Take Back NYU!. The students explain why they took action to occupy the Kimmler Center:
We, the students of NYU, declare an occupation of this space, Kimmler Center, NYU. This occupation is the culmination of a two-year campaign by the Take Back NYU! coalition, and of campaigns from years past, in whose footsteps we follow.
In order to create a more accountable, democratic and socially responsible university, we demand the following:
1. Full legal and disciplinary amnesty for all parties involved in the occupation.
1. Full compensation for all employees whose jobs were disrupted during the course of the occupation.
1. Public release of NYU’s annual operating budget, including a full list of university expenditures, salaries for all employees compensated on a semester or annual basis, funds allocated for staff wages, contracts to non-university organizations for university construction and services, financial aid data for each college, and money allocated to each college, department, and administrative unit of the university. Furthermore, this should include a full disclosure of the amount and sources of the university’s funding.
1. Disclosure of NYU’s endowment holdings, investment strategy, projected endowment growth, and persons, corporations and firms involved in the investment of the university’s endowment funds. Additionally, we demand an endowment oversight body of students, faculty and staff who exercise shareholder proxy voting power for the university’s investments.
1. That the NYU Administration agrees to resume negotiations with GSOC/UAW Local 2110 – the union for NYU graduate assistants, teaching assistants, and research assistants. That NYU publically affirm its commitment to respect all its workers, including student employees, by recognizing their right to form unions and to bargain collectively. That NYU publically affirm that it will recognize workers’ unions through majority card verification.
1. That NYU signs a contract guaranteeing fair labor practices for all NYU employees at home and abroad. This contract will extend to subcontracted workers, including bus drivers, food service employees and anyone involved in the construction, operation and maintenance at any of NYU’s non-U.S. sites.
1. The establishment of a student elected Socially Responsible Finance Committee. This Committee will have full power to vote on proxies, draft shareholder resolutions, screen all university investments, establish new programs that encourage social and environmental responsibility and override all financial decisions the committee deems socially irresponsible, including investment decisions. The committee will be composed of two subcommittees: one to assess the operating budget and one to assess the endowment holdings. Each committee will be composed of ten students democratically elected from the graduate and under-graduate student bodies. All committee decisions will be made a strict majority vote, and will be upheld by the university. All members of the Socially Responsible Finance Committee will sit on the board of trustees, and will have equal voting rights. All Socially Responsible Finance Committee and Trustee meetings shall be open to the public, and their minutes made accessible electronically through NYU’s website. Elections will be held the second Tuesday of every March beginning March 10th 2009, and meetings will be held biweekly beginning the week of March 30th 2009.
1. That the first two orders of business of the Socially Responsible Finance committee will be:
a) An in depth investigation of all investments in war and genocide profiteers, as well as companies profiting from the occupation of Palestinian territories.
b) A reassessment of the recently lifted of the ban on Coca Cola products.
1. That annual scholarships be provided for thirteen Palestinian students, starting with the 2009/2010 academic year. These scholarships will include funding for books, housing, meals and travel expenses.
1. That the university donate all excess supplies and materials in an effort to rebuild the University of Gaza.
1. Tuition stabilization for all students, beginning with the class of 2012. All students will pay their initial tuition rate throughout the course of their education at New York University. Tuition rates for each successive year will not exceed the rate of inflation, nor shall they exceed one percent. The university shall meet 100% of government-calculated student financial need.
1. That student groups have priority when reserving space in the buildings owned or leased by New York University, including, and especially, the Kimmel Center.
1. That the general public have access to Bobst Library.
Related posts:
- LSE Students’ Union Rocks!
- Interview with Matan Cohen, Hampshire College Activist
- IDF: Mortar to Blame for Killing Palestinians in UN Building
- Columbia Students React to Hate Crime
- AUB Students Protest the Apartheid Wall
Hahaha!I wish I were the University administrator in charge of breaking this nonsense up. It would be so simple and fun to watch.1) Make a public announcement closing the Kimmler Center and ordering immediate vacation from the premises.2) Call the cops and charge each student with disorderly conduct and – possibly – trespassing.3) Expel student leaders for endangering public safety.4) Place every other student who attended this on probation pending an evaluation of their threat to public safety.Children are so strange these days. They think they can do anything they want. It's way past time to bust some heads.
Posted by Anonymous | February 19, 2009, 3:28 amAnon,I'm sure your nerdy internet ass has busted a lot of heads in your time…dork.
