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At 10:00 p.m. last night, some 70 students from NYU and the New School barricaded themselves inside a cafeteria on the third floor of NYU's Kimmel Center. The group, which includes members of "Take Back NYU!", is vowing to extend the occupation "indefinitely" until the university's administrators comply with a series of demands "to make our school more democratic, accountable and socially just."
Demand #1, of course, is "amnesty for all parties involved in the protest." After that, they also require a full and annual reporting of the university's operating budget, expenditures and endowment; tuition stabilization for all students; and public access to the Bobst Library. They're also demanding that NYU offer 13 scholarships annually to students from the Gaza Strip and give surplus supplies to the Islamic University of Gaza.
Last December New School students occupied a cafeteria at their school to protest President Bob Kerrey. Like that occupation, this one comes with a blog, and, for your viewing pleasure, two live webcams, where you can watch the kids troubleshoot software problems, make signs, and strategize—though some commenters on the site are outraged that the sound is sometimes muted for "security." Others aren't too crazy about the production values: "Somebody MOVE THAT CHAIR and leave us the view - PLEASE." As for the live blog, an 8 a.m. post from embedded student reporter Charlie Eisenhood reads: "I’m kinda hoping a SWAT team busts in. That’d be crazy." Just PLEASE move the CHAIR when they start cracking skulls!!!
Below, video of students barricading the doors last night to the tune of "Let's Do the Time Warp Again" from The Rocky Horror Picture Show.
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These kids are so cute with their protests. Did they bring their PJs and bongs?
I just hope someone is getting their "historical moment" on video. Maybe one of these revolutionaries can be the next Che T-shirt at a scuzzy flea market booth.
As a private institution, the students have to realize that a) they can go to another school if they hate it so much, and b) the school doesn't have to "serve" them so just expel these morons and be done with it.
what's your point? these students are taking those risks because they believe in what they're doing. the university won't do well by expelling them. the country, and especially colleges, have a long history of peaceful protests for both noble and idiotic goals.
saying that protesting is dumb makes you all look like idiots.
you ARE a dick. "they believe in what they are doing" ??? BULLSHIT. they think that they can achieve their purported goals because they are not paying for their tuition and they think that doing it "non-violently protesting" is the best way to get their message across. What a pathetic way to try and impact some change.
Hey, I'm all for passive resistance. I think it's the greatest form of protest and change.
But this is not fighting "the man." The consumers (students) are not entitled to any of the items they requested. The inmates are not allowed to run the asylum.
Say I like Dunkin Donuts (I do) and then go to MA, sit in at their offices, and demand to see the books. What would they do? They'd throw me out. It's a private company. They don't have to show transparency, stabilize prices, and give money to charity just because I buy their product.
If Starbucks, a public company, was my target and I'm a shareholder I can do this. I have ownership in it.
NYU = private. You must respect private property rights.
Look, I'm not saying protest is bad. But the causes listed in the post seem odd. If NYU is dumping pollutants in the Hudson, protest that. Giving scholarships to Gaza Strip area students? Do that with your own money.
I'm sure they'll give in to all of this, which will cost them money. Then the students will complain about tuition hikes. It's the populist, tyranny of the majority. I hate it.
i don't think their causes are worthy. i think they're idiotic. but to say that they are disrespecting property rights is dumb. the sit-ins in the south in the 60s disrespected property rights. those people went to jail, but they got their point across.
these people in the kimmel center believe in something, and they *will* be punished for it. the reason the protest will fail is because they're the only idiots that believe in their cause. but they do believe in it.
chastise them not for protesting, but for protesting for dumb ideas.
You are replying to something I never said.
I think there is a big difference between donuts and higher education. I think we should embrace freedom of speech and the freedom to protest. Obviously these kids understand that there is a risk to what they are doing but some of them surely do believe in the cause. I don’t think they are asking for free tuition (except for more scholarships to deserving prospects; not themselves I assume), it seems more like stabilization and accountability - nothing wrong with demanding that peacefully. They seem to want more of "their" people to have a shot at higher education which I think is a reasonable goal.
In China this kind of protest would be broken up with violence and the media would be banned from reporting it; do you think that would be a better option?
1. No, there's no difference at all. These kids are going to work white collar jobs. A kid who's working a blue collar job may go to DD every morning.
2. Strawman, much like the other commenter. I made it quite clear that I'm for protest and especially for passive resistance.
What I'm not for is protesting for dumb reasons.
Respectfully, I disagree. I think it’s unfair to compare dunkin donuts to a world renowned institution which is private but heavily subsidized by the government and many other organizations. How they handle issues affects many different layers of society in a local, national and international way.
Irregardless of this, if you do believe in protest then you cannot select which protests are acceptable and which ones are not. You might find this one dumb but some others might take it to heart. If you have any causes that you believe in, others might find them "dumb" yet should it stop you from protesting them?
