Faculty at NYC’s New School Erect Anti-Israel Encampment in Effort to Support Student Protesters
Edited by: Fern Sidman
At the progressive bastion of The New School in Manhattan, a new chapter unfolded this Wednesday as faculty members launched their own protest, the first faculty-led anti-Israel demonstration on a U.S. campus, as per the organizers’ claim. According to a report in the New York Post, approximately half a dozen tents sprang up at the University Center, signaling solidarity with the student movement that demands the university divest from 13 companies allegedly supporting Israel’s actions in Gaza.
The New School faculty establish ‘solidarity encampment’, reportedly the first faculty camp amid series of ongoing pro Palestine student led protests at Universities around the country.
The newly established camp is a direct response to last week’s arrests of over 40 student… pic.twitter.com/3rBIIKixq2
— FreedomNews.Tv FNTV (@FreedomNTV) May 8, 2024
The information provided in the Post report said that this encampment, dubbed the Refaat Alareer Faculty Solidarity Encampment—named in memory of a noted writer and professor killed in an Israeli airstrike last December—marks a significant escalation in the campus activism that saw over 40 students arrested and temporarily suspended following NYPD intervention last Friday. The arrests came as police dismantled a similar student-led protest.
The demands of these faculty protestors extend beyond divestment. They are calling for an end to the NYPD’s presence on campus and for the university to expunge the disciplinary charges levied against protesting students, as was reported by the Post. These faculty members, emboldened by the student activism, assert the necessity of their involvement to advance the cause started by their pupils.
“The movement started by our brave students must continue, and it is incumbent upon us as faculty to heed their calls and help finish what they started,” stated an anonymous faculty organizer in a release by New School’s Students for Justice in Palestine, the Post reported.
Kerrey Hall at The New School has been renamed Bisan Hall pic.twitter.com/bHp7U2yQ7A
— not lauren (@stillaintlauren) May 3, 2024
The narrative from the faculty’s camp paints a grim picture of the university administration’s response to the protests. Allegations of deception by the administration in the face of what they describe as “violent NYPD repression” and tactics that hinder students’ access to essential needs post-arrest have been voiced. The Post reported that according to one faculty member, “From the brazen lies spouted by administration in the face of violent NYPD repression to the suspension of students and tactics used to prevent students from accessing their essential needs after arrests, it is clear the President, Board members, and Administration have no interest in protecting students or listening to their demands, only in protecting themselves and their own profits.”
The New School interim President Donna Shalala stands accused by the Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) of deploying NYPD riot police against protesting students as they slept. Indicated in the Post report was that in a strongly worded statement released on Tuesday, the SJP announced a call for a general strike aimed at halting all school operations—a dramatic escalation in their ongoing campus activism.
The strike, supported by a considerable portion of the faculty and student body, seeks total cessation of both paid and unpaid labor at the university. The Post report revealed that in a bold move signaling deepening faculty involvement, educators have been urged to withhold final grades, a step that could disrupt the academic schedule significantly and underline the seriousness of their grievances.
The conflict between the university administration and its community intensified following the mass arrest of students during a previous protest. This led to a sweeping vote among 200 faculty members, with an overwhelming 94% expressing no confidence in both Shalala and the Board of Trustees, as per the information in the Post report. The vote reflects a profound distrust in the university leadership and a rallying cry for significant administrative changes.
Amid these internal upheavals, the faculty protesters are broadening their scope to national concerns, demanding that universities and municipalities across the country dismiss all charges and disciplinary actions against the more than 2,000 students who have been arrested or disciplined during related protests nationwide, as was pointed out in the Post report.
“We hope it will not be the last. We thank our students for showing us the way; for being our teachers,” the faculty stated, recognizing the student-led initiatives that sparked the current faculty involvement, as was stated in the Post report.
