So basically a student group (Take Back NYU) (TBNYU) took over the 3rd floor of the Kimmel Center (the student union) @ 10 pm on February 18th, 2009. They have been holed up there ever since, making demands for negotiation.
I have two basic remarks, both of which, one of which I think I will expound on further, later.
First, I dealt with some of these issues at the University of Chicago. Students who pay $45,000+ feel that they are owed certain things, things like transparency and a say on what goes on at the school (hence a push for getting a seat on the Board of Trustees). I agree with all of these goals, and I think universities are not fully cognizant of the benefits they could receive from getting students more involved like that. I think it would create a tighter bond between university and student, which I believe would translate into more alumni giving. However, taking over buildings, etc. burns bridges. While I definitely defend these students right to protest (although nothing involving property destruction or trespassing, as seems to have occured here), and while I am sympathetic to (some of) these students' demands, they are simply clueless as to the intense negative effect this has on their actual agenda. It's almost as if they feel that since they pay $45,000+ to go to college, and since they are in college, they should protest.
Second, they claim that beyond things like transparency, they also support democracy, and I feel that they firmly believe they are promoting democracy in this protest. Yet, to see how they act, to see the people on the street and to see their lack of long term thinking, I fear that either people do not understand how democracy properly functions, or if this is democracy, how we need to rethink democracy, for what I saw tonight was anarchism, not democracy.
I will leave my discussion of democracy (as well as my photos), for a future (and soon coming post). Good night from NYU, that hotbed of student protest.
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