Today, at 11:30 a.m. The New School’s Students for Justice in Palestine (TNS SJP) established a Gaza Solidarity Encampment inside the University Center, located at 63 Fifth Avenue.
TNS SJP announced the decision to occupy the UC at 10 a.m. this morning on Instagram, stating they “stand alongside [their] comrades at Columbia University…who have faced heightened repression for their brave calls for Palestinian Liberation.”
Columbia University Apartheid Divest (CUAD), a coalition of over 100 organizations including Columbia and Barnard College’s SJP chapters and Columbia’s chapter of Jewish Voice for Peace, also initiated a Gaza Solidarity Encampment on Low Plaza and other parts of the Columbia campus, demanding similar things from their university’s administration, including divestment and financial transparency amongst other items. Mass arrests were made earlier this week on Columbia’s campus, and at least 100 students have been arrested, and over 50 students from Barnard College have been suspended and evicted from their university housing thus far.
In the UC lobby, roughly 29 people surrounded by signs and flags occupied four tents. The group began chanting in support of Palestine at around 12:47 p.m, with the encampment slated to remain in place until the university meets their demands. These include divestment from “corporations benefiting from and complicit in the ongoing genocide and apartheid against Palestinian people,” complete financial transparency as a step towards this commitment, “protection for pro-Palestine protesters on campus” and a refusal from the university to collaborate with the NYPD, and finally the enactment of “a full academic boycott of Israeli academic and cultural institutions.”
Interim President Donna E. Shalala entered the UC around 2 p.m. to negotiate with TNS SJP about moving locations, due to the presence of occupiers in the UC lobby constituting a fire hazard.
After the conversation, the students deliberated as a group and stated that they will continue to occupy the UC lobby until President Shalala sends an email to the Board of Trustees, demanding financial transparency, movement on amnesty, concessions about dropping the current charges against them, and the reinstatement of the Advisory Committee on Investor Responsibility (ACIR). Once the statement was sent out, TNS SJP moved downstairs to the Event Café.
The start of the encampment also coincided with Admitted Students Day for Eugene Lang College of Liberal Arts and the College of Performing Arts, during which newly admitted students would have the opportunity to tour the campus and engage with university offices providing student resources.
From 11:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. the New Student Workers Union (NewSWU) also hosted a practice picket outside the UC, chanting “Fund student labor, not genocide” and “New School, get off it, education is not for profit.” Both TNS SJP and NewSWU have expressed solidarity with each other.
According to TNS SJP’s Instagram, calls for in-person presence as well as supplies have been made to SJP chapters at the Fashion Institute of Technology and the School of Visual Arts, as well as Pratt Students Against Occupation.
A press release posted this morning also detailed that TNS SJP, which is a registered student organization, has been put on probation as of April 19, and will remain as such until May 2025 due to their violation of demonstration guidelines, according to Student Conduct and Community Standards policies. Due to this, the organization is banned from hosting public events or using university resources, and SJP members are mandated to complete a “university-administered de-escalation and peaceful demonstration training.”
The university sent out a statement via email at 4:15 p.m., noting that “in response to the student’s requests, President Shalala has agreed to schedule a meeting tomorrow with Mark Diaz, Executive Vice President for Business and Operations,” to discuss potential divestment from certain holdings within the university’s endowment.
The email also solidified a commitment from President Shalala to schedule a meeting in the near-future between members of SJP and the Board of Trustees’ Investment Committee to consider their request for financial transparency, as well as the reestablishment of the investment advisory committee on investor responsibility including elected student representatives and faculty and staff representation.
The statement also mentioned that as a result of the dialogue between President Shalala and members of SJP, the students will not be charged for this demonstration.
At about 4:25 p.m., President Shalala handed over approximately $300 in cash to students in the UC. While reporters at the scene witnessed the interaction, neither the students nor President Shalala confirmed the exact amount. When asked by the the New School Free Press, President Shalala said, “Students negotiated in good faith and I admire their passion and their commitment to the issues they care about” and that the money was intended to be used for students at the encampment to purchase dinner for themselves.