History Minute: Gays and Conservatives.

February 21, 2009 in Civil Liberties, Gender, History, Politics, Sexual Orientation, Students | by | Leave a comment

Over at the Volokh Conspiracy, a law-professors’ group blog, someone put up a link yesterday to a post by a guy who calls himself Gay Patriot West, saying that gay conservatives on campus get a warmer welcome from conservatives than they do from gays.

The comments thread on the Volokh post explored the issue from a few different angles, but it didn’t address one that I consider crucial — the historical context. Here’s the meat of my contribution to the discussion, posted just a little while ago:

Whatever ease gays have around conservatives exists only because of limitations on conservatives’ political power. 

Fifty years ago, you could be imprisoned or institutionalized for being gay or lesbian. You could be jailed for hanging out with gays. You could lose your business if that business catered to gay people. Forget having any job security, or any recognition for your relationships, or any social deference to your life choices except in the most anomalous subcultures. To be gay or lesbian in the United States fifty years ago was to live in fear of disclosure and persecution. 

Most of that has changed. But it has changed despite conservatives, not because of them. To a large degree it has changed over the vocal and forceful opposition of conservatives. It has changed because conservatives’ power has waned, because conservatives’ power has been constrained, and because conservatives have realized that most Americans don’t agree with their most anti-gay positions. And yes, it has changed because many conservatives have become less hostile to gays and lesbians, buoyed along by a broader cultural transformation that they did not initiate. 

To the extent that it is easy to be a gay person among conservatives today, that is because of the weakness of traditional conservative values in American society today. The idea of conservatives as second-class citizens, deprived of basic civil rights, is a right-wing fever dream. That of gays and lesbians being deprived of basic civil rights is a matter of historical record. 

The Gay Patriot has his ease because his side has been defeated in a thousand hard-fought struggles over the last half-century.

One other thing that I could have mentioned: The social and political climate for lesbians and gays in America has changed least in the last half-century in the parts of the country where conservatives remain strongest. It has changed the most in those places where conservatism is weakest. Gay Patriot West went to the University of Virginia law school. He lives in Los Angeles today. His experience of being a conservative gay man reflects those facts of his geography.

Take Back NYU Occupation: Day Three

February 20, 2009 in Campus Protests, Police, Student Power | by | 6 comments

Coverage continues from here. Additional updates can be found on our twitter feed. For a discussion of the protesters’ demands, see this post.

At 10 PM on Wednesday, more than sixty students from NYU and various other colleges barricaded themselves into a dining area on the third floor of NYU’s Kimmel Center on Washington Square South. On Thursday afternoon they forced a door and gained access to a balcony overlooking the park, while supporters twice evaded campus security to add more numbers to the protest’s ranks.

On Thursday evening NYU administrators threatened students who remained in Kimmel after the building’s scheduled 1 AM closing time with arrest and expulsion, but 1 o’clock came and went with no movement from inside. Supporters of the protest on the street below clashedwith police a few minutes after 1 AM, but when the dust cleared from those scuffles students were still occupying the third floor.

There was only one arrest last night, of an NYU student who tried to climb a No Parking sign on Washington Square South. I’ve seen no reports of serious injuries to protesters, police, or bystanders during the one o’clock clash, and no update on the condition of the NYU security guard who was taken away in an ambulance earlier in the evening. About twenty protesters remain on the third floor of Kimmel, having rejected a late-night “safe harbor” offer that would have suspended disciplinary action against them as long as they stayed out of trouble for the remainder of their time on campus.

The protesters who remain have been given no assurances about how they will be treated going forward. No word on how many, if any, of them are non-NYU.

A liveblogger from the website NYULocal was in Kimmel from the start of the occupation, but he left the building late last night, and is not expected to be allowed to re-enter. The Washington Square News, a student newspaper, is providing ongoing online coverage of events. Take Back NYU!, the group that organized the protest, is providing regular updates on its website and twitter feed. In their first twitter update of the morning, however, they announced that NYU has cut off internet access to the occupied building.

That’s where things stand as of 9:30 this morning.

11:30 am Update: Yesterday, NYU kept most of the Kimmel building open, using security to (ineffectively) control access to the occupied third floor. Today they’ve shut the whole building down. Also, TBNYU is reporting that NYU has cut off not just internet access, but also power flow to electrical outlets in the occupied space. If the report is accurate, and NYU maintains this policy, the protesters will lose all ability to communicate with the outside world other than by megaphone as soon as their batteries run down.

