In New School Tradition, Faculty Members Support Student Activism and Occupy Wall Street

On October 5, 137 members of The New School faculty signed a statement in support of the Occupy Wall Street movement.

Hours before a national student walkout and mass rally in Foley Square, a university-wide email circulated expressing faculty members' solidarity with the walkout and denouncing police action taken earlier in the week, when 700 protesters were arrested on October 1 while attempting to cross the Brooklyn bridge. Approximately 600 students from The New School and NYU took part in the walkout.

Following the email from the faculty, New School President David Van Zandt wrote a university wide email in support of nonviolent action in public places, and called for a teach-in regarding the Occupy Wall Street demonstrations. Van Zandt wrote that he is working with New School deans to organize discussions as the protests continue.