Turns out that New York University has lately enjoyed a heady reminiscence of the 60s, what with “radical” students taking over the college cafeteria. The U had to resort to drastic measures, including riot clad police with rottweilers and tear gas to turn the Wi-Fi off, the bastards.
I made that bit about the riot clad police with dogs and tear gas up. But the rest of it was absolutely true:
Though the number of student activists holed up inside the third floor cafeteria had dwindled to less than two dozen since Wednesday night, those still engaged remained defiant until the end.
The students, who had been inside for three days, were talking with a megaphone to their peers who had gathered outside in the building’s courtyard.
The university took away power, internet, and restrooms according to the students, but the protestors (sic) showed few signs of leaving anytime soon.
This is a dramatic escalation, of course. No telling where it might end.
The students apparently want the administration to open their books and take a look at the school’s investment strategy. They only want to know where the filthy lucre that enables their education is being hoarded. Because they’ve got a better idea where it ought to go:
The students wanted NYU to release information on its budget and endowment, including staff salaries and financial aid. The students also wanted the university to release its investment strategy and the names of the people and firms involved in it.
“We have given them countless opportunities to look us in the face and talk about the way our school is run,” (18-year old freshman and sit-in participant Emily) Stainkamp said. “They refuse to do this, except on their terms.”
The protesters also have made the Palestinian-Israeli conflict part of their cause, demanding the university donate “excess supplies and materials” to help rebuild a university damaged in December by Israeli air raids. They also want NYU to provide annual scholarships to Palestinian students, beginning in the 2009-10 school year.
It is the information age, and the active imagination wanders. In the interest of furthering citizen journalism, your correspondent felt compelled to seek out more on Ms. Steinkamp.
She has a blog, of course. Everyone does. A mere sample:
The text’s wholly sincere summation of the Greenwich Village radicals as a progressive, revolutionary group struck me as deeply ironic, and uniquely New York. Greenwich Village in the early twentieth century was a sort of perfect storm for radical activity–among upper- and middle-class whites. Its proximity the richest and poorest parts of New York, its low real estate prices, and the more general rise of feminism, anarchism, and anti-classical (“modern”) art culminated to form a unique, political artist community. The Village radicals were an integral part of New York Modern, a microcosm of the greater collisions of art, commerce and politics; and they lead (sic) revolutionary lifestyles for their time. But their ability to do so speaks deeply to their class and race privileges: only these upper- and middle-class white people had the leisure and power to reject oppression on the scale that they did. The text’s uncritical treatment of the radicals also reflects the whiteness of the authors, and the majority of New York Modern art.
And here’s herself, getting piano lessons.
There’s irony for you.
Update: Ah, well. You know how kids are these days.
These a$$clowns will some how be rewarded for their bad behavior. Another example of self-aggrandised self-importance and elitist entitlement. A hundred years ago they would literally be tossed out on their kiesters and/or in jail. I loved that country.
It seems all the rage now, to be/be associated with radicals who hate the nation as a resume builder for high political office in your “mature” years, or have been reading papers and posts on LGF in an alternate universe.
Some write NASA in high school to find requirements to become astronauts…others take over university offices/buildings, or make sure letters regarding ROTC service seem to make their way out of official files to protect future political viability. It’s not as new as we may believe, this sort of “resume building.”
Shall we stand and salute the “forward thinking” of these “yutes?”
My middle name: “Mr. Cynical” today
Thought all that was supposed to “Change” last month.
I sincerely “Hope” “The One” intercedes in their behalf and invites them to the “White House” for presentation of official presidential Brown Shirts.
One needs look no further than the malcontent generation of the ’60′s, campus protests and the likes of Bill Ayers to see history repeating itself.
I don’t understand why? Now that we are an Obama -nation they are the “establishment” (also a 60′s term for the younger folk). Biting the hand that feeds, if you will.
Too much time on their hands. Some engineering courses will fix that right up.
Yes, XF, you are a cynical individual for which you should be deeply ashamed.
