Students Occupy New York University!!

Students Occupy New York University!!

axisoflogic.com

Since 10pm Wednesday night the third floor of the Kimmel Student Center at New York University has been occupied by more than 70 NYU and non-NYU students. Originally present for the first few hours of the occupation I had to leave for personal reasons, but it is still going strong and spirits are very high. It was recently announced the head of NYU university relations has cut his vacation short and is flying back home. They're clearly worried.

(visit the link for the full news article)


Related News Links:
takebacknyu.com

There are 13 demands relating to NYU investments in war profiteers and occupation, the cost of tuition, the lack of transparency and the lack of respect for NYU workers.

See the full list of demands here: takebacknyu.com... See live streaming video from the occupation here: www.ustream.tv...

LIve webcam with periodic streaming video, and live chat ongoing here:
www.ustream.tv...

Wowza, crazy!

In order to create a more accountable, democratic and socially responsible university, we demand the following:

* Full legal and disciplinary amnesty for all parties involved in the occupation.

* Full compensation for all employees whose jobs were disrupted during the course of the occupation.

* 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.

* 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.

* 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.

* 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.

*
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.

Breaking!



axisoflogic.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

Man, I wish I could do that instead of shelling out $46k a year for college....
But, not likely.

reply to post by ravenshadow13


I always feel kind of bad whenever I hear how much other people are paying for college compared to myself(I don't get government aide or anything...just a school scholarship). $46k a year seems outrageous compared to $7500 a year. I'm sorry you have to pay that.

In regards to the OP, it's good to see students take some action in regards to how the University is spending there tuition.

I am very proud of this students and their pursue of fairness, I wish we could be doing the same when it comes to government.

Just invade Washington in masses and demand government and corporate accountability.

But at least his is good start.

I guess this is where the communist revolution starts.

Personally, I feel their request are unreasonable. Not only that but what they are doing is immoral.

If you don't like the way NYU is run then don't go there and give them your money it is that simple.

Personally I hope they are all arrested.

This is a perfect opportunity for the NWO to try out some new, improved WACO type strategies.

Can these students be classified as 'enemy combatants' if they have illegally taken over part of the University campus?

numo16, had one that spend 5 years in a major University and even with all the grands she got still the out of pocket expenses were outrageous.

My husband and I felt like we were paying for another entire household.

It was a relief see her graduate, it felt like we just go a big pay raise having all the money back into our budget.

We all the economical crisis is getting very difficult for young people to afford education.

Big Universities pay and incredible amount of money to support their athletic departments specially when it comes to their football teams and their coaches.

[edit on 19-2-2009 by marg6043]

reply to post by tezzajw


Sure they will just put them into orange suits and send them into Guantanamo, how dare them to protest in America, the land of the free and the land of opportunity, as long as you are in the few wealthy elites, robbing the tax payer blind with the help of your own government.

reply to post by marg6043


I'd be worried if I was in a group of only around 70 people. Unless they want to become martyrs, they need to be careful in case they end up on the wrong end of a tear-gas grenade or worse.

More strength in numbers? Maybe a protest of 700 would be more effective? If not more strength, then at least more safety...

Good luck to them, despite some of their unreasonable demands.

I've often wondered how US university students wind up paying over 40,000 for an annual education we here consider sub-standard and pay a mere 8,000 approx. for it.

I understand that it's written into our government system that funds are diverted to our education system to assist us... but no-where near enough to cause a gap like this between our two nations.

I mean, even your prestigious universities, we've looked at thinking, what the heck were they wasting their time teaching them? and how the heck did it wind up costing them so much?

reply to post by marg6043


So Marg, am I to understand that it is ok to break the law and disrupt the lives and livlihood of law abiding citizens as long as it agrees with your personal desires? Protesting is legal and protected by the law. I will fight for your right to legally protest whether I agree with your opinion or not, but to illegally protest and disrupt the lives of others there should be no discussion. You should be hauled off to jail and if you don't go peacefully you get a face full of pepper spray and a resisting arrest charge tacked on. What has this country come to when there is so much support for not being responsible for your own actions?

reply to post by johnsky


Well at my university its less than $4000 a semester and I get scholarships from the school for about $1500 plus some more I got from other places.

