Fwd: NEW YORK UNIVERSITY CAMPUS OCCUPATION UPDATE - 18 PROTESTING STUDENTS SUSPENDED, BARRED FROM CAMPUS

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from the NEW YORK TIMES:

18 Students Are Suspended as Protest at N.Y.U. Ends

Yana Paskova for The New York Times

Clara Green, right, an N.Y.U. senior, at a rally held in Washington Square Park on Friday in support of a protest by students.

By COLIN MOYNIHAN

A protest by New York University students seeking negotiations with school officials over financial and academic issues ended Friday after almost 40 hours, with students leaving a dining room that had been barricaded and a school spokesman announcing the suspensions of 18 of the participants pending a disciplinary review.

About two dozen students were still involved in the protest when security guards removed barricades made of tables and chairs in the late morning and swept into a third-floor dining room inside the Kimmel student center, said Banu Quadir, 21, a senior who participated in the demonstration.

Ms. Quadir said that those inside the room were photographed and asked to present identification and that school officials distributed letters to N.Y.U. students that stated, “You are suspended from, and classified as a persona non grata at New York University.”

Shortly after 1 p.m., several dozen students rallied across the street from the student center to acknowledge the protest.

Among them was Ms. Quadir, who said that about two dozen students inside the dining room awoke on Friday morning to find that electricity and their wireless Internet had been cut off.

John Beckman, an N.Y.U. spokesman, said, “From the outset, the university made clear to the protesters that they were violating the university rules and engaging in improper activity.”

He said that students had broken a lock on a door leading to a balcony that they had been forbidden to use and that a security guard had been injured on Thursday when a group of students who wanted to join the protest for ced their way into the dining room.

After about 70 students took over the dining room on Wednesday night, they created a Web site (takebacknyu.com), where they listed demands, including a thorough annual reporting of the university’s operating budget, expenditures and endowment. They also asked that the university provide 13 scholarships a year to students from the Gaza Strip and allow graduate teaching assistants to unionize.

Some of the students who had been suspended said they would continue their campaign.

“We are fighting for transparency,” said Drew Phillips, a junior majoring in philosophy. “What we need right now is the support of everybody.”

from the SOCIALIST WORKER:

The fight to take back NYU

Jonah Birch reports from the occupation at New York University--the latest flashpoint in a growing protest movement on U.S. campuses.

February 20, 2009

UPDATE: February 20, 1:45 p.m. EST
Ne w York University administrators moved in against student occupiers in Kimmel Center on Friday, detaining the remaining students and suspending them.

In the early afternoon, campus security detained the few students who remained on a balcony attached to the occupied cafeteria. More than 100 supporters--among them, City Council member Charles Barron, as well as students from the University of Rochester, who held a victorious occupation earlier in the month--were gathered outside the building to show their solidarity.

Earlier, with the number of occupiers down to less than 20 by the end of the night, administrators cut off electricity and Internet access to the third-floor cafeteria.

Around noon, a group of five occupiers left the space thinking they would be negotiating with NYU officials--they were detained and told they were suspended, as was another student who came out after them.

Security then moved into the cafeteria to detain most of the remaining occupiers, who had decided to cooperate, based on legal advice. After being pinned to the ground by the campus cops, the students were taken out and also suspended. The four occupiers who remained on the cafeteria balcony--in view of a large number of media cameras--were also detained.

< font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Outside the Take Back NYU! student occupation at New York University (Brian Jones | SW)

DOZENS OF New York University (NYU) students occupied a cafeteria on the third floor of the school's student center, known as the Kimmel Center, in an effort to force the administration to agree to a wide-ranging list of reforms.

As an administration deadline to vacate the building approached on Thursday night, there were as many as 50 people inside the occupation.

Outside, a crowd of supporters who rallied in the cold all day swelled to some 500 people. Around midnight, the demonstrators took over the street in front of the Kimmel Center, chanting and singing. Police reacted by attacking the protesters, using pepper spray and batons.

As the 1 a.m. deadline for leaving Kimmel Center passed, the administration was continuing its threats to have the occupiers arrested and to expel the NYU students from school. Late on Thursday, school officials finally agreed to negotiate with the occupiers, but they had little offer. The talks continued past the deadline, and the administration apparently backed down from an attempt to clear the building.

