During the part-time faculty strike in the fall 2022 semester, an Instagram account called “Studentfacultysolidarity” emerged as a key source for strike updates. The account was mainly run by Emily Li, a third-year Communication Design BFA at Parsons School of Design. The account strongly advocated online for the local UAW 7092 strike and accrued nearly 4,500 followers by December.
But as the chaos of the strike settled, a new grassroots organization rose up; the One New School Coalition (ONS) – their mission: to live up to the progressive ideals of The New School.
“One New School is a collective sustained effort to follow through on the radical policies of The New School,” said ONS member Bella Coles, a third-year Global Studies Major student at the Eugene Lang College of Liberal Arts.
The New School touts that the university was founded as “a new kind of academic institution, one where faculty and students would be free to honestly and directly address the problems facing societies in the 20th century. Their vision was to bring together scholars and citizens interested in questioning, debating, and discussing the most important issues of the day.”
ONS plans to implement its goals by building community at TNS, restructuring the university, and giving students more power, among other things. “If we change the way we relate to each other, we will be better placed to meet the needs of the members of our community,” said Cooper Sperling, member of ONS and former member of SFS. Beyond changes in community building, the group also hopes to denounce the help of the administration with multiple votes of no confidence.
University-sanctioned representation for students exists, but ONS believes the changes they want must come from outside those groups. The Student Senate and the Student Remedies Task Force (SRTF) are established groups made by the university as a way for students to have a voice in how the institution moves forward. In an email from the university, SRTF stated that they will “assess how the strike and a variety of other activities on campus affected the student experience in the fall” and will “recommend a set of equitable and achievable remedies that can be implemented in the coming months for current and graduating students.”
ONS was quick to make a boycott statement on SRTF. “By creating this ‘task force,’ it is clear to us that University Leadership wants to treat these past months as an isolated locus of harm. On the contrary, these issues are direct consequences of their choices and persistent commitment to hierarchical and ineffective modes of operation” the post stated.
“I don’t think it’s capable of listening and has not proven that they want to do that,” said Coles referencing the university.
Administration and PR were contacted for comment but did not respond in the 3-week period given.
From Instagram posts to real-life assemblies
Due to the UAW Local 7902 strike that started on Nov. 16, part-time faculty could not cross virtual or physical picket lines. The limited amount of communication from the administration led many students to rely on the effort of the SFS Instagram page for timely news on the strike. Posts regarding union contract bargaining and ways to help were uploaded daily. Now, the only evidence of SFS is the stark red and white tiles below the newly designed posts.
“SFS doesn’t exist anymore, or rather it merged into One New School,” Sperling said. With the sudden rebranding of the Instagram page, some students said they are confused about the account’s origin. “I think I follow them on Instagram, but I don’t know how,” second-year Parsons fashion design student Sydney Levy said of the ONS account.
As far as outreach, ONS has organized some general assemblies that are open to the public and recently debuted their newest form of outreach “transforming the Event Cafe (L1) at the University Center into a Community Center, a space everyone is invited to curate, contribute to and use.” The center is still in its beginning stages but contains health supplies and books.
In spite of the open invitation addressed to all students, some remain skeptical of ONS’s ability to produce. “[ONS] posts a lot of things and releases a lot of statements that are critical of the administration and their empty rhetoric in regards to fixing things. I see some of the same exact empty rhetoric in One New School,” said second-year Sam Levy, a Culture and Media major at Lang.
Excitement remains alive within ONS’s inner circle. Elizabeth Noto, a parent of a third-year College of the Performing Arts student, said “I look to help support you guys in creating an educational environment that is conducive to everyone’s needs. And not just for profit, which it seems like this school has gone in the direction of.”
ONS carries on with the hopes of paying it forward to future generations. “[We are] inspired by the past of this institution – The New School was born as a school without administration,” Sperling said. The group’s objective is to accomplish it all within the community and render the university’s administration obsolete.
“If you go to the school, you’re a part of the community.” Sam Levy said. “The administration isn’t going anywhere, so you have to work with the administration to get stuff done.
If you’re interested in joining the One New School Coalition, follow their Instagram for upcoming meetings and events. You can also learn more on their website
Additional reporting by: Kelly Woodyard, Riley Owens, Ramona Mauroff, Bella Piacente, Sophie Henderson