recalled his nine years as director of the World Policy Institute, which used to be part of the New School.

The institute functioned as a policy group, with two dozen fellows who did not teach but were “great advertisements for the New School,” Mr. Schlesinger said. But it lost money. Mr. Schlesinger said he discovered that Mr. Kerrey did not want to “put up with that anymore” by reading a statement from him to that effect in The New York Observer.

Mr. Schlesinger asked Mr. Kerrey for a one-year sabbatical, and said the president asked him “four or five times” during that year to come back and teach. But when he went to discuss specifics of returning, Mr. Kerrey “said ‘there is no teaching job,” Mr. Schlesinger recalled, adding that he had “turned down other jobs.”

Mr. Kerrey described Mr. Schlesinger’s account as “pretty close to true.”

“I just couldn’t find a place for him to teach,” he said. “I wasn’t able to keep my promise.”

“That’s the problem with Bob Kerrey,” said Mr. Schlesinger, a son of the historian Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr. “He charms everybody when they first meet him and then something happens and he turns around and punches them in the stomach. After that, you say, ‘How can I trust this guy?’ ”

News From a Student on the Security Situation

2008-12-20T21:51:00.000-08:00

"Just wanted to let you know of an update on the consortium students being allowed in the building.

I am a PhD student at NYU and just got back from Fogelman library to pick up a book on hold. The guards were pretty hostile and threatened to "arrest me" -- but in the end I made a case for myself, pushed through, and got into the library. Overall, the guards were extremely sarcastic and over-the-top. Especially when I left and wished them "happy holidays" -- and they responded that "it was until I showed up"..."

The New School in Exile

More info on the so called "chasing" of Kerrey from a Member of The New School in Exile

2008-12-20T21:38:00.000-08:00

I spoke to a reporter about the incident and he is also going to report it. He said that Kerrey was surrounded by security when he came out. He said that people began to crowd around him including reporters and cameras and perhaps a total of 20 people. He said that they were following him and that when they reached the corner he took off running for no apparent reason. He then ducked into his own house. He said that people followed him running as opposed to chased him. I do think this is important because it is an obvious ploy added to the fact that Kerrey quickly called the deans and announced this. I think the problem of the context of this entire debate is that we are allowing him to associate it and make it a part of the image of the occupation. Those of us in the occupation were always non-violent and our goal was to have a voice. If we wanted to chase Kerrey around we could have easily done that but our agenda was much larger. I agree that any person should have the right to their personal security and feel strongly about that as an academic, yet I wonder how much war criminal Kerrey believes that or how our faculty that has expressed their lack of safety and job security at our school feel about that. I know I don't feel like mine is respected when the head of security is taking pictures of my face when I am standing peacefully in a lobby, or when Jim (Drunk) Murtha repeatedly walks up to me and looks at my face and smiles calmly. We are allowing Bob Kerrey to act a victim when we have been victimized by him. If people did have strong enough feelings to chase him down, which I don't believe they did, then perhaps it is a testament to the decisions he has made throughout his entire life. It does not make it right but we cannot be held accountable for the levels of hate he has incited in his entire life. Let's turn this debate around, let's say that he may have been a victim for a minute and that we agree it is wrong if that is the case and we know because we have been victimized for far two long by his arrogance and his lack of respect for anything but the money that we give the school.

Respectfully

(Name Deleted for the Student's protection)

New Information

2008-12-20T21:22:00.001-08:00

Dear Friends,

All the Students of The New School received this email today:

December 20, 2008

A NOTE TO THE NEW SCHOOL COMMUNITY
The Subcommittee of the Board of Trustees of The New School appointed last week by Chair Julien Studley met with the University Deans, and separately with the Officers of the University, on December 18, 2008 to listen to their reflections on the sentiments of the faculty on recent events and University governance. President Kerrey has also met a number of times with the Deans over the last two weeks, and he also met with both the Faculty Senate and the General Faculty.

It is obvious to the President, the Deans, and to us that there has been a major breakdown in communication and lack of confidence in governance at the University.

President Kerrey has already taken certain actions, which the Deans, the Officers of the University, and the Trustees support as first steps. President Kerrey has reversed his decision to assume the responsibilities of chief academic officer during the search for a new provost; he has agreed with the Deans to set up a process to select an interim provost that will include on a search committee representatives of the Deans, faculty, and students, and the process for searching and selecting a new provost is under active discussion; he is working with the Deans to establish a process for the building of a stronger Provost's Office with increased authorities to ensure the appropriate balance of responsibilities and the appropriate separation of authority between the Offices of the Provost and the Executive Vice President; and he has asked the Chairman of the Board of Trustees to begin a process to consider adding non-voting student and faculty representation to the Board of Trustees. In addition, in order to improve communication with the faculty, the President has announced that he will attend the Faculty Senate meetings in the spring and will establish a series of regular meetings between himself and the General Faculty to begin early in the new year.

These various processes will be reviewed by us, the Trustees, the President, the Deans, and the Officers of the University. We are prepared to meet with faculty, senior divisional and university administrators and students during this period, as changes to the University are implemented. The President has also suggested setting up an independent, confidential process for the presentation of concerns at the University without fear of intimidation. We will continue to meet with the Deans and the Officers of the University, as appropriate.

The Subcommittee of Trustees:
Richard Kauffman, Chair
Franci Blassberg
Steven Bloom
William Havemeyer
William Zabel

-This represents another victory for the students, and you can be sure that we will apply all necessary pressure to make sure it is carried out. Furthermore, we continue to encourage the Trustees to show Mr. Kerrey and Mr. Murtha (who, by the way was noticeably intoxicated on Thursday night/Friday morning and encouraging the Security Guards and Police to take violent action against the Occupation) the door. We do not feel that they are able to run our University without their favorite tactic, intimidation.

Resolutely,
The New School in Exile

A new Post from the NY TIMES

2008-12-20T14:01:00.000-08:00

December 19, 2008, 4:24 pm

The Columbia and New School Sit-Ins, Compared

By Colin Moynihan

It was not a redux of the Battle of Morningside Heights.

When students at the New School staged an occupation in an academic building Wednesday night in an effort to bend the administration’s ear and will, it was difficult not to look back to the famous sit-in carried out in 1968 by students at Columbia University.

The actions, separated by decades, diverged in many significant respects. For one thing, the New School students differed from their 1968 counterparts in their choice of venue. While the Columbia students took over the well-appointed office of Columbia’s president, Grayson Kirk, and (at least according to legend) smoked his cigars, the New School students focused their ire on their university president, Bob Kerrey, from afar. Instead of approaching his West 12th Street office, they occupied a large cafeteria around the corner in a university building at 65 Fifth Avenue near East 13th Street.

Of course, there were similarities, too. Both the 1968 and the 2008 sit-ins were attended by people affiliated with the Students for a Democratic Society and both were partly motivated by anger over university associations with an unpopular war. In 1968, Columbia students were upset that the university was affiliated with the Institute for Defense Analysis, which advised the government on Vietnam. This time, some students objected to connections between university leaders and the war in Iraq. Mr. Kerrey, who served in Vietnam, was an early and strong proponent for the United States invasion of Iraq. Students also criticized Robert B. Millard, a member of the New School board of trustees and chairman of the executive committee of a military supplier called L-3 Communications, which employed contractors accused in lawsuits of abusing prisoners in Iraq.

Sometimes there were simultaneous similarities and differences within a single issue. Take, for instance, the student stances on university buildings, important in both 1968 and 2008. The Columbia students wished to halt the construction of a gymnasium in Morningside Park. The New School students, on the other hand, wanted to prevent the razing of the building at 65 Fifth Avenue, which had been scheduled for demolition.

Some of the most telling differences were in the nature of the occupations. While the Columbia protests spread to several buildings, the New School students largely remained in the ground-floor cafeteria and appeared to concentrate on consolidating their position. Twice, students took school security guards by surprise, flinging open doors and allowing reinforcements to stream into the cafeteria from chilly sidewalks.

For many students, the cafeteria was home for more than 30 hours. Their numbers fluctuated from about 50 to close to 200. Conditions mixed the spartan and the modern. Students slept –– or tried to –– on the cafeteria’s hard wooden floors. The thermostat was often uncomfortably high. Pillows and blankets were in short supply, but technology abounded. Students shared laptops, batteries and phones. They were in constant contact with the world beyond the cafeteria, posting communiqués on the Web and e-mailing manifestos and updates to allies. Messages were exchanged with sympathizers at other schools like Antioch and Clemson.

Some of the available amenities were achieved through negotiation with school officials. During much of the occupation, students with New School IDs were permitted to cross freely between the occupied zone and the streets outside the building. Supporters were allowed to deliver food, coffee and even a movie projector (news footage of melees in Greece and an episode of Charlie Rose interviewing Toni Morrison were beamed onto a wall) after building hours on Thursday night.

Occupiers also enjoyed a sort of safe conduct between the cafeteria and a bathroom in a nearby administration-controlled hallway until sometime after midnight on Thursday, when the authorities apparently announced that anyone visiting the bathroom would be prevented from re-entering the cafeteria.

And although officers and security guards at times scuffled with students –– and banged a newspaper photographer into a wall –– the level of animosity was far lower on both sides than it was at Columbia, when baton-wielding police officers arrested more than 700 people and seriously injured some students and reporters during a predawn raid to take back the university.

