Updated Statement
Feb 20th, 2009 by Take Back NYU!
We, the students of the occupation, remain firmly and entirely committed to our statement of non-violence. Our fight is not with the guards; our fight is with the administration, and unfortunately the administration is hiding behind the security guards instead of confronting us themselves. While we are not sorry for continuing the occupation and for bringing more students in, we do not intend our occupation to cause harm to anyone, both guards and students alike.
Wish I could be with you all right now. You guys are amazing and I am proud to have been outside in solidarity with you. I am so glad you now have reinforcements and you all got food. Hang in there; we at the New School support you with all our hearts!
As a former under-graduate student at NYU, I am in full support of NYU students demanding transparency from the Administration. I urge them to continue to adhere to Ghandi and Martin Luther King’s code of non-violence. The more students participating, the better. But PLEASE keep it civil and peaceful. This is for the highest good!
hello occupiers
i like your demands but i think a re branding could help your image. focus is key. best of luck.
If you guys are using protest chants from different time periods and changing them around to your own agenda may I suggest: “Hey Hey LBJ, How Many Cokes Did You Buy Today?”
Keep fighting the good fight!
[...] guards, though it’s not clear whether that was a cautionary measure. Take Back NYU has posted a statement reaffirming their commitment to non-violence. Possibly related posts: (automatically [...]
As an NYU alum (Gallatin ‘91), I’m seriously proud of you guys. President Sexton is a barnacle on the university’s history. You may not be familiar with my blog, The Clyde Fitch Report, but I was one of those who led the fight to prevent NYU from demolishing the Provincetown Playhouse, one of the most important structures in the history of New York City theater. Sexton and his henchwoman, Alicia Hurley, were enemies of that battle. You can read some of my posts at: http://clydefitch.blogspot.com/search/label/Provincetown%20Playhouse. Keep in touch. You have my support.
greetings of solidarity from australia!
yo, i really love what you all are doing. but if you do not limit your demands, i think you will lose. this is because you have relatively little power to negotiate at this point. transforming one building into an occupied space is beautiful, but the university must shut down buildings all the time, and they might treat you with the same protocol. this– “demanding budget disclosure, endowment disclosure, and student representation on the Board of Trustees” is awesome. that you can win!!! venceremos!
You, like what you protest, fear the truth! Let it be known that TBNYU! conceals the fact that two guards were injured as a result of their actions! A position of non-violence means nothing when complemented by violent action!
in quoting from your utube spot, “this is what democracy looks like that is what hypocracy looks like. and we pointed at the security.” do you honestly think that those who work diligently for your safety around the clock are truly the enemy? hypocrites? what you’re doing may be well needed. i simply feel that misdirected anger takes away from your credibility.
I honestly can’t believe this is happening. What is going on at NYU right now is completely outrageous. As an alumni, I am completely ashamed to have an association with what is taking place. On what planet has a private institution ever had to provide transparency to their employees or student body? NYU’s tuition increases are lower than the national averages.
How can you decide to randomly stage a protest and demand that scholarships made created for the Gaza strip. With what money? Upon the first moment of thought on the topic (which I guess is more time than anyone of you have) I have come up with 2 possibilities. The first would be for the university to give in to your demand, and promptly raise tuition or room and board to make up the difference. The second possibility is the real interesting one here. Perhaps, your goal could be better accomplished with a little more of a proactive approach. Instead of wasting all of this time protesting, and making demands, why don’t all of you concerned students start fund raising? That’s all it takes. That’s what the university would be doing. Maybe if you went about it that way, they would have matched the contributions you raised for PR. You’re just going about it, oh, so wrong.
Finally, you take over a building. A very gutsy and defiant maneuver. A classic protesting convention, really. However, I don’t believe that any protesters in the past have made one of their demands their own immunity, for said protest. Where is your backbone? If you can’t take the heat, get out of the kitchen.
I see you all more in the role of a Malcolm X. Keep fighting the fight my brothers and sisters, if Kimmel must burn to hear our voices then let it burn, let it burn, GOD ALMIGHTY LET IT BURN. I support you comrades and me and my vat of napalm await your orders to take down the capitalist swine.
Furthermore, I would like to say that if the police resort to force then we must respond with force. It is unacceptable to let John Sexton oppress his students. His capitalist regime must end, Barack Obama preaches about education for all but Sexton clearly disagrees seeing as he continues to alienate students by raising tuition.
When will TBNYU issue a re-revised statement of non-violence accounting for the “tactical necessity” of participants/occupiers injuring security guards? I hope they do for clarity’s sake.
So far TBNYU has created a situation where 1) property was destroyed and 2) people were injured. TBNYU should neither have issued an initial statement indicating non-violence and no property destruction nor issued a revised statement reiterating non-violence but permitting property destruction if they didn’t intend to respect either of them.