I, on the other hand, am merely realistic. They are but naive Yahoos with too little to do. If they were majoring in Science or Engineering, they would not have time for such idiotic hijinks and would be studying their little tushies off, instead of showing their actual IQ, which is, IQ , that is, the reason they aren’t majoring in Science or Engineering. Their IQ can’t be above 95.
Student aid to any who took part in this show should be immediately terminated. The college cafeteria and free wi-fi should be closed for the rest of the year. Student parking on campus should either be terminated or the rates increased 10-fold (to shrink their carbon footprints by making them leave footprints in the snow).
All of the participants in this little ‘protest’ exercise are to be expelled and are persona non grata in any campus building per an article I saw yesterday.
They certainly do define what is wrong with the pampers generation.
In the words of a simpler age, “idle hands are the Devil’s workshop.” Or something like that. This kind of thing has been going on since at least the 1940s, when I went to school in New York. After graduation I lived briefly in a one-room apartment on Minetta Lane. Paid a shocking amount of rent for that ugly little space which was a nightmare to keep even moderately clean. Everything coated with soot as soon as I washed it, and if I opened the window, huge cockroaches flew in.
In those days, Greenwich Village was a haven for the children of spoiled liberals. Kids stayed ‘high’ all the time, and made getting in and out of my building a daily hazard, since they would pass out in the courtyard and wake up when I tried to cross to the door to get out of the building.
Ahh, memories. Those spaced out liberals are still trying to trip me up.
Marianne
OK, Sportsfans, what do ya think the odds are that 1/3rd of the protesting little darlings are Fine Arts or Art History Majors with at least another third English or Journalism Majors with a smattering of secondary ed. types thrown in?
Oh, almost forgot, GOT to be some “Film School” majors there as well…and, God help us, a goodly portion of “ethnic studies” types…Not too many Business or Money and Banking Majors tho I’ll wager…that comes later when fully a third will become stockbrokers when tired of starving
Uh, speaking of “change:”, well not that this particular group (Lex’s sportfans) has ever done that well with change, but the new comment format … yeah. Kind of small making it hard to read. Or am I just getting old (again)? *sigh*
Yeah, sorry about that. I was tinkering around in the back end and goobered something up. Now I’m off to go fly and haven’t got time to make it better, gomen nasai.
‘Tis the story of my life. Fly some for me too, okay?
And I expect this to be ungoobered immediately your return!
Sir.
When I read about the privileged kids in schools such as in the story Lex relates, it makes me think . . . and makes me mad, and so I’m making this joint comment covering 2 or 3 recent threads.
I was driving through Laguna Beach recently – Laguna is a gorgeous, small coastal town in southern California / Orange County, for those of you who haven’t been there. And it struck me that Laguna, like Beverly Hills, for instance, and San Francisco and its surrounding areas, seem to populated with people who don’t have a second’s worth of appreciation of what it has taken to protect them in their sheltered lives in their cute little towns and cities, and what it is that allows them their snobbish and simplistic attitudes about ‘peace’ and how it’s achieved.
And I wonder how many of them know the names of Haerter and Yale, and how many TV’s in Laguna will be turned on to HBO tonite to take that final trip with Chance Phelps. And I wonder, too, that if they do watch, what will they learn and feel as a result? Or will they miss the point or, perhaps, miss all of it and continue to walk the streets of their lovely little towns and cities believing that their neat lives just happened because they were entitled to them, or maybe they think they were just lucky?
SteveC/
I’m afraid that for the majority your last sentence is probably the most operational reflection of reality. (sigh)
“She has a blog, of course. Everyone does.”
Classic.
Almost seems silly to think about these knobs and those Marines at the same time. It’s not even an apples/oranges discussion, it is an apples/shubbery comparison.
“…it is an apples/shubbery comparison.”
That’s pretty classic too, Nose.
Apparently the little protest at NYU ended badly. For the protesters.
The Administration decided enough was enough and invited a small group up to a meeting with “representatives” of the administration, there to have the chance to voice their grievances, and all that. Upon arriving, they were summarily arrested and led away.
After that, the “authorities” tore down the barricades and dragged off the rest of the little darlings. They have been forbidden to enter any campus buildings until such time as they appear before a board and show cause why they should not be expelled.
