Anj — New School in Exile
Topic(s): Academic Freedom? | Comments Off on Anj — New School in ExileJoin the Occupation and Student
Study-in going on RIGHT NOW at the Graduate Faculty student center on
65 5th Ave, NY! It’ll be fun, and it will make a concrete difference!
http://www.newschoolinexile.com
An Open Letter: Come Occupy a Building with UsA – ¦Now
Dear Friends,
We are writing to you from the inside of the New School Graduate Faculty
Building on 65 5th Ave. We are occupying it. Right now. Literally.
Students of the New School University, along with our partners from
other universities and groups — like NYU, Hunter College, City
College of NY, CUNY Graduate Center, and Borough of Manhattan Community
College, have organically risen up to demand the resignation of
President Bob Kerrey, Executive Vice President James Murtha, and Board
Member/torturer Robert B. Millard (he multi-tasks). We have come
together to prevent our study spaces from being flattened by corporate
bulldozers, to have a say in who runs this school, to demand that the
money we spend on this institution be used to facilitate the creation of
a better society, not to build bigger buildings or invest in companies
that make war. We have come here not only to make demands, but also to
live them. Our presence makes it clear that this school is ours, and
yours, if you are with us.
The outside doors have been closed now, so we can’t exactly invite you
in…sorry… We know you wanted a piece of the action, but
we’ll be around for quite some time. Join us at 7 AM tomorrow when the
doors open again, or come now to stand outside with a sign in
solidarity. You are cordially invited to join us in any way you can. We
are not going anywhere. In the meantime, check out our Web site:
www.newschoolinexile.com. We have all night to make things interesting,
and the website will continue to be updated. Stay tuned for the musical
pieces, doctoral dissertations, and creative finger-paintings that seem
to be the natural result of 150 students locked into a building together
for a night.
We are here, making decisions collectively, doing teach-ins, listening
to music, studying, singing. We’ve got an upright bassist, guitarists
and vocalists (If anyone can volunteer a drum-set we’ll be well on our
way…). We’ll be here until this university changes, or until the
party gets boring (but it doesn’t seem likely that will happen). We’re
not going anywhere. We hope to see you soon, and if you really can’t
wait a few hours — what the hell — occupy your own
universities or work spaces.
Come use your voice to declare loudly that this school and this world
are yours. Come use your mind to think up a better world. Come use your
body to create it, one all-nighter in the university cafeteria at a
time. Come stand in solidarity with the students, faculty, and staff of
this university. Come to write letters of support to the people of the
village of Thanh Phong whose parents were murdered by the current
President of the New School during his service in Vietnam. Come join the
struggle with the people of Iraq who are being tortured and killed by a
company funded by this university and represented on the New School
Board of Trustees. Come here to join the uprisings and outpouring of
passionate resistance currently taking place all over this country, and
all over the worlds — from factory workers in Chicago to students
in Greece. Come for yourself. Come for all of us.
In solidarity,
The New School in Exile
~ Demands of the Occupation ~
• The removal of Bob Kerrey as president of our university
• The removal of James Murtha as executive vice president of our
university
• Students, faculty, and staff elect the president, EVP, and
Provost.
• Students are part of the interim committee to hire a provost.
• The removal of Robert B. Millard as treasurer of the board of
trustees.
• Intelligible transparency and disclosure of the university
budget and investments.
• The creation of a committee on socially responsible investments.
• The immediate suspension of capital improvement projects like
the tearing down of 65 fifth Ave.
• Instead, money towards the creation of an autonomous student
space.

• Instead, money towards scholarships and reducing tuition.
• Instead, money for the library and student life generally.