On March 6, roughly 40 protesters and picketers arrived at Arnhold Hall at 55 West 13th St. at 2:00 p.m., an hour before Israeli Defense Forces Lieutenant Roei and his sister Noa were set to arrive to speak to Hillel at The New School, a Jewish student organization. Hillel previously planned for the talk to take place at the Sheila C. Johnson Design Center on 66 Fifth Ave., across the street from the ongoing SENS-UAW Local 7902 picket line in front of the University Center, but was moved due to safety concerns.
The protestors and picketers chanted “Free, Free Palestine” as they marched in front of the main entrance doors of Arnhold Hall. Meanwhile, inside the building a silent sit-in was taking place on the 9th floor.
2:15 p.m. – 3:50 p.m.
Picketers and protestors gather outside Arnhold Hall
At 2:00 p.m., a crowd, consisting of SENS picketers and protestors against the event, marched from the University Center toward the Arnhold Hall building.
“We do have a clear political position on this,” said Elijah Blanton, the interim unit chair of SENS-UAW. “We think it is dangerous and irresponsible of The New School to host this and also morally wrong.” Blanton stated that SENS stood in solidarity with the event, but the demonstrations were not pre-planned as a combined effort.
Soon after arriving, a SENS Bargaining Committee member, who requested to be anonymous, addressed the crowd and condemned the university for hosting an event during a strike. “These two struggles are not separate; they are one. If [people] go inside, they are crossing our picket line. If they go inside, they are saying ‘Fuck you’ to both the union … and to people who are willing to stand up against genocide,” the bargaining committee member said.
A second wave of protesters and picketers joined the active protest at around 2:35 p.m., marching in circles in front of the main entrance doors. As the crowd grew, speeches continued, and a large Palestinian flag was held up against the glass doors of the building, blocking the main entrance.
Vice President of Hillel, Liora Gold stood in front of the security desk, waiting for IDF soldier Lieutenant Roei and his sister Noa’s arrival.
“This is already a successful event. We’re already in. I’m not scared,” Gold said. “I think we took as many measures to make this as unproblematic and as safe as possible. And it’s just a little bit disappointing to see that our safety was being challenged,” she said.
About an hour after the protesters’ arrival, one of them stood by the door and yelled “Shame!” at an unidentified man walking inside Arnhold Hall.
According to an anonymous faculty member who witnessed the incident, the man mistook the pull door for a push door, believing the protester was stopping him from entering. In response, the man shoved the student onto the ground, causing the crowd to run toward him and tug on his backpack and clothes. Another protester ran towards the crowd, yelling for them to stop, while people around attempted to tell the man to go inside. Eventually, the man entered the building and the crowd backed away.
Shortly after, the New York Police Department was seen leaving Arnhold Hall through the main entrance after responding to a call from within the building concerning a “disorderly group organizing outside,” according to an NYPD officer.
Protestors stage sit-in on Arnhold Hall’s Ninth Floor
Hillel at The New School was set to host IDF Lieutenant Roei in the Sheila C. Johnson Design Center, Room L511 at 3:00 p.m. However, once it became apparent that protesters would be present, the venue was changed to Room 930 at Arnhold Hall.
At the new location, around 3:30 p.m., approximately 12 protesters sat silently while a projector at the front of the room read, “Gaza death toll surpasses 30,000 with no let-up in Israeli bombardment.”
Soon after, an unidentified man walked in and asked if those present had registered for the event. Met with silence, he asked the crowd if they were staging a protest, before he exited the room.
Following this, two university administrators — one identified as Daniel Napolitano, TNS’s chief of staff — members of Hillel, and protesters stood waiting on the 9th floor while a new location for the event was determined.
3:50 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.
Protestors relocate to Hillel’s new location
At 3:50 p.m., members of Hillel relocated to the office of Richard Kessler, executive dean of the College of Performing Arts, in Room 706A on the 7th floor.
The protesters who remained inside Room 930 grabbed their belongings and followed Hillel down, where they lined the hallway outside Room 705. Two individuals, TNS Security Supervisor, Brandon Bunting and an unknown member of Hillel, stood at Dean Kessler’s door making sure no one else entered.
This marked Hillel’s third time switching rooms due to safety concerns.
Outside, a protester announced that IDF Lieutenant Roei was being hosted at Dean Kessler’s office. “This is more of the acceptance of the genocide, that one of our administrators is allowing [Lieutenant Roei] in the room to protect and host him,” the protester said.
Inside, around five minutes later, a protester wrote on a large sheet of paper, “How many have you killed?” before throwing it into the room when the door was opened to let someone out.
