Can You Digg It?

On May 7, 2009 New School President Bob Kerrey decided not to renew his contract expiring in 2011. Mr. Kerrey’s actions diffused the “hot under the collar” agenda of several student organizations that wanted him gone. It is quiet, now, on the 5th avenue front, but is it?
Pres. Kerrey is not renewing his contract. This is different than Mr. Kerrey leaving under duress, or because he agrees with the student allegations and left for the good of the school, or because the New School Board of Trustees asked for his resignation. It is also not because he is on trial for War Crimes, that many militant students allege.
Votes by faculty senate and deans of “no confidence” toward Pres. Kerrey further ignited social organizations to take action.
The students of New School Univeristy are tech savy, or as instructor Kathleen Sweeney said, they are “digital natives.” New School administrators are mostly baby boomers, or “digital immigrants” (Sweeney). When student unrest occurs, these “digital natives” will far out-reach the “digital immigrants.”
Occupation of The New School occurred on two occasions in 2008 and 2009. In both those occupations, social networking played an important part of the protest.
Many different viewpoints on one event: the occupation and take-over of The New School by students and activists.
Rumors abound, social networking sites burning the internet wires, plans for occupation by social networking, and finally, statements from The New School administration. But what about the average New School Student, are their voices being heard? Is most of the take-over done by militants who know how to organize via the web? Can The New School become more “tech savvy” to compete with the militant students? Or does NSU administration just react after the fact?
The militant website The New School In Exile is a model for how social networking can activate citizens and is an example of effective viral communication in contrast to the New School University and their lack of active social networking.
The New School in Exile are tech-savy digital natives producing third tier media with their website. The poster (above) of Pres. Kerrey was illustrated by the network "General Strike Comics." General Strike Comics links to The New School in Exile and The New School in Exile links to General Strike Comics. In this way, more people are reached for the occupation and are given constant updates, sometimes by the hour.
The New School in Exile is a sophisticated information system that allows interaction from others (you must register first). There is a separate blog. There is a student donation fund to help pay legal costs for students arrested at the occupation. The New School in Exile's site provides links to other ongoing student causes. Those causes, in turn, link to The New School in Exile. There is even a video cartoon of events, appealing to traditional college aged students.

For example, New School events are not televised to students (and yet other universities do this; for instance the University of Minnesota’s Richard Dawkins lecture I attended in February was recorded and televised).
The NSU relies on email communication with students, or an un-publicized “Blogging with President Bob Kerrey” site. The NSU Student Senate has a website for students to get information that is linked via the New School, and yet the University Student Senate website does not produce video recordings of events of importance to students as does the New School In Exile.
Some of the militant student websites are sophistically linked together with each other. For example, The New School In Exile is linked via Facebook which is linked to The School In Exile Blog, which is linked to the Radical Student Association,etc. and then back to another Facebook page on the Occupation. They all “speak” to each other; while at same time, the New School, with 8 divisions, seems scattered and uncommunicative within each other.
The Occupation in Dec. 2008 chased Pres. Kerrey down 5th Ave. to his home captured in a video called "New School president Bob Kerrey being chased and jeered by students":

The April 2009 Occupation included protesters in front of Pres. Kerrey's private home, where his wife and child live:

New School, Old Problems from Richard Boggs on Vimeo.

"We take police brutality sitting down."
“Shocked, terrified, or just plain pissed off about the administration's use of the NYPD during a student protest? Horrified at the wanton acts of police brutality perpetrated on our campus?
So speak up! We're having a sit-in in the Lang courtyard on Wednesday. We'll have some street theater, some food, maybe some music (anybody have an old-school boombox?).
This is about facilitating open discussion among the student body, as well as a demonstration against NYPD presence at student protests.
If they kick us out of the courtyard, we move to the streets!”
Student Action Defense Committee, April 2009

“Press Conference Addressing Police Brutality at the New School
Come Support the Student's Opposition to the Police Brutality and the Administration's Reaction to Last Week's Occupation!”
New School Radical Student Union

“I usually avoid these issues because I am here to learn, not rebel against the president.”
Victoria Gomez, New School Media Studies Grad Student

“One of the protesters, a Brooklyn College student named David Segal, was reportedly on parole when he was arrested. He had formerly been convicted of malicious destruction of federal property, which is a felony.”
“Live Blog” New School University Free Press at 5:15

“Just a Reminder to the New School and any other forms of authoritarian structure imposed upon us: We stand together, We have Solidarity, We do what we do because of love for each other and love for our future; You are impersonal, You cannot stop us, You will never jeopardize our movement through crack-downs and other inhospitable actions.”
New School In Exile Blog (Note: the New School In Exile has both a website and a blog).

“You have an invitation to an event. Wednesday: a Day of Action. Sit-in, street theater, demonstrations, oh my!”
Facebook invitation, to me, by the Student Action Defense Committee

“Flavorwire stopped by the New School this past Friday to see what all the fuss was about.”
Exclusive: live from the New School Protest, Spyridon Panousopoulos,
Flavorwire
.

“Hey Everyone.
New School is occupied again.”
(Email from New School Student Senator Elizabeth Loran to other student senators).

“Does anyone know what is happening with the other buildings? Are they denying access, cause I really need to use the computer lab....”
Response from Student Senator Sarah Cunningham.

“Late on Friday afternoon, the Police Department released its own video of the [New School] confrontation, a video that showed the police in a more favorable light.”
(New York Times April 10).

“The New School Faculty Senate calls on the Provost to consider reinstating those students who have been summarily suspended for their recent demonstration at 65 Fifth Avenue, pending proper hearings by the New Schools own disciplinary board.”
(New School Faculty Senate university-wide email).

