I understand there is a University there that would be perfect for all of you, now that you’re homeless and kicked out of school.
I’m sure your mommies and daddies will be happy to keep paying rent for your evicted dorm rooms and classes you’ve been suspended from.
They must be so proud of you! Congratulations one and all!

Thanks for making us pay for your alternative housing. I hope that by alternative they mean under the brooklyn bridge. I’ll drop off some vegan cupcakes for you. Assholes

They signed a contract, they broke the contract, and now they’re fucked.

If I had a kid and they pulled this shit, I would disown or murder them (depending on how far away I was at the time). And Yonnie, your suggestion for alternative housing is impeccable. I would also accept “alleyways in the lower east side” or “NYC sewers”

Good, they got what they deserved. Their list of demands was absurd and frankly I am embarrassed to be associated with the same University as this lot of ponces. Good riddance.

Now they can learn about what it’s really like to be disenfranchised, poor, non-white, and unprivileged! (Too bad mommy and daddy are still paying for tuition.)

It seems to me that the law actually calls for violence. Meaning, if the powerful are allowed to write the laws any way they want, then it seems logical that violence would be used against laws written, more or less, arbitrarily by the powerful. You basically have to recognize that NYU is a private institution and that if it wants to abuse you it can because you have signed the agreement to allow this; if you don’t like it don’t attend. But the rational reaction, it seems, is to fight shit laws in any means possible, rather than, as many of you cowards posting on this site think, forfeit your right to attend. It is a surprise that the students didn’t actually resort to violence, good for them!

Basically, the NYU law says: we can do whatever we want, when we want. So any argument by students is futile because NYU has about the same rights as God. It’s actually surprising they didn’t say: NYU has the right to all belongings present in student housing upon termination if NYU deems this necessary. The only reason they don’t have it is because students may opt out of housing, which is a loss of profit for them.

The law is all the more reason students should be occupying university buildings.

@ A Supporter

This is hardly news. NYU, or any private institution for that matter, retains these rights and forms their rules to allow it to decide what it wants when it wants. Student are well aware of this before deciding to come so for people to surprised all of a sudden is just ridiculous. The students who engaged in these “protests” knew of the consequences that their actions would have before they pulled this nonsense and now they have to face the music. You reap what you sow and these kids are getting everything they deserve.

@A Supporter
It’s funny how you call others cowards, but don’t even use a name in this forum.

It’s funny how you call others cowards, but the very first demand of these “occupiers” was that they not get in trouble. More important to them than any transparency by the school, more important to them than residents of Gaza, was that they not get into any trouble.

“But the rational reaction, it seems, is to fight shit laws in any means possible, rather than, as many of you cowards posting on this site think, forfeit your right to attend.”
A) You have no right to attend. It was never your right to attend NYU. The rational reaction is that if you don’t like the policies, don’t attend the school. Or, if you don’t like the policies, attend the school and try to change from within. But don’t go to the school, arbitrarily occupy a communal space, destroy property, injure guards, and then expect to have everything your way. I’m sorry, that kind of shit where you break things and yell until your daddy gives you what you want may work at home, but to expect a private for-profit enterprise to give into it is pure madness, plain and simple. There’s absolutely nothing rational about it.

“It is a surprise that the students didn’t actually resort to violence, good for them!”
Tell that to the hospitalized guard.

The rest of your little missive is simply so infantile that it doesn’t really deserve a response.

Does this mean they can move into the empty Real World Brooklyn house?

People keep dismissing the “if you don’t like it don’t come argument” but money talks. The best way to get your point across is precisely TO not pay for their service and inform them WHY you are not paying for their services and attending their institution. If they start to see this as a financial drain, they might actually change.