It’s nice to see the adults stepping up for a change
More here:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/21/nyregion/21nyu.html
AWTim @17
Kewel! No Brown Shirts for them!
This group of tailored-trash will be at the top of Obama’s reprieve list.
Why is it that kids think that they are anything more than paying customers and seem to feel as if they own the school? Really, if they don’t like the way a school is run, why don’t they just take their business elsewhere?
This would be one time I would love to be in charge of a uni.
I’d put dogs and SWAT on this rabble in about 2 minutes.
There may be more to this than meets the eye. Go to- “http://thomas.loc.gov” (without the quotation marks). We’re going to do two searches make sure you check off the, “Bill Number” option for both searches. Read the text of the following bills:
S. 436 and H.R. 1076
This legislation has the appearance of laudable goals to fight child porn. It will require all people who have an internet connection to have and maintain a machine level log for no less than two years. Your ISP already has such a log, but now you must maintain one and the two must match. As some people read and began to understand, they looked at potential risks and acted proactively. RICO is authorized in some circumstances. My question is this, What happens if a bot takes over your system or even a portion of it? Some of us think this legislation is a trap and the moral equivalent of an attack on this Nation. In the “Bot Scenario”, you could lose everything you own. This Country, alone, will never stop child porn. It is built into the cultures of some countries. I hate child porn, but this is NOT the way to stop it!
Sorry, for the rant. To be very honest, I do not believe any of you were aware of this. I believe some Republicans, not all, but some, need to do some serious explaining.
Again, Sorry,
Grumpy
I have a nephew who went to NYU to study acting; he got his degree; the silly little twit has had a wonderful career since then as a bellhop in a hotel; as a (failed) assistant manager at a Kinkos etc; but he knows that that “drunken frat boy” George Bush has ruined his life. At age 40 plus he still depends upon his mom for support. Yup, that’s what an NYU education in “protest” will do for you. Ultimately the world collects its bill for what you are or what you have to contribute.
Mike Myers,
What kills me is everything you say is so true of the “craft”. I am a member of Actor’s Equity. I’ve worked in Theatre, and also some film and TV. The primary skill, it seems, for surviving as an actor is being able to clearly ask “Would you like fries with that?” and “Today’s Specials Are…”
One of the most interesting times I ever had was when working one summer on a musical, and the cast discovered I was a registered republican. Oh the horror! So many early 20-something minds were all our of joint trying to understand how an actor could be a conservative. Just didn’t compute for them, I suppose. A few stopped talking to me, outside of the show.
Most were simply trying to “out hip” the others in the cast. Frikkin’ prima donas. I don’t understand how some of the production crews remain calm and deal with it. I’d be in jail
Lex,
The comments text is uber small. I hate to be a whiner, but I’m trying to hold off one more year before I get cheaters. Is it a change you made of my computer? (YOUR part looks normal – our part looks small – is that like “Always date a girl with small hands”?
Nose, Lex said earlier that he messed it up but didn’t have time to fix it just then. Hopefully, after the movie tonight, he’ll get back to it.
It’s even bad with cheaters. Maybe he’s trying to tell us something?
Well, that was a long walk to the place I started from. Sorry ’bout that.
Glad you unflipped the SW switch.
That “Change” was a bit annoying.
Hope you had a great day punching holes in clouds!
BTW, the Christmas “AutoDog” machine is about to make a batch of Blueberry Dog.
DW and kidz are already lined up.
This is wonderful. Most of the university powers are the same ones who started the protests in the ’60s. Now they get to be the man everyone wants to stick it to.
Long ago, I sailed with a young man who made a profound observations. That the baby boomers had grown up to make everything they did illegal for their kids to do.
Just an observation: Lcpl Haerter is white; Cpl Rose is black. Are these two of the “cowards” AG holder had in mind when he issued his broad-brush labeling of Americans? Help me out here. To steal a line from Axl Rose: ” I’m just a small town white boy, tryn’ to make ends meet.” What do I know.
Don’t tase me bro!
Virgil, I imagine that there’s any number of “Womyns’ Studies” majors in there as well.