The week since the New School occupation has seen a lot of action. There was a protest on Friday night, a roving anarchist happening on Sunday afternoon, an emergency campus assembly on Monday, a courtyard sit-in on Wednesday, and another major street protest on Thursday.
The protesters released a statement on Monday, by the way, and both the New School In Exile website and the occupiers’ blog have been active all week. (Both sites carry the text of a wide variety of statements on the occupation from bodies inside and outside the New School, along with their other coverage.)
And this afternoon some very interesting news came in via Twitter.
The New School provost has announced that all students suspended in last week’s occupation will be allowed “to complete their academic work this semester.” His statement calls this a “modification” of their suspensions, but unless there’s some hidden catch, it sounds very much as if their suspensions have in fact been lifted.
Disciplinary actions against the students are ongoing, and this announcement isn’t an amnesty, by any stretch. But given recent history of the New School’s attitudes toward the occupiers — president Bob Kerrey told the New York Post a week ago that he did not “consider them students” — this is a major shift.
Update: A kind reader has passed along the entire text of the announcement from the provost on the “modification” of the suspensions. (It’s the first comment on this post.) Thanks!
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April 17, 2009 at 5:49 pm
Alex
The complete text of the Provost’s email…
April 17, 2009
To the New School Community
On Tuesday, I received a resolution from the Faculty Senate requesting that I consider lifting the suspensions on the students involved with the occupation Friday. I do not have the authority to make this decision. President Kerrey has that authority and has agreed to my leading out a process of consultation with the deans and the faculty senate. This has led to a modification of the suspensions to permit all these students to complete their academic work this semester. President Kerrey fully supports these modifications and I want to thank Linda Reimer, Senior Vice President for Student Services, for her help and cooperation.
I appreciate that recent events have provoked a variety of profound concerns for many of us within the University community. I share these concerns, and want you to know that addressing such concerns is currently my top priority.
Tim Marshall