The occupation began with about 65 activists on Wednesday night. Although some trickled out during the first night, on Thursday, a little after noon, 25 more students were able to evade a security cordon on the student center's third floor to join the first wave, giving the occupation a new sense of optimism.

What you can do

E-mail and call NYU officials and call for the student occupiers to be given amnesty and not suspended. Call President John Sexton at 212-998-2345 or e-mail him at john....@nyu.edu. Email the Office of the Provost at pro...@nyu.edu and the Office of the Vice President at e...@nyu.edu.

For more information about the issues at NYU and to read the occupiers' blog, see the Take Back NYU! Web site. The Web site also has the occupiers' list of demands.

You can also sign a petition in support of the NYU students.

The NYU students were buoyed by the participation of students from Barnard College, William Patterson College in New Jersey, Hunter College and the New School in the sit-in, as well as the ongoing rally outside.

The occupiers--who received solidarity greetings from universities in the U.S., England, France and South Africa--see themselves as part of a burgeoning international student movement. "What I hope is that in doing this, we're setting the stage for more student empowerment generally," said Frank, an NYU junior.

In contrast to this support and solidarity from around the world, university officials responded with threats from the start. Not only did the administration refuse to negotiate for an entire day, but it tried to lock the students out of a balcony connected to the cafeteria.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

THE OCCUPATION is the latest step in a nearly two-year-long campaign by the activist coalition Take Back NYU! to make the university more democratic, transparent and progressive.

The occupiers, including both undergraduates and graduate students, issued a list of demands, including: open accounting of the NYU operating budget and investments; university recognition of GSOC, the graduate student employees union; a socially responsible finance committee composed entirely of students, with full control of NYU's investments; re-imposition of a recently lifted ban on Coca-Cola products, as a protest against Coke's complicity in the murder of Colombian trade unionists; tuition stabilization; and public access to NYU's Bobst Library.

The students are also asking NYU to divest from war profiteers--in particular, companies that profit from the Israeli occupation of Palestine. In addition, the occupiers are asking for 13 annual scholarships for Palestinian students and donation of excess school supplies to the Islamic University of Gaza.

The NYU students were inspired by a wave of student occupations in England and the recent sit-in at the University of Rochester in solidarity with the people of Gaza, as well as the successful campaign by activists at Hampshire College to force their school to divest from companies profiting from the oppression of the Palestinians.

As Olivia Rosane, a senior at Barnard College put it, "A year ago, I didn't think it was even possible for students to occupy a university in the United States."

One of the strongest features of the occupation is the sense of solidarity among participants, as students connect issues and bridge divides between different struggles.

Peter Wirzbicki, a third-year history PhD student and GSOC organizer, said he thought the sit-in demand for recognition of the union was evidence of a substantial increase in undergraduate support for the graduate student employees, who were defeated in a strike in 2005-06. "The response of the undergrads has been much better," he says. "There was some tension during the strike. That's not the case anymore."

Wirzbicki suggested that undergraduate and graduate students are beginning to recognize that they have a common enemy in the reactionary and undemocratic administration of NYU President John Sexton. "The uniting factor is making NYU a small "d" democratic place."

For other students, the issue of Palestine was the major factor motivating them to participate. A Palestinian flag hangs from one wall of the occupied space, and the students are surrounded by banners expressing solidarity with the Palestinian struggle. "Fund schools, don't bomb them," s ays one; "Solidarity with Gaza" proclaims another.

Glen Pine, a second-year Sociology PhD student, pointed out the connection between the demand for openness in NYU's investments and the struggle to free Palestine. "The fight for transparency at NYU is part and parcel with the movement for boycott, divestment, and sanctions against Israel," Pine said.

Whatever happens, NYU should become another example for students fighting for justice across the country and across the world.

from WASHINGTON SQUARE NEWS:

Kimmel in limbo

WSN Staff

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Published: Friday, February 20, 2009

Updated: Friday, February 20, 2009

Phillipe Teston/WSN

OCCUPIED: Take Back NYU’s Kimmel sit-in shifted from a peaceful protest to a chaotic revolt as the group’s demands were not met by the university.

Casey Drake/WSN

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Philippe Teston/WSN

At press time, the fate of the participants in the ongoing occupation of the Kimmel Center is still unknown.