TBNYU has another rally planned for the front of the building at noon today.

12:30 pm Update: NYU is shutting down the Kimmel occupation. Most of the news on the ground is coming via Twitter at this point, so it’s fragmentary. We’re not going to post moment-by-moment updates — we’ll wait for the situation to shake out, and provide a full report when we can.

Look for follow-up analysis from us in the hours and days to come, as well. It seems clear that the NYU administration’s approach to this sit-in was, like the sit-in itself, influenced by an awareness of its relationship to a broader student movement. How that played out, and what it means for students on other campuses, is going to be something worth exploring going forward.

1:15 pm Update: NYULocal reported at 12:50 that all protesters had left Kimmel except for four who remained on the balcony. According to the Take Back NYU twitter feed, at least ten NYU students have been suspended, and an unspecified number have been escorted to their dorms to collect their belongings. There are conflicting reports on the fate of the non-NYU protesters who left the building in the last hour.

3:00 pm Update: The building has been cleared.

Take Back NYU Update: Thursday Evening.

February 19, 2009 in Administration, Campus Protests, Student Power, Students | by | 3 comments

Our ongoing coverage of the NYU takeover continues here and on our twitter feed.

TBNYU held a press conference at 5 pm, but no news came out of it. The two sides seem pretty dug in at this point: The university is refusing to negotiate and warning of academic and/or legal consequences if protesters remain after the Kimmel Center closes at 1 am, while the students are refusing to leave without concessions from the university. 

9:30 pm Update: Dozens of students just forced their way past security into the occupied area. Two guards were injured in the scuffle. Video here.

10:15 pm Update: Apparently an ambulance has been called for one of the injured guards, though it’s not clear whether that was a cautionary measure. Take Back NYU has posted a statement reaffirming their commitment to non-violence.

11:45 pm Update: Reports suggest that negotiations are underway, apparently in an attempt to establish terms for an orderly end to the occupation.

12:15 am Update: Liveblogging here, live feed here. NYU’s deadline for the protesters to leave is 45 minutes away, and the students have rejected an offer to walk out and be given probation. Supporters of the protest and assorted gawkers are blocking traffic in front of the occupied building, and the mood among the protesters is raucous and defiant.

12:58 am Update: Ten students reportedly left the demonstration a few minutes ago, which means several dozen are still inside. The live feed has been video-only for about half an hour, and the video just went down. No update from the embedded liveblogger in ten minutes.

1:00 am Update: Take Back NYU website claims 500+ supporters in the street. Says NYU is threatening occupying students with expulsion, non-students with arrest. Live stream back up. Some occupying students leaving.

1:17 am Update: Multiple reports of protesters fighting cops in front of Kimmel. Protest liveblogger calls it “rioting.” Others say pepper spray, mace, nightsticks in use. Washington Square News reported that all NYU students still in Kimmel after 1:10 am would be arrested and expelled.

1:26 am Update: Washington Square News on recent developments…

Protesters, many of whom were masked, unsuccessfully pushed against the barricades, attempting to get into the Kimmel Center. The police sprayed an unidentified substance in protesters’ faces. Two police officers were brought inside: one, a female, rubbing her eye, and the other, a male, also thought to be injured.

1:31 am Update: NYULocal liveblogger has photo of “safe harbor” flyer passed out by NYU, promising to suspend disciplinary action against Kimmel protesters unless there is “a subsequent violation of University policies.” Not sure who the offer applies to, or whether it’s still operative in the wake of the violence outside Kimmel.

1:45 am Update: About twenty protesters remain on the third floor of Kimmel. They’re said to be asking for no action to be taken to remove them tonight. No recent word on conditions outside the building.

1:57 am Update: NYULocal is reporting that the remaining TBNYU protesters will be allowed to stay in Kimmel overnight. NYU will not roust them.

2:01 am Update: New post at Take Back NYU website —

The police pepper-sprayed the crowd earlier and a few supporters in the street were injured. There are still between 400-500 people out there and it doesn’t look like they’re going anywhere. We, the students of the occupation, remain firmly against non-violent action and we hope the crowd stands in non-violent solidarity with us. Negotiations are ongoing and we thank you all for your support!!

