THE NEW SCHOOL RESPONDS TO RECENT EVENTS ON CAMPUS

Board of Trustees Continues Support of Administration

New York, NY 4/13/09: Last Friday, an illegal break-in and occupation of a New School building resulted in the arrest of 22 individuals. Of the group, 14 were New School students (seven graduates and seven undergraduates). The New York Police Department has stated that those arrested are pending charges, and The New School has suspended the students involved pending administrative review.

“No one is happy that 14 of our students were arrested,” said New School President Bob Kerrey. “We believe their idealism was misguided but we want this idealism to remain alive at The New School.”

Board, Provost, Deans and Faculty Leader Denounce Actions of Protesters

Across the university, leadership broadly condemned the actions of this radical group of students. The New School Board of Trustees, which agreed with the decision to call the police, expressed its continued support of President Kerrey and the efforts of the administration to address student and faculty concerns. The university has made known that Friday’s break-in was not an isolated incident by this anonymous group, which has participated in previous occupations here and at other universities, as well as in several other illegal activities. This includes the defacing of the president’s home, the theft of thousands of student newspapers, and other attempts to break into a locked building on campus.

In addition, both the academic leadership of the university and one of the primary faculty leaders have spoken out to denounce the actions of the protesters:

In a statement issued by the New School Provost and Deans: "We find the actions of the students in breaking into 65 Fifth Avenue, potentially endangering the community through acts of vandalism, and subsequently harassing the president and his family, unacceptable. Although the right of peaceful protest is central to our New School history and values, these non-peaceful actions have no place in our community."

Stated Jim Miller, the co-chair of the New School Faculty Senate: " In my view, these events represent a collective failure of our community to uphold appropriately the core values of The New School… In two major manifestos that were circulated among activists in January, as a new semester began, a small number of anonymous authors advocated a renewed occupation of a New School building in the spring… Most student activists that I know explicitly reject the views expressed in these manifestos."

Why the Police Were Called
The police were summoned immediately upon learning on early Friday morning that there was a break-in at the university by more than 30 protesters. Wearing ski masks and carrying crowbars, bolt-cutters, mace, paint, hundreds of feet of security chains, duct tape, kryptonite locks, and rope, the protesters—of which only some were New School students—frightened and stole from a maintenance worker, injured a security guard, and vandalized property. These protesters barricaded the doors and used Crazy Glue on the locks.

On Friday evening and Saturday, in demonstrations related to the occupation, an additional five individuals were arrested. The two protesters arrested Friday were not New School students and, at this time, the affiliation of the three arrested Saturday are not known. These demonstrations are part of a larger movement on college campuses across the city that are related to broader issues such as the war in Iraq, Darfur, homelessness, and the economy.

“There are big differences between the relatively peaceful occupation by the same student group last December and this one," Kerrey said. "The New School welcomes dissent and debate, and we have had our share over our history. But we will not tolerate violence, vandalism, or anything that disrupts the health, welfare or activities of the 10,000 New School students who are eager to continue their education without incident.”

Addressing Demands from December Protest
In the past four months, the university has made great strides in addressing the concerns of faculty and students that were expressed in December. This includes opening lines of communication and affecting greater participation by students and faculty in socially responsible investing, among other areas of governance. Details of all this progress can be read on President Kerrey’s blog: http://www.newschool.edu/president/blog. Most recently, with the assistance of faculty and students, Bob Kerrey has named a new interim provost, Tim Marshall, dean of Parsons The New School for Design.

###