At one point in the middle of the first night of the protest a student and a New School security guard whiled away some time by discussing the history of radical politics. On Thursday afternoon, after police and students grappled in a narrow corridor leading from the cafeteria to the street, a mood of détente eventually descended with representatives from both sides engaged in a Checkpoint Charlie-style standoff with a rude barricade of debris-filled metal Dumpsters separating them. On one side of the Dumpster blockade, two students sat on a concrete staircase watching two police officers sitting on folding chairs while keeping an eye on the steps.

At the same time, wooden tables and heavy recycling bins in the cafeteria were used as barricades and podiums as the students turned the space into a cross between a town hall and Trafalgar Square. They repeatedly held meetings to debate tactics and hold votes. Some of the assemblies were refreshingly quick and direct. Others were tangential and lengthy (sometimes numbingly so, particularly for the sleep deprived).

Over time a rough, flawed, sincere and respectful form of democracy emerged in the cafeteria. Factions with competing agendas and ideologies clashed, but more often than not found common ground or agreed to disagree. A group called the Radical Students Union (which included former members of Students for a Democratic Society) was said to have initially opposed the occupation, but requested later that the start time be slightly delayed so that they could join in.

On the final afternoon of the occupation, the students held one of their biggest meetings and also began using a form of shorthand sign language to communicate: waving both hands in the air indicated agreement; pointed index fingers meant somebody had a fact to convey; and fingers forming a triangle were meant to remind others to stick to the point.

Although Mr. Kirk, the president of Columbia, largely kept away from the demonstrators, Mr. Kerrey visited 65 Fifth Avenue at least twice on Thursday. Students at one point refused to meet with him directly, but later heard him out through an intermediary. Offers were extended, arrangements were discussed and votes were taken.

In the end, occupiers put aside calls for Mr. Kerrey and other administration officials to resign and instead voted to accept a four-point offer from Mr. Kerrey that included a promise not to penalize students involved in the occupation and agreements to give students a voice in selecting a provost and investing school funds.

Shortly afterward, around 3:30 Friday morning, the occupation ended not with the wail of sirens, but with loud shouts as students streamed from the cafeteria into nearby streets.

-It should be noted that Colin shared our space with us for a large portion of the Occupation and we all have great respect and admiration for him and his work.

Best,

The New School in Exile.

The Brian Lehrer Show / December 19, 2008 / Follow Up Friday: New School Occupation

2008-12-20T11:35:00.001-08:00

Chris Crews, media liaison for "The New School in Exile" and graduate student at The New School, talks about how students at The New School who occupied the school's cafeteria claimed inspiration from the Greek protesters.

http://www.wnyc.org/shows/bl/episodes/2008/12/19/segments/118853

Notes from the Outside

2008-12-20T10:56:00.000-08:00

When I got to the graduate building at 5pm on Thursday, I knew that the ID
thing would be a problem. I lost mine recently, and I'm on a leave of
absence so I'm not technically in the computer. I spent two hours trying
everything - I showed the guards my transcript, my passport, I went to the
ID office (which was closed) to prove that I'd done what I could, I had my
professor tell them that I needed to go in with him to take a final, I
tried the side door, and all I actually managed to accomplish was making
sure that Mr. Illicedo didn't like me. He didn't like me anyway; two years
ago he picked me up and threw me into a wall for singing Utah Philips.*
I'm still not sure what his actual position at the university is (some
security higher-up, I think), but he's a swell sort of guy, really.

Which brings me to a point about security, which has become rather
contentious. They are workers, they are doing their jobs, they are messing
with us, do we defend them or are they enemies? The line is pretty blurry.
In my experience at the New School, I've encountered two types of security
personnel. There's the basic watch-the-door guys, who are generally really
nice and sympathetic to student causes. I've seen them help distribute
fliers, retrieve personal items for students who get escorted out of one
location or another and leave things behind, hang out after actions to
talk about unions and administration.

Then there are their bosses, who are not stationed at the desk by the
building entrance, who wear suits instead of uniforms, and who call the
shots in terms of things like the situation at the graduate building this
week. To be sure, they were instructed to jack up security from the
administration, but they chose to enforce it in such a manner as to
prevent New School students, even those with valid IDs, from entering
their own university. They chose to have students forcibly removed if they
did get in. Most of the security personnel that was at the graduate
building door consisted of people from this group, or people who had these
bosses breathing down their necks.

I don't doubt that there are overlaps, but in general, I'm substantially
more annoyed with the guy who drags me out the door in a three-piece suit
than the reluctant guy who happens to share his department. Everyone has
some degree of agency, even the lower-level guards' actions are their own
and they can choose how strictly they follow protocol. But again, very few
of them were at the fifth avenue door.

Anyway, so they didn't let me in and then they stopped letting anyone in,
we banged on the door so they had the cops come and form a line to block
the entrance, it was a charming affair. We shared food, we talked, we
chanted, we were cold. We looked at the number of people standing outside
and had an idea.

We were going to try to take 55 w. 13th street as a secondary occupation,
but we would need everyone who was out there to come with us. At first, we
could only get 20 or so people, and they entered politely, signed in as
guests, and picked a floor to set up shop in. The news went out over the
New School in Exile blog, and I went out to get more people. The problem
was that not many people were into it, and the Tompkins march wouldn't be
arriving for an hour. I got a call from the people inside the building
saying that they needed more bodies, and were also thinking about moving
to another space, namely the Parsons building further down fifth avenue.

I tried to convince people to hold the space so we wouldn't get shut out,
but I wasn't there, and if people don't feel comfortable, they have every
right to hit the road. They left the 55 w. 13th street building, and we
began a scouting mission for an alternate space.

This is where it gets kind of ridiculous. As soon as the protesters left
the 13th street building, all of the buildings went on lockdown. We asked
the guards why, and they said that they'd heard about another occupation
happening and couldn't risk it. We were pretty stunned - we had managed to
shut down every single New School building simply by not actually
occupying one of them.

There are obviously some pretty serious downsides to all that - it's
finals week, the computer lab should be open 24 hours and I'm pretty sure
the Parsons building is supposed to be open late as well. Our intention
was never, ever to shut students out of spaces they needed to work. We
thought we would have a presence in solidarity, but hoped to disrupt the
building administration without making students' lives too much harder.
I've seen occupiers be blamed for the excessive force brought down on
them. Come off it - if you get robbed, your neighbors don't get mad at you
for having such a nice laptop, to use a more relevant example.

But what I want to emphasize is that, that night, the powers that be at
the New School felt so threatened by the idea of peaceful dissent that
they would sooner shut down everything and deal with frustration and
fallout along with it than face even the possibility of another
occupation. They were scared of their own students entering a building
that was open anyway.

There is power in numbers, definitely. But apparently, there is also power
in suggestion. Bob Kerrey likes to say that he is "embarrassed" when
students engage in loud and creative protest, but it's clear to everyone
with a brain that he's more nervous than anything else. He should be -
he's about to be unemployed.

*fine, so the Utah Phillips thing was in the middle of a Newt Gingrich
speech, but the incident in question occurred outside the auditorium and
the point remains that it hurt.

-Thanks for the letter and keep them coming.
The New School inExile.

From a member of the New School in Exile

2008-12-19T15:34:00.000-08:00

Friends,

Last night, at approximately 3 am this morning New School and other students have left the 65 5th Avenue building and declared the occupation successful, ending this stage of the action. , the occupants of 65 5th Avenue, marched out into the streets in victory. After more than two weeks of concerted actions on campus, students in the occupation were finally able to win significant victories in the ongoing struggle to improve the New School. Those victories include: an agreement not to press charges or impose academic punishments for students involved in the protest, the implementation of a Socially Responsible Investing (SRI) committee within the university, more autonomy and power for Student Senate to communicate with the student body, more representation on the Board of Trustees for students and faculty, and finally the creation of more student study space on campus.

This was only the beginning, and we look forward to continuing our work into the new year and Spring in the effort to realize a self-managed university in which students, faculty, and staff operate the university in proportion to the degree to which they are affected.

I want to take this chance to thank you all for your tremendous support. Whether you were outside cheering us on in, or expressing your solidarity online, we truly could not have done this without you.

For now, the occupation is suspended, and should we need to take up our residency again inside our university, we know that not only can we do it, but that you will be there with us.

Thank you,
-The New School in Exile

2008-12-19T15:33:00.000-08:00

A personal Message from a member of the New School in Exile

2008-12-19T15:18:00.000-08:00

Rules of Thumb Learned by An Occupant of the New School in Exile

(Student's Name Deleted)

For brevity, I'm not going to give the background of the occupation.

Two great sites to learn about it: www.newschoolinexile.com; and www.newschoolinexileblog.blogspot.com/

Some of these rules of thumb can be generalized, and perhaps others cannot; nevertheless, they comment on the specific context of the student occupation that lasted two days and won important concessions from the school, including amnesty. The students agreed to continue the struggle next semester. This is only the beginning...