Assaulting their employees, breaking their property, then having the outright audacity to claim police brutality is absurd and now they have closed off the possibility of constructive dialogue on the matter because they have alienated the administration from ever WANTING to cooperate with their asses. And “Supporter”, don’t call me a fucking coward. At least I know what I’m getting into when I sign a contract and actually follow it. You’re just pissed because now these assholes have to face consequences. NEWS FLASH! That is what HAPPENS with protests. If there are not negative consequences for those involved, your “protest” is a pitiful sham and nothing more than an annoyance.

Oh, and because I’m now fired up and feeling juvenile: just fuck off and die already.

[...] orchestrated by “Take Back NYU!” (around a fairly schizophrenic agenda) ended in suspensions and the loss of campus housing (”rustication,” for you Rice alums) for the organization’s ringleaders. This [...]

[...] All information on housing has been moved to this post. [...]

I would like to take this opportunity to list 7 errors the Take Back NYU protestors made that could be rectified in future protests to a much more effective end:

1. While lord knows I agree with almost all of the demands they made (save the public opening of Bobst due to the security risks it presents), they made too many demands at one time. One of the central tenets of protest is to have a focal oint and to fight for that point tooth-and-nail. With 13 demands that often muddled the issue, people often became confused with what the true goal of the protest was.

2. The University made a calculating and highly intelligent decision on the first night that completely undermined the entire effort. By publicly announcing that they were allowing Take Back NYU to occupy that space and giving bathroom access, they created a public image that they were helping their students express themselves, therefore creating more sympathy for the very authorities Take Back NYU was protesting. There is no real effective way I can think of at the moment to counteract such a calculated PR move as this other than to try and protest again at a place in which the University is not as likely to accommodate you.

3. Back to the list of demands. The fact that your first demand was amnesty for all involved was a mistake. It certainly shouldn’t have been first among your demands, and should not have even made it onto the list. One of the most important effects of a protest is, in the aftermath, what happens to the protestors. If they go to jail, that can incite more protest against wrongful imprisonment. If the police or other authorities take brutal actions, that incites a protest against police brutality. A basic tenet of civil disobedience is that everyone involved in a protest is fully aware that their actions can cause them to end up in jail, evicted from homes, even publicly persecuted, yet they stay involved because that is the depth of their belief.

4. The negotiation process should never have happened. The very fact that they went into a negotiation process further undermines your effort. Allowing a negotiation process allows the administration to think that they have a form of leverage over the protest. If they had denied any sort of negotiation process, the University’s plight becomes all the more dire: They don’t know what’s going to happen because they have no way to read or play the people who have taken over the space. This offers them absolutely no chance to exact leverage over you, and limits their options to 1: police action.

5. A better coordination with protestors on the street would have helped to keep them from undermining their effort. The topless antics of the two female protestors lost them quite a bit of credibility early on, because people were willing and more than able to write off the occupation as an amateurish stunt without a proper center of power. Never underestimate your popular support. One of the first actions Take Back NYU should have taken was to publicly announce to its supporters not to let themselves get out of hand unless the situation warranted it (as it did last night with the cops macing some students). By giving your supporters a set of guidelines to follow, you increase the power of your own presence.

6. At 9:30, when they brought in extra supporters, they made a huge error by injuring a security officer. The fact is that this creates a situation where they have been the group that incites the violence rather than become the victimized themselves by it. The fact that they hospitalized someone without an explicit reason is startling, because it breaks from the ideals TBNYU were fighting for (i.e. nonviolent occupation). Despite the fact that it gets more supporters into the occupation, the situation lends itself more towards the parties that have had wrongs done to them.

7. The underlying psychology seems misguided, as the movement appeared to focus all of its energies and power into one protest. This, while admittedly noble, is inherently wrong. The first major protest in a movement should never function with a sense of finality. TBNYU could take a page fro the protestors of the sixties, as the first protests in many of the movements incited several other protests in response to the reaction to the first one. This creates a definite “Us vs Them” mentality when you lead a series of protest, which is the ultimate goal. Yet, everything TBNYU did suggest that this was it: the culmination of all of their efforts at NYU to create change in the administration and politics of the university. As a result, by putting down this one effort, you give the university ample ability to permanently discredit your power base and prevent future student action.

