Student organizers are leading a virtual strike in response to the university’s recent decision to hold the rest of the semester online without offering any tuition refunds. Participants say they will not attend Zoom classes, register for next semester, or turn in any schoolwork until the university meets their six demands. 

Organizers of the strike, which started Monday, sent a press release to President David Van Zandt asking for a partial tuition refund and no financial holds on students’ accounts, as well as the revocation of “incomplete” and “Z” grades, so that all students pass their spring 2020 courses. 

Continued pay for dining hall staff and improvements to the healthcare policy for students and workers, including “dependent coverage” and the “acceptance of non-U.S.-based health insurance plans,” end the list of demands. 

President Van Zandt is scheduled to meet with strike organizers on Zoom Friday, strike organizers told the New School Free Press.

One of the demands, a reversal of the planned 3.84% tuition increase for next year, was met by the university Sunday. The reversal was announced in a university-wide email, which was the first to be signed by both President Van Zandt and incoming President Dwight McBride. 

“Our efforts are informed by voices across the New School community and our recognition of the profound circumstances through which we are all navigating,” the email read.

Keaton Slansky, a student in the Bachelor’s/Master’s program with a self-designed major in capitalism and fascism studies, is a co-organizer of the strike. Slansky said tuition was at the forefront of their cause.

“I don’t really accept that this private university in the heart of Manhattan has turned out its pockets and come up empty,” Slanksy said in response to concerns that tuition refunds may result in cuts to faculty and student-worker salaries. “It’s important not to get bogged down in a numbers fight with a president who makes $1.1 million a year.” 

When The New School sent a university-wide email on March 24, indicating that no tuition refunds would be issued, Cearah Peck, a co-organizer of the strike and graduating photography major, decided to help with the strike organized by Priscilla Gaona, another graduating photography student. Peck and others have been utilizing Instagram and Twitter as organization tools, posting updates and information to @tnstutionrefund and @tnstudentstrike.

Students will continue independent learning while abstaining from participating in classes. 

“Although we won’t be in class and we won’t be submitting assignments, we’ll still be completing our assignments and tracking our progress,” said Peck. “We’re still doing our work, we’re just withholding it.”

Organizers recommended that if a student cannot participate in the strike directly by not attending Zoom classes, they should change the profile picture of their Zoom accounts to an image symbolizing solidarity with the strike, and withhold audio and video. 

Apart from sharing information about the strike with colleagues and students, faculty who want to show solidarity are asked to give all of their students A/A-’s and take attendance in numbers instead of names, though the Starfish attendance system does not currently present this option. 

An email template has also been made for parents who want to show their support.

Dr. Andrea Marpillero-Colomina, an adjunct professor at Parsons and Lang, first heard about the strike-through its Twitter page.

“My initial feelings were of total support and solidarity,” said Marpillero-Colomina. It was after hearing what was being asked of professors that she began to grow concerned.

“Our hands feel tied,” said Marpillero-Colomina. “Even if we support the strike, we’re legally obligated to report attendance every week, and there are ramifications from the administration for faculty who don’t do that.” Ramifications that, according to Marpillero-Colomina, are increased for adjunct and non-tenured professors like herself, who are subject to performance evaluations at the end of the semester. 

“When it comes to grading, that’s our ethical obligation on the line,” said Marpillero-Colomina. “I’m at risk of facing severe consequences if I enter a grade for a student that doesn’t reflect the work they did in my course.”

Junior and first-year transfer Journalism + Design student Sabrina Picou also learned about the strike through social media. While Picou agreed with the demands and reasons for striking, she decided not to participate. (Full disclosure: Picou is the classmate of one of the reporters.)

“The reason that I’m not participating is because as a first-year transfer going into my senior year, I’m preparing for graduation next spring,” said Picou. “I feel like it’s too risky for me not to register on time and lose my spot in classes that I need in order to graduate.”

Picou said that despite the challenges COVID-19 has presented, she feels the university is trying to fulfill the demands of its students. “I think that the school is trying, but I also think that there is a little bit more they can do.”

In response to the strike, Amy Malsin, Vice President of Communications and Public Affairs at the New School, said, “Faculty have worked long hours to provide students with the best education possible under the circumstances for the remainder of the semester. Our shared goal is to ensure the health and well being of our community and the continued academic progress of every student.” 

It’s the wellbeing of this same community that prompted second-year contemporary music student Samantha Dilenschneider to participate in the strike. “It’s not acceptable for me to stand by and not support my fellow students in an institution that so heavily focuses on inclusion and taking care of each other,” she said. “I feel like there’s no other option.” 

Contributed reporting by Andrew Orellana.