“This morning's illegal occupation of 65 Fifth Avenue was joined by a number of New School in Exile students as well as individuals without any affiliation to The New School. Their claim that this was a simple political protest is false. Their entry into this building was forced, they removed a man who was cleaning the building, took his phone, injured a security officer, and did physical damage to the building.
Accordingly, in this case the university asked the New York Police Department to remove and arrest those who were trespassing on our property. We suspended, pending administrative review, all New School students who were a part of this action.”
(New School University President Bob Kerrey in a university-wide email

“The New School's founding ideals include the defense of academic freedom and the pursuit of democratic nonviolent forms of governance, and recent events are inconsistent with those ideals.
We find the actions of the students in breaking into 65 Fifth Avenue, potentially endangering the community through acts of vandalism, and subsequently harassing the president and his family, unacceptable. Although the right of peaceful protest is central to our New School history and values, these non-peaceful actions have no place in our community.”
(University-wide statement April 13 by the New School Provost and Deans).

“University Student Senate wants to establish what happened.

Therefore, we have joined with the Faculty Senate, Provost Tim Marshall, and the Deans' Council to call an ALL-STUDENT-AND FACULTY ASSEMBLY for TONIGHT.”
(University-wide email from the USS, in which 500 students attended. The event was video-taped and put on the Students In Exile website, but not on the Student Senate nor the New School websites).

“

There is no room for violence or threats of violence at The New School. Friday’s break-in of 65 Fifth Avenue disrupted the health, welfare, and academic pursuits of the student body, some 10,000 in all.
We support President Kerrey’s decision to summon assistance from the New York Police Department.”
(April 14 Statement from Board of Trustees listed on the “Blogging with President Bob Kerrey” website linked within the New School University site).

“Among the small group that broke into the building were a number of outsiders, with no connection to the New School at all. In effect, roughly a dozen New School students felt entitled to hi-jack what had been a broadly based faculty and student movement for positive change.”
(Statement from Jim Miller, New School for Social Research and co-chair NSU Faculty Senate; on the “Blogging with President Bob Kerrey site).

The New School University, as digital immigrants, communicates with students, Deans, Trustees, and others with dependency on Announce Announce emails. Most of the time, after the fact. When I asked why some New School events are not publicized, I was told some are on a service called: Flora.TV
I had not heard of New School's Fora TV. My advisor told me about it last month when I asked her why more New School events are not televised. Fora TV is not widely known by students. Their most popular video "Illustration in the Age of Anxiety" has 126,000 hits, but was produced in 2007. The radical student organizations, in contrast, contact me via email about their events. Fora TV was unknown to me. Another popular Fora TV video called, ironically, "Beyond Web 2.0: How the Next Tech Revolution will Change the World" was also produced in 2007. There are current videos, including one produced in March 2009. However, there are no Fora TV statements on the unrest and occupation by Pres. Kerrey.
While the Occupation of The New School was going on in December, members of the University Student Senate utilized a lap top to post timely updates; same was true of the militant groups. The New School relied on Announce Announce and the traditional media.
The Mayo Clinic has a Social Media position (which I posted about earlier) that keeps the Mayo staff constantly updated via social networking tools like Twitter, Facebook, etc. The man responsible for the Mayo's social networking is an older man, a grandfather no less. I would challenge The New School to employ such a service or person to unify their 8 campuses and students with this new technology.
In Malcolm Gladwell's book "The Tipping Point" he used an illustration of the Philip Zimbardo, Stanford University, 1970's Prison Experiment (page 152). It is how external forces can influence us. In the case of The New School occupations, external forces were very much at play to gather people together and create unrest. Just like the Zimbardo prison experiment. Many students got caught up by events organized by a few militant participants to cause a much bigger force than they really are. The New School needs a similiar plan of action to communicate with students and staff.
Not all students were for the protests, occupations, or abuse toward the University President. I am on the student senate and I have been vocal at Senate meetings against those actions and refused to sign an inflamtory statement sent to Pres. Kerrey.
The students who are against the Occupation are for the most part, silent. They are busy with classes, life, work, and don't have time to organize in the way the militant students do. In this case, the social media "haves" of the radical students will out-voice the "have-nots" of the supportive students. Clearly it is a case of "the squeaky wheel gets the grease" or "who is the most tech-savvy."

"For the sake of neutrality & b/c not everyone is anti-BK [Bob Kerrey], I don't think we should say "we are pleased to announce" and I don't think we should praise the protesters and/or occupiers." Yoni Sunshine, New School Student Senator, responding to feedback on USS letter to Mr. Kerrey.

"About 5 minutes later I’m surprised to see myself surrounded by a group of students with chains, ropes, and tents. I got scared and asked them what they were doing there. They told me that I had to leave the building because they were going to take charge of it. I told them, 'but I’m working here.' They told me not to worry, that they were going to take it and they wanted me to leave now. I didn’t get a chance to think or do anything. I felt cornered."
Interview conducted by Claudia Acevedo of the New School Free Press Statement by Carlos Rodriguez, Maintenance Worker for 19 years at The New School, Who Was Present at the Break-In to 65 Fifth Avenue, Friday, April 10..

"A member of the student group New School in Exile was arrested on criminal mischief charges at 3:55 a.m. on March 12 outside the 11th street residence of New School President Bob Kerrey. Jacob Blumenfeld, a philosophy student at The New School for Social Research, had allegedly been spray-painting the words "Bye Bob" onto the downstairs door of the house." New School Free Press.

"New School Orders Inquiry Into Student Protest" New York Times reported on the inquiry into the April 10 Occupation. This inquiry is being done by the NSU Board of Trustees and others. Will The New School include video and social media outlets for this inquiry? Probably not. Will the social media networking of the students provide media outlets and opinion on the inquiry? You can count on it.