In summation, while I do believe strongly that there is always a place for student coordination and protest at any university, the actions taken by TBNYU, their supporters from The New School, and the other parties involved lead me to believe that the protestors have no real or concrete understanding of what it is to take part in civil disobedience. I hope anyone who decides to protest any issue in a similar manner will consider the points I have made above.

What a farce- responding to all who participated and to the girls who can’t afford clothes-”Keri”? I wasn’t aware that choosing a really expensive private school means you might not have great clothes at 22? Funny how attending allows you to fight to contradict those very funds needed to run that expensive private school. Wonder what you are really learning here? Want Clothes? Choose Hunter!! I can see that many of those kids are simply unproductive, jump on the bandwagon of chaos, “anarchists”, convincing you that they should be allowed free access to the same building and conveniences you pay for! Watch out with them, next thing you know – you’ll be in a cardboard box and they will have squatted your dorm room…!!! This is so absurd! Scattered ideas with no real purpose and no real spine. What do you think the kids at CUNY think of your actions… They work hard just to get to class. Try it! Some old fashioned ideas might help you put perspective on how ridiculous your unfocused demands really are. The only thing that might have come of it.. is purposeful rioting to point out the police can’t keep it together in the face of aggressive protest. Imagine being in this protest when some of them don’t even attend this or any school, are against capitalism, yet participate in wealthy, spoiled kids protest!! Look around you – Collect and construct change- Do something instead of occupy to cause chaos! You are only alerting the public to how much money you are wasting on your education as clearly it is not helping you use your common sense…What a shame that your grassroots mentality can’t pull a focus with meaning and clarity to put out a clear agenda which can garner the support you all need to make a difference? I think you are all were intelligent with ideas of change but have become just fighters just to fight period.. The real goal here was chaos!!!!

At least you wont have to worry about any RA’s in your temporary shit rooms.

If I were you, i’d bottoms up on a handle of vodka. Now.

I just want to know WHY the hell was the Bobst demand in there? What were they trying to achieve to have Bobst open to the public? What does that have to do with anything? And did they think that ANYONE would support such a demand?

Also, did they ever bother to ask/poll the student population as to what they actually support? My guess is that they didn’t. Their demands (with the exception of budget disclosure and affordability, obviously) came off as pretty self-centered in a way. Their demands represented what THEY wanted, not what the NYU POPULATION wanted.

Jack Manley – I think you bring up some interesting, if debatable points. I just want to thank you for approaching this issue with a high-level of maturity and intellectual curiosity. I think in the wake of this action it is important to have an honest reflection on what went well, what didn’t go so well, and what can be improved upon in the future. Constructive criticism is good and it is how we will build a stronger movement. Overall, I think Take Back NYU deserves alot of credit for their guts and dedication. I give them an A for effort and a B-minus on results. Next time a shorter, more focused list of demands will be more effective. But everyone involved deserves respect and credit for giving it their best shot. Don’t give up the fight. Hang in there, stay though, and keep on doing your thing. Solidarity, AJ

@ Jack Manley

Your points are brilliant. I’m just glad that TBNYU! didn’t follow them, because then they might still be around making trouble.

Hopefully the suspensions will result in a swift disbandment of the organization. And hopefully the vacuum that is left will be filled by a group interested in some of the same goals (financial transparency, fair wages for NYU employees) but with a better idea of how to achieve them without alienating the rest of the student population or the members of the administration who could help them.

right on Jack

Isn’t the whole point of civil disobedience the expectation of punishment by authorities? Thoreau, Ghandi and King not only expected, they INVITED incarceration.

Kids …

I’m so happy that we were too busy blogging and posing with our new sunglasses instead of helping out with the cause. Now we can get on with our little splendid lives and hate these dumb assholes who are fighting for something. YAY COLLEGE!

