FIRST!! Don’t tase me, bro.

This way better then TV.

Grr.. grammer.
This IS way better THAN TV.

Well, here is a link to NYU’s 990 tax returns… (PDFs at the bottom of the page, go by year) They’re public document since they’re a charity.

http://www.guidestar.org/pqShowGsReport.do?partner=seo&ein=13-5562308

There… We met your first demand, you animals. Now give us the children.

Thank you for going to this.

When did solidarity with Gaza get tacked onto the mission?

Wait-Why do they want general public access to Bobst?! It’s hard enough to fight the pre med kids for a table…

Anything for the far left, Madeline Kane.

uh there is definitely a guy from WSN there… i heard him talking to the guards. and theres one roving around outside

[...] senior and TBNYU/SCRC member Duncan Meisel isn’t participating in the Kimmel barricade himself, but he is telling us why they’re doing it. Check out his unedited reasoning below. [...]

On behalf of all the Students who took part in the occupation at Strathclyde University, Glasgow, I would like to congratulate you on your principled action and send a message of solidarity. We admire your courage and applaud your actions. We wish you success. You are making history.

I hope they all get arrested and thrown out of NYU… then they can be at peace in a State school with a disclosed budget.

Well, I won’t be going to bed anytime soon. Thanks for doing the live blog. . . I am positively riveted by what bullshit will happen next.

WHY does the israeli/palestinian conflict get tacked onto everything and make a legitimate protest seem completely uneducated? stick with reforming NYU, not trying to change the world to fit your uneducated view of it.

Hahaha…. eating sachets of sugar for sustenance now, Charlie? I type this mere feet away from my stocked Gramercy Green fridge. Viel spass for the rest of the night

Well, this hit the NY Times:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/19/nyregion/19nyu.html?ref=nyregion

“‘peaceful’ yet perplexing”

Resorting to vegan cookies? I’m so sorry, Charlie.

Clever, Stewart. But try more research and fewer wisecracks at the expense of people in danger who have more guts than you have one-liners.

As you know, Take Back NYU wants the most basic level of transparency about the budget and investments. That’s a lot more than a tax return.

But whatever you think of either the demands or the tactics (I love both), only a sociopath would exploit the situation to make glib recreational quips like “give us the children”. At Columbia in 68, hundreds of students just like you were hospitalized by NYPD’s political goon squad details. Many were bound and dragged out, their heads bouncing against every marble step for 3 or 4 flights.

Most occupations have ended much more positively. Tonight I hope for the best. But say what you will, these people are very brave souls.

This is not a joke, Einstein. NYPD supervisors later said that in 68 they feared sparking a third Harlem uprising. Cops never raided Hamilton Hall where the Black American students were barricaded.

At some point most of us try to outgrow our smug detachment, privilege and mindless programming. Property is not your friend. Property wants you and your family dead.

Read something.

chris kennedy you libertarian douchebag. i am in full support of the occupation. is there anything nyu students can do to help the students inside? ie: supply food, etc? hit me back!

keep the momentum going! you are doing an amazing thing! i have been talking to kids from the university of rochester and the the rochester chapter of SDS and they are in full support! i know you won’t give up anytime soon! how can we help?

Palestine? Really??

great job focusing on 23 causes, how about try one specific cause. This is just ridiculous and immature. Further it is not origininal, they are not the first to do something like this, as it is typical of any major university.

Heres the new update 12:27 This is the dumbest thing in the world. These kids should pay for the damages, otherwise it will lead to more costs for the students, and thus not cut tuition.

I agree with those of you who said that the Israeli- Palestinian conflict has no place here. It is simply a sign of the times; it has become an in-fad to jump on the ‘we love the underdog’ bandwagon and sympathize with Palestinians. Not that they should not be sympathized with; I certainly don’t know what the innocent ones are going through. But for a group that purports the things that they do, TBNYU should not be so one-sided.

This is definitely the most entertaining thing that has happened during my time at NYU. A hundred times better than the grad strike.

“Heres the new update 12:27 This is the dumbest thing in the world. These kids should pay for the damages, otherwise it will lead to more costs for the students, and thus not cut tuition.”

I completely agree with you. I LIKE those tables in Kimmel. and what about people with Thursday classes in Kimmel who might want to get their moneys worth or who might want to eat in Kimmel with their prepaid meal plans? Oh and way to be sustainable keeping the lights on in Kimmel all night.

At least the New School sit in was at an administrative meeting.

Re: fearless prediction: I have no doubt. Then TBNYU(!) will hopefully declare victory and leave us all alone for a while.

[...] 3) Their VERY FIRST DEMAND is bullshit.  Why would the first thing you ask for be amnesty for your actions?  What kind of protester are you?  Why open with showing you have absolutely no conviction to go down with the ship, you show that basically, you are willing to stop if you are not going to get in trouble.  In the end, this is most likely the main reason why nobody cares.  There has been no action made by NYU to even attempt to meet with these groups, and I highly doubt there will be.  Also, at the time, there are no other people reporting on this aside from me and those involved in the protest. [...]