Emily Stainkamp, a CAS sophomore involved in the occupation led by Take Back NYU, confirmed that the protesters demanded amnesty for the night in response to university officials threatening arrests and expulsion for anyone remaining in the third  floor cafeteria after 1:45 a.m.

But according to James Devitt, an NYU spokesman, there has been no status change for the protesters.

At the time Devitt spoke on the issue, Stainkamp told WSN that 20 students remained in the cafeteria; at the start of the first night, 65 were participating in the effort.

Before the temporary conclusion, tensions in and around the student center were running high. At 1 a.m., close to 200 people gathered on Washington Square South, chanting and screaming. NYPD officers lined the street, try ing to keep calm in front of the building’s entrance. But when protesters tried to move police barricades, the police retaliated.

“People were maced,” said DeLayne DeMorgandie, a sophomore from Hunter College, who was standing in the front of the crowd with two friends. “Everyone at the front of the line was pepper sprayed.”

A call to NYPD at 1:25 a.m. resulted in no new information; they had not heard of the current problems at and outside the student center.

The events of the early morning were appropriate conclusions to the first day of the occupation, which saw action almost every hour, some of it serious, some of it silly.

Things picked up soon after noon when two students, Gallatin sophomore Keri Lyons and CAS sophomore Nadia Collado, showed up topless in front of Kimmel in what they called “a show of solidarity for Take Back NYU.”

“Naked people tend to get people’s attention,” Lyons said.

Soon after the stunt, the protesters got reinforcements; shortly before 1 p.m. on Thursday, 18 students rushed the third floor dining hall, storming past NYU’s security street-level barricades and pushing through public safety officers stationed outside the cafeteria’s doors.

A little less than an hour later, NYU officials threatened to suspend or expel students who damaged university property or refused to stop protesting.

But just minutes after this statement, TBNYU su pporters forced the lock on the doors that lead to the third floor outdoor balcony of Kimmel — a spot previously declared off-limits by NYU officials. More than 50 students left the cafeteria for the balcony and chanted down to supporters in front of the entrance to Kimmel.

“This is what democracy looks like!” they cried.

During this time, public safety was revamping their security coverage.

“Due to the emergency in Kimmel Center, everyone working the 7 to 3 [shift] will be held over until further notice,” they said in a statement shortly after 3 p.m. Guards also lost their lunch breaks.

While the protesters were busy on the balcony, Executive Director of Student Affairs Robert Butler extended the university’s threats of expulsion and suspension with an ultimatum: Student protesters who hadn’t left the third floor cafeteria by 1 a.m. would be considered trespassers.

Inside the room, the participants weren’t deterred.

“They can’t expel 60 people,” CAS senior Banu Quadir said. The students on the balcony continued to chant, saying, “We are the people, and we are the fucking power.”

Despite the apparent stalemate, the university approached the students with a plan to start negotiating, but it was in vain.

In a meeting with student representatives from TBNYU, NYU officials said that if the students vacated the room by 4 p.m., a meeting would be held at 5 p. m. to allow five protesters to meet with Senior Vice Provost Linda Mills and Senior Vice President for University Relations and Public Affairs Lynne Brown.

But members of the occupation didn’t like those options.

Caitlin Boehne, a CAS senior, student council senator and a participant in the protest, told WSN that the protesters are not ready to leave unless guards are paid fully for overtime work and protesters are ensured full amnesty for the sit-in.

At the 4 p.m. deadline, the occupants were clearly not leaving the held room; they were asking for food donations by bucket. TBNYU members dangled a clear plastic bucket from the third floor balcony, pleading for food donations from the crowd below. When the bucket finally reached the ground, Public Safety officers and the demonstrators engaged in a tug-of-war; the officers won.

Shortly after, Owen Moore, NYU dining services director, offered the protesters food. TBNYU accepted, noting its objection and on the condition that the food was not considered part of the negotiation.

“We’re not involved in negotiations,” Moore said. “We just want to know if you’re hungry.”

Two floors above the occupation, NYU’s student senate met for a regular meeting. Matt Schulte, a member of NYU’s student senate, told WSN he thought what TBNYU was doing was unprofessional.