Besides a 20 or so core of extremely devoted students, the demographics (and actual numbers) were in constant flux. Excuse the labels, but broadly, if there were 100 students at a given moment, roughly 25 were Anarchists or Revolutionaries of some sort committed to serious (sometimes spontaneous) direct action to achieve our goals. 40 were members of the Radical Student Union (formerly Students for a Democratic Society), were loosely affiliated with them, or whose politics generally fell in line with their pro-negotiation, "Just reason it out with the authorities" attitude. This is not to say that Anarchists spurned negotiations--I did not. Or that RSU members scorned the many direct actions in the occupation--though, I must write here, from the beginning, many prominent members were against the occupation, then against staying after the first night, then against taking control of the entrance/exit, then against our spectacular midnight ruse in the last few hours of the occupation that not only linked the wild supportive demonstration outside with us inside, but also breathed vastly new energy and power into our occupation, calling many of these successful and bold moves, among other things, "Custeristic". In fact I successfully defended a makeshift barricade with the fierce help of two fellow occupants who were RSU members. I am proud to call them comrades. The lines are somewhat blurred.

Finally, 35 were left liberals who were explicitly against direct action, even though, ironically, the entire occupation was predicated on direct action. Most joined after the initial occupation, probably believing our occupied space was "just a study space," or that "the authorities were permitting us to be there," as opposed to knowing it was us who made it so. To my knowledge, none in this group was among the 20 or so core of students mentioned above. I am critical of the latter two groups, but believe me when I write that even being there was a feat in itself, and I am sincerely thrilled they were bold enough to join.

These rules are by no means definitive. While I myself am an Anarchist who was pushing for more direct actions to expand our space, insofar as we were numerically and strategically capable, I encourage healthy debate and criticism of my conclusions.

1. Limited negotiation is fine in terms of winning explicit concessions, but in order to have negotiations, you must have bargaining power, and this requires bold direct action. This belief, this mode of resistance, was the reason for our success. Despite the political inclinations of many of our well-intentioned and intelligent comrades in the New School in Exile (and despite their ever-present reluctance), it was the taking of the cafeteria, the blocking of the doors, the control of the building, that was our power. Of course, our aforementioned "political" comrades celebrated each and every direct action vigorously after the fact, realizing the terms of negotiation had just been changed in our favor, despite their initial resistance to it, saying things like "it's too disorganized; it's too brazen; it's too illegal"--it's too this or that. Even our last action, when we linked the wonderful movement outside to us inside by the opening of a fire door at midnight, changed the status of the ongoing negotiations in our favor. This was said before us by one of our own negotiators, who herself was not necessarily pro-direct action.

It goes without saying that negotiations are meaningless if you're bold enough to topple those who would negotiate with you, and this end goal should always be kept in mind for those who want a radically better world. The ultimate power of authorities cannot be abolished through negotiation.

Forgive the platitude, but you must dare to win. Confident but collected, brazen but not reckless, direct action is a primary weapon of revolt. Do not wait for the authorities to give you permission. At the outset, we did not wait for their permission, and that impatience was the engine of our progress. Before that, we were stalled. Remember: the reason why we resorted to an increasingly provocative and popular occupation was because the words, the negotiations, of faculty were meaningless. Their vote of no confidence was mocked by Bob Kerrey's comments to the New York Times that the only votes he cared about were those of his trustees. The students were not even allowed into meetings concerning the No Confidence vote. We were only taken seriously when we dared. We were only taken seriously when we barricaded the cafeteria, when we controlled the entrance/exit, when we repeatedly disrupted operations in 65 5th avenue and elsewhere, contrary to the orders of police, of New School authorities. For that, we won important concessions and further destroyed the reputation of Bob Kerrey.

For that, we continued the inspiring example of the workers in Chicago.

2. While democratic consensus should be the watchword of a revolutionary situation--it was a crucial facet of our decision-making inside the cafeteria--direct action should not always wait for mass confirmation before being initiated. In our case, deliberation often took hours when there was an immediate concern at hand; and there was the problem of the newer, more liberal elements who did not have a clear-eyed conception of the occupation. Any further direct action would have been blocked.

On several occasions, a few of us had to bolster or defend a barricade without popular consensus. When we took the entrance/exit, we did not wait for popular consensus. Our spectacular midnight ruse did not wait for popular consensus--in fact, in a vote it was shot down.

This is philosophically problematic, I realize, and I am troubled by it. All I can say is that moves should be made to ensure that the consequences of a direct action should minimally affect those comrades who do not support it, and should never put them in harm's way. Now, if your enemy does not support it, that probably means you're on the right track.

3. The physical barricades--desks, tables, dumpsters, planks of wood, etc.-are merely one of two primary components of successful defense, and perhaps the weaker of the two. The physical barricades saved us multiple times. This is fact. However, when the NYPD were committed to smashing our barricades, they did so, and quickly, like when they physically extricated us from our barricaded fire exit. The second component is outside support and solidarity that is won through dissemination of your cause and actions. The media we received garnered wide popular support from liberal faculty members in other American schools to students in Mexico to Greek anarchists who did direct actions in shows of solidarity with us. It would have been even more of a public relations disaster if the NYPD mass-arrested 150 students. Outside support was too strong; the sympathetic public eye was focused on us! In fact, for many hours our front door was not barricaded physically because we knew we were too connected to vigorous outside support to be raided. I should note here that, in addition to the direct focus of your cause, it's also critical to expand your solidarity, connect the dots, between you and other movements.

Most apparently, an important reason why the NYPD did not storm our fortified cafeteria on the last night is because of the massive demonstration outside. (A banal meta-reflection, the cameras and journalists who were inside with us filming and reporting put an immediate stop to police brutality when the cops realized they were being recorded).

4. Security guards are not on your side. We can argue for days about whether they are fellow workers--which is an irrelevant argument anyway--but despite your friendship with a security guard, or the guard not being happy with his union contract, or the guard claiming he is on your side, he is not. Sure you can crack jokes with him and talk about your common music interests, but open your eyes when the moment is not trivial. He will push against the barricades. He will tackle you. He will rip your clothes. He will call the cops on you. That is his job. I think of economic conscripts, GIs in Iraq. Yes, they might bring candy to kids in the street. They might hate President Bush. They might even hate the military-industrial complex. But when there is resistance to their presence, they will be ordered to snuff it out. In order to keep their job, they must obey. This is not to say that soldiers or security can never be on your side, but it would require them doing precisely the opposite of what is required of them.

One more comment on this. There was a security guard during the occupation who was also a student. Some RSU members were friends with him, buddying up with the guy and even inviting him in at points. But what happened on the last night when we propped open a fire door and let in scores of supporters and students? This very same security guard who was "just a fellow worker" was seen tackling students trying to get on the right side of the barricades.

5. Ever-expanding occupation is an extremely effective tactic for revolution.

Craigslist, missed connections!

2008-12-19T11:42:00.000-08:00

To President Bob Kerrey of The New School - m4m (West Village)

Reply to: pers-963600075@craigslist.org [?]Date: 2008-12-19, 3:13AM EST
I saw you walking down the block, in the hallways, in the cafe, in the elevator You pretend to care about students, faculty, the welfare of this university- why can't students communicate with others? Why can't we have a better university? We are a progressive institution -we are supposed to be active and different from all the rest. Why can't we make the budget work with academics? Why 5 provosts in 7 years? If only we can know. If only there was some transparency. You: white hair, thin, always a retort in a debate, always a joke Me: a student, just a student, craving an education and a school to be proud of. Black hair, green eyes, we may have spoken once or twice. Maybe we can get coffee and you can answer these questions.

Location: West Village
it's NOT ok to contact this poster with services or other commercial interestsPostingID: 963600075

Only New School Students w/ ID are being allowed in 65 5th (RT:12:40)

2008-12-19T09:25:00.000-08:00

Dear Friends,

It seems that heightened alert and The Graduate Faculty Building continues. It has been brought to our attention that only NS students with ID will be allowed into the building today.

A student I know was denied entrance this morning despite showing her work-study pay receipt (complete with name and student number and the words: NEW SCHOOL, stamped on its front) and valid driver's license together. Students Must Be Able to Meet Their Educational Needs

We at the New School in Exile feel that this is highly inappropriate as we ended the occupation in good faith last night, they should be acting in the same fashion.

yours for full access,
The New School in Exile

Thank You, Everyone (10:42)

2008-12-19T07:42:00.000-08:00

Dear Friends,

After a jubilant moment outside the University last night and continued demonstration through the streets of New York, we can say that we have won a decisive victory! And the it is only the first of many that we will need for our final goals.

Students and workers have long been neglected. Freedom Fighters see themselves branded as terrorists. However, we can change that, if we are able to claim, control, and defend our space as we did over the past three days, we overcome their illegitimate authority. Legitimacy, comes before and is far more important than legality, but legitimacy is also the birthplace of a new legality. The contract we forced upon Mr. Kerrey and Mr. Murtha through our negotiations last night is an excellent beginning. When we began this process we were the slaves to their master. Now we have a Social Contract of our own bringing us ever closer to our final goals.

This will not be our final act! We will continue to struggle for not just a place in the constitution of our university, but to be the constitution of our university.

We wish to thank everyone who has sent us messages of solidarity, the members of our faculty and the faculty of the Consoritum scholls who have supported us, both inside and out, and those members of the press who are sympathetic to our cause. We stand in solidarity with you all and you must know that we won last night and that we will continue to win.

