The protestors don’t seem to realize that their protest is a futile one. Their laundry list of demands contradicts one of the most important tenets of protest: Have a focal point! If there were maybe 2 demands in all, this protest MIGHT be effective if they were willing to fight tooth and nail for it…. but really, somewhere between 13 and 16 demands is absurd. Also, it is important to note that the University is not taking any forceful method of action to end the protest. Universities and the NYPD have learned from their past mistakes, and, as a result, they have been trained not to react to the pokes and prods of the protestors. As a result, this creates sympathy not for those barricaded in Kimmel, but the very people who they are trying to rebel against. Better organization, a narrower focus, and a much more controversial place of protest might further Take Back NYU’s agenda, but what they’re doing now is, quite frankly, absurd.

The list of demands looks like, once they got some cameras, the kids involved in TBNYU started tacking on their personal pet causes instead of keeping in line with the goal of the group. helping gaza and offering palestinan scholarships are worthy causes I’m sure, but they have nothing to do with TBNYU. And guess what you guys, students just don’t get to decide spending. Suck it up– that’s the administration’s job.

This is more Woodstock than Gandhi. Go home, kids.

- A slightly older, significantly wiser law student

Heard outside of Kimmel by someone looking at the signs …

“Is this about Coke or Gaza? I’m confused.”

I’m sitting on the 9th floor of Bobst trying to study for a midterm I have tomorrow morning.

These asshole clowns are yelling at the top of their lungs “take back nyu”

Real classy.

It’s a simple reason, really. I’ve been active on campus for four years now and have had to deal with this bureaucracy more than anyone else I know.

One thing I learned early on: never ever do something important on campus mid-week.

Washington Square News stops publishing real news after the Thursday morning edition. Without the shit sandwich of the WSN being delivered every morning to dormitories around campus, there is no coverage of the protest other than at NYULocal.

I like NYU Local, but the Administration simply will not consider NYU Local coverage to be enough pressure to negotiate, especially with the protestors beginning to ‘damage’ property, and, (at least from NYU’s perspective) ‘pose a safety risk’ by entering the balcony space.

Without press coverage, the administration holds the upper hand. With the weekend approaching, the Kimmel Center becomes a ghost town. The protesters will wake up Friday morning staring down the very real possibility of spending the entire weekend in the Kimmel Center cafeteria. The lack of the vegan food they are demanding becomes an issue, as does lack of sleep and an increasingly frustrated and emotional group of protesters who may do increasingly dangerous things to grab attention.

All this being said, I strongly support some of the causes that TBNYU is demanding, especially budget transparency, student preference in Kimmel, and a tuition freeze. I also want to encourage Senators in the Student Senate who will attempt to make some of their demands a reality this evening.

But I am increasingly concerned that TBNYU has put itself in a very weak negotiating position that NYU may ignore, and that the behavior of the “occupiers” will become increasingly difficult to control or predict. Bad behavior will lead to swat teams and mace, and no one wants to see that, regardless of your opinion of TBNYU.

Neal Shechter – past President of NYU College Democrats

These kids are ridiculous! You’re a bunch of rich kids that go to an even bigger richer school. What the hell do you think you’re going to accomplish? Trust me, I’ve been there, I’m much older than you, I’ve dealt with much bigger things. But, the sooner you learn to set ideologies aside, sharpen your vision, and have some self respect you won’t accomplish anything. What do you want me to say? NYU’s administration sucks, U-North sucks… well no shit. The sooner you learn to wear a suit and tie and fool “the man” from the front door the easier it’ll be for you. And believe this, I’m smarter and more radical than you’ll ever be.

Here’s one from Gawker:
“No one needs dining halls…most NYU kids don’t eat anything but Cocaine and Starbucks anyway.”

This is ridiculous! I definitely agree with others on the “laundry list” of demands. The ONLY term I agree with is their request for budget disclosure. That seems understandable, but all the rest….GIVE ME A BREAK! I’m sorry, but why should the University offer scholarships solely for 13 Palestinian kids when a majority of us can’t afford the tuition?!?! Why not use that money for EVERYONE! And then this Bobst demand….ugh. NYC has a public library for dun-dun-dun…the PUBLIC! Bobst is for NYU students and those who request library privileges. Bobst already gets crowded enough as it is. I, for one, who not support having anyone off the street be able to walk in and do as the please; especially when we are paying so much to go to NYU and use their facilities for research and homework, etc…. TBNYU, get a life and protest for something unified and IMPORTANT!

I’m not at NYU per se (Cardozo law by way of Rice University), but I hang out there a bunch, and I just find this whole protest to be confusing. If they have concerns about scholarships, then why don’t they arrange a meeting with a scholarship committee (I assume one exists) and make a proposal. Or, they could try to contact some of NYU’s big donors and try to get them to donate for a fund.
I know it would be hard to arrange for new scholarships, given the economic downturn, but they seem passionate enough to be able to arrange something.

