****FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE******
NYU BUILDING TAKEOVER!!!
At approximately 10pm tonight (Feb. 18), students of Take Back NYU! took
over the Kimmel Marketplace. They have blockaded the doors and declared an
occupation! They presented their demands to the NYU administration. They read as follows:
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:
1. Full legal and disciplinary amnesty for all parties involved in the
occupation.
2. Full compensation for all employees whose jobs were disrupted during
the course of the occupation.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. 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.
6. 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.
7. 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 10th 2009, and meetings will be held
biweekly beginning the week of March 30th 2009.
8. 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.
9. 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. 10.
That the university donate all excess supplies and materials in an effort
to rebuild the University of Gaza.
11. 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.
12. That student groups have priority when reserving space in the
buildings owned or leased by New York University, including, and
especially, the Kimmel Center.
13. That the general public have access to Bobst Library.
SOLIDARITY STATEMENT
We, the students of Take Back NYU! declare our solidarity with the student
[sleepovers] in Greece, Italy, and the United Kingdom, as well as those of the University of
Rochester, the New School for Social Research, and with future
[sleepovers] to come in the name of democracy and student power. We stand
in solidarity with the University of Gaza, and with the people of Palestine.
####
http://groups.google.com/group/take-back-nyu/subscribe
http://nyulocal.com/on-campus/2009/02/18/exclusive-tbnyu-takes-over-kimmel-marketplace/
Perhaps #1 should be last, and # 2 first. The way the students have it I am led to believe that their number 1 priority is themselves and the saftey of their asses. Is that old bourgeois revolution rearing its overly educated fancy head again.
I agree with Richard. I’m guessing it was a way of getting more students involved. “come join us, you won’t get in trouble”
I think you guys are being a little harsh – not very harsh, but a little.
A writer friend of mine in NYC has the latest news on her blog . . . seems that the students have already been routed by the cops and have not only been suspended but will be evicted from student housing. Seems this wasn’t a symbolic action for which the students figured they needed to get a free pass, but a genuine challenge to NYU which was responded to quickly and heavy-handedly.
http://readwritered.blogspot.com/2009/02/for-students-who-work-3-jobs.html
I don’t think anyone here was being harsh. I support the students (hell, i posted the story!) and I was trying to give them the benefit of the doubt, but I still think Richard has a fair critique.
Tell them to change #1 and put #2 first and I will be down with them. You know as well as I do Peter that you do the action you get whatever the man wants to dish out. A few words on paper isn’t going to stop him. But coming from a place putting yourself first before the working class who you may be put out of work is in my book not right. If we miss one days pay because of a few mad students well it is plain hard and if I were trying to support my kids on a janitors salary and a bunch of kids prevented me would I jump to join their revolution. No, more than likely I would join to throw their asses out the door.
Richard is on the money. I’m amused by Peter’s melodramatic description of the students being “routed by the cops”. Ask brothers hustling in the hood what it means to be “routed” by law enforcement. None of the students felt the business end of a nightstick or got punched in the face. Nobody got tasered, maced or shot.
When you throw down, you don’t make demands for yourself. #1 shouldn’t have been on the list at all.
I’m willing to guess that many of the students involved in this occupation are “repeat offenders” (on disciplinary probation with the University for standing up at other times), international students, students of color, scholarship students,etc. Their vulnerability to the University is probably deeper than you are assuming. Too often it’s the students with the most to lose who are willing to “throw down” in the first place, what kind of fucked up gut-check is it to ask them not to try and protect themselves?
I think the students who are engaging in this action understand that their freedom to stand up is worth defending, not only for them, but for student activists yet to come. There are lots of ways a University will deal with something like this, but I assure you their #1 is to crack down hard on the activists individually using anything they can in order to terrorize them (and yes, particularly using students of color, those on scholarship, international students, etc) to ensure something this NEVER HAPPENS AGAIN.
And Peter, your description wasn’t melodramatic in my opinion. Do we all understand what it means for some students to be kicked out of housing? It means, for some of them, that their career at NYU (which for some may have been much much harder fought than for others- I’m thinking of poor students, students of color, international students with visa vulnerabilities) is over. I’m sure these students would thank you for making that point.
One more thing- there are always students who support and help plan and do work for political actions who can’t actually afford to be out in daylight during the action. I’m thinking in particular about a Muslim student who loyally helped build an anti-war action at CCSU but told us he couldn’t be identified as a supporter the day of the action. I think it’s more complicated than “not getting into trouble”.
Caitlynne,it will only take one post for me to respond to your diatribe. Activists don’t ask for insurance policies. If the students were that shook about the possible repercussions, they should have written an op-ed instead of taking over a building.