In solidarity and with gratitude,
The New School in Exile.

Final Agreement!

2008-12-19T07:40:00.000-08:00

12/19/08

1) I agree to grant total amnesty for all participants involved in the
occupation and all events related to it over the course of 12/17/08
through 12/19/08 at all New School Buildings. Neither criminal charges
nor academic disciplinary measures will be pursued against those
involved. The University will not press charges against Eliot Liu.
AGREED.

Staff and security guards will be compensated for all time lost over
the course of the occupation.
THIS IS NOT NECESSARY. THEY HAVE BEEN COMPENSATED.

2) I agree that students may use the GF building at 65 Fifth Ave until
a suitable replacement is secured and instituted, which would include
the re-installment of suitable library and study space. This would need
to be approved by the USS. Due to my limitation under the board, and because of repeated and voiced student concern about the university's investments,
THIS IS ALREADY UNDERWAY FOR ALTERNATIVE SPACE. I GUARANTEE THAT BY
THE BEGINNING OF SPRING SEMESTER I WILL PROVIDE NEW LIBRARY SPACE IN
ARNOLD HALL. I WILL ALSO PROVIDE 7000 FEET OF QUIET STUDY SPACE AT
SHEILA JOHNSON GALLERIES BY THE END OF SPRING SEMESTER. I AGREE TO
MEET WITH THE STUDENTS TO DISCUSS THE CURRENT PLANS, ALTERNATIVES, AND
FINANCIAL PLANNING.

3) I agree that students will have voting representation on the search
committee for the interim-Provost and the Provost, as well as any
searches that may take place in the future for a new President. The
details of this will be worked out with representatives of the
University Student Senate, and input from the student body at large.
AGREED.

4) I agree for student participation to establish a committee on
Socially Responsible Investing (SRI) for the University's endowment
and that this committee will then establish an independent auditing
process with the SRI framework. The committee to establish the SRI will
meet by the first week of April, 2009.
DUE TO BEING LIMITED BY THE BOARD, AND BECAUSE OF REPEATED AND VOICED
STUDENT CONCERN ABOUT THE UNIVERSITY'S INVESTMENTS, I WILL URGE MY
INVESTMENT COMMITTEE TO ESTABLISH SUCH A COMMITTEE WITH STUDENT
INVOLVEMENT.

5) I agree to grant the University Student Senate the ability to
communicate with the student body freely and without constraint (and to
not restrict their access to Groupwise email and other technologies that
enable this).
I AGREE WITH THE GREATER AUTONOMY OF THE UNIVERSITY STUDENT SENATE
WITH THE STIPULATION THAT THE EMAIL USE DOES NOT VIOLATE FEDERAL LAW
FOR THE DISTRIBUTION OF MATERIALS OR FERPA REGULATIONS. I GUARANTEE
THAT I WILL IMMEDIATELY PROVIDE THE UNIVERSITY STUDENT SENATE WITH THE
TOOLS NECESSARY TO HAVE FLUID COMMUNICATION, IN PARTICULAR WITH
REFERENCE TO GROUPWISE EMAIL, WITH THE STUDENT BODY.

6) I agree that a representative of the USS should be allowed to have a
representative at meetings of the Board of Trustees in order to speak to
specific issues that pertain to decisions passed by the USS or directly
relating to USS business.
I HAVE ALREADY ASKED THE CHAIRMAN OF THE
TRUSTEES TO CONSIDER ADDING A STUDENT AND A FACULTY MEMBER TO THE BOARDS IN THIS CAPACITY. I HAVE AGREED TO ASK THE BOARD TO DO THIS.

Bob Kerrey

New School Students End Dining Hall Sit-In (10:34am)

2008-12-19T07:33:00.000-08:00

Student protesters who had occupied a dining hall at The New School, at 65 Fifth Avenue, said that they ended their sit-in around 3:30 a.m. Friday, more than 30 hours after it began.

Kevin Dugan, one of the students inside the cafeteria and the senior news editor at the The New School Free Press, said in a phone call that the students decided to leave after the university’s embattled president, Bob Kerrey, agreed to four demands: amnesty for students participating in the demonstration; student participation in selecting a new provost; creation of a committee on socially responsible investment, with student representation; replacement in other New School buildings of space that will be lost because of the demolition of 65 Fifth Avenue, including a library and a 7,000 square foot reading room.

At the beginning of the protest students had said they would not leave the cafeteria unless Mr. Kerrey and other administrators resigned. But as the occupation grew in size and stretched into a second day, a new consensus seemed to emerge, with some students saying it was it unlikely that Mr. Kerrey would agree to such stipulations and instead advocating goals that they said had a better chance of success.

According to Mr. Dugan, student mediators announced around 2:30 a.m. that Mr. Kerrey had agreed to the four terms. Those inside the cafeteria then held a lengthy discussion before voting to leave the cafeteria, he said, emerging onto side streets whooping in jubilation.

New School In Exile WINS Major Victories in Third Day of Occupation!

2008-12-18T23:36:00.000-08:00

1) I agree to grant total amnesty for all participants involved in the occupation and all events related to it over the course of 12/17/08 through 12/19/08 at all New School Buildings. Neither criminal charges nor academic disciplinary measures will be pursued against those involved.

The University will not press charges against Eliot Liu.

Staff and security guards will be compensated for all time lost over the course of the occupation.

2) I agree that students may use the GF building at 65 Fifth Ave until a suitable replacement is secured and instituted, which would include the re-installment of suitable library and study space. This would need to be approved by the USS.

3) I agree that students will have voting representation on the search committee for the interim-Provost and the Provost, as well as any searches that may take place in the future for a new President. The details of this will be worked out with representatives of the University Student Senate, and input from the student body at large.

4) I agree for student participation to establish a committee on Socially Responsible Investing (SRI) for the University’s endowment and that this committee will then establish an independent auditing process with the SRI framework. The committee to establish the SRI will meet by the first week of April, 2009.

5) I agree to grant the University Student Senate the ability to communicate with the student body freely and without constraint (and to not restrict their access to Groupwise email and other technologies that enable this).

6) I agree that a representative of the USS should be allowed to have a representative at meetings of the Board of Trustees in order to speak to specific issues that pertain to decisions passed by the USS or directly relating to USS business.

Final Copy will be posted Shortly!

Thank You Todd May

2008-12-18T23:13:00.000-08:00

Just let us know when it's going down at Clemson. We'll be there post haste.

In Gratitude and Solidarity,
The New School in Exile

To the Students, Faculty, Staff and Supporters occupying 65 Fifth Ave.

2008-12-18T23:11:00.000-08:00

December 18, 2008
Thursday evening, 7:42 p.m.

To the Students, Faculty, Staff and Supporters occupying 65 Fifth Ave.

I write to you this evening in support and gratitude. Support for your actions on behalf of the New School and in solidarity with those who struggle, and gratitude that you have renewed the meaning of the New School against those who would deny it.

Too often, in our world, we are told that politics is dead, that resistance is useless, and that public action is nothing more than an exercise in nostalgia. We are told that we live in a post-political world, where we must compromise with those who would oppress us and must subordinate ourselves to those who would manage our lives for us.

These past few days you have shown, as others in Europe, in Latin America, in Asia and Africa seek to show, that politics is not dead, that resistance is not useless, and that public action is precisely what our world requires and demands. To the forces of hierarchy and autocracy you have responded with democracy and collective action. To the forces of corporatization you have responded with community. To the forces of conformism you have responded with a critical solidarity that would make the founders of this great school proud.

As you sustain yourselves through this period, know that many of us are with you. Many of us endure the corporatization of university life, and we are with you. Many of us feel the sting of politicians who deny our voices in the name of efficiency and vocational training, and we are with you. Many of us recognize the isolation into which those in power would cast us, and we are with you.

You have nourished us with hope and for that we thank you.

In solidarity,

Todd May
Professor of Philosophy
Clemson University

Message from Antioch in Ohio!

2008-12-18T23:07:00.000-08:00

We, the members of the Antioch College Action Network, offer our support and solidarity to the community of the New School. We believe that your struggle and our struggle are intrinsically linked.

The state of higher education

All across the country, in schools large and small, public and private, faculty, staff, and student concerns are being undermined by "business" practices. Tenure, academic freedom, and quality education are being undone by the same mentality that has led to the world's current economic crisis. Antioch College is precariously suspended. The Institute for Social Ecology has greatly reduced its operations and lost its own campus. New College in San Francisco has already fallen, and the New School in New York is fighting back. Antioch College with the Nonstop Liberal Arts Institute (http://nonstopinstitute.org/) is, too.

Antioch has faced many of the same problems that the New School is currently facing:

Consolidation of power

The board and administration of Antioch University have placed huge amounts of power in a single executive, Chancellor Tulisse Murdock. The chancellor has consistently undermined the college and any attempts to save it. The New School faculty and students have stood up to President Kerrey's move to become provost as well as president.

Lack of transparency in governance

The administration of Antioch University, corporate owners of Antioch College, operated without checks and balances and in an increasingly secretive fashion. Cut off from the community they nominally served, the administration and board have made increasingly destructive decisions, culminating in the suspension of operations at Antioch College, the rejection of alumni offers to keep the college open, and the destabilizing of Antioch University's educational mission, and thus to the larger University community that they should serve.