2:16 am Update: WSN just asked Farah Khimji of TBNYU what the current status of the protester’s demands was. Her response: “At this point, I can only speak for myself, but I don’t know what I want.”

And that strikes me as a pretty good place to end the night. See you all in the morning.

Friday 9:30 am Update: Ongoing coverage, and a recap of events to date, can be found in our Friday morning post.

Why Gaza? Inside the NYU Protesters’ Demands.

February 19, 2009 in Access, Campus Protests, Divestment, International Students, Politics, Student Power | by | 5 comments

Our ongoing coverage of the NYU takeover continues here and on our twitter feed.

Most of the Take Back NYU protest’s demands relate to campus governance and accountability  — student representation on the NYU board of trustees, disclosure of financial data, fair labor practices within the university. In that list, two demands stand out:

  • That annual scholarships be provided for thirteen Palestinian students, starting with the 2009/2010 academic year. These scholarships will include funding for books, housing, meals and travel expenses.
  • That the university donate all excess supplies and materials in an effort to rebuild the University of Gaza.

A lot of people are asking where these demands came from, and an overnight statement from TBNYU provides a partial answer. Here’s an excerpt:

By demanding investigation into war and genocide profiteers, providing aid to Gaza, and offering scholarshipts to Palestinian students, we are demanding that the University heed our own voices immediately. Through these demands we are also stating our solidarity with the students who have occupied their universities in the United Kingdom and elsewhere demanding aid for war-torn Gaza.

That last sentence is crucial. Since early January, students at more than twenty universities across Britain have staged sit-ins demanding administration action on Palestinian issues. Two weeks ago, students at the University of Rochester in upstate New York held a similar protest. Today’s NYU occupation follows those actions in form, and by making Palestinian issues part of their list of demands, TBNYU is linking its protest to the others in content as well.

By calling for support for Palestinian students and the University of Gaza, TBNYU is sending a message to student activists on both sides of the Atlantic. It is declaring itself to be part of a new international student movement.

Will that movement materialize? Will student sit-ins start to spread in the US as they continue to do in the UK? Too soon to tell, obviously. But the inclusion of the Palestinian demands wasn’t random, it was calculated.

Observers, like commenters here, who claim that it shows a lack of strategic sophistication on TBNYU’s part have it exactly backwards.

More on the NYU Occupation

February 19, 2009 in Campus Protests | by | 2 comments

Our ongoing coverage of the NYU takeover continues here and on our twitter feed.

About sixty activists from Take Back NYU barricaded themselves into a third-floor dining facility in the Kimmel Center on Washington Square Park last night at about 10 pm, presenting a 13-point list of demands. They occupied the space without incident overnight.

The university barred students from entering the occupied area, but made no move to force the protesters, who included NYU students and others, to leave. Dining services in the building were moved to another floor.

The students at NYU barricaded themselves into the Kimmel dining facility shortly before closing time last night. They’d planned the occupation surreptitiously by Facebook, billing it as a dance party. More than sixty students participated in the initial takeover.

Not long after noon today, about twenty students rushed past university security to join the protest. A little later, protesters broke a lock and gained access to a balcony adjoining the occupied space.

A student is liveblogging the protest here. TBNYU has a twitter feed here. A short statement of justification for the sit-in and explanation of its demands can be found here.

3:30 Update: A new post from Charlie Eisenhood, liveblogging from inside the sit-in…

Here’s what TBNYU and the protesters have requested: a student rep for direct negotiations (and no go-between), permission for a group to travel to tonight student Senate Council meeting, permission for delegation of student Senators to come to Kimmel for talks, permission for food (vegan) to be brought by friends, permission to enter the balcony.

Here’s what NYU granted: Nothing. Zero zilch zip nada. They’ve also closed the 3rd floor “officially” and are only granting access to students with class in the building or students attending a specific event. They also said that Kimmel closes at 1 AM and that TBNYU has no authorization to be here after 1. And they stressed that any breaches of conduct (like breaking the door and entering the balcony) WILL have consequences.

Interesting.

6:00 Update: Coverage continues here.

 


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StudentActivism.net is the work of Angus Johnston, a historian and advocate of American student organizing.

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