Can I request a few more photos if that is possible?

[...] Here’s the link [...]

I think that prediction is probably legitimate, and that that fact is complete bullshit. I think all of there demands are legitimate, and within the ability of the university to meet, but I have grave doubts about the university’s motivation to meet any of them or to do anything except appease. It seems that the administration, and especially John Sexton, don’t really care what the students think about the decisions the university makes with our money, especially since they can keep so many of them distracted by shiny new dorms and old man hugs.

I am just hoping against hope that I am wrong, but even many of the comments on this site lead me to believe that I am not.

fuck, “their demands”.

Their demands are reasonable and most NYU students agree with them (except the Gaza thing- I mean, I sympathize with the Palestinians but what the fuck does that have to do with NYU?). However, these tactics are ridiculously counterproductive. Despite their claims to the contrary, TBNYU have never tried to work within the system or learn even the most basic organizing tactics. I won’t impute motives to any of their members, but from the outside looking in it certainly looks like they’re more concerned with creating controversy and living out an absurd fantasy of 1968 than they are with actually creating change at NYU.

I agree with most of their stances, but I don’t understand the public access to Bobst. Anyone care to explain why? It is crowded enough and hard to find books we need as it is, to be honest. I feel like the NYPL system is pretty legit.

well said.

hey, whats wrong with living out a technologically update fantasy of 1968?

Musta been hella fun times.

When it comes down to it, we’re all just bored, and will go pretty far to stage friction like this.

I seems to me that whether or not you are in support of the TBNYU sit in, is has created discussion. Perhaps it is limited, but this sit-in (as well as Charlie’s excellent coverage, yeah boy, pourin one out down here for yah), has created a forum for students to at least shed light on their views. In as much as it has done this, I would praise is as a success, or rather not a failure I suppose.

It’s sentiment comes from a frustration on the part of some students, that is certainly legitimate, whether or not it has been expressed in a diplomatic fashion.

I don’t think it’s monumental, to be compared with civil rights sit ins or any such thing (the amount of privilege among it’s participants revokes it of that right). But it’s important to recognize that even small and perhaps little affective steps such as these do stir progressive change in there own way.

Oh Jesus Christ not these retards again.

I have fucking class at Kimmel tomorrow morning, and I’m gonna be super pissed if it’s canceled because these misguided idiots think that barricading the Kimmel salad bar is going to get us out of Gaza, or whatever the hell they want.

PUBLIC ACCESS TO BOBST?? are you kidding? I’m not paying 51 grand a year to give every shmuck off the street access the the library that I’M PAYING FOR and for security to keep those wackos out so we can be safe when we are studying, using the computers, or napping. There are PUBLIC libraries for that.

fuck the public. this is a PRIVATE university. FUCK social responsibility. this is OUR money and every fucking cent of it should benefit ONLY US!!!!!!

if YOU want your money going to charity. Give it to charity. But don’t demand that other students who aren’t getting financial aid and are paying in full should have our money go to ANY cause other than our own education and welfare.

I gave you that cookie! See, liberated space is happy and good! See me for some fucking sexy cupcakes.

Wtf? Dining area not open tomorrow? Kitchen MIGHT be open?

This is ridiculous.

i find it very sad that a small minority of NYU students have such a selfish attitude. TBNYU is asking NYU to finally disclose its expenditures so we can see where they spend OUR money. i do not want to be spending $52,000 plus a year and not know where it goes. TBNYU is doing all of us a service and it is pathetic that some students think that a day without the salad bar is too much to ask for in a struggle towards transparency. stay strong!

This is super sweet!
awesome!

TBNYU has asshole syndrome. Asshole syndrome is characterized by taking actions that are so asshole-ish that even when you’re in the right people won’t sympathize with you because you’re such an asshole.

@ Me Myname if YOU want everyone to take your rant seriously, at least use your real name.

Me Myname,

Universities, even private ones, have responsibilities to a broader group than their students, that’s a pretty simple understanding,

I mean why the fuck you think NYU does all it’s random charity stuff anyway? It’s not some saint among schools, it’s obligated to.

and damn “me myname” you are one selfish mother fucker. republicans belong in texas not new york city. i guess that’s why you were too scared to write down your name.

Call me selfish. I agree with Me Myname. I don’t want my $52k a year going to some random Palestinian kid. It’s hard enough for me to come up with it myself, and I’d rather that be spent on me and my education.

Besides, NYU already has a shitty financial aid system. What makes you think they’ll come up with full scholarships for 13 kids? I’d rather they take care of the students that are already going here and who need that money just as much.

regarding the bobst thing: it’s not like those who need the book collection bobst holds don’t already have access to bobst already. since i would assume people who are not nyu-affiliated are at least affiliated to some other education institution in the city, and thus they would already have access to the library. (who is this suppose to benefit anyway? can someone shed some light on this one?)
oh and jj it’s good to see you on here

I’d rather they take care of their students too, instead of building more campuses abroad and wasting our money on who knows what. That’s why I want budget transparency. Why would John Sexton refuse to share the budget if there is nothing to hide?

