NYU Divest Occupies Bobst Executive Elevator for 33 Hours

Eighteen members of NYU Divest concluded a two-day demonstration in Bobst Library on Tuesday evening, after NYU administrators threatened to suspend participating students.

Divest, a student activist group focused on ending NYU’s investment in fossil fuels, had spend 33 hours occupying Bobst Library’s executive elevator — the only elevator that is capable of accessing the university’s administrative offices, located on the library’s 11th and 12th floors.

Divest members began their occupation of the executive elevator Monday at 8 AM, saying they would continue to do so until NYU’s Board of Trustees scheduled a vote on fossil fuel divestment and scheduled a date at which Divest members could present to the Board regarding the issue.

The organization held a sit-in in Bobst’s administrative offices in December 2015 asking for a meeting with the Board, which they were granted, albeit with only two of the Board members. In that meeting, they were “promised an update on the issue of divestment following the Investment Committee’s next meeting,” but they weren’t given an update following the Committee’s meeting in late February.

“Given the urgency of climate change, it is unacceptable for the Board of Trustees to delay a vote on this issue,” Divest member and NYU sophomore Olivia Rich said in a press release Monday morning. “It has been a year since the University Senate passed a favorable resolution, and we need answers.”

At 5:35 PM on Monday, Divest reached an agreement with the University administration that “a good-faith effort would be made to address fossil fuel divestment at the upcoming Board meeting,” according to a statement from Divest. The administration also offered a meeting with the Board’s Investment Committee if Divest agreed to immediately end their protest, but students continued to occupy the elevator.

“We chose to decline the administration’s offer because it was not what we were promised,” Jon Brasley, a Divest member who stayed overnight in the elevator told Local on Tuesday. “Divestment deserves a full and nuanced hearing and that cannot happen without [us] in the room.”

Eventually, the eighteen students who stayed in the library after 1 AM (when the upper levels and lobby of Bobst are closed for the night) were told they would face disciplinary action.

“Those of us who were in the area [were threatened with disciplinary action], because technically the lobby is closed after 1 AM,” said CAS senior Kelly Davis, a member of Divest. “Eighteen of us got our IDs checked, they took pictures of our IDs.”

On Tuesday at 3 PM, Divest members were issued a concession letter from Martin Dorph, the Executive Vice President of Finance and Information Technology, which declared that members of Divest would be allowed to “make a presentation to the full Investment Committee of the Board of Trustees, which had been charged by the full Board to review and advise on the issue of fossil fuel divestment.”

However, the agreement came with an ultimatum: members of Divest had until 5 PM to notify Dorph of their acceptance of the offer. “At that time, if we have not heard from you — or if you decline this proposal — we will proceed with University disciplinary proceedings, beginning with summary administrative suspension,” wrote Dorph.

Suspension would mean that Divest members would be “unable to access University buildings, including academic buildings and student residences.” The full letter can be read below.

“Code of conduct for disciplinary action is really vague,” said Divest member and CAS senior Davis Staltonstall. “Students don’t know what it means to be forced through disciplinary action… What’s bizarre to us is that we didn’t think it was within their power — and we still don’t think it’s within their power — to imply immediate suspension.”

On Monday afternoon, Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders issued support for both NYU Divest and for Columbia University’s Divest for Climate Justice campaign, which had also been threatened with suspension after its five-day protest.

On Tuesday at 5 PM, Divest members finally left the elevator and held a victory rally in Washington Square Park.

“We aren’t leaving on our preferred terms,” Davis told Local. “We basically didn’t have any alternative.”

Although Divest was technically kicked out of Bobst, members remain optimistic.

“We decided that this is a victory for us,” Davis said. “We’ve managed to get some of our demands met. This whole action was in good energy and was a really positive part of our campaign because we got so much support. I have so much appreciation for our allies at the IEC, the Black and Brown Coalition, BSU, SLAM, and the Grad Student Union, faculty, and even some staff supporters.”

[Image via NYU Divest]