I note that the posters here seem rather eager to criticize the tactics employed the Take Back NYU forces and to disparage the multiplicity of the issues they raise. Even those commenting who deign to identify particular demands that they support are strangely silent about what steps they have themselves have actually taken or are contemplating taking to make those demands a reality.

Bonus points to ACG and Varick Paul for clarifying just how much smarter they are than the TBNYU students (and presumably most of the rest of us).

I hate hippies.

Jimmy, I’m a 4.00 grad student, I’m on scholarship, I read like a shark eats, I watch and read international news instead of most US garbage, I’m tri-lingual, is that enough clarification?? Come to Coral and find me. Trust that you’ll regret it. But you won’t. I know your type.

You have got to be completely a dimwitted individual if you agree with their tactics and disorganized and scattered vision and goals.

I think an overwhelming majority of NYU students support budget disclosure, reform of financial aid, greater sensitivity to student concerns, and generally making NYU more open and transparent. However, there are a lot of problems with TBNYU’s tactics. 1) They’re too confrontational. Occupying a building and accusing people who don’t support their tactics of somehow being traitors are alienating a lot of people who otherwise (mostly) support TBNYU’s goals. 2) They have too many demands. Smart organizers know that you focus on one issue at a time. You either win or lose on that issue, but you pour all of your resources into it and then move on when the battle is over. 3) They aren’t lending themselves to being taken seriously. Refusing NYU’s offer of food because the food vendor uses prison labor? Insisting the food be vegan? Having topless supporters outside? Everything about this protest gives off an air of amateurism and silliness that makes it difficult for anyone to take TBNYU seriously. Those are just a few problems with this protest that jump out at me. There are many more. I just hope that their actions today don’t permanently harm the possibility of more mature, constructive work to change NYU in the future.

Pat, you couldn’t have said it better! Kudos.

I third that! Pat always seems to have the best posts. This is pretty straightforward and you nail it every time.

I wrote this fucking article and I agree 100% with Pat. Write for NYU Local.

I agree that the challenge of how to lower tuition is important. But I don’t understand virtually every other element in TBNYU’s list.

If most of the demands made by TBNYU were met many more problems and challenges would arise; One example is that if the NYU library were opened to the public you would have a hard time checking out books, there would be long lines, an increase in theft of valuable books etc. Do you really want your tuition to pay for public use of a private library? Isn’t the NY Public Library, and all of its many satellite sites, sufficient for that purpose?

Many of the demands are completely unrealistic and, in fact, hurtful to these students that think it’s all in the name of their “cause.” But WHAT IS THEIR CAUSE? With so many different demands it is impossible to identify an underlying cause.

The issue I agree with is that something needs to be done to lower tuition. But I would not condone taking over buildings for that either.

And by the way, there IS a space for students at NYU; it’s the entire University! You have a dorm, don’t you? You have classrooms, right? You have a library, yes? Those are there for YOU. .. and if you trash them I guarantee your efforts will backfire because administration of ANY business must think of ways to avoid destruction of property and anything that might upset the community outside the university and/ or its paying students. Mark my words, it will backfire. Peaceful discussion, letters, meetings and debates are all more effective than blockading buildings.

I would suggest discussing with administration these two points: tuition and perhaps having a second flag-ship performance/meeting space solely for students. Even the stuff about endowment and money is off the mark. What will students do with that information, which is already available! Will they then take over the finance division of the administration? What qualifications do they have to tell the business office how to run business? I understand that it is important to stand up for what you believe and to better the world, but I do not see how NYU is blocking students from achieving those goals IN THE REAL WORLD! The education you get at NYU will prepare you for such things.

Further, I have attended many universities and colleges and, believe it or not, NYU is actually one of the least bureaucratic of all. Take, for example, how quickly NYU administration went into action to make the University “green,” when a Gallatin student made a power-point presentation about the topic to administration. He organized it, they responded within ONE YEAR to take action and now NYU is the most “green” University in the country, owns the most wind power and is working to become even more environmentally friendly. While peer schools were being sued for polluting the environment (and losing in court) NYU was getting greener. That should tell you how powerful putting in your own research and presenting it to administration can be. There were no protests to force NYU to go green, they did it on their own in direct response to ONE student’s research on the topic and his powerpoint presentations.

jessica, how can you be writing this article if you are openly agreeing with Pat?

“…collecting quotes in an attempt to suss out NYU students’ opinions on the TBNYU! protest”

Seems like we might be encountering a bought of biased “collection.”

The idea that writers can’t have opinions is antiquated and absurd. NyuLocal is founded on the notion that full objectivity is a myth. I’m an nyu student- of course I have an opinion on this. To pretend I don’t would be a lie. All we did here was ask random people on the street their opinion… Seems public opinion agrees with Pat for the most part. If you want definitively pro tbnyu posts, see Duncan Meisel’s post we put up.