Silly strawman? How so? Everyone seems annoyed at this; so im saying what is the alternative? It is to shut it down and sweep it under the rug....Thats the price of democracy my friend, you must put up with people fighting for causes that you might not care about...
What's your problem, man?
I can select and have an opinion on whether or not their cause is worthy.
When the KKK marches, that's a form of protest.
If I say, "morons" like I child the NYU kids, would you continue to strawman argue and chastise me like this?
Again, to be 100% clear, though I think I've made it clear already:
1. I'm 100% for protest, especially passive resistance.
2. NYU is private; I see no problem if these kids are expelled.
3. The causes are lame.
Now if Daddy took away the tuition money, there would be a REAL protest!
We're Not Gonna Protest!
We're Not Gonna Protest!
Calling Jeremy Piven...
We're Not Gonna Protest!
Can someone tell me why NYU hasnt cut the power?
I really hope all these little turds get expelled. And also, arrested and beaten by the NYPD. I mean, maybe if they ever experienced real injustice, maybe they wouldn't be such utter tools.
Actually many of the things they're asking for are admirable and would be of great benefit to the surrounding community, so why don't you haters STFU.
I wish they would focus more on NYU's rampant overdevelopment though...
I took no issue against them until I read that bit about offering scholarships to the Gaza strip and offering surplus supplies... Why'd they have to tag on that overly political pair of requests to an otherwise seemingly-reasonable list?
Gaza may be the hot topic in the news until fairly recently but if any scholarships and supplies were to be donated they should be given to those who truely deserve it, not because it's the big story of the month.
Laudable goals, those. Good luck to them!
The things these students are requesting can be achieved without their disruptive protest. Their amnesty request should be denied. Like many of the authorities they seek to influence, they are attempting to live life without consequences.
When did young people become morons?
Do they realize that if the general public is allowed access to Bobst Library that that will cost more money (plus attract all the homeless and drug dealers that camp out in Washington Square Park)? If they don't want a tuition hike, how is the extra maintenance of Bobst going to be funded?
what's your point? these students are taking those risks because they believe in what they're doing. the university won't do well by expelling them. the country, and especially colleges, have a long history of peaceful protests for both noble and idiotic goals.
saying that protesting is dumb makes you all look like idiots.
Apparently reading comprehension is not one of your strong points. Where did I ever say protesting was dumb?
My point is that two of their demands are contradictory and not well thought out.
Once again, with a tuition freeze, who pays for public access to Bobst?
what a bunch of entitled little snots with no clue about the world. not to worry though, obama will subsidize their gaza fund, and the school, it's endowments, and the salaries of the admin - all tax free, all paid by the taxpayers. wait until these little assholes enter the workforce and start spawning little che's - they'll be the first to complain about their taxes.
"embedded student reporter"? Jesus christ. You mean midwest trustafarian douche trying to "fight the man" by being involved in a pointless "protest".
You'd think that $75K/year would buy an education or at least some common sense.
f-ing hippies with no concept of reality.
besides, why help the terrorists in gaza? not saying the whole population there is, but anything that benefits gaza, benefits hamas.
and starving them out has really seemed to help, hasn't it
These kids get stupider each semester. They simply haven't got a single opinion of their own, just as long as it's from an extreme leftist point of view--but they'll deceive themselves into thinking they know what they're talking about. Shmucks!
Bravo to the other level headed people who commented that NYU should both: cut the power and not provide amnesty/expel them. That's the reality in America--a private institution doesn't owe you shit.
These kids sit at the forefront of this generational problem of a sense of entitlement. Your misguided and easily manipulated beliefs are a joke.
EXPEL.THEM.
Gothamist--Bitterness Central!
Agreed. The more I come on here the more I realize the people who comment are sad, sad, bitter individuals.
Agreed. The more I come on here the more I realize the people who comment are sad, sad, bitter individuals.
This is why I go to CUNY. It's public and protests like this (not with the same demands, just "peaceful" protests in general) would hold some sort of sense (if only our student body wasn't collectively lazy).
Hahahahahaha how pathetic.
(sigh)
How passé.
Bet they bail when the bathrooms get locked down.
You know who has pretty full transparency? SUNY and CUNY..plus, it's cheaper. Why don't these idiots just transfer and save their parents a couple bucks while getting their demands met?
Plus, they've got to support Gaza, one of them is wearing a Kaffiyeh! Its always good to base your political views around a (now bygone!!) fashion fad.
I really wish I grew up in the 60's, but I didn't. Because of that, I know that occupying administration buildings would make me a tool rather than a hippy fighter.
Sorry kids, but you're in the wrong era and your specific demands about Gaza are just plain crazy. Oh yea, you seem like a bunch of tools too.
What dont we eat?
Red Meat
Why dont we eat it?