@B: My point is that, although they were fighting, they were fighting in such a way that discredited their ability to actually effect change in the university henceforth. Yes, there is a certain merit in fighting for what you believe in and to change what you feel is wrong, but the key problem here is that you have to think through the logistics of such an action before you actually take it. For instance, no football team ever goes onto the field without extensive study of their own game film and their opposing team’s game film. As a result, they are better prepared to face the challenges presented to them on the field. TBNYU does not seem to have realized that you have to categorically and effectively study the bureaucracy in place at NYU in order to effectively undermine its efforts. What they did suffered from a lack of planning, dealing a crippling blow to their cause. No general goes into a fight without a plan of action and several contingencies based on what they know and perceive about the enemy. A fight for fights sake does not accomplish any sort of point and does injustices to the causes they were fighting for.

@ Bob Watson WORD

A lot of people were most upset at TBNYU’s 1st demand: amnesty, as in, “we’re sorry it had to come to this but please don’t punish us!”

I’m really weary of this sanctimonious meme that says, “Wow, at least they were fighting for something.”

Abortion clinic bombers believe in something, fight for it, and certainly risked more than most of these idiots.

A few years ago, the college republicans pulled some idiotic stunt regarding illegal immigrants. Hey, they were fighting for something!

Just because someone is working towards some goal does not, in any way, shape, or form, mean that they deserve respect, especially in the case of TBNYU, who not only failed to achieve anything, they have most likely greatly undermined any serious efforts to affect the change that they desire.

~D

While I disagreed with their methods and found their protest to be poorly planned, among other things, there seems to be a disturbing trend here with regard to this topic.

For the past few years, TBNYU was the only coalition on campus campaigning for budget disclosure, among a few other reasonable goals, and in a completely peaceful, reasonable manner, including education sessions, petitions, and letters, and very few people stepped up to help them. All these people seem to be emerging who claim that the group is ruining chances for real change because of the occupation, but none of these accusers participated in any of their more practical campaigns in the past. Of course, the administration completely refused to even have a dialogue about any of these issues. Unfortunately, TBNYU went down this path in response.

Again, I disagreed with the occupation and with some of the demands, but if there’s anything sanctimonious here it’s the alleged progressives who have negative comments to make about TBNYU but who never contributed anything themselves.

LoL. I can’t believe some of these kids even live in NYU housing. If they are so worried about money, they could have found apartments in Brooklyn for about $500 cheaper like I do. But hey, if their mummies and daddies can pay for it, why not!

By the way, does anyone know how long the suspensions will last?

@ Jack Manley-

Bravo! Like you I agree w/ many of TBNYU’s demands. If only they’d followed your suggestions and gone about things differently (and more thoughtfully), perhaps the outcome would be different and they wouldn’t be the laughingstock of the school (not to mention neighborhood and city) right now. Case in point – tonight I told my family about the whole fiasco and they just could not stop laughing. That kind of image they made for themselves is a shame because some of their ideas were pretty worthwhile, they just alienated a lot of people with their shenanigans over the past couple of days.

FYI, none of the students “assaulted” a guard. The guard who was injured ran into a door.

Right Claire! Also, I didn’t beat Rihanna, she just “fell” down some stairs.

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.

[...] Aftermath of NYU lockin. [...]

eff the haters. i like these kids. they had fun. just saying.

@ Logic: I just got here last semester. I haven’t had time to pursue any real sort of activism on my own part. The truth is, the one thing in this whole debacle that I feel strongly about is that if you’re going to do something, you should do it right. That’s the main reason I provided the points above.

[...] that was exhausting By jessroy Now that this is over, let’s get fucking [...]

[...] orchestrated by “Take Back NYU!” (around a fairly schizophrenic agenda) ended in suspensions and the loss of campus housing (”rustication,” for you Rice alums) for the organization’s ringleaders. This [...]