Erosion of tenure

Antioch University has been eroding tenure at its other campuses, and there is strong evidence in board minutes and administrative practices at Antioch University to suggest that the suspension of operations at the college is an attempt to eliminate faculty job security at Antioch University as a whole. Like the New School's imbalance of 333 full-time (tenured) to 1,733 part-time faculty, a disturbing trend has emerged across higher education.

Community voting "No Confidence"

Like the New School's "No Confidence" vote in President Bob Kerrey, Chancellor Murdock has faced no fewer than four votes of "No Confidence" from faculty, students, and staff. The Board of Trustees have let warnings from their invested constituents and loyal staff go unheeded and let Murdock remain in power. Let us hope the New School's Trustees do not do the same.

Faculty losing authority over curriculum

The Antioch University Board and administration imposed a disastrous new curriculum on the faculty of Antioch College, cutting enrollment in half, and precipitating a financial disaster that led to the Board voting to suspend the operations of Antioch College.

We stand in solidarity with the autonomous occupiers of the New School against the rising prices of education, the reduction of education to a business model, the erosion of rights in our workplaces, and for the right to a sound and relevant education and the call for a just and responsible social solution to humanity's immediate and devastating crisis.

ACAN is an independent collective of autonomous alumni, students, faculty, staff, and friends of Antioch College and villagers of Yellow Springs, Ohio. ACAN is a grassroots movement working collaboratively for a continuous and sustainable future for Antioch College. ACAN has no affiliation with Antioch University, the Antioch College Continuation Corporation, the Antioch University Board of Trustees, the Antioch College Alumni Association, or Nonstop Liberal Arts Institute.ACAN is responsible for the content of this statement. For more information about ACAN visit http://saveantioch.org/

Jim Murtha is a Coward

2008-12-18T22:51:00.000-08:00

That's all.

The Best Chant of the Night (1:49)

2008-12-18T22:49:00.000-08:00

KERREY OUT, STUDENTS IN!

KERREY OUT, STUDENTS IN!

Bye Bye Bob,
The New York Schools in Exile

1:48

2008-12-18T22:47:00.000-08:00

Nothing like Bob Kerrey's presence to get people angry

RESIGN!

RESIGN!

YOU'RE FIRED!

YOU'RE FIRED!

Signed,
The New York Schools in Exile

Wild Out in the Cold

2008-12-18T22:40:00.000-08:00

While we are stuck in our glass bubble, waiting to hear back from our negotiators, those who still stand in solidarity with us outside are as noisy and exuberant as ever. We can all sense that change is in the air.

Mr. Kerrey's time is over, Mr. Murtha is a wreck (and an aggressive one at that), inside we are calm and doing the intellectual tasks of letters, manifestos and blogs. Outside, they loosing their voices in support of the idea of this university and universities in general.

We still Strive for our win!
The New York Schools in Exile

Mr. Kerrey I presume

2008-12-18T22:30:00.000-08:00

Well, that irascible fellow, Bob Kerrey has returned to the halls of the Graduate Faculty Building unnecessarily escorted by the NYPD because he seems to think that peaceful democratic protest requires police protection. I wonder how he felt in Vietnam?

In Solidarity,
The New York Schools in Exile

No Food (1:16)

2008-12-18T22:17:00.000-08:00

We have now been told that there will be no food or drink allowed to enter the premises from now on.

No Food, No Bathrooms, No Rights!

Best,
The New York Schools in Exile

A few thoughts on

2008-12-18T22:01:00.000-08:00

Each direct action taken by the New York Schools in Exile to exert more control over our campus expands the terms in our ongoing negotiations. Every one, from the initial move to occupy, to barricading the side exit doors and we are still in solidarity with those braving the cold on Fifth Avenue have allowed us the upper hand in our negotiations with the final goal of removing Mssr's Kerrey and Murtha from their post.

Solidarity,
The New York Schools in Exile

A Message from CUNY Who Stood with Us as One tonight

2008-12-18T21:36:00.000-08:00

CUNY Students Statement of Solidarity from Inside the Occupation of the New School

As CUNY students facing cutbacks and tuition hikes put forward by Governor Paterson, the CUNY administration, and the Board of Trustees; we declare our full support and solidarity with the New School student occupation carried out against the New School's corrupt administration headed by the war criminal Bob Kerrey.

We consider their struggle our struggle.

We as CUNY students see the struggle of the New School students as part of a broader struggle around the world - from the uprisings in Greece and Italy to the recent Republic door and window workers occupation in Chicago to the striking workers at the Stella D'Oro bakeries.

We call on all students and workers everywhere to join in support and solidarity of the students here at New School (New York Schools in Exile) and we ask that you join us as students along with CUNY adjuncts, faculty and staff in our struggle against the tuition hikes, budget cuts and layoffs.

We are inspired by the struggle at the New School and expect this to be a step in creating a broad, inclusive, and diverse movement uniting the students, faculty, staff, and communities around the struggles at CUNY.

In Solidarity,
CUNY Students in occupied territory.

Restricting our space

2008-12-18T21:17:00.000-08:00

The Police have told us that we cannot leave the room. Thus no bathrooms. There are quite a few of us here. We have lawyers filing injunctions concerning this restriction of our human rights as we speak.

In solidarity,
The New York Schools in Exile

See Bob Run (12:16am)

2008-12-18T21:16:00.001-08:00

Over these past few days we have received support from people all over the world. People who are struggling, people who are fighting and people who are chasing New School President Bob Kerrey down the streets of Manhattan (or at least that is the latest word on the street). The excitement is palpable in this room right now, and people are working the press angle extremely hard, almost obliquely.

Also, we have just overheard that the Police are going to begin restricting our access to the toilets in the building. Good thing we have lots of bottles!

The Police are Surrounding us!

2008-12-18T20:58:00.000-08:00

We still hold the room and a physical barrier. They are not very attractive. Dick Tracy Character ugly if you know what I mean.

They are yet to engage us directly.

We are contacting our lawyers, and taking pictures and video. Don't worry friends. We are not perturbed! Please continue to show your support.

The New York Schools in Exile.

Demonstration outside Mr. Kerrey's home! (11:56)

2008-12-18T20:54:00.000-08:00

Sorry Bob, all capitalist pigs must be slaughtered in the realm of public opinion.

The New York Schools in Exile

Our Arrested Comrade has been freed! (11:53)

2008-12-18T20:51:00.000-08:00

Elliot we are happy for your free state. Please accept our apologies for putting you in such a position to begin with.

In solidarity,
The New York Schools in Exile.

It's Our School

2008-12-18T20:45:00.000-08:00

Just keep walking by, we'll tell you what we think!

The Students and Faculty of New York's institutions of higher education will no longer accept your poor judgment.

That judgment led you to horrific crimes in Vietnam. That judgment led you to act like a charlatan in the Senate. That judgment that led you to ruin our school!

Go Away,
The New York Schools in Exile.

A message for Bob and Jim

2008-12-18T20:42:00.000-08:00

RESIGN!

RESIGN!

RESIGN!

RESIGN!

RESIGN!

This is our place now!

This is our home now and we plan to exile you!

And!

2008-12-18T20:36:00.000-08:00

We Still have hundreds of comrades standing out the front!

We See you and We hear you!

We are Still ALL ONE!

WE are the New York Students in Exile!

WHO'S SCHOOL?!?!?!

OUR SCHOOL!!!!!!!!!

Negotiations continue (11:21)

2008-12-18T20:19:00.000-08:00

Fully on our terms now of course!

We Will get our Part in choosing a provost!

Our Comrades will not have charges pressed!

We Shut Down the Whole School!

We will continue to negotiate the immediate resignation of the Administration!

We ask everyone for calm, we ask for peace, we ask for New York and the World to continue to support us! We have the Upper Hand, in no uncertain terms! It is not over.

Please continue to rally, continue to control 5th Avenue! We need continued progress! We will win!

Solidarity Solidarity Solidarity
The New York Schools In Exile!

It is Ours!

2008-12-18T20:07:00.000-08:00

We have our own space!

Solidarity all around.

There is music and study and general joy going on right now in the Graduate Faculty Building.

We had some initial chaos when the building was taken considering we had a significant influx of people, but all is completely calm at this time.

We have gone to work securing what we hold, barricading our doors.

CUNY, NYU,HUNTER, BRONX COMMUNITY COLLEGE, MARYMOUNT MANHATTAN COLLEGE, and more. We are all in exile but we have found a new home. In this home, Academics and democracy rule. In this home, the students hold control. In this home WE are all brothers and sisters.

Solidarity Solidarity Solidarity
We are now New York Schools in Exile!

WE'RE IN

2008-12-18T19:55:00.001-08:00

WE HAVE THE WHOLE BUILDING EVERYONE OUTSIDE IS INSIDE!!!!!

THE NEW SCHOOL IN EXILE!

All Sides! (10:46)

2008-12-18T19:45:00.000-08:00

Much More Solidarity and the whole city will be behind us!

LET THEM IN!

Their Blocking traffic out there!

We Love You Our Brothers and Sisters and Mothers and Fathers and partners and everyone!!!

Tonight We are all One We are all Exiled!

(My voice is gone from the Chanting)

Arendtianly,
The New School in Exile.