Its murder
I'm barricading myself AGAIN in my room in sympathy! And I tired of doing it.
It's incredible that there are so many right-wing old farts on this blog.
After a generation of complacent students interested only in themselves, these kids are a breath of fresh air.
NYU administration and their president, John Sexton, have been pulling crap for years and getting away with it.
They are disdained by most residents of lower Manhattan. They have ruined the Village. It's all about money, not education or compassion.
Shame on NYU for not giving away scholarships to Gaza for all these years!
Bard College has already done so! Why isn't NYU getting with the program?
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/15/world/middleeast/15quds.html
What's the problem? Do you want another generation of US-hating Palestinians, or do you want to instill US values over there? (Incidentally, the president of Bard's parents were Holocaust survivors. The president of NYU is an egotistical WASP, btw.) He'd rather set up a campus in the UAE, where the $$$$ is.
Yes, indeed. Shame on NYU!
O, I think it's great that they want to protest something but such diverse demands?
IMO, they should focus on one thing, like Budget Transparency (Yeah, good luck with that on a PRIVATE Institution) instead of tacking on other issues.
In any case, I bet they bail when the heat, and bathrooms get shutdown.
It's not necessarily that the haters are "right-wing old farts". I think PTG summed it best:
It costs a lot of money to go to NYU, and while some of these people are no doubt taking loans or on scholarship, the general perception is that these students are privileged (whether that is correct is another debate). When privileged people play martyr and make demands, they do not get any sympathy, no matter how appropriate the demands may be."When privileged people play martyr and make demands, they do not get any sympathy, no matter how appropriate the demands may be. "
Perhaps you are forgetting the student takeovers of Columbia, Berkeley, Kent State, Madison, etc.
Those protests radically transformed the American collegiate educational system. The progress of today's education system - the openness, diversity and curriculum - was obtained by these "privileged martyrs".
Actually, you could say the same thing about the American Revolutionary war, which was led by "privileged martyrs".
Rebellion is much better than complacency.
The problem is that these students bought into this scam. Had they never applied at NYU on these matters of principle and issued a public statement in defiance of the university's practices, they would have much more credibility. As it stands, it's hard to see them as anything other than the spoiled brats of wealth and privilege striking symbolicly at a system with which they are completely complicitous.
Refer to my post above @ 1:14.
The only thing worse than doing something is doing nothing.
The only thing worse than doing something is doing nothing.
Where does this wisdom come from? Do something even if it makes things even worse; like the inhabitants of Easter Island. When they were running out of food and water, they used up their island's remaining resources to build more statues hoping to appease their deities. Good idea. NOT.
send in the Crips, Bloods, and Latin Kings to broker peace
Thanks for the next entry on Stuff White People Like - Trust fund babies playing protest (with Joe's Coffee in their little tea cups.)
Once again, there seems to be a total disconnect between the means of protest and the progessive goal of the protest.
Can someone explain the relation between aiding Palestinian students in Gaza and blocking students and workers from the cafeteria.
On second thought, maybe it's a good idea. I won't let anyone into my cube at work today in protest of the deprivation of rights of the GITMO prisoners.
This so cute. They are practicing to be brain dead adult leftist.
As an NYU student who disagrees with many of the goals of this group, I think it would be ludicrous to allow money that we pay in tuition to be given to these political causes. This is a school, not a political party- if these students want to give money to the Islamic University, go right ahead. But unless NYU is to give money also to the Vatican, and to Israel, then we can't play favorites here. Get the group "Taking Back NYU" and have them acheive their goals themselves, not using our institution as their mouthpiece. This is a PRIVATE institution- don't go using the school's resources for personal matters. Use your own money. This school is expensive enough. NYU offers a lot of funding for student clubs, and the students can just petition for some of that money SET ASIDE for causes and donate it, or create a fundraiser for whatever they want. As a student, you don't "DESERVE" anything.
This has LOL and FAIL written all over it. heh.
Why in hell would they want the public to have access to their library? Bums sleeping in the stacks? Non-students checking out books that they may need for their research... makes NO sense in a city with a beautiful public library with branches all over the 5 boroughs.
Ridiculous.
Because when the library was built around 1970, NYU promised
it would be open to the community.
"NYU promised it would be open to the community."
Wow, I didn't know that. I once took a Continuing Education language class at NYU, and even though I had a student id, they wouldn't let me in Bobst.
Yes, that is true. Bobst has become very restrictive. I\
Say what you will about the kids, but I'd love to have a quiet place to study in the city that's open 24 hours now that I'm out of college.
They can always screen at-large patrons. They don't have to let every creature in. For all of the city that NYU has absorbed, they could at least open up the Bobst.
Send surplus supplies to the Islamic University? Why not give surplus supplies to the desperate and foundering New York Public School system! Clean up your own back yard first, kids.
Why not petition wealthy Islamic nations to better educate their brethren rather than have the United States always step in to save the day?
