Can anyone tell me, coherently, what those kids at the New School are even protesting?
If these kids were smart, they'd have a website up. They'd optimize it for search and maybe even buy some keywords to advertise against "New School" searches. The ads should say "Why we protested" or something like that... and the site would have a well-written, neatly laid out list of demands.
Instead, after searching around a fair bit, I can't find anything substantive about their plea. I don't know how I'm suppose to sympathize with their cause if I don't even know what their cause is.
They don't like the way the school is run...or something that?
Huh?
Apparently, the faculty isn't a fan of the way the school is run either--particularly Bob Kerrey's attempts to run the school like an economically viable business.
God forbid.
Let's get one thing straight. The costs of education are spiraling out of control--and do you know why? It's in big part because you've got PhD faculty getting paid 100k a year to teach one class a semester--using the same syllabus they've been using for 20 years--and to publish research in academic journals that maybe 10 other academics ever read.
Do you think the average tenured college professor works half as hard as the average NYC public high school or elementary school teacher--who is by the way making less than half the pay? When 95% of university faculty vote against something--I have to question what could all universally make them so upset. Yup... do more work for the same amount of pay ought to get everyone up in arms. As an adjunct making $4,000 for the one class I teach each semester, I can't say I have a lot of sympathy for them.
Let's pretend this school was a company. Could you imagine shareholders or employees trying to affect change the way these students were acting? Do me a favor. If you support these kids, the next time you have a problem with your boss, break into his office and "occupy" it. When security comes to usher you out, scream like a lunatic.
See how far that gets you.
And as for police brutality, I watched the videos. I saw a metal barrier being hurled at police, lots of screaming, and one kid get knocked down by a cop. That kid proceeded to scream and resist arrest while cops yelled "Stop resisting!"
When are people going to realize that when you throw metal things at cops and resist arrest, you might get a bit jostled during the arrest process? Thus far, in my 29 years of living in NYC, I've been able to avoid getting beat up by NYC police. There's a trick to it: Don't throw metal things at cops and resist arrest. I know, I know, it seems difficult, but you have to try.
You know who was even angrier than those protesting kids? The kids who are paying tuition who actually wanted to come in on those days and use those buildings to study.
Here's the way to affect change: If you don't like the way your school is run, you could...
1) Transfer.
2) Run for student leadership positions and try to get rules enacted or changed by working together with the administration.
3) Expose the issues you have with the school to local media, donors, trustees, etc...with a good old fashioned PR campaign.
Or, if you'd rather look like a bunch of spoiled rich kids who think they know better than everyone else:
1) Unlawfully commit breaking and entering, carrying mace and crowbars into school buildings.
2) Create a public disturbance that puts the general public in harm's way (you know, b/c most people's noggins don't mix well with hurled metal barricades).
3) Completely fail to get any kind of coherent message across.
At the end of the day, I don't know if Bob Kerrey is good for that school or not--and that's kind of the problem. By completely failing to make any kind of articulate case against him, these protesters utterly fail to draw any sympathy to their cause. I put them in the same bucket as the people who spit on US soldiers returning home from Vietnam--so crazed over the idea of protest that they fail to identify any kind of logical and reasonable means to promote their ideas.