The announcement of the Center for the American Experience (CAE) drew criticism from students and faculty who said it was an attempt to undermine the university’s progressiveness. Faculty and staff pointed to similar efforts stemming from the university’s restructuring, as well as nationwide changes during Trump’s second term pressuring universities to become more moderate.

The CAE comes to The New School amid a recent wave of similar centers at U.S. universities. A 2025 report from Heterodox Academy found 45 “Civic Centers” across 41 institutions in 25 states, half of which were founded in 2025 or later. Many have been at public universities and backed by state legislatures.

While TNS is a private university, students say CAE is one of those centers.

“This has been happening at other universities as well, these civic engagement centers pushed by right-wing politicians to sort of push against spaces of left-wing thought in the name of civic discourse and free speech,” Glickman said. He said he opposes the center.

A student at NSSR, granted anonymity by NSFP due to fear of retaliation by administrators, called the center “a slap in the face to students” and an “explicit response from Kessler to an institution that he sees as very political.” 

Posters reading “New from Richard Kessler: The Center for Imperialist Experience” were taped around the school in December 2025, after students began sharing the planning document.

The student said the center could serve as “a kind of laundering service for whatever social science research does still come out of the university, which I expect they want to be really minimal.”

Petrzela rejected any comparison to right-wing centers. 

“That is insane,” Petrzela said. She also said that her National Endowment for the Humanities grant was revoked because she is “too woke.”

Students told NSFP they are concerned about the involvement of Petrzela, Sonnevend, and Kessler, who they say are ideologically linked. Glickman called the links “very deep and very disturbing” and not a conspiracy but an example of aligned interests.

“I think it is very calculated if you’re carving out education and all that’s left is a limited amount of departments and majors, coupled with this center, which is very ideologically driven, because there’s no such thing as non-ideological spaces,” Glickman said, referring to the university’s restructuring. 

On March 6, 2024, Kessler hosted Israeli Defense Forces Lieutenant Roei and his sister Noa in his office for an event with Hillel at The New School, a Jewish student organization, after protestors gathered outside the original location for the talk.

Other criticism of CAE comes from the co-directors’ positions on the genocide in Palestine, students say. 

Students told NSFP they oppose posts on X, formerly known as Twitter, that Sonnevend had liked in April 2024. Screenshots obtained by the New School Free Press show Sonnevend had liked a post that stated, in part, “I hope Gaza is obliterated.” Other posts liked by Sonnevend called for the deportation of international students “supporting Hamas or other terrorist groups” and for student organizers at The New School to be investigated by the “FBI/Homeland.”

Sonnevend said she was sick at home that day and was “scrolling, sleeping, scrolling, sleeping. I like some stuff, and at some point, on the same day, I realized that and unliked the pieces.” 

Sonnevend said, “I’m horrified by those tweets, and they don’t represent my view, and I still feel very bad.”

An NSSR student filed a Title IX complaint about the liked X post about deportations, according to a student familiar with the matter who was granted anonymity due to fear of retaliation by administrators. The student said the Title IX office determined it was not a violation of policy. The Title IX office did not reply to a request for comment.

Sonnevend said she unliked the posts before the complaint was filed.

“I’m still mortified about that story,” Sonnevend said.

Multiple students also told NSFP that they were upset over Petrzela’s opposition in January 2025 to an American Historical Association resolution that condemned Israel’s demolition of Gaza’s education system, or scholasticide.

In a Jan. 6, 2025 article in the New York Times about the vote on the resolution, Petrzela is quoted as saying the resolution “feeds directly into the idea that academics are unapologetically political and are all on board with a pretty far left-wing view of the Israel-Hamas war.” 

Petrzela said she still agrees with her position, and referred to a New York Times article from Jan. 12, 2026 about a similar AHA resolution in 2026, which she also opposed. 

“History is under assault right now,” Petrzela said in the article. “Pushing the pre-eminent organization of historians to take an overtly political stance only serves to divide the organization and also to jeopardize its reputation as a place for nonpartisan historical inquiry.”

Both directors said they would be happy to talk to students and faculty about CAE. 

“If somebody has a concern, I would love to answer it,” Sonnevend said. 

Petrzela said she welcomes anyone who has issues or questions to send her an email or visit in person.

“My door is open,” Petrzela said. 

Check out the first part of this story, which centers on CAE’s origin and mission.