“TBNYU is asking NYU to finally disclose its expenditures so we can see where they spend OUR money. i do not want to be spending $52,000 plus a year and not know where it goes.”

Muppet Newsflash: You’re spending that money on education, no one is putting a gun to your head to attend a school with this tuition. There are plenty of good schools for 49k dollars less within a few blocks radius. Seriously, what kind of complaint is this? Do you ask the dealership where your money is going when you buy a car? Stop acting like the university owes you more than housing (if you pay for it) or college credits. If you want more than that, don’t pay it (or don’t have your parents pay it).

College kids today embarrass me. You guys are really hardcore and making such a strong statement by raiding a cafeteria, eating the food, break-dancing, and using its wifi. But go on and feel important for the blip in the newspaper you guys get tomorrow. Job well done.

Wow, the kid they’ve had running the Ustream live video feed ISN’T EVEN AN NYU STUDENT. This isn’t about NYU, it’s been hijacked by the pro-Palestinians. . . which is not even something I against, but it completely undermines the separate and arguably legit gripes the TBNYU stands for. . . sort of. . . . from the people that have appeared on the webcam, I don’t think they even know.

A few questions on TBNYU’s 13 scholarships proposal. First off, how did you arrive at the number 13? Are there only 13 students from Gaza who yearn from higher education at NYU, or just 13 students that are part of your organization that need a little help?

Secondly, demanding scholarships for 13 students from Gaza is ludicrous. With the way scholarships are given out today, it would be almost IMPOSSIBLE for a student, with solid academic credentials coming from Gaza to not be able to get a scholarship by themself. There is absolutely no reason that NYU should have to give scholarships to these students. There are so many other places that would fight to give scholarships to educated student coming from Gaza looking for higher education. Students from Gaza could more easily get a full scholarship to better schools than NYU if they really deserve it and want to do some work for it, not just have it handed to them.

We, of the No War But Dance War collective – Austin, Tacoma, and Olympia Affinity Groups, offer our support to the student occupiers of the Kimmel Center for University Life at New York University.

We hope that all demands be met and that new demands arise perpetually. Only by increasing the volume may we shimmy-shake our chains loose.

In solidarity,

the No War But Dance War collective

Austin, Tacoma, Olympia

I agree with Me Mynames comments in principle. The idea of public access to the library is simply absurd. I do not understand why people decide to go to a private university and then complain about things that are inherent in a private university system. They want to have their cake and eat it too.

I just do not understand why they decided to go to a university that has practices which they find so repugnant. It is like joining the AAA and then getting mad that they promote driving cars. Sexton was the President before any current undergraduates got here and the before most graduate students got here so I really don’t know what they are getting on about.

Sexton does not want to make the budget public, because people who could get pissed about every little accounting decision the University makes. Imagine if these kids heard we were not buying toilet paper from an environmentally sounds company, Sexton would have to put up with tons of dumb shit that would simply be a waste of the University’s time and resources. They would have to spend more time dealing with protests like this and less on other matters.

Ya know, I don’t necessarily agree with all the TBNYU! demands, and I think that their tactics may not always be the most thought out, but at least they are trying to improve the university, and not sitting on their asses watching as our tuition raises pay for a diploma that only gets more mediocre with time. And for the recored, TBNYU! has tried the “appropriate” methods of working with the administration (re: letter writing that has never been responded to by any officials), and it goes to show just how apathetic the vast majority of students are that no one seems to realize how little this administration cares about its charge (that we, students, get the best education they can provide). Honestly, why does tuition rise above inflation like clockwork? So we can expand with NYU owned sites abroad (re: Abu Dhabi). Who is going to get a better education from NYU owning its own sites? Who is going to have a more marketable degree? Notice how no Ivy League schools would touch the bribe money for the Abu Dhabi campus. Maybe they had the right idea?

The point is, even if you don’t agree with TBNYU!’s goals or methodologies (and perhaps especially if you don’t), you need to get involve and make your voice heard. And I’m not talking about all these snide apathetic remarks that are designed to conceal a thoughtless mind, but rather that we approach these demands (and more importantly the underlying problems that motivated them) in a serious fashion. If you think they’re wrong, please explain and enlighten! But the fact of the matter is this university does have issues that we need to address, and it is both our responsibility and interest as students to demand the best institution we can get. No one is working against NYU here. The fact that these people want to improve the school so much they’d risk imprisonment and expulsion rather than take the easy way out (i.e. transfer) demonstrates just how much they care about the school and want to improve it.

Oh and Local reporter, I realize this isn’t real journalism and you aren’t a real journalist (this being the ugly twin by a different father, Internet-Sensationalist-Journalism), but you could at least attempt to give us some unbiased facts about the situation in between your bouts of ego inflating sarcastic remarks.

No matter how many people they let into Bobst, it won’t make the shelves any less disorganized. I would know, I used to work there. And we hated you fagtards. Still do.

