Emily Li, chair of the University Student Senate (USS), is resigning, according to a resignation letter posted to the USS Instagram account. 

Li said the resignation is in protest of the university’s restructuring plan, according to the announcement.

Li has served as chair, the highest position in the official New School student government, since Aug. 29, 2025. 

Ryder Glickman, Li’s vice chair, will serve as chair for the remainder of the semester.

Li’s resignation comes amid growing opposition by students and faculty against the restructuring for its cuts to majors, minors, and classes predominately at Eugene Lang College of Liberal Arts and The New School for Social Research. 

The university’s restructuring measures are “deliberate, political, and anti-worker decisions being made about the allocation of our tuition dollars towards the future of our community,” Li wrote in the resignation letter.

Around 15% of faculty and staff are set to be laid off this spring.

“In good conscience, I refuse to sit idly on stage for my own commencement while the university is set to fire a large number of staff and faculty from May 19 to June 1,” Li wrote.

Li criticized the university’s “bloated administrative spending, mystified firing criteria, and puzzling claims of this process being ‘student-first.’”

Li led a historic student senate.

Under Li’s leadership, the USS regained its footing after an incident last year of unprecedented financial mismanagement under the prior chair, Adam Young. 

This year, the USS increased external funding to student organizations, independent student initiatives, and club events by 235%.

The USS this year also worked to organize and inform students about the university’s restructuring, holding over 10 events, socials, and town halls. This led, in part, to four demonstrations by the community against the restructuring, including one where a 10-foot-long letter was delivered to administrators.

Notably, the USS passed a bill to recommend renaming Kerrey Hall after the New School Free Press revealed former New School President Bob Kerrey’s links to Jeffrey Epstein. The decision to rename the dorm ultimately falls to the university. The bill, however, reflected student outrage over the name. There have been three incidents of graffiti on the building.

Li said a memory they are “really, really proud of” as chair was when over 50 students showed up to a USS meeting with Joel Towers, university president, and Richard Kessler, provost and executive vice president for academic affairs, to voice concerns about restructuring. 

Li said the “energy was palpable” during the meeting. “It reminded me of the student power that shone on the first night of the part-time faculty strike in 2022,” Li said.

Prior to this year, Li served as the associate director of the USS advocacy committee.

“It has truly been my greatest honor to serve the New School student body over the past five years,” Li wrote.