This story was updated on Wednesday, Dec. 6th at 7:32pm.
On Monday, approximately 100 students participated in the Walkout for Palestinian Liberation organized by The New School’s chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP). This marked the first event in a planned “week of actions” intended to encourage the university to respond to the group’s demand for “full financial transparency in light of the current genocide in Gaza and occupied Palestine” — a goal SJP outlined in a recent Instagram post announcing the walkout.
As the day progressed, interactions between those participating in the walkout and community members became increasingly tense, heightened by the presence of campus security and uniformed officers from multiple precincts of the New York Police Department. Read on for the timeline of events as they transpired throughout the day.
11:00 A.M.
New School students and supporters gathered at Union Square North for the Walkout for Palestinian Liberation organized by The New School’s SJP. At the park, members of SJP led chants, made speeches, and read aloud the names of Palestinian victims of the violence in Gaza.
11:50 A.M.
The crowd dispersed into three groups — one to Alvin Johnson/J.M. Kaplan Hall on E 12th St., one to the Parsons School of Design building at 2 W 13th St., and one to the University Center at 63 5th Ave. At all three locations, students sat in front of the turnstiles blocking entry to the buildings and continued chanting in support of Palestine.
At Johnson/Kaplan Hall, two members of SJP stood outside the building and encouraged students to join the sit-in. If they declined, they were asked to enter through the W 11th Street entrance.
1:20 P.M.
The three groups reconvened at the UC, laying one Palestinian flag over the turnstiles and two at the center of a circle of students.
Students who were not a part of the walkout and attempted to cross over the turnstiles were met with an exclamation of “Shame!” from the seated students. University security opened a door to the left of the main entrance and another door to the right of the security desk for students to enter through. Some incoming students appeared annoyed.
1:26 P.M.
TNS community members at the sit-in moved to block the newly available entrance and an additional open door to the UC on the corner of 13th Street. Students continued to stand, blocking the turnstiles and linking arms.
During the walkout, multiple altercations ensued between participants of the sit-in and students with opposing views. One of the first notable ones occurred when a student standing between the two sets of doors at the UC began yelling “Shame on you!” toward those participating in the sit-in.
2:12 P.M.
Community Affairs officers from the NYPD sixth precinct entered the building and stood by the security desk for the remainder of the sit-in.
2:46 P.M.
Layla Lari, a TNS student who identifies as a “brown Middle-Eastern Jew,” entered the group of chanting students and began shouting at them — “This is hate speech!” Another student with SJP stood in front to block her from the larger group. Lari “flipped off” the chanting students and exchanged heated words with another student on her way out, as confirmed by multiple reporters and individuals on the scene, and video evidence collected by the Free Press. After the encounter, the student Lari spoke to, who chose to remain anonymous, said, “I was just spat on by an Israeli,” — their interpretation of Lari inadvertently spitting during the altercation as she yelled at the demonstrators. Lari reached out to the Free Press to deny that she flipped off or spat at those participating in the Walkout.
2:50 P.M.
Uniformed officers from multiple NYPD precincts — including the 5th, 10th, and Midtown South — entered the UC from a door on the Fifth Avenue side and exited from another on the E 13th St. side. The officers then dispersed to multiple locations including next to the UC, in front of the Welcome Center, and opposite E 13th St. adjacent to the Brandy Melville storefront.
3:35 P.M.
Shannon Schmutz, Associate Director of Campus Accessibility, entered the UC and began handing out a “Notice of Policies” which informed students that blocking building entrances and exits was a violation of TNS’s Demonstration Guidelines, and those found to be in breach of them would be subject to sanctions ranging from warnings to expulsion. An anonymous member of SJP shouted, “Fuck these guidlines!” and students began chanting “Shame! Shame!” as Schmutz exited the building.
3:44 P.M.
A member of SJP announced that the sit-in was ending. As students disbanded, they stated, “Do not let the intimidation tactics of the NYPD and of the Zionists at this institution and around the city silence you!” They invited students to attend the remainder of the actions planned for the week as part of the SJP’s Week of Action and reiterated that Interim President Donna Shalala had missed the Dec. 1 deadline to release a comprehensive account of the New School’s financial ties to Israel.
4:38 P.M.
An email blast was sent to all students from the University Announcements email address titled “Demonstrations on Campus.” The email notes that “students obstructing access may be subject to sanctions under the student code of conduct, with the penalties determined by a hearing process.”
Update: Layla Lari, a source quoted in this story, reached out to the Free Press to deny that she “flipped off” or spat at those participating in the Walkout. The article has been updated to reflect her response to the story, and to further clarify the quotes referring to her.