The Weird, Evolving Story of the New School Occupation
Ten days ago a group of students from campuses across New York City occupied a suite of rooms at the New School at 90 Fifth Avenue. They set up a blog, released a statement, and settled in to work.
The space the group was occupying, however, wasn’t owned by the New School itself but was leased from Wells Fargo, who own the building, and before too long WF started making noises about evicting the occupation. Fire Marshals were called. The New School offered to relocate the group to the Kellen gallery, another NS space a few blocks away, with a commitment to let them stay until the fall semester ends in late December.
The occupation voted to accept the offer at a mass meeting on Tuesday night, but the vote wasn’t close to unanimous and some charged that non-occupiers had been sent in to tip the vote. As a result, one group moved to the new space, while another stayed at the old, and set up their own blog.
In the early morning hours of Friday, November 25, the group that stayed behind at 90 Fifth Avenue released a
