Occupation #2
UPDATED SAT 4/11/09 @ 459PM
Here are:
• (a) President Kerrey’s response to the April 10 building occupation;
• (b) A response from those who occupied the building;
• (c) Report from a passerby who witnessed police violence;
• (d) Anonymous “Announce Announce” sent by the admin to all students Sat 4/11.
Though this was not USS’s occupation, USS encourages ALL members of the community to read, think, form opinions, and get involved in this important campus debate. Note: These statements are solely the opinion of their authors and do not necessarily reflect USS view of events.
A message from New School President Bob Kerrey
April 10, 2009
A Note to the Community
On December 15, 2008, an unofficial student organization calling themselves the New School in Exile occupied the cafeteria at 65 Fifth Avenue, barricaded themselves into the room, and issued a set of demands. Early on the morning of December 16, a group of students and non-students broke through a fire exit on 14th street and entered the building.
Although the occupants had violated a number of important security rules, the university made the judgment they were neither an operational or a security risk. Accordingly, we did not file a complaint with the New York Police Department to have the occupants removed. Instead we entered into a process of negotiations with our students and reached agreement on a list of demands including amnesty for all involved early on the morning of December 17. The students left peacefully at that time.
In January, this same unofficial student organization issued a public threat to forcefully shut down the university on April 1 unless the President and Chief Operating Officer were removed. Following this they were caught stealing an entire edition of the student newspaper on account of a story they regarded as unfavorable to them; and subsequently they vandalized the university’s presidential residence.
During this time the university has allowed and accommodated every peaceful protest, teach-in, and demonstration. We have enforced our rules governing such events in such a way as to permit protests, so long as they don’t endanger the safety of other members of the community or destruction of property.
This morning’s illegal occupation of 65 Fifth Avenue was joined by a number of New School in Exile students as well as individuals without any affiliation to The New School. Their claim that this was a simple political protest is false. Their entry into this building was forced, they removed a man who was cleaning the building, took his phone, injured a security officer, and did physical damage to the building.
Accordingly, in this case the university asked the New York Police Department to remove and arrest those who were trespassing on our property. We suspended, pending administrative review, all New School students who were a part of this action.
The New School prides itself on civic engagement. We have been and will continue to be a refuge for open and critical political debate. Students and faculty who choose to peacefully and passionately oppose the policies of the university will have their rights to do so protected as strongly as we protect our right to safely and securely operate our university.
– President Bob Kerrey
Response from the Occupation
(From the Occupation Website)
Today we witnessed undoubtedly the greatest disgrace in the history of the New School. Students practicing civil disobedience in occupying a mostly vacant school building have been pepper-sprayed, teargassed, beaten, and then arrested. Bob Kerrey is attempting to shift the blame for this absurdly excessive use of violence on the NYPD, which is not entirely false. 100 of cops, at least 1 helicopter, dozens of barricades, violence against supporters, and the violent arrest of the students is the result of NYPD brutality. However, Bob Kerrey also deserves the blame for turning the police loose on the peaceful occupation and working with them every step of the way as violence continued. He further tries to justify this in the most desperate, pathetic, manner imaginable: rewriting the history of the December occupation and fabricating an incidence of violence on the part of students against a security guard.
Let’s look at his false account of the December occupation. He claims that he did not file a police complaint and implies the students were acting in a civil negotiation, thus he negotiated. In truth, Bob Kerrey released a statement during the December occupation that he was working with Police Chief Ray Kelly as a result of a student assaulting a security officer.
History repeats itself as Kerrey returns to the same lie to justify the violence that resulted from treatment of the situation this morning. The assault and “injury” of a security guard is a fabrication. Students inside and outside were communicating with each other throughout the morning and no one witnessed or reported any physical altercation with security personnel. In fact, there was no talk about this whatsoever until Kerrey released his statement during the aftermath of the gassing and arrests at 65 5th Avenue. No mention of this, despite an open dialogue between supporters and New School Security. If there is truth to this allegation, President Kerrey, we demand proof!
The rest of the letter continues with Kerrey’s typical lip service towards a respect “civic engagement.” This comes after months of attempting to expell and threatening to arrest students who were organizing against him. Of course he turns to the illegal “paper caper” and “bye bob” incidents (involving a total of 4 students!) to divert our attention from the violence we have just witnessed.
Bob Kerrey, there is no excuse for excessive of your response to the occupation this morning. Your actions were witnessed by the Free Press, the New York Times, New York 1, Washington Square News, and many other news organizations. The truth is going to get out to the community despite your pre-emptive lies.
UPDATE: We have just spoken with several security guards at New School, and they have shed some light on President Kerrey’s claim that a security official was injured. Indeed there was a brief altercation with a “supervisor,” possibly a maintainence supervisor, who tried to open one of the doors and had it accidentally closed on his leg. The man in question was not hospitalized and did not sustain injury. Any harm done to him could in no way be construed as intentional.
