New School occupiers met with NYPD brutality

On April 10, approximately 60 students occupied the New School ’s Albert List Academic Building in New York. They demanded the resignation of both President Bob Kerrey and Executive Vice-President James Murtha and an end to tuition hikes. This is the same building protesting students occupied last Dec. 17-19 demanding Kerrey’s resignation.

Kerrey has come under fire since his 2001 appointment as president of the New School because of his role in the February 1969 Thanh Phong massacre in Vietnam. Eyewitnesses have reported that Kerrey participated in the cold-blooded murder of civilians, including women, children, and the elderly, while leading a SEAL team mission.

The New School occupation began at approximately 5 a.m. when students began to lock doors and barricade themselves inside. They unfurled banners off the roof onto the building’s face that read, among other things, “New School Is Now Occupied.”

Police response to the non-violent occupation began when supporters started a picket line in front of the building at 6:30 a.m. The NYPD then moved to shut down the picket.

At about 8 a.m., students appeared on the roof of the occupied building waving red and black flags, and read their demands. The statement read in part:

“The ongoing and growing crisis of capitalism is upending and putting lie to the alleged advantages of the ‘free market.’ That job that was waiting for you has gone overseas or disappeared entirely. The scheme to draft us into perpetual debt peonage through seemingly infinite credit has only piled further contradictions onto a conflict-laden system. The house of cards is falling, revealing a lie we were well aware of all along. Capitalism has shown once again its inability to reasonably provide for humanity and within less than two decades following its proclamation of a so-called ‘end to history.’ Our fight at the New School is one of myriad battles taking place around the planet and the stakes are higher than they have ever been. Within our solidarity lies the foundation of a future as malleable and fantastic as the human potential itself. We have nothing to lose but the radical chains that weigh us down. Let’s unite together in our own struggle at the New School as a part of the greatest historical struggle—to make the world itself anew!”

Kerrey gave the signal to the NYPD to attack the occupiers, releasing a statement saying that his administration “no longer considers [the protesters] students.”

When some of the students attempted to leave the occupied building via a door on 14th Street, cops sprayed pepper spray at them and then slammed the doors shut. This incident was caught on videotape and can be viewed at www.thenewcampus.org or on the NY Times City Blog.

By 11 a.m., hundreds of police were assembled in the area, heavily armed and wearing riot gear. They began to throw tear gas into the building and to randomly assault people supporting the occupiers. Cops grabbed one young woman and shoved her down to the cement as two officers sprayed pepper spray directly into her eyes.

One supporter chanting “shame on you!” in response to the NYPD brutality was attacked by at least six police officers, who held him down, dousing him with pepper spray while repeatedly kicking and punching him. A videotape of this assault can be found on the NY Times blog at The reporter who filmed this beating was also tackled and assaulted by cops.

At around 11:30 a.m., police used bolt cutters to cut the chains the occupiers had used to lock the doors and entered the building. They arrested the remaining 19 students who were occupying the building.

Those arrested were charged with burglary, riot and criminal mischief, and have been suspended from the New School pending an administrative review.

That same evening, hundreds of supporters, including many New School students, assembled in Union Square for a rally and news conference to denounce the NYPD brutality. Following the rally, some began to march toward Bob Kerrey’s home, chanting, “Occupy everything!” and “Anticapitalista!” They had almost reached Kerrey’s posh residence when they were blocked by police who arrested at least two of the protesters.

While the occupation of the Albert List Academic Building was short-lived and focused primarily on campus-related demands, it must be seen in the context of growing opposition and resistance looking toward more confrontational tactics.

One of the statements released from the occupying students said: “There’s good news: all over the world, people are occupying. Universities. Offices. Factories. New York, Chicago, Puerto Rico, England, Scotland, Greece, Japan. We are taking what’s ours, because we’ve had that power all along, and it’s now clearer than ever that it will never be given to us. This is an act of solidarity with everyone in New York City, and every effort anywhere to reclaim space in the name of liberatory change instead of private interests.”