The NYU Administration REFUSES to negotiate with the Take Back NYU! Occupation (takebacknyu.com) and are threatening expulsion and arrest tonight. The students are refusing to back down and continue to press their demands for an affordable and just NYU.
Take Back NYU! needs your support! Please take a second to e-mail the NYU administration, particularly President Sexton and tell them to negotiate! Below is a sample e-mail that you can use.
Calling is also really important, please take a moment to call at least President Sexton and let him know you support the Occupation.
There's an online petition here that you can sign:
"Take Back NYU! Demands" http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/takebacknyu?e [1]
They are also asking that people email the administration (john.sexton@nyu.edu,jhb5@nyu.edu, provost@nyu.edu [2], evp@nyu.edu [3]). You can also call (John Sexton- Tel: (212) 998-2345
Fax: (212) 995-4790) Here's a sample letter, with some additions that I put in, along with some other people's additions. Feel free to change it to your liking:
To the NYU administration:
I am writing to express my support for the student occupation of the Kimmel Marketplace that has been occurring since Wednesday night.
I have recently been informed that you have thus far refused to negotiate with them and are threatening expulsions and arrests. This is absolutely absurd, as these students, who are PAYING you (whether directly or through federal aid or scholarships is irrelevant) to be students, are simply trying to have more control over what THEIR school does with THEIR resources. The NYU administration should be working with Take Back NYU!, encouraging the empowerment of the student body, rather than trying to ignore and punish them, thereby teaching that they should just be complacent and obedient.
They will not leave the building until their demands are met. The Take Back NYU! campaign has been a constant presence on campus for two years, attempting to voice their demands through all means available. Their demands, though many and varied, are united by the desire to empower students to take part in the governance of their University. Thus far, the NYU administration has refused to address their presence or their request to negotiate. The administration's failure to address the students' demands reflects the fundamental factors behind the demands themselves - the lack of democracy, transparency, and student say in how their administration is run.
I, ___________ , urge the NYU administration to immediately negotiate with the its students. It is NYU's responsibility to hold itself accountable to its faculty, staff and students. The University must be a force for good in the world, not one of negligence and destruction, as it currently is through its support of Israel and refusal to be financially transparent and accountable.
Work with Take Back NYU! to make the University a better institution.
Do not ignore the demands of your students, for what is a university if it alienates and disregards the students?Sincerely,
__________________