At 3:59 p.m., a protester held their phone to the face of a Hillel member at the door, and an audio of a young girl exclaiming in pain could be heard.
“Yeah? Do you like that?” the protester asked the individual at the door, “Go Israel, right?”
A minute later, a young girl walked out of the room across from the office holding a violin. The space was presumably being used for music lessons, as multiple other young children entered with instruments throughout the protest.
As protesters sat outside the room, they began banging on windows and doors while chanting, “How many people have you killed?”
“I didn’t feel protected by security. I felt protected by Dean Kessler,” Gold said. “He put his office in danger. His decorations were literally shaking as we were having the talk.”
Bunting and the unknown member of Hillel continued to guard the door. Thomas Whalen, director of facilities management, attempted to mediate between the two groups.
4:00 p.m. – 4:20 p.m.
The sit-in continues
Protesters repeatedly asked the individuals guarding the door why they could not enter. One of the individuals responded, saying the room had reached full occupancy. Protesters questioned the number of people inside and asked for the door to be opened so they could hear the conversation inside.
One protester began yelling at the door, “Why do we bring the military to school?” The person at the door responded, “He’s the survivor of a massacre.” Protesters erupted in chants of “Free Palestine!” and “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free!”
“I understand what these demonstrators are trying to say,” an anonymous Hillel board member told the Free Press, “But to create an environment where Jewish and Israeli students are quietly walking and running away from anti-semitism is really disheartening.”
While Whalen was attempting to mediate between the groups, the members outside the room grew frustrated, asking him why they could not participate in the event. They were told once again it was at maximum capacity and a possible fire hazard. In response, protesters chanted, “How many people have you killed? NYPD, KKK, IOF, they’re all the same.”
The protesters expressed feeling discriminated against, stating, “Only white students were let in,” and insisted “Until this discrimination comes to an end [protesters] are going to be in this hallway.”
4:20 p.m. – 4:35 p.m.
Protestors and Hillel exit Arnhold Hall
Andrade Fearon, TNS’s director of student leadership and involvement, told the group that standing in the hallway was “in violation of [the university’s] protesting policy,” due to chanting in an academic and egress space. Protesters outside stated that they had registered for the event and continued to go back and forth with Fearon.
As the end of the event neared, Whalen announced that protesters needed to clear the floor so Hillel members and the Lieutenant could leave the room peacefully. After nearly five minutes of debate between the group and TNS faculty present, the group moved to the opposite side of the door so Hillel members could leave. Whalen asked for the groups to remain peaceful without incident and for everyone to remain safe.
Once additional campus security arrived, members of Hillel and others inside exited, and protesters exclaimed phrases such as “Shame!” — “How many did you kill?” — and “Genocidal freaks!”
Hillel members stepped into an elevator, hoping to leave through an emergency exit on the ground floor. But Gold recounts that security led them to the wrong exit. “We were supposed to be exiting out on 14th Street,” she said, “and we ended up exiting out around 20 feet away from the main entrance of Arnhold Hall.”
At the same time, protesters exited through the main entrance, waiting to meet Hillel members at the doors of Arnhold Hall. As Hillel students exited through the side door, protesters followed.
“As we were exiting … we were followed and harassed verbally by demonstrators,” the anonymous Hillel board member recounted. Once reaching the street, members claimed that they continued to be followed for two to three blocks by chanting protesters.
4:35 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.
IDF Lieutenant Roei exits Arnhold Hall
At roughly 4:35 p.m., a protester announced that Lieutenant Roei was heading down to exit the building, asking the crowd to create two lines in front of the main entrance. Protesters began chanting, “Killer killer, come outside, we are louder than your lies!,” and waited for about eight minutes, until they saw a door open about 20 feet away from the main entrance, close to 6th Avenue.
The group bolted to the door, continuing to chant. As they got there, the door shut, and the protesters split into two groups, one at the main entrance and one at the door, before realizing that Lieutenant Roei, his sister, and members of Hillel had exited from multiple different side exits.
In response to the events from March 6, The New School stated, “While we support our students’ rights to peacefully protest and express themselves, all community members are responsible for abiding by the university’s codes, policies and protocols,” and emphasized that “Individuals from The New School who chose to organize or attend these events are in no way speaking for, or representing, the university.”
The statement also concluded that “As a community, we do not tolerate discriminatory acts of any kind directed at any individual based upon their race, religion, national origin or other protected categories.”
Additional reporting by MJ McDonald and Zoe Wolfsen.
Oh no!! Not Dean Kessler’s office decorations! What a travesty! This Free Press journalist is just like those on the front lines of the war; Risking it all to expose the interior.