To Those Outside! (10:35)

2008-12-18T19:35:00.000-08:00

Stay With Us!

We are Working Hard!

We Love You and you are Us!

The New School in Exile!

From an Alum (10:20)

2008-12-18T19:18:00.000-08:00

what you folks are doing is so awesome and so important to the new school. as an alum who is a bit too far to join you, all i can say is i and many others like me stand with you in love and solidarity. I've talked to many alumni at this point and we all think you're on the right track; spread the word to those on the inside, we really think you're doing the right thing!

love, support, solidarity,
(name deleted)

Love, support and solidarity from us too. Every message makes us stronger.
The New School in Exile

Communications from the Outside! (10:11)

2008-12-18T19:06:00.000-08:00

We have so much Support outside!

Join Us!

Join us!

65 5th Ave!

The Lang Buildings have been shut down 55W13, the 11th & 12th Street buildings!

Solidarity, Solidarity!
The New School in Exile

Solidarity Site with 1000+ members (9:50)

2008-12-18T18:53:00.000-08:00

We love the internet and the 21st century.

Comrades around the world:

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=43831775754

On the Wolrd Wide Web,
The New School in Exile.

CUNY Can't Fail!

2008-12-18T18:36:00.000-08:00

We have rumours of 100+ CUNY students on their way!

There's a Demonstration outside!

Mr. Kerrey, Open Those Doors!

We hear you outside!

Revolutionarily,
The New School in Exile.

Democracy is an Art (9:30)

2008-12-18T18:17:00.000-08:00

We are still with you friends!

Our resolve is lasting! We are getting stronger while the Administration gets weaker!

We are right now on the phone with One of the Deans, whom we will not name as per askance.

New School Academia is gaining ground.

Thoughtfully,
The New School in Exile

Faculty Outside!

2008-12-18T18:05:00.001-08:00

We now know that Faculty including esteemed Philosoher, Simon Critchley are being held outside.

Our Faculty is coming to support Us!

Legitimatly,
The New School in Exile.

55 W. 13th Street has been Occupied!

2008-12-18T17:47:00.000-08:00

Our Outside contingent has taken the Building at 55W. 13th Street!

The New School in Exile Now holds two Buildings!

New Clashes in Greece

2008-12-18T17:32:00.000-08:00

We are in Solidarity with You!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7782116.stm

Solidarity rallies

Some people were caught up in the protests as they shopped

Meanwhile all flights to and from Athens airport were halted for several hours on Thursday as air traffic controllers protested against government policies and demanded a pay rise.

It is part of an industrial action organised by the civil service trade union, ADEDY.

On Wednesday, protesters hung huge banners on the Acropolis, the ancient site that dominates Athens, calling for "resistance".

Conservative Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis has rejected calls to step down, despite growing public pressure.

But earlier this week he acknowledged some of the problems that had fuelled the anger of young people.

In a speech to parliamentary colleagues on Tuesday, he said "long-unresolved problems, such as the lack of meritocracy, corruption in everyday life and a sense of social injustice disappoint young people"

Best Wishes,
The New School in Exile

Gawker: "Total Chaos" (8:28)

2008-12-18T17:28:00.000-08:00

Headline:

New School Prez hides from Dangerous Student Freedom Fighters

There you go Bob Kerrey,
The New School in Exile

To the Dancers of Thompkins Square Park! (8:16)

2008-12-18T17:13:00.000-08:00

We Too find solidarity with our Grecian Sisters and Brothers!

Join us in your party!

Join us in our Cause!

Join us to Dance the Night Away!

Exuberantly,
The New School in Exile!

DAILYKOS We hear You! (8:08)

2008-12-18T17:08:00.000-08:00

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/12/18/17335/166/570/674728

unified,
The New School in Exile

Solidarity, Inside and Out (7:57)

2008-12-18T17:04:00.000-08:00

We can hear you! And now we are One!

It is a reverse Occupation.

Let Us In,
The New School in Exile

LET THEM IN! (7:53)

2008-12-18T16:53:00.000-08:00

WE CAN HEAR YOU OUTSIDE!!!!

We Support You!

-The New School in Exile

Our Demands for Negotiation (7:50pm)

2008-12-18T16:40:00.000-08:00

We, the students of The New School, demand:

1. Amnesty for all participants in this student movement, including Elliot Liu. Staff and security guards affected by this protest shall receive appropriate compensation and no repercussions for dutiful fulfillment of their jobs;

2. That students may use the GF building at 65 Fifth Avenue until a suitable replacement is secured, that all capital improvements at the university shall be suspended and these funds shall be redirected toward (a) an autonomous student space where we can study and engage in group work, (b) scholarships and tuition, (c) a respectable library, that students will be included in the decision-making process in order to establish a viable plan for a student space;

3. That all investments and finances shall be fully disclosed so as to permit complete transparency and intelligibility of the creation of a Socially Responsible Investment committee;

4. That an equitable and authoritative tripartite committee including faculty, staff, and students to select an interim provost as well as a permanent replacement for provost, and a new president and vice president, for which there will be no presidential veto for this committee's decision;

5. That there be regularly appointed a student as voting member on board of trustees; and

6. That President Bob Kerrey, Executive Vice President Jim Murtha, and Treasurer Robert Millard be removed from their present positions at the University.

We ask that these demands are binding, and that they be met in writing, on New School University letterhead, signed by President Kerrey or members of the Board of Trustees, BEFORE we leave this building, and that they be presented to students in the second week of spring semester.

We demand further that:
1. Demands 1 and 2 be approved immediately in writing;
2. Demand 3 be enacted in a succinct and clear presentation at a school-wide student assembly during the second week of the spring semester - and that the student body be notified of this next week;
3. Demand 4 be initiated by next week, and that we be notified of this in writing;
4. Demand 5 be finalized at the next board meeting; and
5. Demand 6 be met by the beginning of next school year.

Cordially,
The New School in Exile

7:28

2008-12-18T16:24:00.000-08:00

Our Rebuttal:

First, there was no disorderly conduct involved.

The Treasurer of our Board of Trustees is the Chairman of L3 Communications the company that perpetrated the Abu Ghraib misdeeds.

The head of security did not address us until we already held the building for over an hour.

********************************************************************************************
NOW:

IT HAS COME TO OUR ATTENTION THAT NYPD OFFICERS HAVE BEGUN TO FILTER INTO THE SWAYDUCK AUDITORIUM TO HAVE THEM IN THE BUILDING BUT OUT OF OUR SITE!

In Solidarity,
The New School in Exile.

NY TIMES BLOG from this afternoon (7:24_

2008-12-18T16:23:00.000-08:00

December 18, 2008, 4:30 pm

Protest at the New School Turns Unruly

By Colin Moynihan

Steven Zimmerman, 19, was ejected from a New School building occupied by students. He was not arrested. (Photo: Yana Paskova for The New York Times)

Updated, 5:05 p.m. | Security guards and police officers collided with students at the New School on Thursday morning in a shouting and shoving confrontation, after an overnight sit-in at a university cafeteria organized to protest the leadership of Bob Kerrey, the university’s president, among other issues. The sit-in has continued into the afternoon.

What began as a placid protest with the tacit permission of university officials became chaotic shortly after 10 a.m. as the students tried to expand their occupation to other areas of the building at 65 Fifth Avenue, just south of 14th Street, which includes administrative offices. City police officers removed some students from the building, and students rolled metal Dumpsters into the hall to block the police, who eventually moved back outside. The police said one person was arrested for disorderly conduct.

Mr. Kerrey, the former governor and United States senator from Nebraska who was given an overwhelming vote of no confidence from the university’s faculty this week, showed up at 11:30 a.m. asking to address the dissident students, but they voted not to hear him out.

The demonstration began Wednesday evening in the ground-floor cafeteria, with about 50 students staying overnight citing a list of grievances with the Kerrey administration, dating back to his early support of the Iraq war. They adopted a list of eight demands including a greater student voice in university affairs and the resignations of Mr. Kerrey; James Murtha, the executive vice president; and Robert Millard, treasurer of the board of trustees, who students said was connected to a private security firm working in Iraq.

“Once the faculty vote came out, we thought now is the time,” said Jacob Blumfeld, a graduate student in philosophy.

On Wednesday night, the students pushed wooden tables against the cafeteria’s front door and blocked a rear corridor to the street with heavy recycling bins. Marcus Michelson, also a graduate student in philosophy, said the sit-in was meant to show that the students were serious about having a seat at the negotiating able. “This is about starting a dialogue, and to do that you have to be seen as an equal,” he said. “People just don’t give equality, you have to take it.”

As the demonstration began, a university official told the students, “You’re going about this the wrong way.” Later, after the building’s official closing time of 11 p.m., a university security official, Tom Iliceto, warned them they were “here without authority” but said they could stay.

“Anyone who leaves will not be permitted to re-enter,” Mr. Iliceto said. “However, no one’s safety has been threatened and no property has been damaged. So long as this remains the case, we will permit you to remain in the building this evening.”

The students spent the night painting banners with slogans like “Books Not Bureaucracy” and “New School in Exile,” a reference to the university’s origins as a haven for European intellectuals fleeing fascism.

