I'm a graduate student at the New School and just finished my first semester in the Creative Writing MFA program. The one problem I noticed throughout the semester was a serious lack of communication from the school administration to the students. It seems the students are now trying to remedy that and other issues by speaking up. It might not be the most constructive method, but at least they are trying something by getting organized and combining ideas and grievances. Good for them.

For all those calling these students spoiled brats, rich kids, etc., that's an old, old story/stereotype and definitely not true in every case. Come up with some new points of view and maybe someone might hear you out.

I would interested in seeing a review of all the comments posted about this event to see whether the majority of commenters (also outside of gothamist) were in favor of this protest.

Ever see a kid in the grocery line who gets Mommy to buy a lollipop, through sheer refusal to stop shrieking & whining?

Most of what the protesters got was immunity from reprisal for their temper-tantrum. The rest was a new layer of bureaucratic committees. Well done, enjoy your lollies, kids.

Hah, I was about to comment about the genius behind that name. Nice.

You know, I think at this point the biggest story is that Bob Kerrey stopped by to negotiate "something" with them but they refused to even have a brief dialog with him.

I feel that even if you are for the cafeteria takeover that has to jump out as a massive screw-up. Do they have ANY diplomats in there? ANYONE with reasoning ability? It just backs up my claim that what we have are a bunch of kids who are on fire with their achievement and in the process have simply stopped using their brains.

I got this response from one of those inside the building, addressing three of her friends pessimism, "honestly, i really don't feel that you three understand the scope of what is going on here. you aren't here. you don't know what this is like. we have taken control of a building. 80 people have slept in it, conducted their day in it, and will be sleeping in it again. This is as close to an autonomous space that has ever occured in this school." If that doesn't scream being in love with the action and missing the total point I don't know what does.

They fail to understand they have no power. They're a source of amusement. Taking over a cafeteria at the end of a semester before the holidays does not = leverage. They'll be waited out and that'll be that. In the meantime they can daydream about being the "kent state" of the 21st century or something equally grand.

Their snobbish reaction to attempted compromise shows their lack of maturity and planning and foresight and leaves them with no one to blame for this failure than themselves. Silly.

nice response contrabalance... and the rest of you who spent the last two days criticizing the students as inefective, wanna-be 60s, faker hippies, you're so much smarter and better than them except for the part where they won:

http://www.newschoolinexile.com/

read the agreement yourself and maybe, just maybe, you'll consider the idea that direct action may actually be more useful than indirect criticism from your desk chair.

"huh, social movements for change actually change things? who wudda thunk?!"

bobkerrey666, I'll just assume you're under 16 or ‘special’ in some way, so I could at least forgive you for thinking that drivel was pretty clever.

Ever the optimist am I.

Rad name by the way. Totally bitchin.

If you think 'minorities failing to pay loans' was the cause of the financial crisis, you are absolutely fucking retarded.

Seems like most of the commenters to this post (and its author) are a bunch of douche bags.

People in this country complain about how everything is going down the drain. Well, maybe if people got off their fat asses and did something about it, like these students are doing at the New School, then this country wouldn't be in such bad shape and the world would be so screwed by the US govt.

It's logical to push for the changes you seek in your immediate surroundings as a stepping stone for larger change. Remember that community organizer on the south side of Chicago with the small 'fro? Oh yeah, what's his name...? OBAMA!

Any expression of dissent and any move against complacency are this country are mocked. No wonder it's so screwed up. We can all thank people like the ones that have posted most of the comments on this blog. U-S-A!!! U-S-A!!!!

throwcomputer, I appreciate the comments, I really do... but while I want to agree, I must say that NS (at least my division) has been pulling back their vigorous anything-goes mentality, and next semester were focusing on actually reducing the enrollment free-for-all.

Not defending them, just saying, the administration had the good sense at least to realize there are downsides to an explosion of under-qualified and/or self-righteous Robin Hoods -- one of which may very well be a factor in the current situation.

On another note, I'm off to class. Bob Kerrey has sent out a meek little all points bulletin, curtly canceling the emergency student council meeting that was to be held tonight, ironically enough, to start that dialogue we've been hearing so much about. He cites concerns for safety. Right, like a bunch of emo-nerdistas are gonna what, whine me into submission?

that cafeteria is one of the countless spaces that cost the school too much to make, looks too fancy and is useless. about time someone put it to good use.

stop remodeling brand new computer labs for brander new ones!