Posted by yasser | February 19, 2009, 4:08 amI love the fascist comments that come in response to these kinds of posts =P
Posted by Arayus | February 19, 2009, 10:59 amyou’re calling your own comment fascist?
ok…
Posted by Anonymous | February 19, 2009, 1:12 pmSo, NYU is creating good little brown-shirts now, eh? And Arayus is calling critics fascists? What else is new? He probably doesn’t even know that fascist movements have historically begun as violent “protest” movements.
Posted by programmer craig | February 19, 2009, 2:16 pmI wish Zionut NYU students would occupy me and teabag me. That’s what I like to do…besides hate Palestinians and Muslims.
Posted by programmer craig | February 19, 2009, 3:06 pmNice try at being funny anon.
When Iranian students rightfully protest against some of their university and government policies in a similar manner its justified as it should be.
However when American students protest in a similar way… there labeled as crazy ungrateful Americans.
Posted by Arayus | February 19, 2009, 3:40 pmHowever when American students protest in a similar way… there labeled as crazy ungrateful Americans.
I wonder why?
Or do you honestly believe there is no difference between Iran and the US? How many dissident students are currently in US prisons, Arayus? How many have been executed?
Posted by programmer craig | February 19, 2009, 3:52 pmHow many zionist balls have I sucked Arayus? If you were in front of me, I’d bite yours off.
Posted by programmer craig | February 19, 2009, 4:11 pmEnd the Occupation!
…oh wait…
Join the Occupation!
Posted by Anonymous | February 19, 2009, 4:13 pmArayus,
I’m not kidding, do you think I am kidding? Do you not think I will bite your balls off? Do you think I won’t bite your balls off and mix it with matzaball soup? do you think i’m not serous about biting your balls off? :0
Posted by programmer craig | February 19, 2009, 4:40 pmYasser, that’s enough. Down, boy. Do you really think people come to this blog to hear you fantasize about Jewish balls?
Posted by Anonymous | February 19, 2009, 8:17 pmI am all for Palestinian solidarity and respect them for bringing the spotlight to the plight of the Palestinian people. But the execution of this i.e the demands listed are sooo incohesive that it no longer makes any sense. If they truly want to help the people in Gaza at least identify Gaza as #1 not #6 or #7 among many other unrelated goals.
Posted by Dalia | February 20, 2009, 8:00 amYeah, I think these sorts of things should have clear and concise demands. Are they upset about Coca-Cola? Tuition? Israel? The library? There is pretty much zero chance that the university is going to concede to all of these unrelated demands.
Posted by Kamal | February 20, 2009, 10:34 amI’m happy that today’s students are at least being “alive”. In the past, these types of events were normal and expected. Now, it seems like everyone just sits back and takes whatever shit is thrown back at them. I don’t know if any of these demands will be made, but its a good start.
Posted by SouthAsianReader | February 20, 2009, 6:27 pmHow is this a good start? It’s fascism. They didn’t work within the system. They’re making demands from an institution that owes them nothing. You’ll see the very first demand they made was amnesty. They are SO getting expelled. They are overprivileged punks who need a good beating, and I really hope the administration puts the HAMMER on these bitches.
Every university administrator in the US is looking at what is happening here, believe me. NYU either puts the hammer on them, or american campuses are going to be overtaken by these psycho groups who have nothing better to do with their time. Got a D in Calculus? Occupation! Got a ticket for underage drinking? Occupation! Want to reduce your tuition by 99%? Occupation!
Give me a break. They need to make an example out of these morons. They FINALLY shut down wifi service. They need to bring in some cell phone jammers and make sure these idiots get NOTHING to the outside world. They’re just a bunch of losers, locked in a building, getting smellier by the hour.
Posted by Anonymous | February 22, 2009, 3:04 amAnonymous you just went overboard on the retardation.
Posted by Arayus | February 22, 2009, 3:00 pmFrom a man who justifies deliberate targeting of civilian population centers by rocket barrages, that’s a compliment!
Posted by Anonymous | February 23, 2009, 4:10 pmKabob isn’t reporting videos like this. I wonder why. Remember when we heard about Hamas breaking legs of Fatah collaborators in Gaza? It’s all so neat and clean in black and white letters. Behind each pair of those broken legs is a human being.
Watch for yourself how acts the Palestinian government of Gaza.
Posted by Anonymous | February 25, 2009, 11:08 pm