This phrase is particularly upsetting (from the revised statement of non-violence): “Reacting to the changing situation of the occupation is more important than adhering to any dogma, even our own.” This is an occupation initiated wholly and totally by the collective members of TBNYU; why compromise the tenets of the group when NYU reacts, as everybody knows they would have?
You’re embarrassing yourself and the NYU community. The majority of you probably joined this spectacle to fight issues of which you have a very basic understanding–you jumped aboard after what you heard from word of mouth (because God knows NYU kids complain about every damn thing) or worse, the WSN (that also complains endlessly). Learn both sides of the issue and learn how to fight the system intelligently, without becoming a mockery. Cut the dramatic gestures and go back to Tisch.
[...] protest group called TakeBackNYU. After reading their absurd FAQ, I decided to post a comment on their most recent post. Not surprisingly, these cowards did not approve my comment but felt the need to approve a number [...]
Hey, you can read their financial statements to your heart’s content. They are a 501(c)3, look up their IRS Form 990 (Tax Return) online at Guidestar.com or a similar site.
New York University 2007 Tax Return:
http://www.guidestar.org/FinDocuments/2007/135/562/2007-135562308-04827dfa-9.pdf
To person above, NYU hikes tuition faster than inflation. NYU has hiked tuition at a rate ot 5-6% a year.
Inflation is NOWHERE near that.
I do agree though that your demands should be focused down to what NYU students care about which would be budget transparency and tuition freeze.
Also in response to the guard’s being injured, that is something you guys should address. 2 guards have been injured and the fact that you guys are shying away from this subject is a sign of guilt. At least apologize for creating a chaos that ensued because of actions associated with your party.
You guys had my support until this event with the guards tonight. Your actions have shown that you have very little disregard for a non-violent protest.
PLEASE NOTE
alternate views have been removed from this blog. obviously the moderator has a strong enough bias to exercise censorship and deny the freedom of expressions that Americans and people around the world have died for us to have. you should really be ashamed of yourself moderator. disgusting really.
just wondering–won’t NYU have to spend our tuition dollars on repairing the property you’ve damaged? and aren’t they employing extra guards at kimmel for the purpose of keeping you guys under control (also using our tuition money)?
maybe if you guys were around during the civil rights movement things would have been better….or more people would have been killed.
“we do not intend our occupation to cause harm to anyone, both guards and students alike.”
?????
Maybe this minor edit would help make the point clearer:
“we do not intend our occupation to cause harm to anyone, neither guards nor students.”
There are lots of other problems with the syntax of both the statement and the comments, but I’ll restrain myself. Clearly, very few NYU students are getting their money’s worth at this institution.
John, you say, “…you take over a building. . . . A classic protesting convention, really. However, I don’t believe that any protesters in the past have made one of their demands their own immunity, for said protest. Where is your backbone? If you can’t take the heat, get out of the kitchen.” Building takeovers are indeed “a classic protesting convention” but one that (as you may or may not know) is referred to as “civil disobedience” with a long history and theoretical formulation to support it. To paraphrase MLK, ‘we have a moral obligation to break unjust laws and are willing to pay the consequences to demonstrate it is unjust’… The fact of the matter is that the powers that be (in their many manifestations, however you’d like to call them; the state, police, etc.) have figured this out and made adjustments accordingly in the form of factoring in arrests, criminalizing protesters, and drawing out long court battles as a way of diffusing movements. Are people going then to just resort to “classic conventions” without making modifications of their own to deal with the adjustments of the state? Of course not, that would be silly and self-defeating… Tactics, strategies and demands change as circumstances, history and relations of power change… Give some thought to your snide comments before posting, please!
2 guards injured!? if so, unfortunate, but big fucken deal!! get over it, assuming it even happened and is not theatrics to garner sympathy for the police! It is equally unfortunate that regular folks are quicker to show emotion and support for pigs than for fellow regular folks in general.. Their names says it all: GUARDS. What are they guarding? They are guarding the status quo, which is precisely what is at issue… But clearly what is also at issue… (and if there is any further revisions to statements it should be to address this): the issue is also the ‘cops that we all carry in our own heads’, which is on wide display in everyone’s comments concerned about these two allegedly injured guards. KILL YOUR INNER COP, and yes, this can be done nonviolently if you’d like.
nonviolence supports the state, I did put quite a bit of thought into my statement. After sleeping on it, I regret leaving something out. Every single one of these students should be expelled from the University, and arrested.
And furthermore, I can’t believe you people are censoring comments. Who the fuck do you think you are?
This seems very silly and juvenile to me. “This is an Occupation”? How childish does that sound? If you actually want to get financial aid support for a special group of students why not a petition? Why not a fund raiser? If you were really committed to your cause why cut-and-run the moment you are threatened with disciplinary action?? It sounds like your heart is in the right place. But, your means lack tact…
What spoiled, immature, rich crybabies. I’m sure your parents are happy that the money they spent on sending you to college is being wasted away right now. And, if you don’t like the tuition hikes — leave NYU and go somewhere else. By God, grow up.