“Personally, I find their protest to be an embarrassment to the university and to me as a student,” Schulte said.

A few hours later, more students forcefully joined the takeover. Shortly after 9 p.m., a large group of students rushed into the dining hall, pouring through a back staircase and sprinting down a hallway, dodging guards and metal barricades.

Twenty-eight students made it inside the cafeteria. Two guards were injured in the break-in; one was taken to St. Vincent’s Hospital in an ambulance for wounds to the head. A student inside the barricaded room sustained minor cuts and bruises.

Throughout the day, the events at Kimmel gained increased media attention. As the 1:45 a.m. deadline inched closer and the crowds got rowdier outside the building, campus conservation about the actions skyrocketed; NYU was the sixth most-talked about subject on Twitter at the time, just behind Chris Brown.

“The whole world is watching,” protesters chanted into a megaphone on the occupied balcony. “Negotiate!”


This story was written and reported by Marc Beja, Kyle Cheromcha, Sara Dover, Thomas Garry, Sara Gates, Andres Gutierrez, Sergio Hernandez, Nate Jones, Randy Kreider, Daniel Levinsohn, Vanessa Liu, Michael McCormack, Arielle Milkman, Taylor Miller, Richa Naik, Adam Playford and Jane C. Timm. It was compiled and edited by Rachel Holliday Smith and Mary Jane Weedman. E-mail them at edi...@nyunews.com.

What’s next for the suspended protesters?

Uncategorized

Administrators say the suspended protesters will now enter NYU’s judicial process.

Associate Vice President for Student Affairs Tom Ellett couldn’t speak about the specifics of the protesters cases, but he said this is the general process:

Step 1: Student Affairs receives a complaint from the university.

Step 2: Student Affairs notifies the student within 48 hours of the complaint being received and schedules a time to meet with the Director of Judicial Affairs Thomas Grace.

Grace is on vacation next week and Craig Jolley, the director of residential education, will be handling the protesters’ hearings.

Step 3: Each student meets with the Director of Judicial Affairs to discuss the complaint and aiming to find a consensual resolution. A student who has reached a consensual resolution will sign a form admitting guilt and agreeing to the punishment. There is no appeals processes a student signs such an agreement.

Step 4:  If a student does not agree to a consensual resolution, they can appeal to the University Judicial Reviews Board, which includes a student representative, a dean, a faculty member and a member of the Administrative Management Council. Students, deans, faculty, and administrators are appointed to the Judicial Reviews Board in advance and not on a case-by-case basis.

Step 5: If the student does not agree with the decision by the Reviews Board, they can appeal the decision. It then goes to their college, where appointed faculty members review the case and make the final decision.

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20Feb “CUNY’s next!” says one protester

Continuous News Desk, Kimmel Lock In

After members of Take Back NYU were led out of the Kimmel Center earlier today after their nearly 40-hour dining hall sit-in, some supporters in the crowd outside the building didn’t spend much time thinking about what went wrong or what was happening — they looked immediately to the future.

“I’m going to mobilize anyone I can to fight this,” said Freddy Bastone, a junior at Hunter College of The City University of New York. “It’s the beginning of something big in this city.”

And Bastone doesn’t stand alone. One member of the audience even went so far as to yell “CUNY’s next!” to a cluster of reporters and crowd members.

But according to Michael Arena, director for communications and marketing at CUNY, the financial situation at the public university makes it less prone to this type of situation.

“Students are coming to CUNY in record numbers in part because of the reputation of the university and in part because of the value of the university,” he said. “We have a tradition of working to see that our tuition remains affordable and that the value of the education remain high.”

According to Arena, many of Take Back NYU’s demands would not appear at CUNY. After all, he said, the tuition of the school hasn’t risen in five years, and a CUNY student serves on its board of trustees.

“Our students are active and are communicating in ways on our campuses,” he said, “but not in ways that we have seen at NYU or at the New School.”

— Randy Kreider

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20Feb Civil rights law office advising protesters

Uncategorized

Elizabeth M. Fink, an attorney from the Law Office of Elizabeth M. Fink, is providing legal advice to some of the students involved in the occupation of the Kimmel Center, WSN has learned.

Gideon Oliver, who has been with the Brooklyn firm since 2008, is advising the students pro bono. Oliver has helped represent political protesters in the past. According to the firm’s website, the law office specializes in cases dealing with civil rights and political prisoners.