Also, the library is technically open to the public because when the Communist Party of the United States donated their collection to the Tamiment Archive, they did so with the stipulation that it be made open to the public. Anyone can get into the library by simply saying they are going to look at the Tamiment Collection.

I don’t care about being called selfish: I don’t want Bobst being used for public acess. Are you kidding me TBNYU? Really? This is your plan: alienate the vast majority of the student body with your strange demands for Bobst, alienate our significant Jewish population with calls for pubilc support for Gaza (which, while I, like Pat McClellan, sympathize, don’t see any relevance here), and alienate people who are just sick and tired of hearing about the Coke ban. Listen, I care about unjust coporate practices, but what’s happening at huge factories like the one in Colombia is a much bigger issue than simply banning Coke.

I just don’t understant TBNYU…….. what do they think they are accomplishing here? There is definitely a better way to go about this. But they would rather take emotional pleasure in the thrill of a spectacle than in the thrill of actual sucess. You lost most people after your 4th or 5th demand; took it too far.

Oh mann…. as much as I’m all about student empowerment- and as great as I think it is that these guys are putting themselves and their status here at NYU on the line by advocating for transparency (that ultimately benefits us all)- I can’t help but feel like they’re doing a disservice to student organizing…. I mean, where’s the strategy? I didn’t hear about this- how many of you heard about this prior to the sit in? You can’t just have some grand idea and act on it- you need to research what’s been done (the 60s were full of sit ins and if you actually look into it there are lessons to be learned from what they pulled off and what they didn’t). Already- by aligning themselves with Gaza they leave themselves open to be dismissed as student radicals- now, it’s not fair, but it’s inevitable. I agree with everyone who has already said the obvious- these are two separate issues…treating them as one shows a lack of insight, sensitivity and understanding to how intricate they both are.

The question that needs to be asked is what do you want? Once you answer that figure out what you can feasibly get- you can’t demand that NYU becomes more democratic and then use undiplomatic measures to get them to comply. Grow your membership, flier campus, figure out a media strategy- there has to be structure if you’re going to be taken seriously. Prioritize your demands so that when it comes to negotiating you have something to negotiate- figure out what you have (tuititon dollars) that the administration needs- think creatively, use your resources to build up this issue and THEN have a sit in, one that’s widely publicized not only to fellow NYU students but to the press and to the administration.

There are over 40,000 students on campus- figure out what we can all rally around and then use that as a starting point.

Just realize that you run the risk of getting dismissed before you’re heard. Congrats on the NY Times- but even then you’re kind of being ridiculed- and subsequently, students collectively are taken a little less seriously.

Good luck tonight.

And “letter writing” is all well and good, but we all know that if you aren’t always willing to work with the administration instead of buring bridges, then you will get nowhere.

[...] View Results  Loading … Read the Full Coverage Here. [...]

I agree with a lot of you.
1. Public Access to bobst? seriously. It’s already jam packed as it is, and its just unsafe. I pay for security and books and space and I’d like it to stay that way kthx.
2. this whole gaza joint? 13 palestinian students? seems way random to me. Were these just added to get more attention? Sorry if I sound ignorant.
3. the power to override admins decisions??? errr… nuff said.

I mean I support TBNYU, but I think you guys took it too far on this one.
(plus, I like kimmel I have my weekly lunches there.)
You guys have gotten your 15 minutes of fame, now can you please give us kimmel back?

Wow, i am incredibly late to this, haven’t been to Local all day- i know, I am a bad blogger. But I have to say, awesome job Charlie!

oh, John Beckman- He who will cut short his vacation just to skillfully evade questions.

Hey Charlie, who pissed in EJ H’s Wheaties? The attack on you was uncalled for. You’re there, unpaid, doing the best you can. It’s not even your job. I agree with your characterization of this asshole. What he sees as ego-inflating sarcastic remarks are really pretty clever. But then I’m somewhat biased. That being said, I think your monologue is pretty entertaining.

What I meant to say was that rather than pissy I found your comments ‘pithy.’ Shit, I wish I’d thought of that before I hit send last time!

Engage ROFLcopter

It’d be great if students really were affecting policy here at NYU and if students had the opportunity to vote on things like the possibility of lifting the coke ban.

Wait…. THERE ARE.

You know, students across this campus are working on a proposal to ask for Human Rights checks at all study abroad campuses. Students make budget recommendations so that things like the Health Center can grow to what it is now. Students voted to recommend the coke ban be lifted. Students meet with administration on a regular basis and fight to make sure our university is one on the forefront of progressive ideas and innovations. Don’t get me wrong, I support the idea of students doing what they need to do in order to see change, but this…. this is NOT needed. Other avenues people, there are students who affect decisions made by on this campus, and I encourage you to find out who they are and what can be realistically done.

Ha ha thanks for the support Dad. However, I don’t need backup after I clowned EJ H thoroughly in the blog. But, again, thanks.