Since you want to bring color into this, I don’t recall Rachel Corrie asking the Israeli government for any guarantees when she was defending Palestinians’ homes. Neither did a whole bunch of other dead activists who died for the causes that they believed in. I’m glad that the Civil Rights activists of the 60′s didn’t ask for guarantees from the Klan, police,or city & state government that they wouldn’t be firebombed, shot or hung.If they had, I would still be using the “Coloreds Only” bathroom & dreaming about the freedoms that I enjoy as a black man today.
*I know there have been more developments since this conversation started and I intend to get up on that; this is just in response to the discussion already brewing. Sorry this is so long.
In addition to the good points David and Richard brought up, I really think some bad judgment was exercised in prioritizing the demand as #1 there.
A)There is no purpose statement before the list of demands, so your first demand serves as your purpose statement. The first words of substance the public sees determines whether you will be taken seriously or not. Without getting to the meaning of this occupation, the communique borrows credibility from other movements and historical events, then proclaims this installment in the students’ rights movement too special for consequences.
B) If, in the face of your adversaries, the first thing you let them know is that you are too scared to face them down then you’ve screwed yourself. Just like the New School occupation this will be over as soon as those kids know they can leave the scene without being in cuffs. They didn’t talk about that with each other while strategizing how they would provide mutual support in the event that things got hairy for one another, they didn’t save it for negotiations – they told the whole world straight off the bat. Administration will have most definitely taken note of that curious detail.
C) A little off the topic here … I don’t know. Maybe this isn’t cool, maybe it’s irrelevant, but I’m not gonna cry for some kid because he acted up and got kicked out of NYU. Transfer to Fordham. Or … oh dear … a CUNY branch. I hear what Caitlynne’s saying about who is likely involved, but one isn’t likely to get into a school like NYU without a lot of social capital backing them up. Besides, can we not agree that access to a private school IS a privilege? If you’ve spent all your primary schooling preparing to pony up for such a privilege – because that’s what it takes to get into an Ivy League these days – you know the deal and what you’re putting on the line if you decide on fighting the power. Everyone’s usually advised of the risks of participating in arrestable actions. Like David said, if you can’t hack it, and more importantly, if it truly unwise for you in particular to be involved, do something else; there’s no shame in that. But staging a large confrontational action like this and declaring your foremost priority to be the retention of your ticket to the upper echelons of society makes the whole thing look disingenuous to me. And despite what is really going on behind closed doors, that’s what it looks like because of demand #1.
D) Finally, asking for protection from prosecution before negotiations is so presumptuous I can’t see it working. If this occupation doesn’t proceed to negotiations it won’t work, and for the previously mentioned reasons I think the students have already somewhat weakened their position.
I really wish these cats success, and I’ll check out the new developments when I have the opportunity. Hopefully this projected scenario will not/did not come to pass. But I don’t think demand #1 was a good idea.
Alvin just laid the game down flat. I’m trying to picture Martin Luther King Jr. walking up to Bull Connor with the following list of demands:
1) Don’t sick police dogs on us 2) Don’t blast us with firehoses 3)Don’t firebomb my house while my wife & kids are home later on tonight…Sorry, I can’t see that.
I’ll return to the example of Rachel Corrie.
This young woman went toe to toe with an Israeli tank & lost. If she had survived, I would have joined any group that she was leading. Ms. Corrie could have went through life hunky dory with her white privilege, but instead died for what she believed in.
After witnessing her display of selfless courage, I’m supposed to shed a tear because some kids got suspended from school? Give me a fucking break. This is a prime example of why I’m so disgusted with the state of community organizing. These kids can get away with making a faux “stand” because they know that there are people out here who will actually try to defend them. Sad.
Before somebody tries to talk smack, I know that it was a bulldozer & not a tank that killed Ms.Corrie. R.I.P.
I guess what I’m saying is that if people didn’t know from TV news that police dogs were attacking Civil Rights demonstrators, or blasting them with firehoses, they should demand that it not be done in order for there to be some kind of visibility. No one hears about the consequences for students when they participate in political actions- I think it’s a good idea to make demands of amnesty. Folks who marched with Martin Luther King often did take out permits and demonstrate lawfully- they did so to protect themselves (as much as they could). I guess if you are trying to come down on this issue on the side of ‘nothings worth doing unless you are putting yourself at greatest personal risk’ that’s a different discussion.
…I don’t understand, if they make this demand, it’s better for them to not occupy the school at all in your opinion? I don’t think the workers who are looking for more security in their lives from the school feel that way.