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New School Occupied <em>Again</em>
By
John Del Signore
Published Apr 10, 2009
Modified Apr 10, 2009
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By
John Del Signore
Published Apr 10, 2009
Modified Apr 10, 2009
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Student activists have occupied a New School building on 5th Avenue and 13th Street and are standing on the roof shouting their demands through a bullhorn and waving the anarchist flag. Good times. The takeover took place around 5 a.m. and is believed to involve some 60 students affiliated with the Radical Student Union, which participated in last year's New School occupation—not to be confused with the more recent NYU sit-in.
In fact, as one student opined on Twitter, those NYU amateurs should take some notes: "New School University students have managed to shut down part of Union Square. At least they know what they are protesting about, unlike NYU." Yeah, but those NYU kids had live streaming webcasts! So far this boring protest doesn't even have a website, and we don't see any keffiyehs up on that roof... yet.
Confirming the Union Square "shut down" boast, a tipster tells us, "Union Square is experiencing a bit of a lockdown... The circling helicopters are buzzing overhead of my apartment—low enough to rattle the glass and there's a lot of sirens. It's going to be a pain in the ass for anyone who lives or works in the area today. Horrible timing if you are trying to get anything done around the neighborhood for the holiday." Ugh, don't these anarchists realize it's Passover and Good Friday?
Once again, the students are demanding the resignation of their university president, Bob Kerrey and Vice President James Murtha. Protester Andy Folk tells NY1, "Our demand for them to resign is consistent with the faculty's 'no confidence' vote in Bob Kerrey. That demand was not met. Other demands were met, such as starting a socially-responsible investment committee, which Bob Kerrey is trying to bury in red tape. So, we need to show him by force and civil disobedience that students have a right over the school that they pay money for."
Kerrey tells the New School Free Press that he's not going to play ball like during the last sit-in: "This is not a university situation, this is an NYPD situation. The students broke and entered into the building...I cannot consider them students at this point." According to Kerrey, the students assaulted the security guard, ejected the facilities worker, and also took his radio. So the police have cordoned off the building, where students have hung a banner reading, "Occupation," in case anyone was wondering.
Tagged
new school
Occupation
John Del Signore
Originally from the Albany area, John Del Signore has called NYC home since 1995. In addition to his thousands of meticulously-crafted bespoke blog posts for Gothamist, his writing has also been published in The Awl, Deadspin, The Nervous Breakdown, and performed at The Brick Theater in Brooklyn.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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