Charlie Eisenhood it appears you have misunderstood me. I do not find it worth my time to belittle people I haven’t met, and as such I would not take the time to assault your character. What I was merely doing was offering a description of what I perceived. You see, whereas some no doubt find the update “I just ate a sugar packet” newsworthy, I frankly don’t see how it has any journalistic impact. And as such, I do not consider it real journalism. Therefore you must forgive when I stated that you are not a real journalist; I simply meant that you are not acting in that capacity. Now you and I may well disagree on what constitutes journalism, and given your ‘unbiased facts’ I very much doubt you particularly care what I think, but as a consumer of the NYULocal site, which promises to deliver “discussion worthy happenings”, I merely wished to inform you that I would appreciate more objective observations and less insight into your dietary and excretory needs.

Keep up the good work!

Thanks, Brosef, I will.

I despise having to step in as Professor Stickler, but Charles, I believe the correct term is “Broseph.” If you call yourself a true journalist, you will correct your mistake in the future. That is all.

I am ashamed.

Even though I’m not a fan of the event, I appreciate your journalism, Charlie. Stay strong!! : )

On your addictinggames.com comment:
Try the game Geo Challenge on Facebook and the other stuff by the same publisher. Those are pretty fun.
Oh, and on the whole demands front: I agree with what they are doing, but they need to cut the demands to budget transparency and anything to do with tuition.
Also, can we get a face from TBNYU who is actually from NYU?

fyi Charlie, the lights usually do turn off the lights around 12 on weekdays, but they are keeping them on just for this night. Not a smoke out technique, just a safety concern.

@ Constructive: Thanks for the update. Makes sense.

@ Trey: Geo Challenge, huh? I’ll try it. And, yeah, I’ll throw up more pics tomorrow.

>>Constructive Idea
>there are students who affect decisions made by on this campus, and I encourage you to find out who they are and what can be realistically done.

If they have this power and the rest of the student body doesn’t ALREADY know who they are, sounds like some textbook fail on those folks’ part. That’d be like nobody knowing who their state senators are.

Not an NYU student, by the way. I just love this kind of stuff.

Also, Charlie is the man. Stay strong, stay alert, broski!

Wow, tonight of all nights, I can’t fall back to sleep and stumble upon a NY Times article about NYU students barricading themselves in Kimmel… More power to you, Charlie – I checked NYU Local just to see what the reaction was, but I never expected a liveblog! Keep up the good work, and ditto to Geo Challenge (it’s addicting!).

I don’t know how much needs to be added to the discussion, but I personally stopped taking TBNYU seriously after “takebacknyu.com” started appearing in permanent marker on the backs of stall doors in Bobst bathrooms. I mean… seriously?!

Opening bobst to the public will only add to the amount of gay sex that already occurs in the bathrooms and abandoned stack rooms, except that now all and sundry can come meet nyuers…. skeezy

I don’t get all these people who are for the demands, like that Pat guy, but then come out and publicly blast the campaign. That is TOTALLY counterproductive to achieving the goals that you said you agree with. Constructive criticism is fine but when you do it publicly in this kind of forum then it is not constructive. Of all the tactical errors TBNYU might have made, and I’m not sure what those are yet, by far your criticisms are the worst tactics if you intend to achieve the same goals. Pat, be honest with everyone and don’t claim you want the same ends. it would be far more respectable.

If you really cared, you would see this action through, watch them fail (if that is what you believe will happen), and then criticize them all you want after.

I’m a Gallatin junior unaffiliated with SCRC, TakeBackNYU!, or the like, but I remain sympathetic to the causes. Let me start out by saying that I’ll stand by the occupation, but there’s one glaring error in judgment that I can’t seem to shake.

Your demands are considerably weakened by your choice to open with a request for your own amnesty. Take some responsibility, really. Having to face the consequences of your actions may make the end result more significant in retrospect than if nothing bad were “allowed” to happen to you. I’m all for insurrection, insubordination, and occupation, but please understand that the historical legacy of sit-ins and civil disobedience often has far more to do with the backlash than with the impulse itself. I understand that a lot is at stake, both legally and academically, but in rebellion there is always a risk. If you ask for amnesty, you’re basically asking the administration to sanction your action, thereby making this less of an insurrection (i use this term hesitantly) than one of Sexton’s facilitated opportunities for NYU students to “protest,” as Beckman said. If you want to shake the public perception of NYU students as privileged white children, please keep this proverbial pillow out from under your collective ass.

Otherwise, I’m with you guys. Solidarity with Gaza! Keep it up.

Yours in solidarity,
FUCK THE POLICE.

I happened to wake up this early, and am not going to claim that it’s not because I was curious about the situation, but I want to commend Charlie for sticking it out.
He does not have do be there, but is doing us all a service- just look at the healthy discussion that has sparked from the liveblog. 81 comments! epic.

And I personally would rather hear about his dietary and excretory needs than a rote comment like “The room is quieter than before, as many students are attempting slumber. Here are the pictures to prove this journalistically correct statement. And so on.

We get a glimpse into the human condition of the layperson in Kimmel overnight, and that stirs up empathy. Or at least, as has been proven by the comments, does not stir up apathy.