Some students debated tactics; others gazed at computer screens or studied. Mr. Michelson read “On the Genealogy of Morality” by Nietzsche. Somebody else paged through “Early History of Rome” by Livy. A boombox blared music. Students alternated between catnaps on the wooden cafeteria floor and munching snacks delivered by supporters.

On Thursday morning, about 50 students who stayed overnight were joined by dozens of new arrivals. However, guards denied entrance to students from a consortium of colleges, including New York University and Cooper Union, who are normally allowed inside.

Shortly after 10 a.m., the students voted to expand the area they occupied. They entered a rear corridor at the back of the cafeteria and opened a door to East 13th Street. About 20 students who been stuck outside rushed into the cafeteria, and security guards ran into the hall in an effort to halt them.

Over the next 30 minutes, that cramped and crowded corridor was the scene of repeated shoving matches and loud shouting interspersed with pleas for peace by both sides. At one point, guards charged through the hall, thrusting students against a balustrade and banging a camera belonging to a newspaper photographer into a wall.

Students surged past the guards and attempted to block their path with pieces of plywood and trash containers.

Mr. Kerrey appeared in the building lobby around 11:30, standing in a knot of university officials. Students declined to meet with him and reiterated their demand that he resign. Cries arose from the corridor to East 13th Street, where police officers grappled with students, grabbing some and pulling them from the building.

After the skirmish, Damon Tavano Peters, a doctoral student in politics, approached Mr. Iliceto and asked for assurances that the city police would not be allowed back on university property. Mr. Iliceto countered by proposing that the students move the wooden tables from the cafeteria entrance.

“You keep asking for an agreement,” he said. “I’m not making a contract. I’m asking you very nicely to move the tables.”

By 2 o’clock, the tables had been moved a few feet, but students stood near the door. The crowd in the cafeteria swelled to more than 100, and the students held a meeting to discuss their next moves.

Another Unilateral decision

2008-12-18T16:05:00.000-08:00

We think it is important to highlight the fashion in which the University Student Senate meeting was canceled:

For safety and security reasons, I have decided to cancel The New School's University Student Senate Forum scheduled for tonight, December 18 at 8:00 p.m.

Bob Kerrey
President

Best,
The New School in Exile

6:50

2008-12-18T15:49:00.000-08:00

I just stepped into the Foyer and we can hear the protesters outside.

We are being told that there are more people outside than inside, and we have 100+, so this is really saying something.

We are encouraged by you support!

Resolutely,
The New School in Exile

6:40

2008-12-18T15:40:00.000-08:00

We have been informed that no one will be allowed to enter the building. Exit will continue to be permitted.

Best,
The New School in Exile

The Present Situation (6:30)

2008-12-18T15:23:00.000-08:00

We have made a strategic retreat from the back hallway and we no longer control the 13th Street door. We are currently working to fully secure the back door of the Cafeteria and right now it is not in jeopardy.

Resolutely,
The New School in Exile

CUNY Students outside!

2008-12-18T14:36:00.000-08:00

CUNY protesters outside! Students For Students!

Thank You, You are our Sisters and Brothers.

Best,
The New School in Exile

University Student Senate Meeting (real time: 5:32)

2008-12-18T14:31:00.000-08:00

Friends,

The University Student Senate Meeting that was scheduled for the Tishman Auditorium at 8pm will now be held in the Cafeteria!

Please Join us, we are already here and we will continue to deliberate.

Best Wishes,
The New School in Exile.

A letter to the faculty (real time: 5:19)

2008-12-18T14:18:00.000-08:00

To the faculty of The New School,

We the students who are occupying the building at 65 5th Avenue have declared ourselves in solidarity with the faculty's votes of no-confidence in Bob Kerrey and Jim Murtha. In addition to this action, we have formed some basic demands that we believe must be met. These demands are:

1. The removal of Bob Kerrey from the position of President of The New School as well as the position of provost
2. The removal of Jim Murtha from the position of Executive Vice President of The New School
3. The removal of Robert Millard from the Board of Trustees
4. Organized and representative student participation and voting rights in the interim committee to hire a new provost
5. Disclosure of The New School's finances since 2001 and furthermore the creation of a separate academic budget
6. The creation of a committee dedicated to Social Responsible Investment
7. The immediate suspension of capital improvements on New School buildings and the redirection of these funds toward (a) an autonomous student space where we can study and engage in group work, (b) scholarships and tuition, (c) a respectable library
8. Refrain from disciplinary action against the organizers of this demonstration

We believe that these demands are reasonable and justifiable. We also recognize that our actions stand in solidarity with protesters in Europe as well as students worldwide who suffer similar disregard for basic needs and rights. We hereby invite the faculty to join us in our movement for better conditions at The New School, and we believe that these demands, once met, will result in a better academic environment for faculty and students alike.

We are doing this because we care about The New School and our education, and out of respect for the hard work teachers and students alike invest in our academic work.

We will be here at 65 5th Avenue until progress is made toward our demands. We invite you to join us.

In solidarity,

Your students
The University in Exile

Real Time: 4:57

2008-12-18T13:58:00.001-08:00

Things are heating up again! But we will continue to hold our position! We will NOT give in now.

Real Time: 4:57

2008-12-18T13:54:00.000-08:00

Hey All,

We just received this email from Chicago. I have removed the names just in case.

We are humbled by this support, and we continue to stand in awe of what the United Electrical Workers Staff inside the Republic Windows Workers factory achieved.

Exile,

I helped as temporary United Electrical Workers Staff inside the Republic Windows Workers occupation a week ago here in Chicago. As staff I helped the workers deal with the logistics of occupying the building from the inside. I also work for the Graduate Employee Organization at the Univ of Illinois at Chicago and have quite a bit of experience dealing with campus actions and the Chicago Police Department. If you need any advice or have any questions about pulling this off feel free to contact me. My cell is 773-706-0311. Not that you necessarily need advice, it sounds like you all are doing an amazing job! Solidarity Forever to all of you for your brave action!

REAL TIME: 4:47

2008-12-18T13:47:00.000-08:00

Dear Friends,

Due to "security concerns" Mr. Kerrey has canceled his meeting with the University Student Senate.

With each emergency measure, the legitimacy of his Administration takes another hit. We will be holding the Meeting ourselves in the Cafeteria!

Join us! Together we can engender change.

Democratically,

The New School in Exile

Police in the Building (4:21)

2008-12-18T13:21:00.001-08:00

It seems that members of the NYPD have entered the building from the 13th Street entrance, but it seems they pose no immediate threat.

Meanwhile democracy continues inside.

Best,

The New School in Exile

We Continue To Hold The New School (3:35)

2008-12-18T12:30:00.000-08:00

It's 3:35pm, and we've been here for over 20 hours.

The entire GF building is closed.

We took the cafeteria around 7pm last night, and we have held it.

In the morning, the administration told the security guards to lock down the entire building. That fortunately did not last.

Students who would have to get in the building - to study, take finals, meet with professors, go to the cashier or registrar - they would suffer.

Don't blame us. We took over the cafeteria with the very clear goal of reclaiming student space. Space to study, to hold events, to share with our fellow students. Space to be students.

Space that will soon be gone.

The New School's president, Bob Kerrey, wants to tear down the GF. They want to start next week. The building has been near-empty all semester. Meanwhile, there is virtually no common study space - certainly not enough for over 9000 students. We have no library. Only 10% of the book collection is actually on the stacks at Fogelman library - everything we need is in storage, and the new library will not be built this year. The money has run out. Students priorities have been put last.

Who did this? Bob Kerrey and his administration.

What does Kerrey want to replace the GF with? A building that he and his administration have designed and planned and replanned and made sure that no students, no faculty, no staff - none of the people who will use the building or be affected by what it does or doesn't include - have had any input or review or oversight of whatsoever. The building and the grounds of 65 5th ave were bequeathed by Vera List to the New School for Social Research, and it has carried it's name - the Graduate Faculty - ever since. True, the "new building" at 6 E. 16th st. has the name "Albert and Vera List Academic Center", and it does have some NSSR departments - but this is not the building Vera List donated to the graduate faculty and students. How many times has the name of the New School been changed? Was this a ploy to remove the requirement that 65 5th ave be the grounds for NSSR as per Vera List's donation, and was it even legal? How many times and in how many ways has Leah Gartner (head of Grounds and Buildings) prevented students from having any input on the process of their own building? How many of us are happy with the job she did with squeezing 6 graduate departments into 4 floors of 6 E. 16th, shared with Parsons classes and Global Finance trading labs (now mostly empty), while there are 3 floors with spacious administrative offices above? When undergrads at Lang don't have anything in their own building beyond a cafe to use for common space? When the GF has only a cafeteria and a reading room that will soon be demolished - with monies taken out away from student and academic programming?

