Next Left Notes: SDS Issues Demands To New School Board Of Trustees

SDS Issues Demands To New School Board Of Trustees

NEW YORK — The New School chapter of Students for a Democratic Society rallied today, calling on students, staff, and faculty to support its campaign “for a socially just, responsible, and democratic university.” By the end of the protest SDS had convinced the New School administration to meet with students to discuss “four core demands.”

The rally started at 2:30 P.M. and grew as classes let out. By 3:30 P.M. a group of 35 students had assembled in the New School courtyard. The students were protesting because they said they have been excluded from participation in the decision-making process at their university. The SDS campaign “for a democratic university” raises a number of concerns the students want the administration to address.

New School University’s ties to war profiteers is a key issue. Robert B. Millard, the Treasurer of the New School Board of Trustees, is the chairman of the executive committee of L-3 Communications, one of the largest military contractors in the U.S. SDS has been protesting against L-3 for several months, accusing the contractor of being directly implicated in the violation of international law. Eight students were arrested for blocking the entrance to L-3 on March 19 - the fifth anniversary of the Iraq War. This lockdown was followed by a graphic die-in outside L-3 on April 18. New School SDS is demanding the removal of Millard from the Board of Trustees. The students are also demanding that all university ties to L-3 be severed.

According to a recent SDS statement, New School has labor problems too - students argue that the New School administration “ignores the concerns of workers by hiring labor-rights violating companies like New York Insulation and refusing to hear the demands of the Local 78 labor union.” SDS wants New School to cease doing business with New York Insulation.

Students and alumni are also challenging the New School administration’s refusal to renew the contract of Professor Barrie Karp, a popular professor in the cultural studies department. Students say this decision is indicative of the administration’s push to restructure the curriculum - and is part of a general shift away from the school’s progressive tradition. Students argue that the school is being “corporatized” and they are demanding Karp’s contract be renewed.

In addition SDS is calling for full disclosure of all university investments and financial statements “to the students, faculty, staff, and alumni of The New School.”

Determined to be heard, 15 students left the rally and attempted to get access to a Board of Trustees meeting, being held a short distance from the protest.

“We entered the meeting peacefully and quietly,” said Pat Korte, a New School SDS organizer.

The trustees asked the students to leave the private meeting but the students insisted that their demands be heard. In response, the trustees asked the students to submit a written list of their demands, promising to review the list at a later date. The students refused and eventually the Dean of Eugene Lang College offered a compromise.

“The trustees and the administration agreed to meet with us to discuss our demands…by no later than May 14,” Korte said. Korte and the other activists asked for this agreement in writing — and they got it.

Noting that it is finals week and students are “feeling pressured”, Korte said he was pleased with the turnout and with the agreement reached with the New School administration.

“I think the action was a success. We presented our demands in an assertive manner,” Korte said.

Anyone looking for more information on the New School SDS campaign can write to newschoolsds@riseup.com or visit www.newschoolsds.org.

Ending on a High!

Hey y'all!

So we can chalk up this year as a success! Today, after a short rally, SDS activists took the bold step of directly confronting the Board of Trustees of New School University, demanding the means for ensuring direct accountability to students, including full financial disclosure and student representation on the board of trustees. We also raised several issues we have campaigning around all semester. We announced our distress at Treasurer Robert B. Millard's connection with war profiteer L3 communications (who was, ironically, today named in a lawsuit by victims of the concentration camp at Abu Grahib). We demanded justice for New School construction workers, exploited, underpaid and forced to work in dangerous conditions by contractor Arun Bhatia. And we raised the issue of the $3000 tuition hike that has caused distress to thousands of students already struggling to afford their education. Security around the building was heavy (in fact, most of the 11th street building was locked down), but protesters managed to outflank them and make it to the door of the meeting. At that point, the administration decided to negotiate rather that risk their meeting being disrupted.

After talking with the Dean of Lang College, our folks secured a written promise that we would be allowed to meet with the President of the University and members of the Board of Trustees to raise our concerns directly by May 14th. We consider our action, therefore, a great success, in that we have brought the issues to the spotlight and have forced them to the negotiating table when they refused, previously, to even acknowledge students' voices. We were put in the position of having to use direct action to accomplish our goals, but we'd like to remind you SDS is not just about protest. A huge amount of planning, outreach and research went into this action, and we have also spent considerable time participating in indirect action such as student government and education programs. There is lots of work yet to be done, but we look forward to a productive summer and an amazing next semester!

Remember, it's never too late to get involved, and there's lots of great work you could be doing to help out! Email us at newschoolsds(at)riseup[dot]net, or come to our final meeting of the semester on Monday at 6pm in the student activities space, room 101, 55w. 13th!