(can apathy be stirred up?)

is it just me, or does signing a post with “Fuck the Police” in all caps sort of undermine the content of the post?

On second thought, since you seem to be pro- police run-ins, Maybe you are just trying terrifically hard to avoid potential hypocrisy.

Actually, I’m not at all for police run-ins.

All I’m saying is that it seems to show some level of weakness to preface something perceived to be a flagrant act of rebellion with a demand for immediate forgiveness.

I agree with that. Unfortunately, this is not the 60’s and as such, we won’t be seeing hundreds or even thousands of passionate students occupying buildings, having drum circles, playing music, or whatever it was that they did, bless their souls. Along with the extensive internet coverage this event is getting, comes the desire that these students have for such amnesty, given the publicity. I understand it, and I also understand your point about how they should ‘go all the way’.

New York City Labor Against the War stands with you. Free Palestine!

This thread is hereby moved to the Day 2 post. Go here:

http://nyulocal.com/on-campus/2009/02/19/day-2-nyu-students-occupation-of-kimmel/

The solidarity with Gaza sign just ruined any sort of credibility TBNYU had.

wow i went in there wondering what in the world was going on?? Now i know I support you guys in there. Don’t get discouraged!

gaza, palestinian scholarships – are people out of your obamafied minds? what a bunch of entitled douchebags you are. please for the first time i actually support nypd taking excessive action. go bust some heads,don’t worry they’re empty.

Here is my insight,

1.) Transparency is the primary issue here. While these other issues
(Gaza, Coke, Kimmel etc.) are also important, NYU administration may
perceive these varied agenda items as detracting from the strength of
your platform.
A.) This is a common problem when any
organization/movement tries to gain political
support, and has to take on “pet causes” of multiple sub-factions
(i.e. this is why the Republican party is Fiscally Conservative and
Anti-Gay Marriage, even though many gays are fiscally conservative.)

2.) Focusing on Transparency will help the other issues fall into place.
A.) For instance, if we know the full extent of
investement/profiteering in the Israeli war effort against Gaza, press
and public awareness will force NYU to divest from such interests.
B.) If we see the balance sheets of Kimmel Space rental
from outside corporations compared to rental by student organizations,
and follow the outside rental dollars to service for students compared
with tuition dollars service for students – we will have a stronger
case for changing Kimmel rental priorities. But we cannot make this
case without budget disclosure.

3.) Tuition stablization policies have to be responsibly decided in
the context of University budgets over the past several years along
with current models for projected growth. Without financial
disclosure, TakeBackNYU! does not have the information to mandate a
reasonable policy.

4.) The GSOC/UAW Local 2110 issue is a long, protracted, complicated,
and highly contentious battleground — DO NOT GET ENSNARED IN THIS!
It will hurt the transparency cause!

5.) Making Bobst a public library would require a comprehensive and
expensive infrastructure overhaul that cannot be considered without
access to budget/financial information that we FIRST need the
University to Disclose.

6.) Student voice in financial policy
A.) It seems reasonable to have student representation with
(or possibly without) voting rights on the Board of Trustees.
B.) It seems unreasonable to form a separate commitee that
would have Financial Override Power based on unspecified criteria for
“social responsibility”.
i.) If Board mandated financial decisions are made
public, press and public pressure will hold NYU to a higher standard
of social respnsibility.

Enough of this – you get the idea! FOCUS ON TRANSPARENCY! It will be
far more powerful in the long run.

Thoughtfully yours,

Drew Knight Weller

[...] and are prepared to “occupy” the building until they are met. Here are their demands (according to Charlie’s eavesdropping), and below is everything thing I have to say about [...]

glad to see you kids can still throw a fit. psscht

[...] 10:35 Update: A student is liveblogging the protest here. (Entries from last night and early this morning are here.) [...]

[...] N.Y.U. established a Web site where they published their demands. (Charlie Eisenhood has also been blogging the occupation, with updates this [...]

Wow, way to make sure none of these things ever get achieved by looking like idiots.

I think the TBNYUers should disclose their finances first, so we can see how many of them are doing this on their parents money.

Why is this relevant? Because these kids are clearly living in an alternate reality, and would be useless flesh out in the real world – and therefore are the worst choice for negotiating anything. They are inherently irrelevant.

Nice barricade and dance party – how about doing some real work, other than arts and crafts. Also, I second the earlier comment, these guys should pay for all the damages and lost productivity for their dance party.

they are having so much fun right now. i just want to point that out. kudos to tbnyu for that.

[...] Editor for today, it’s rather unfortunate that I’m stuck at work in midtown away from all the TBNYU! action. But luckily I ran into NYU Local contributor Surekha Ratnatunga at the J-School building, and she [...]

hey guess what? you go to a private school. no private institution can be required to disclose it’s budget to the public. if you wanted a publicly subsidized education you shouldn’t have gone to a private school. i hope you know that you look like a bunch of spoiled and ignorant brats. im embarrassed to go to the same institution as you do.