I'm not sure where you get the "sub-standard" thing from, just how many schools have you attended in the US?

tallcool1

Only when it benefits all, and not just the few, If you don't want to protest then you just do what you are doing now, stay in your home and think happy thoughts all day long.

Let the doers do the work.

See, I totaly don't get this. If they didnt want to have to pay that much for their education, then why didnt they go elsewhere? If you dont like how they spend your money then either go start your own University or go to another one.

I totaly dont get this.

Im not saying that this University is good or bad. I just dont see how it is any of their business how the NYU chooses to spend the money they make.

This is America. They/we are supposed to have the freedom to do what we want with our money... as long as it is legal. What exactly are they protesting? Do they not want us to have that freedom anymore. I for one dont want anyone telling me how to spend my money.

[edit on 19-2-2009 by mrsdudara]

reply to post by marg6043


You must have gone to college because you didn't understand what I was saying.

Just kidding.

I have no problem at all with protesters. The people protesting have that right. They don't, however, have the right to criminally trespass or obstruct others from their lives. These protesters want more for themselves, everyone else accepts how things are there.

This protest is the same as me buying a mocha from Starbucks, drinking 3/4 of it, and then going back inside the store disrupting business and protesting the cost. Do I have the right to protest - sure, regardless of anyone elses opinion. Do I have the right to criminally trespass and disrupt their business - no way.

Originally posted by tallcool1

You must have gone to college because you didn't understand what I was saying.

Just kidding.

No dear you are not kidding your are just been silly, but at my age nothing surprised me anymore, so enjoy your littler joke.

UPDATE:

takebacknyu.com...

We, the students of New York University, declare the successes of this occupation.

The administration demonstrated their steadfast commitment to disregard for its students. There was no single attempt to negotiate with the students. The administration disingenuously presented the students with negotiation, which the students readily accepted. Once in the negotiation room, the administration revealed it had lied to us in order to remove us from the room. Their intent was never to negotiate, but instead to remove negotiators from the space and present them with a non-negotiable punishment.

The administration’s refusal to look students in the eye or attempt to hear our voices clearly reaffirms the need for changing university policy. An administration so unaccountable for their actions and so secretive in their operation, pushed multiple democratically elected students senators to reclaim the Kimmel Marketplace in the name of real democracy. We are appalled that the university put Public Saftey Officers at risk use of the guards as a tool to silence voices in solidarity. Several students and one security guard were injured when Public Safety was ordered to refuse the entry of food and hundreds of supportive students into the reclaimed space.

This protest is just a beginning to what is to come. Their action made national and international news, and showcased the real power of the new student movement sweeping the globe. Here in New York, a City Council member, Charles Barron, has publicly endorsed our campaign and shamed the university for its mishandling of student protest.

Well, as usual, the authorities didn't wanna play ball. They tricked the students into negotiations. This situation is just a micro mirror of what is going on countrywide and even worldwide, with the average person becoming sick of misrule, injustice, corruption, political scandals, etc. etc.

Do you think these students were in the wrong to occupy this room in protest when their concerns remain unaddressed for such a long time? You can only ignore problems for so long.

also:

"Take Back NYU! has been trying to engage the university for two years now," student protestor Anna Mullen said. "This is the first time we have gotten their attention. So if this has been going over the line, it's because we were driven to it."

"We have been clear that there are legitimate means of protests which we encourage our students to pursue…but there are illegitimate means of protests as well and this is what this is," said NYU spokesperson Lynne Browne.

Emily Stainkamp, a sit-in participant, called the university's call for the students to leave the Greenwich Village building "ridiculous."

"Holding the space is essential to having our demands met," said Stainkamp, an 18-year-old freshman from Greensboro, N.C.

wcbstv.com...

[edit on Fri Feb 20th 2009 by TrueAmerican]

Every college in the US should be investigated. These schools have been using the grad students for years as slaves for peanut wages while the professors that are payed the high salaries and the reason for the high costs spend all their time trying to publish papers and get recognition to feather their own beds! If you dare to disagree on their socialist bent or their opinions, you fail the class! No disention, no discourse is allowed any longer in the 'Palaces of Higher Education" ! They squirl away endowments and invest with no regard for anything but profit. Its time for a very heavy house cleaning and investigation of these charletans!

Zindo