Lang Faculty Executive Committee Statement on Occupation

The Lang Faculty Executive Committee offers the following statement as a contribution to discussion:

While a full picture of last Friday’s events at 65 5th avenue has yet to appear, the Executive Committee of the Lang Faculty offers the following points for discussion:

1. We state unequivocally that the use of force against persons on the New School campus is completely unacceptable. General staff, indeed all staff and officers, have the right to a safe working environment.

2. We question the decision to call on the NYPD as a first response to the occupation. What should have been the means of last resort was the first resort.

3. We condemn the now well documented use of excessive force by the NYPD and the attempt to deny said use of force by the NYPD.

4. We support students’ right to free speech and assembly. We support the right of students to be involved in the process of the governance of their own education. But this support stops short of unprincipled acts of illegality and violence.

5. We maintain that New School students involved in the occupation deserve a fair hearing and due process before action is taken against them by the university.

6. We believe that significant progress has been made by New School faculty and students, in negotiations with the Executive branch of university, and on a wide range of issues. We enjoin all parties of the university to maintain a constructive dialogue within the reform process of this great institution.