Many of the protesters had Oliver’s phone number written on their arms in permanent marker. Banu Quadir, one of the protesters, spoke with a WSN photographer before the doors were barricaded, when the event was still a dance party.

WSN: What are you doing? Why are you writing numbers on your arms? What is that?
Quadir: They’re legal numbers.
WSN: Why would you need legal numbers?
Quadir: Just in case. You never know what could happen at these kinds of things.

— Kyle Cheromcha

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20Feb 18 NYU protesters suspended

Continuous News Desk, Kimmel Lock In

A total of 18 NYU students who were inside the Kimmel Center this morning have been suspended, a university administrator said.

Lynne Brown, senior vice president for university relations, said 18 NYU students and several non-NYU students were escorted out of the building early this afternoon.

The students were served standard suspension papers that explained that the students would be suspended pending the judicial process. Students in university housing have been taken to collect belongings from their residence halls. They will then be moved into temporary housing pending their judicial hearing.

Brown said the judicial hearings will begin Monday.

— Jane C. Timm

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20Feb Faculty petition in support of amnesty circulates

Continuous News Desk, Kimmel Lock In

Andrew Ross, chair of the Department of Social and Cultural Analysis confirmed that a faculty petition “calling for an amnesty for all students involved” has begun to circulate.

“I expect there will be many signatures on it,” he said.

— Richa Naik

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20Feb Sexton, Beckman missing in action

Continuous News Desk, Kimmel Lock In, Uncategorized

NYU officials handled the occupation of the Kimmel Center without the presence of two familiar faces: NYU President John Sexton and spokesman John Beckman.

“[John Sexton] hasn’t been around that much this week, but he was here last night,” said James Devitt, another university spokesman.

Beckman, who is the main spokesman for the university, is on vacation this week, but that didn’t stop him from drafting several statements for the media.

“He should be back next week,” Devitt said.

Both Beckman and Sexton were targeted by Take Back NYU during the occupation; the organization released statements that urged students to call both officials with their complaints.

— Kyle Cheromcha

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20Feb Councilman Charles Barron backs TBNYU

Kimmel Lock In, Uncategorized

Councilman Charles Barron speaks to media with Farrah Khimji shortly after she was escorted out of the Kimmel Center. Photo by Alexis Johnson/WSN.

The participants in the radical effort to occupy the Kimmel Center for Student Life got some support from a big name who was a radical before Take Back NYU’s members were born.

New York City Councilman Charles Barron, who is a former Black Panther and noted progressive politician from District 42 in Brooklyn, stood by the students involved in the o ccupation as they were escorted out of the building.

In recent days, Barron has been working in response to the uproar about the New York Post’s inflammatory chimpanzee cartoon with Rev. Al Sharpton and others, but when he heard about the trouble at NYU, he wanted to help.

Earlier today, members of the TBNYU effort who remained in Kimmel made an announcement that they would hold a rally at noon. When Barron heard about it, he contacted TBNYU spokeswoman Farrah Khimji and “told them we’d be there.”

At the press conference Barron was adamant in his support, saying that “no student should be charged with anything” in regards to the suspensions of the NYU students involved. He made no promises of legal action, however.

“Whatever the students want us to do — if they want us to stand out here and shout with them — that’s what we want to do,” he said, standing behind Khimji in front of a row of cameras.

He also called on the mayor and governor to respond to the situation, which he called an “outrage.”

— Rachel Holliday Smith

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20Feb Security at Kimmel still tight for scheduled events

Continuous News Desk, Kimmel Lock In

It has been three hours since the Take Back NYU protesters have left the Kimmel Center. Now the building is mostly empty except for Public Safety officers and attendees of any of the nearly 20 scheduled events in the building today, none of which have been canceled.

But security is still tight; only students who are attending pre-scheduled events are allowed entry into the center.

Members of the Brazilian Society at NYU were glad to keep their plans for a Carnaval festival on the eighth floor, but club President Lisle Ferreira said fewer people came than she had anticipated because of the frenzy.

“The security guards downstairs were really rude and didn’t let a lot of people in and kept shooing people away, so we think that discouraged a lot of them,” she said.