Iran, Lebanon, Yemen Morocco supply Hamas with millions of dollars worth of weapons every day for one reason, not for self defense, for the destruction of a nation they have all publicly denounced and have wished for the eradication of; Israel.
These students are self important and arrogant with no history of the Near East at all. They read a few articles by Chomsky and Finkelstein and all of a sudden they’re sympathisers of these self appointed freedom fighters.
Why Gaza? Gaza is no longer occupied by the Israeli’s, yet a small group of people still feel Israel should “get out”. Get out of what I ask? If you’re not in, how do you get out? They’re out. If Israel invades based on self defense, that’s not an occupation, that’s an invasion— a legal invasion supported by the Geneva Convention and the U.N. based on self defense. Civilians are killed? yes they are. Why? Hamas uses schools, hospitals and the like as shields—human shields to make their fight seem more important than the defender’s. Sadly, it’s an ongoing battle with no winners.
If these students had any knowledge of the situation in Israel, they would protest the West Bank. That’s the issue at hand, not Gaza.
A lot of people seem to be quick to invoke the usual stereotypes but I think you'd be surprised to find out that a lot of these people are going to have over 100,000 in loans stacked up after they get out of school, even with aid.
I am not sure that turning this in to an Israel-Palestine thing was a great idea though... it might take a while.
As an alumni and a part-time employee of the professional theatre that resides in the Kimmel Center's ground and lower levels, I was there from 7am this morning when I had to house manage the space. I think the students have a point on some of their issues: tuition, transparency. Tacking on political pork forces them to really lose legitimacy.
I'd also like to give props to the NYU Security force... they're really great people who are just there to do their job, and they are getting some serious flack for doing their jobs. I just heard a group of 20 or so students not in the original group from last night stormed the guards outside the cafeteria to get. NYU has been so far feeding AND giving bathrooms to these students. Don't stampede people. Jeez.
Agreed! NYU Public Safety is really pulling their weight and keeping the situation under control. I was in the building earlier today and even with a rally going on outside things seemed very calm and orderly.
Of course we have to give Hamas members in the Gaza Strip scholarships at NYU. How else would they ever be exposed to more anti-US propaganda than they get now from Al Jazeera?
Al Jazeera is considerably more balanced than what passes for journalism on US cable news these days.
In this situation?
It's simple. Tell them they'll start arresting and expelling those who interfere with other consumers (students).
The PR team for NYU may try a different approach, but what would be wrong with what I proposed?
Gotta love college kiddies. So full of spoiled brainwashed liberal idealism and not an ounce of real life experience to back it up with.
"not an ounce of real life experience to back it up with."
You could say the same thing about your braindead, conservative hero, Dubya.
Yes, let's cling to the Bush years. Your deranged anger is all you have. I guess that's what Hope and Change means.
thefacts (O! the irony of your screenname): "You could say the same thing about your braindead, conservative hero, Dubya."
Since when was Bush my hero? I never voted for him.
lol typical brainwashed libtard logic: if you don't agree with them then you MUST be a Bush lover.
what a pathetic bunch of assholes kids
they also require a full and annual reporting of the university's operating budget, expenditures and endowment; tuition stabilization for all students
Sounds good. Definitely students should have access to information on where their money is being spent/wasted.
and public access to the Bobst Library
Are you crazy! The last thing I want is homeless people sleeping there. Do those fools know that the library is open 24hrs/day? Also then there will be security issues with NYC socialpaths coming in and stealing stuff. Makes no sense at all; only a sheltered idiot would suggest such a thing.
scholarships annually to students from the Gaza Strip and give surplus supplies to the Islamic University of Gaza.
Now I'm turned off.
This pisses me off. I have the misfortune of attending the New School and I am tired of seeing comparisons between the protests at the New School and NYU. My "university" doesn't even have a library at this point. The New School has real problems and these NYU brats are essentially inventing issues to protest about. What's worse, some of the hippie dipshits at the New School have joined the protests at NYU. I know I am being extremely uncharitable, but if NYU kids are worried about social justice they should volunteer their time to help out some of the members of the NYC community who are in need.
It's preliminarily a bastardized protest due to their attending NYU.
I really still cant figure out why they are so interested in where mommy and daddies money is going. Not that i would ever apply to a sub par school like NYU, but all i can tell you is that if I were living off of my parents trust fund money and my parents were kind enough and rich enough to sent me to a really expensive school, I would keep my mouth shut and carry on with what ever the hell it is that i was there to do(dress like a hipster, act like i really give a damn about people other than my self and spend all of mom and dads money on drugs and alcohol).
These kids realize that they are in jeopardy of expulsion, and it is causing them to sit-in even longer.
Cut the power.
Once mommy and daddy cut them off for getting kicked out of a decent school, their only real problem will be saving enough money for those prada shoes.