USS Looking for New Space to Replace Kellen Gallery

In the wake of the All-City Student Occupation that ended less than two weeks ago, the University Student Senate is attempting to find a space at The New School where students can hold political discussions, organize events, and facilitate activism. Although many students thought that Kellen Gallery would serve this purpose, the USS decided on November 30 to return Kellen to its normal use and look for a replacement.

The gallery was defaced on the morning of November 25, the day that occupiers at 90 Fifth Avenue vacated New School premises and the occupation disbanded. The decision to restore Kellen Gallery, which the administration had offered to the occupiers as a replacement for the Student Study Center, came after a USS-organized public forum on November 28. Two days later, the USS sent out an email explaining its decision.

“After the meeting on Monday, it was clear that the university community wanted the space returned for its intended use to the Gallery staff,” the email said.

Lang student Katherine Towell, a USS co-chair, said that the USS has received some criticism from occupiers for its role in deciding what to do with Kellen Gallery. But the senate, she added, did not make the decision itself — it only stepped in to help gauge the opinions of other students and members of the university community.

The occupiers, Towell said, “think [the USS] is trying to take the glory of this, and I can assure you, we claim no responsibility for what’s happened. Up until Tuesday of last week, the USS was not involved at all,” she said, explaining that the USS first became engaged in the negotiating process when several senators chased down President David Van Zandt in a hallway after a meeting. The USS was later given the task of collecting student feedback and determining the fate of Kellen after the end of the occupation.Peter Taback, assistant vice president of communications for The New School, said that it was appropriate to give the responsibility or making a decision to the senate.

“The student senate is the appropriate democratic, representative student body at the university,” he said. “They’re the ideal body to handle this decision.”

With Kellen set to return to its regular use as a gallery, the USS is looking to find another space where students can gather. Much of their discussion has focused on the basement of the New School building at 6 E. 16 St., an open space with tables and chairs similar to the Student Study Center at 90 Fifth Ave., where the occupation originated.

No decision has been made, but Taback said that the university is committed to continuing to allow students to organize on campus.

“There’s a realization on behalf of the administration that the world is changing and The New School is central to a lot of those discussions,” said Taback.

But Towell said that some of the occupiers are resisting the USS’s attempts to open a new space for discussion.

“There’s been pushback on our attempt to involve the rest of the university on this,” she said. “We’re trying to end the alienation that a lot of the student body feel from the occupiers.”

Many members of the university community have spoken of such alienation from the goals and methods of the occupation. A number of students and faculty alike said that they initially supported the occupation, but came to oppose it as they saw what was happening inside 90 Fifth Ave. A letter to the university community, written by NSSR professor Andrew Arato and signed by about 30 faculty members, condemned the actions of the occupiers, saying that students should have controlled the small group of protesters who turned the occupation into an exclusive and unwelcoming place.

“We are not calling for the punishment of the students concerned,” said the letter, dated November 28. “But we do think that any serious movement-to-be has the responsibility to police its ranks, and discipline its membership by excluding those who violate democratic rules and engage in random violence.”

Because many members of the community have expressed similar feelings, Towell said that the USS is trying to push past the negative outcomes of the occupation and focus on its original goal — to provide students with a place where they can discuss political, economic, and social issues. She remained optimistic that the USS can play a productive role going forward.

“All we’re trying to do is make a space where students can come together,” she said. “This has actually been a really great opportunity.”