Rachael Ninja,

People like you make it hard to support such a cause. The fact that you needed to expose yourselves shows that you needed nudity to garner attention since your ideas were obviously not doing the job.

P.S. Since you were saying you have nothing to hide, why are your pants on. (I’d rather have you keep all your clothing on but you are contradicting your own claims)

Haha “BY STANDER” agreed.

“Rachel Ninja”, how is public nudity supposed to prove a point? That stunt today was extremely innappropriate and threw your credibility out the window. Disgusting. This sort of protesting will never get you anywhere. Listen to Pat!

The NYU administration may be bad, but protests like this are ten times worse.

It seems that most students would agree with the need for budget disclosure. If they had stuck with just that, the most legitimate issue, TBNYU! might have seen much more support from students, and more sympathy from the press and public….. But at least everyone is talking about these issues now

I have no desire to give up my ridiculously expensive seat in the library to the gentrified neighborhood of Greenwich Village. Do “real” New Yorkers even live in Manhattan anymore? Let’s face it, New York as people think of it doesn’t really exist.

If you want to complain about the availability of New York’s library resources, go to the public library. This is a private university, and we pay like crazy for a place like Bobst.

Why don’t we throw some scholarships at kids from, say, neighborhoods like East New York?

I have no qualms with a student protest group taking over a building to make their voices heard–NYU as a community and a campus is incredibly disjointed–this is undeniably the best way to get their point across. Seeing as how the whole problem is that NYU students have absolutely no power in administrative decisions at our school, I don’t see how anything other than stunts like this could push the administration to give a shit.
As for closing down a dining hall, big deal, we have quite a few others to choose from, and two of them are a 3-minute walk away from Kimmel. So, get over the fact that you can’t have a bread bowl with your soup for a whole 24 hours.
Also, I agree with the demands that represent TBNYU’s original focus. All this other stuff makes me extremely discouraged about the possibilities for change as a result of the protest. For a movement that started with such attainable goals, the lack of pragmatism is upsetting.

On the other hand, we’re not going to see any change in the administration’s attitude if we tear apart the only action being taken to put real pressure on the Board of Trustees. That’s why, in the end, I guess I support the TBNYU protest (flawed as it is).

I think a large part of the problem is the “with us or against us” mentality they seem to operate under that Pat mentioned above. My first question I always asked the people supporting the protesters outside was always, “What if you hypothetically supported Israel but also wanted the university budget disclosed?” There’s absolutely no room for you at the table according to TBNYU! it seems.

Also, to the feministninjas:

I think it’s cool that you’re comfortable with your bodies and all that but to the passer by, you’re not making them want to support the protest. In fact, most people’s thoughts upon seeing you take your tops off were, “lol titz”. I’m sure you see what you’re doing from a different point of view but aren’t protests intended to bring larger amounts of people to support your cause? By doing what you did, I think people will start to view it as a poorly conceived amateur operation because I sure as hell do.

And if I may pose the question, are you an NYU student or alum? Because a big impression I got when I met certain people at the protest was that they just go to radical protests just to do it. They’re barely paying attention to what they’re actually saying. Clearly you guys are hardcore feminists which is great but let me ask you, do you honestly think you’re doing a service to women by supporting the last demand on their list, “That the general public have access to Bobst Library”? The reason I asked whether or not you are NYU students is because I don’t know that too many NYU girls (or guys for that matter), who would be too keen on having some of the chaps that chill out around Washington Square Park during the late hours of the night being able to follow them back inside the building. Not to mention, for a protest seemingly concerned with the rights of NYU workers, wouldn’t you be forcing our security guards to have to work twice as hard to protect us students?

Please consider this.

http://www.jhsph.edu/publichealthnews/press_releases/2006/burnham_iraq_2006.html

How about protesting this

NEWSFLASH–TODAY…
Obama signed off on increasing our presence in Afghanistan.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601082&sid=aUWFaWvXjzFU&refer=canada

Does that matter to anyone? This is a ridiculous movement, though it’s better than zero movement whatsoever.
I don’t see nyu students standing up against the true threat to our future — the military/corporate/false paradigm demvsrepublican construct.
maybe if it gets bad enough 20 year olds will wake up and understand that their media, banking and military are all under the watchful eye of the ruling elite, and it will take CHANGE from citizens, not a false messiah like Barack to lead them.

I just hope every single NYU student involved is expelled. Enjoy those vegan cookies and Starbucks barista jobs, idiots…

It should be pointed out that seedy academic corruption seems to run quite deep at NYU. Take, for example, the allegations of plagiarism that have surfaced against the Judaica department chairman; they were initially made in an Israeli newspaper years ago, but the matter appears to have been hushed up and never investigated, in violation of the university’s own regulations. For details, see

http://my.nowpublic.com/world/plagiarism-and-dead-sea-scrolls-did-nyu-department-chairman-pilfer-chicago-historian-s-work