If you think student space issues are anomalies of an otherwise harmonious Kerrey administration, think again. For nearly 8 years, we've had 5 provost changes. The lead academic officer of the university is replaced each time Kerrey's yes-man has not been up to snuff. Kerrey's last appointment - himself - was not at all out of character. It is emblematic of a concerted drive to centralize all key decision-making in the university under his command. "Reorganization" of the university has come to mean centralization of power for Kerrey, not making a workable master-plan for the 8 schools that comprise "the New School University". Meanwhile departments can't hire new faculty, offer the courses graduates need, or do any kind of long-term strategic planning. Sociology has 2 faculty on over 80 dissertation committees. The teaching and research fellowships for graduate students are the lowest in the nation. The investments of the New School are managed by Robert Millard, on the board of L3 Communications, and managing director of its parent company Lehman Brothers - at least until it wasn't bailed out. We don't even know how Millard's mismanagement of the university's endowment has affected the long term security of the endowment. The operating budget of the university - over 80% of which is made up of tuition and student fees - is tightly controlled by the shadowy JIm Murtha - who announced upon taking the post of Chief Financial Officer that he would never meet with students, and he hasn't. We have an administrative bureaucracy as large as that of the University of Chicago - over 4 times our size - and most of these people have been chosen by Kerrey and are paid in six figures. Yet Kerrey announced an immediate spending freeze for department and student group programs - cheap corporate skimming while wine and shrimp are hors d'oeurves enough for 500 people are splurged on for the 75 attendees of Kerrey's "Free Inquiry at Risk" conference. Over $10 million has been spent marketing the new brand of this brave "New School".

The New School needs real change, and we're developing proactive plans for broad institutional changes that not only make decision-making democratic and accountable to the students, faculty, and staff that actually run and use the university for its intended purpose - a different sort of academy. One that lives up to the ideals that Beard and Dewey and Johnson and other founders intended for truly free inquiry not mired by rampant militarism and profiteering. One that does not shame and brand "the university in exile" into a business model squeezes out students and basic academic priorities.

Right now, we are developing actionable plans and programs for creating pathways to real change. We are going to continue to make it happen.

There's a change gonna come. We are here. Now. Making it happen.

-DS

The Big Guns have arrived (real time: 3:15)

2008-12-18T12:13:00.000-08:00

For Our Side: Professor Jim Miller

For their side: We have learned that there are 2 NYPD Captains are waiting outside and participating in the surveillance.

We will be ready.

Best,
The New School in Exile.

Support from Gothamist and Gawker! (real time: 3:08)

2008-12-18T12:04:00.000-08:00

Gothamist:

Why is everyone all pissy about a bunch of students doing what students around the world have been doing for decades? Let them protest! Let them have a voice in a situation where they had none. Jeez guys, maybe you need to protest the shitty life you're living, since you apparently have nothing else to do but get so grumpy about this.

Gawker:

As an alum of the University I stand in solidarity with my fellows at the New School. Their protest is a reaction to having years-long efforts to peacefully resolve the bureaucracy and corporatizing, and constantly being shut down by President Kerrey and his administration.

The New School was founded upon the principles of progressive education and openness, and Kerrey has, in the last seven years, moved the university further away from this vision of academia than at any other time in its 89 year history.

LOVE! SOLIDARITY! FIST JABS!

Thanks for that, and thanks to the snarky ones out there who made us laugh.

Best,

The New School in Exile

Real Time Update 2:57pm

2008-12-18T11:52:00.000-08:00

Dear Friends,

Discussion and democracy is the order of the day as we maintain our positions and devise our statement for the meeting of the University Student Senate at which Mr. Kerrey will be present (8pm).

We have pictures on the occupation page of our web site (www.newschoolinexile.com).

Yours for academic achievement.
The New School in Exile

Status Update

2008-12-18T11:42:00.001-08:00

Thank you all for your support! Things are going very well in here. We are making progress.

Best Wishes,
The New School in Exile

Open Letter/Communique

2008-12-18T10:23:00.001-08:00

From within the occupied New School in Exile, 65 5th Avenue, New York City:

We have been in occupation of the Graduate Faculty building of the New School University since 8pm Wednesday the 17th of December. More than 100 of us have taken over a student building, including our only library, which the administration has marked for demolition without creating any equivalent new space on campus. We have opened the building as a student-run autonomous space, in protest against the administration of President Bob Kerrey who recently received a vote of no confidence from the majority of faculty in this school. Details of our multiple grievances against Kerrey, his vice-President Jim Murtha, and treasurer of the board of trustees Robert Millard are laid out in our first communiqué. This morning we have an update on our situation. At around noon today New School security moved to block our access to the fire exits, preventing us from allowing in our fellow students of the Inter-University Consortium to whom they had refused access to the building in a violation of the Consortium agreement. When they failed to remove us, the NYPD were sent in to violently evict us from the fire exit and one of our fellow students was arrested. The police entered the building at the same time as President Kerrey arrived and offered to speak with us, we responded by refusing to negotiate with him and repeating our demand that he immediately resign. He left and took his police with him. At the moment our security has returned and our numbers have doubled, but we expect future incursions on our space and encourage all who support us to come to the Graduate Building at 65 5th Avenue and 14th street.

Signed,
The New School in Exile

Join Us!

2008-12-18T09:45:00.000-08:00

The Administration has capitulated to our demands. The Police have backed off and Seurity has begin to let people back into the building.

We are rather Jubilant at the moment as our numbers have almost doubled and we are standing strong, holding our ground.

This is OUR School and this is OUR Space.

Yours for always,
The New School in Exile.

On the Current Situation...

2008-12-18T09:27:00.000-08:00

Dear Friends...

Things are getting difficult. We are calm, but we understand that each next move may be the last.

We will see you soon friends.

Best,
The New School in Exile.

No time for Panic

2008-12-18T09:00:00.000-08:00

A couple of our comrades have been roughed up and a couple arrested. But we still have control. The New York Times and Democracy Now are still standing strong with us! For this we salute them.

Thank you to everyone out there who is keeping up. We will continue to try and get you information.

If you know civil rights lawyers in NYC please post their name's and Phone numbers.

Yours with Resolve.

We Must Hold

2008-12-18T08:56:00.000-08:00

Mr. Kerrey has retreated into the Swayduck and now the NYPD has begun to indiscriminately grab people and drag them out of the university. They have been using unnecessary force!

The New School In Exile

Response to Kerrey's letter to the New School Community

New School Reoccupied

Solidarity!

Student Strike at Technological Institute of Puerto Rico, Manati!

From: Concerned Undergraduate Students at the University of the Ryukyus

2nd Teach-In Scheduled for Tomorrow!!!!

NewSchoolInExile.Com Revamped and Back Up!

With the New School and NYU Student Occupations

More NY Times coverage of the Take Back NYU Occupation!

Exiled in NYU: A communiqué from within the NYU occupation

First Press for Take Back NYU Occupation

Students Protest at N.Y.U.

Rally for Take Back NYU Tomorrow @ 12 Noon!

NYU's Kimmel Center is now Occupied!

Video of Thursday's Press conference!

Edinburgh University Occupation for Gaza

From the New York Times

New School Faculty and President Remain at Odds

From Where We Stand: A Statement from The New School in Exile

A Refutation of a Crude Opinion

New Semester, New Plans, New Actions...

A gathering to continue planning our next actions and ongoing resistance at the New School has been set and everyone is encouraged to come. The campus occupation last December was but one small step in a larger struggle!

Sunday, Feb. 1st, 7pm the basement of the 16th St. building

This will be a meeting to plan future actions, not a campaign organizing or student movement strategy meeting! Come with creative ideas and actions to kick off a new year of struggle. In solidarity, in resistance, and still in exile!!!

"An open letter to students by workers in Athens"

From an RSU member of The New School in Exile

Excerpt from the Times piece posted beow:

Letter from a Member of The New School in Exile

From the NY Times: Behind Discord at the New School: Faculty Sees an Unfocused Leader

News From a Student on the Security Situation

More info on the so called "chasing" of Kerrey from a Member of The New School in Exile

New Information

A new Post from the NY TIMES

The Columbia and New School Sit-Ins, Compared

The Brian Lehrer Show / December 19, 2008 / Follow Up Friday: New School Occupation

Notes from the Outside

From a member of the New School in Exile

A personal Message from a member of the New School in Exile

Craigslist, missed connections!

Only New School Students w/ ID are being allowed in 65 5th (RT:12:40)

Thank You, Everyone (10:42)

Final Agreement!

New School Students End Dining Hall Sit-In (10:34am)

New School In Exile WINS Major Victories in Third Day of Occupation!

Thank You Todd May

To the Students, Faculty, Staff and Supporters occupying 65 Fifth Ave.

Message from Antioch in Ohio!

Jim Murtha is a Coward

The Best Chant of the Night (1:49)

1:48

Wild Out in the Cold

Mr. Kerrey I presume

No Food (1:16)

A few thoughts on

A Message from CUNY Who Stood with Us as One tonight

Restricting our space

See Bob Run (12:16am)

The Police are Surrounding us!

Demonstration outside Mr. Kerrey's home! (11:56)

Our Arrested Comrade has been freed! (11:53)

It's Our School

A message for Bob and Jim

And!

Negotiations continue (11:21)

It is Ours!

WE'RE IN

All Sides! (10:46)

To Those Outside! (10:35)

From an Alum (10:20)

Communications from the Outside! (10:11)

Solidarity Site with 1000+ members (9:50)

CUNY Can't Fail!

Democracy is an Art (9:30)

Faculty Outside!

55 W. 13th Street has been Occupied!

New Clashes in Greece

Gawker: "Total Chaos" (8:28)

To the Dancers of Thompkins Square Park! (8:16)

DAILYKOS We hear You! (8:08)

Sunday, Feb. 1st, 7pm
the basement of the 16th St. building