The entire front of Kimmel is blocked by barricades except for two small openings that are being guarded by Public Safety officers. Student IDs are checked by several different officers outside and inside the building.

Elevators will not stop at the third floor, and escalators are not operating. The dining hall is empty of students, and two Public Safety officers are guarding its entrance. Tables and chairs are still piled up from last night.

— Sara Dover and Lauren Bishop

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20Feb Kimmel Occupation - Day 3

Lock In Photo Coverage

           

  NYU students (left to right) Drew Phillips and Sarah Magno, alongside Ryan Olander (an intern for the Washington Peace Center), and Christa Hendrickson (a student from Drew University) spoke to a crowd on the sidewalk from Kimmel’s balcony early this morning. ALEXIS JOHNSON/WSN

Students stand outside Kimmel early Friday morning in support of Take Back NYU!’s occupation. ALEXIS JOHNSON/WSN

NYU students stand outside Kimmel early Friday morning in support of Take Back NYU! ALEXIS JOHNSON/WSN

The Kimmel Center for Student Life was occupied from 10PM on Wednesday, February 18th till 2PM today. ALEXIS JOHNSON/WSN

Alex Lotorto, a senior at Muhlenberg College, was one of a handful of students to leave Kimmel on the final morning of Take Back NYU!’s occupation. ALEXIS JOHNSON/WSN

This student from the New School was one of five students that left Kimmel around noon today. ALEXIS JOHNSON/WSN

Police officers arrived equipped with plastic handcuffs on Friday morning. ALEXIS JOHNSON/WSN

Farah Khimji speaks to the press about the occupation and her time in Kimmel. She left the building around noon. ALEXIS JOHNSON/WSN

Farah Khimji speaks to local news stations about Take Back NYU!’s occupation of Kimmel. ALEXIS JOHNSON/WSN

Councilman Charles Barron, alongside Farah Khimji, speaks to the press about his support for the efforts of the Take Back NYU! students. ALEXIS JOHNSON/WSN

Students continue to rally the crowd from the Kimmel balcony despite dwindling support. ALEXIS JOHNSON/WSN

NYPD officers watch the rally from inside Kimmel's lobby. ALEXIS JOHNSON/WSN

Teachers from CUNY came out to support the cause. ALEXIS JOHNSON/WSN

A protester hands out rally pamphlets in front of Kimmel around noon today. ALEXIS JOHNSON/WSN

Protesters braved the cold and came out to support Take Back NYU!'s occupation of Kimmel. ALEXIS JOHNSON/WSN

Take Back NYU! member Caitlin Boehne chants in time with the crowd while she waits for fellow members to leave the building. ALEXIS JOHNSON/WSN

NYPD officers wait for the last group of students to leave Kimmel. ALEXIS JOHNSON/WSN

 

Drew Phillips speaks to news crews after leaving Kimmel at 1 o'clock this afternoon. Phillips is a junior at NYU. ALEXIS JOHNSON/WSN

Ryan Olander and a fellow member of Take Back NYU! speak to the press after leaving Kimmel at 1PM today. ALEXIS JOHNSON/WSN

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20Feb Attempted negotiation fails

Continuous News Desk, Kimmel Lock In

Around 10 a.m. today, three appointed negotiators — one who identified himself as Wagner graduate student Ben Case, Gallatin senior Ellie Kahn, CAS sophomore Maria Lewis — and two observers, Gallatin junior Hayden Bunhum and LSP sophomore Anna P. Mullen, met with two university officials for what they thought would be a negotiation meeting similar to one the students had the previous night with the NYU Student Senate.

Jules Martin, vice president of Public Safety, and two other officials met the students in a room on the eighth floor and informed them that no negotiations would take place, Case said.

“This isn’t a negotiation. You can’t go back in there,” officials told Case and negotiators.

They added that the students were suspended and would be escorted out.

Case asked to use the restroom and notified protesters in the dining hall through a text message: “They tricked us. They are suspending us and not allowing us to return to you guys. We are refusing to leave the room. No contact. I’m in the bathroom being watched.”

About two minutes following the text, security guards broke the barricades in the Market Place, Case said.

Case was escorted out, but Khan and Lewis returned to the dining hall and remained there until the final four students on the balcony were escorted out.

— Richa Naik

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