Just after 12:15 pm this afternoon, several black-clad figures were seen standing on the roof of the Silver Center. The iconic purple NYU flag, usually seen fluttering from the flagpole on top of Silver, had vanished. In its place, draped over the side of the building, was a banner that read:

“FUCK TUITION HIKES.”

The banner hung for over half an hour before it was taken down.

A celebratory cheer to those mysterious black-clad figures who pulled off this latest hijinx: may there be many more to come.

TO THE END OF THE COMMODIFICATION OF OUR EDUCATION!

another benefit party, featuring electrotrash dancin’, footage of anarchists burning shit down and spitting on cops projected onto walls, muffintov cocktails, and otherwise militant sweet things. and beer!

proceeds go to both nyu and new school legal feees.

cover: $5-10 sliding scale; no one will be turned away for lack of funds. there will be mad beers for mad cheap, also.

facebook event here

see y’all there!

WHY OCCUPY?

or, TAKE BACK EVERYTHING.

When: Wednesday, April 22 at 8:30

Where: Kimmel 912

As students and faculty, we ARE this university - physically, intellectually and financially. Through a student and faculty run Socially Responsible Finance Committee, we can take part in how NYU invests itself - regardless of the administration’s conservatism and secrecy. NYU undergraduates, graduate students and professors are invited to participate in a roundtable discussion with an SRI professional to discuss how we create a student and faculty run Socially Responsible Finance Committee at NYU. We will be meeting with Charles Sandmel, a certified financial planner and NYU parent, to discuss sustainable and responsible investing, and to figure out how we can realize this at our university. This will be a preliminary planning meeting for what we hope will become a broad coalition effort to bring sustainable and responsible finance to NYU.

Come one, come all!

FIRST join fellow student activists at the New School to rally against police violence and the unchecked power of the New School administration. Meet outside 55 W. 13th St. at 6PM. 
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=88434096978

THEN join Reverend Billy from the Church of Life After Shopping as he EXORCISES THE DEMONS OF CORPORATIZATION FROM NYU! Meet outside Kimmel at 7:30. 

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=31464334963

See you there!

Once again, the images speak for themselves.

Students from the group Colby United are trying to spread the word about an incident of joint security and police violence against two students of color at their school.  Last Sunday, two Colby students were brutally detained by campus security officers, one of whom was maced while being detained.  Despite the clearly overwhelming use of force administered by security guards at the scene, at least 11 different police vehicles arrived to ‘handle’ the situation.  Sporadic incidents of police violence continued throughout the night after the two students’ arrest.

The use of force against students betrays a dangerous arrogance by university administrators, and physical violence by representatives of academic institutions should be rejected in every instance.  Take Back NYU! supports the efforts of Colby United to change the culture and policies that could lead to incidents such as the one described above.

We also continue to support our friends at the New School, who suffered their own attacks by police and security officials this weekend. We offer solidarity to students at both universities as they continue their organizing and struggle.

Take Back NYU! welcomes the Stop Shopping spiritual sensation (and NYC mayoral candidate!) REVEREND BILLY to NYU for a sermon on free speech and dissent outside the Kimmel Center.  The sermon will commemorate the hundreds-strong show of support for Take Back NYU!’s February occupation, and exorcise spirits that led to the pepperspraying and clubbing of demonstrators in the streets the night of 2/19.

The sermon will  be held at 7:30 on Thursday 4/16 outside NYU’s Kimmel Center at 60 Washington Square South.  Bring your friends, bring your souls, you might just find yourself saved.

The nineteen New School occupiers arrested, as well as the four arrested street supporters, have been arraigned and released on their own recognizance (without having to post bail) as of about 6:30 today. Approximately three students were arrested following the support rally last night; they have not, at the time of this writing, been arraigned yet.

Our comrades at New School are suspended indefinitely and facing myriad misdemeanor and a few felony charges for standing up to their administration. Of course, they deserve everyone’s full support and solidarity (see previous post for the implications of being in solidarity).

Keep your eye on New School Reoccupied for updates. This is just the beginning, and we are winning.

Solidarity? Of course solidarity! Bob Kerrey, the New School administration and the NYPD are so cleary in the wrong here that a statement of solidarity and an invective against police are not only insufficient to express our outrage–our disappointment–at the turn of events following today’s re-occupation–they are also too obvious, too easy.

NYU’s ham-fisted actions against its students during the Kimmel occupation was the canary in the coal mine of student-directed brutality in New York. Our universities seem completely unable to even make sense of the idea of direct student democracy; their only response is to treat activists as ‘non-students.’  This is what we really have to fear from the privitization of our education - that higher education in New York will only become the domain of those amenable to neoliberal power.  All others will be gassed, and shown to the door in handcuffs.

Bob Kerrey’s condemnations of the occupation ring hollow - not only has he lost the confidence of the students, faculty and staff of his school, but  his gradeschool-bully tactics with the NYPD have lost him the confidence of the city.  His willingness to default to force to settle his arguments with students echoes the classic playground taunt of the actually powerless - “you may be right, but my big brother can beat you up…”

So, why are we writing?  What do we mean by solidarity?  Solidarity means continued action - it’s more than words, more than the chattering of a hundred journalists.  This is real, and it’s not over.  Solidarity means support for our incarcerated friends - there’s a rally at 10 pm at Union Square South.  Solidarity means refusing to be cowed by the pathetic violence of the police.  Solidarity means more organizing around issues that matter for all students.  Solidarity means not stopping until we win.