Statement from a passing student
Received from contact form on USS Website, Saturday 4/11/09
Hello – I am writing because I observed a terrifying display of police
force on Friday outside of the GF building, which was in clear violation
of protocol. As I was walking down the street I was nearly pepper
sprayed and tackled down to the ground as I witnessed fellow students,
who were in no way involved in either entering or exiting the occupied
building, tackled by police, pepper sprayed and humiliated. I witnessed
as a number of these students were arrested for no reason. I too saw
how a police officer dangerously sprayed a perimeter of pepper spray
onto the sidewalk to ward off any nearby protesters. Students were on
the sidewalk bleeding and crying, who were in no way involved in
breaching security.
This was clearly a violation of protocol, and a travesty. I among
others were exposed to this horrific display of unwarranted police
force.
I write because all of the police reports, and all of Bob Kerrey’s
recent communications have denied any of this of happening. I would
hope that the USS could help to inform the university community, through
an email, of the brutality that did occur.
Thank you so much.
Administration Statement (sent to all students on Saturday 4/11/09 @ 1230pm. No name is listed as the writer.)
New York City, April 11, 2009 – Early yesterday morning, a New School
building at the corner of 14th Street and 5th Avenue was illegally
broken into by approximately 30 people, some of whom were New School
students. The police were involved and 22 protesters were arrested. Any
participant that is enrolled at The New School will be suspended pending
completion of disciplinary proceedings. Below is a timeline of activity
of yesterday’s events.
At 5:25am, a maintenance employee for The New School was in the
cafeteria in 65th 5th Avenue. He heard a loud bang when over two dozen
protesters with crowbars broke the locks on the side door on 13th
Street. As he exited the cafeteria, he was overwhelmed by another group
of protestors, some wearing face masks. He reported being physically
grabbed by four men and forced out the door. During this time, they
stole his security two-way radio.
A security supervisor responded to a call from the maintenance employee
and went to the buildings entrance on 13th Street, where he interrupted
the protestors in their effort to block the doorway. Although students
have publicly denied that anyone was hurt, participants slammed the
supervisors leg in the door as he tried to enter through the door. He
sustained injuries to his leg and went to the emergency room at St.
Vincents Hospital.
The protesters carried crowbars, bolt-cutters, mace, paint, hundreds of
feet of security cable, masking and duct tape, kryptonite locks, and
hundreds of feet of nylon rope into the building. They were also
carrying sleeping bags and food, indicating they planned to be in the
building for some time.
Security called 911 to report a burglary at The New School and gave the
location at 65 5th Avenue. The initial NYPD responding units arrived at
the scene in three minutes and began assembling a comprehensive team to
deal with the break-in. NYPD have been on alert since December 2008 as
there have been numerous attempts to break into this building before.
NYPD protocols dictated the nature of the response by the police.
The protesters, some but not all of whom were New School students,
blocked all building entrances. They used conduit pipe, or hollow metal
bars, heavy, plastic-coated security cable, and gravity locks to block
the doors, which were then reinforced with desks and chairs. They used
Crazy Glue on all the locks. They put duct tape over all security
cameras and transmission devices, effectively cutting off the buildings
network service. They also cut through the cage inside the building to
the cafeteria and smashed the cash register.
Between 8:30 a.m. and 9:00 a.m., up to nine hooded individuals appeared
on the roof of the building, where they made a statement and hung signs
at the 13th Street and 5th Avenue corner of the building.
At approximately 11:30 a.m. a group of students tried to escape through
an exit on 14th Street. It is estimated that eight participants escaped
down 14th Street. Three were caught by the NYPD and resisted arrest. The
individuals included three students, one from The New School, one from
Brooklyn College and one from NYU, who was confirmed by NYU security as
a member of their previous occupation. These protesters hurt two police
officers and face charges of assault in the 2nd degree. One protester,
a New School student, was hurt in the altercation.
At 11:45, the NYPD prepared to enter the building. Using a megaphone,
Tim Sikorski, head of New School security, warned the protesters they
would be arrested and the NYPDs hostage negotiation leader also made a
similar announcement. Protesters responded to the NYPDs request and
unlocked the doors and let the NYPD in.
There were 16 males and 3 females present in the building. All were
arrested, in addition to the 3 arrested earlier on 14th Street. It is
unknown at this time how many participants were New School students.
There were participants from other universities as well as other
unaffiliated individuals. Protesters inside the building did not resist
arrest. The NYPD used plastic handcuffs and led each participant out of
the building. They were taken to NYPDs central booking. All participants
face charges for burglary in the 3rd degree, a charge stemming from
breaking into an unoccupied building.
The above statements are solely the opinion of those who wrote them.