[...] themselves in an NYU cafeteria with a list of demands and a mean calisthenics regimen. (Part one here, part two here.) There’s even a link with topless coeds baring it all for the cause, holding signs [...]

What is it about Hamas that resonates with TBNYU’s elite braintrust? Their fantastic human/women’s rights record? Their love for social justice (you know, the ’social justice’ of Sharia law)? Their practice of targeting/sacrificing civilians (Israel’s and their own)? You guys are really backing a bunch of winners.

I applaud you for your courage and hard work! Loving the blog; keep it coming.

I just graduated from NYU in 2008, and am now in law school elsewhere in the country. I have been asked three times today if NYU was always as faux-neo-liberal, wannabe hippie, extremist, and pretentious as the displays put on in the past two days in Kimmel. I am totally mortified to be an NYU alumnus right now, and pray that my peers here stop laughing at my alma mater.

The point is that TBNYU is a joke. It was a joke when I was there, and it’s absolutely a joke now.

I, like TBNYU, wish that NYU was more transparent regarding its budget. I wish they had stabilized tuition while I was there, and I pray that they do so for the sake of current and future students, if only for the predictability of budgeting four years of a very expensive education.

Thus, I should be among TBNYU’s core sympathizers. But instead I am angry that my school is making the headlines for all the wrong reasons.

First off, if the Bush White House has taught us anything, it is that you cannot increase spending and decrease revenue intake, but that is what TBNYU is “demanding.” I recognize their main goal is budget transparency, and that perhaps NYU is wasting a great deal of money on questionable projects (Abu Dhabi? Who knows?), but without actually knowing that, how can TBNYU demand that NYU increase its financial aid, dictate that NYU give full rides to students of a particular nationality (putting aside the actual politics of their Gaza demands, which have been addressed in this thread), and donate supplies to another school. NYU should be accountable to itself and to its students alone.

Assuming NYU’s budget is sane (and I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt for the moment), if NYU is to meet 100% of aid needs (a worthy goal), it must either curtail existing projects or INCREASE tuition amongst students who are not receiving NYU’s need-based aid to compensate for the increased aid paid out to other students. Or both.

Like the other commenters here, I found the idea of opening up Bobst to the public to be abhorrent. What purpose does that serve? If you were going to do it with a fee, that might offset some of the increased spending TBNYU unwittingly proposes, but then who would choose to pay for NYU library access when the NY Public Library is free and a true treasure? Stupid.

TBNYU’s tactics are unthought-out and abrasive at best, and self-defeating at worst. They should have dropped the Gaza and Coke activism and concentrated on their original purpose, which was budget transparency. Had they protested/sat-in/whatever with budget transparency as their sole goal, they might have gained more allies and accomplished something! And guess what…if NYU’s budget was really so out of whack, then anger over unnecessary tuition increases and expenditures would have naturally swept over the entire campus. Accomplish the biggest issue first, and the others will follow.

A final thought before I end this disappointed rant on my beloved NYU…

NYU is a good, dare I say great, school – but not a truly elite one. Isn’t that what we want NYU to be? Maybe NYU is making some poor budgetary decisions. If so, work to expose their budget and call them out on them. But it seems to me that whether they were good decisions or bad, NYU has been working at innovation, facilities, and quality faculty hires for the purpose of bettering the school’s reputation. When I got to NYU in 2004, they told us in orientation that NYU would be a top-20 school by the time I graduated. That obviously didn’t happen, but the school’s heart was in the right place. It takes money to renovate and make those hires, etc., and without the taxpayer dollars that would come with being a public university, and because NYU is a humongous school rivaling some of the largest pubic universities in the country – and in the middle of Manhattan, no less! – NYU will be expensive to maintain, and expensive to improve.

NYU lacks big-time athletics, so that means it lacks big-time athletics boosters. It is not a public school, and real estate is expensive. It is a good school, but it is not Harvard (who by the way had to halt construction on a new campus in Boston because of the economy despite being the wealthiest university in the world) and thus alumni are weary to donate.

NYU will not be able to rise to the level of the Harvards, Columbias, or Yales of the world (and the heavy alumni monetary backing that comes with it) without spending to improve the school’s reputation. And only when you get to that level can you simultaneously spend more on aid and take in less revenue. A Catch-22, indeed, and one that is totally lost on the members of TBNYU, who seem content to allow NYU to slip in prestige and quality of education in the name of their counter-productive plans and selfish media strategy.

Hey man. You guys are so rad, bro. So freakin progressive. Lets all be adults. And then have a dance party. Cute cute cute. And very fun. Let’s make a difference and OBAMA!

I am the Scotsboro boys!

Free the Rosenbergs!

(oh wait…they’re Jews)

Fry the Rosenbergs!

Free William Ayers…some more!

Free Khalid Sheik Mohammed!