NSU is going downhill in the race for high capacity, at the expense of intellectual rigor.

ps. i love the photoshop twirl effect as an attempt for "anonymity" in such a rebellious act. (people sitting in a cafe)

"If the colleges were better, if they really had it, you would need to get the police at the gates to keep order in the inrushing multitude. See in college how we thwart the natural love of learning by leaving the natural method of teaching what each wishes to learn, and insisting that you shall learn what you have no taste or capacity for. The college, which should be a place of delightful labor, is made odious and unhealthy, and the young men are tempted to frivolous amusements to rally their jaded spirits. I would have the studies elective. Scholarship is to be created not by compulsion, but by awakening a pure interest in knowledge. The wise instructor accomplishes this by opening to his pupils precisely the attractions the study has for himself. The marking is a system for schools, not for the college; for boys, not for men; and it is an ungracious work to put on a professor." -- Ralph Waldo Emerson

They better not be scuffling with the security guards over at the UCC! They were my boys! I watched sporting events in their once lobby over there. haha

Bummer that things are getting violent, that means they've even lost the morale high ground at this point. I'd still like to go sniff around though.

Regardless, I am gonna head over to that area soon and grab a slice from Two Boots or something and hopefully by then my evening plans will have kind of materialized.

If you're in the area I'd be up for meeting for pizza and conversation. Search for ryan william walker on facebook.

I love that we're beginning to "take over" the protesters forum. Oh, the irony of life.

Hey face99,

Yeah, I do have facebook. The funny thing is, a couple weeks ago I got a message from a student protest group, announcing "something huge" was being planned to shock the powers-that-be. I never asked further, but it's funny to think that this thing was being planned for at least a week longer than the whole Kerrey scandal.

And if you're in the area, keep your head up. Apparently there's been little scuffles with police and bigger ones with the security guards, from what the grapevine communicates.

Also a flash update from their blogspot, and I quote:



!! FLASH UPDATE !! (noon)

Students have just expanded the occupation to control one sidedoor exit at the occupation, and President Kerrey just showed up a little before noon. NYPD police have showed up and begun trying to arrest people at the side entrance (13th st.) of the building. Witnesses report at least two people were dragged out onto 13th street and there was as least one person confirmed arrested.

Maybe I should stroll over there, I'm a few minutes away and have possible plans later on tonight so have some dead time to kill. Think they'll let me in if I flash my alumni card? haha

nor do they take too kindly, i presume in most cases, to kids enjoying the luxury that is--unfortunately--a higher education

They're right to take a stand on this, and I believe it's more symbolic of the anger at the current assault on working people.

okay i'll give you that, but do you think most of these kids know anything about working for an honest living? did you at 19? i know i sure as hell didn't.

working people don't care when professors rail against the inhumanities working people face. working people are too concerned about being able to feed their families to give a professorial fuck.

Face99,

I also attended graduate school via Milano and totally support your comments. This is one of the unique facets of the New School, however. You have the "University in Exile" folks who are still studying in the programs upon which the university was founded mixed with those of us who study/ied Nonprofit Management, HR, Organizational Change Management, clothing design, graphic design, Trombone, music composition, etc etc etc. It's a lot of needs to meet, and I have seen an enormous change in the way the school has been managed since Kerrey took over. It finally feels like a unified campus, as opposed to 7 different colleges all competing for attention and resources. There's a unified identity, even if the "exile" folks don't like that it means the university is being run more like every other college campus in the US- like a business. This isn't the 50's anymore.

Also, if there's anything that they need to be protesting, it's the god-awful cafeteria they inflict on you in that building. Blech.

Good job students.

They're right to take a stand on this, and I believe it's more symbolic of the anger at the current assault on working people. Sure, many of these students will join the bourgeois echelons of society much like many of our parents did after the revolution of the 60s passed them by. But that's no excuse to sit idly by why people suffocate your voice.

I am a graduate of GPIA, New School (2005), and frankly, I felt the same way many of the above posters have stated, that many of the NS students are over-priviledged "kids" with trust funds. Screw that! You are bold, courageous and have character.

Thanks contrabalance,

Your posts also seem loaded with good sense. The funny thing is I heard Kerrey was on his way out too (I don't really pay attention but I see the occasional update on facebook, which is how I found my way here) so it's interesting that this action "had to be" taken. You have a facebook by chance?

And expending the energy used to mock those mocking makes you a moral superior and potentially superhuman. Your horse must be a high one.