13 Scholarships for Muzammil Hassan! And 72 virgins! And a pony!

your demands are a little over the top…students get scholarships based on performance and need. why are you singleing out Palestinian students and the Gaza. The result of what you are doing now is what starts wars……..when will you kids learn!!!!!! Go do something positive to change things LOVE, YOUR PARENTS

to all the jewish posters attacking the gaza scholarships…….i understand it makes you mad that they couldnt all be massacred, but here in america we vstand with the palestinians………..only yeshiva university advocates the palestinian holocaust

half of you protesters aren’t even NYU students, what the fuck.

I agree with budget disclosure but everything else makes you look like a bunch of whiny rich white kids who want to be the next goddamned revolutionaries.

how about you start with some sensibility in your list of demands first? everyone on my floor in 3rd north is laughing our fucking asses off at what you guys want from this “demonstration.”

I appreciate that you think you’re making NYU a better place but seriously guys, take it a notch down! then maybe more people will take you seriously.

The students sitting-in at NYU are absolutely right, across the board. Some may argue that politicized demands may seem to be distractions from other demands, but that is not borne out historically, in my experience. As the poet Ernesto Cardenale put it, “Nothing ever comes to the sleeper but a dream.”

The demands at NYU are very important, in terms of making the horror that continues to occur in Gaza visible in the media. VERY important. Let’s not forget that Israel is the largest recipient of US foreign “aid”, and the occupation of Gaza and the attacks on the rest of Palestine would not be possible without the tax dollars of most of those commenting above.

As a Jewish person, I deplore what Israel is doing in my name and with our tax dollars. And as a Green, I applaud the occupation by NYU.

On behalf of the Brooklyn Greens and the NY State Green Party, we applaud the actions of the students and stand with you. Stay strong, and don’t let a few detractors writing comments here sap your spirits!

Mitchel Cohen
for the Brooklyn Greens / Green Party of NY

Annual Scholarships for 13 Palestinian students? I’m an alum, and absolutely applaud what you’re doing, but for the success of your effort, stay focused and ON MESSAGE. Ally yourself with those struggling in this city and focus on what *everyone* will sympathize with you about: the incredibly exorbitant tuition/other fees that NYU unthinkingly thrusts on its students, whom it tends to treat no better than cattle, as well as their complete lack of initiative to integrate themselves in the community. Stay on POINT: with the economic life of the whole country wheezing and gasping, the real issues relate to economics– the affordability of a college education, housing, etc.. Leave the deserving students of Gaza aside for now….watering down your message won’t get you anywhere fast….

I’m a student from Uchicago and we support your efforts. Uchicago tuition is at $50,000 AS WELL. Where does this money go if only we had more transparency . I don’t support barricading, but honestly with tuition this high and a lack of respect for university facilities by both students and employees I cannot help but feel we have been driven to this point. The amount of assets we have in reserve should be enough to offer FULL TUITION for the few thousand of students who make it to these schools. Case in point our dining halls. Case in point students and employees both steal and eat food before paying for it at our dining halls. A simple calculation puts a meal at these mess halls at $50 in your mealplan. How is that fair? All student organizations do for money is ask, and on a whim get our tuition money to spend without any review whatsoever.

NYU congratulations. Hopefully colleges across the nation follows until we set up a fair system for students. Half of us can’t even eat right and working a $10 job doesn’t even help us get by.

You guys also have to bullet your most important points. The number of Palestinian scholarships= the number of Israelis killed in the conflict is an and impartial point.

I also support Ms. Levine’s point

[...] N.Y.U. established a Web site where they published their demands. (Charlie Eisenhood has also been blogging the occupation, with updates Thursday [...]

What a bunch of crybabies. I hope they all get expelled…

[...] DAY ONE [...]

Hi,

Make NYU affordable.Its this university monopoly to make it so expensive and out of an average student reach.There should be check on their plans for increasing tution every year with reasonble and justified reasons……….Resist………

Thanks for letting the Frustration out……….

If your going to go after a private institution that you believe has wronged a lot of people, you do it with a class action lawsuit. Perhaps these genius kids could have consulted the law school before making complete asses out of themselves and their parents.

good job !

[...] again, we could always have the trustafarian-led outrage like the NYU and New School Occupations of the last few weeks (I always thought they were protesting Columbia’s admission standards …). Read for [...]

[...] Charlie Eisenhood of NYU Local liveblogged the revolution — replete with hilarious commentary . [...]

[...] 27, 2009 I’m not going to tackle this issue as whole but on the library level. While their list of demands is odd, given that NYU is a PRIVATE [...]

[...] • The live blog that started it all. [...]

[...] 1st, 2009 Last month’s food court occupation at NYU’s Kimmel Center cafeteria, live-blogged here, has produced what is possibly the most embarassing protest video ever. Video summarized by the [...]

[...] and pursue investigative journalism on their own. (A sort-of exception: Charlie Eisenhood’s liveblogging of the Kimmel occupation was definitely the fastest way to get information about TBNYU!’s protest while it was [...]

[...] by Dan Reimold This past February at New York University, NYU Local reporter Charlie Eisenhood embedded himself inside a cafeteria at New York University to document a highly publicized sit-in staged by a fringe student group, [...]